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niallstan

Listed below are comments made by niallstan between Friday, 12th June 2009 and Monday, 15th June 2009.

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Changes to international pages (2) 4:39pm on 15 Jun 2009 First of all, I apologise if I repeat points made above, but unfortunately even the first comment, made some 45 minutes ago, is still "awaiting moderation" as I write. Ho-hum.

So, the chronology of what has happened is essentially this:
1. BBC makes fundamental change to website after zero consultation with readers/users/license-payers.
2. This change is met with an overwhelmingly negative response, especially in regard to the removal of choice regarding UK/International editions.
3. BBC, in the shape of Steve, makes several faux-responses evading this issue.
4. BBC eventually responds to the central complaint made by readers with a post that can basically be reduced to: "Tough. We know best."

Alright then. I have now removed the BBC News website from my bookmarks,and will seek to avoid using it in the future.

For others like myself who are as irritated with the BBC's supercilious response as with the original change, below are some alternative sources for UK news.

The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk
The Times: www.timesonline.co.uk
The Daily Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk
The Independent: www.independent.co.uk
The Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk
Sky News: http://news.sky.com
Changes to international pages 11:01pm on 12 Jun 2009 Since (a) I had some time to put in within the past hour and (b) a number of people have already commented on the overwhelmingly negative response to this change, I thought I would try my best to do an accurate tally. As I write this, there have been 496 total comments. By my count, this total is comprised of:
460 negative comments
14 positive comments
16 unclassifiable as either positive or negative
5 deleted
1 BBC response

The total percentages are therefore, rounded to nearest figure:
Negative 93%
Positive 3%
Unclassifiable:3%
Deleted 1%
plus that 1 response from the BBC's man, of course.

I understand, as someone else has noted, that people are generally more motivated to write to complain than to say positive things. But, seriously...93%-3% negative-to-positive? Surely someone at the BBC will look at those figures and change the site back to how it was. Or is that too much to expect?
Changes to international pages 11:00am on 12 Jun 2009 Add me as another expat who thinks this is a dismal and disappointing decision. Like many other commenters, I go to the BBC News website not purely to see UK news, but to see it *from a UK perspective*. (Anyone who doesn't understand the distinction should read Glaistig's excellent comment (No. 42).) I also share a lot of the irritation expressed in previous comments about the BBC's willingness to take a decision like this without any consultation whatsoever with the website's readers.

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