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stuham

Listed below are comments made by stuham between Friday, 12th June 2009 and Wednesday, 1st July 2009.

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Changes to international pages (3) 1:00pm on 01 Jul 2009 Dear Steve

Poster #5 here (on this thread of comments - there are two more from me on the previous 1000).

"On the wider issue of being able to choose access to the UK/international front pages, we're continuing to look into possible options to address the concerns that so many of you have expressed."

How's this going then?

I was just wondering if you could find the time to respond directly to the the problem that most of us are having with these changes: the removal of the radio button to switch between versions. Many allegedly technical people here have commented that there appears to be no reason why the change has taken place, and I would like to know your thoughts. You went out of your way 12 days ago (!) to respond to all of the comments except the major one, so please can you post a response IMMEDIATELY on the version problem. We're not going to go away.

It's very strange to report, but since these changes took place the BBC website doesn't feel 'mine' anymore. I've used the site since I started using the Internet in 1996 and now something has changed. Geo-location technology: ruining all the things that made the Internet good...
Changes to international pages (3) 4:39pm on 19 Jun 2009 "On the wider issue of being able to choose access to the UK/international front pages, we're continuing to look into possible options to address the concerns that so many of you have expressed."

I have an idea. A possible option is to return the site to the way it was before - with an option to access the UK version or the international version on the front page.

I appreciate the time you have eventually taken to address the other problems (other posters will have to comment on whether or not these involve more clicks) but to my mind you have STILL not given a satisfactory answer as to why it is not possible to choose between versions. Why is it taking so long to address this? It is the main point addressed in over 800 posts after all. You have the technology! Or did you bin it completely when you made the changes the other week?
Changes to international pages (2) 8:45pm on 15 Jun 2009 (English ex-pat, five years in Denmark, nearly two in the Netherlands. committed BBC website reader. Until a few days ago)

"if we don't make these basic changes to versions, we'll be putting at risk our ability to develop the site effectively, and that's not something we think is in our interests, or yours."

Steve, you have not explained why you need to make the changes. No one who has commented in the past few days has felt that a reasonable explanation has been given, including a significant number of people who profess to have IT backgrounds. Please explain to us WHY these changes were necessary. Until then I agree with other posters that all of your responses so far have been far too bland and evasive.

"We do appreciate and listen to all your feedback, we know you wouldn't take the trouble if you didn't care in the first place, and we'll get to work on making some changes to the site which we think you actually will like!"

I'm not sure I believe that you're listening. You say "many" commentators didn't like the changes - I say MOST, IF NOT ALL posters don't like the changes. Perhaps if you explained to us why they were necessary in clear English we might understand a bit more.

It's not good enough. It's a rubbish decision, and since the changes I have hated visiting the BBC News front page - it feels wrong all of a sudden. Like I'm not getting everything. And I hate writing in capitals but you HAVE to give a better response than what you are currently putting out there.
Changes to international pages 09:33am on 12 Jun 2009 Like others, I have felt compelled to register to express my annoyance at this change. As an ex-pat in Holland for two years and Denmark for five before that, the BBC news page has been my home page and first stop for UK news every morning. It has been a superb service that I greatly appreciate (and note, as an English user abroad, I would happily pay to access iPlayer video content - why is this not being tried as a revenue stream?!!). If I cannot see UK news straight up and am only offered the international page (and it really isn't enough that you have provided the 'News from the UK' section) when I visit the BBC news site then I will be changing my home page.

So my questions to the editors are these: in light of the fact that there have been 330 overwhelmingly negative comments in less than two days, what are you going to do about it? Will you revoke the changes and continue with a site that users abroad want?

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