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This is the Conversation Forum for DNA Announcements << 7 June 2004: Welcome Andrew, Communities Producer 9 June 2004: UK Election Discussions - Update >>
In the UK there are three sets of elections taking place on 10th June - European elections for the whole of the UK, Local Elections in England and Wales, and the London Mayoral and Assembly elections. The BBC's commitment to impartiality is closely scrutinised when reporting on election campaigns. This has some important consequences for the whole of the BBC; we welcome community discussion about the elections, but need to ensure that impartiality is maintained. In order to maintain impartiality all community areas hosting election conversations must be closely hosted and post-moderated. Rather than switch all of the existing DNA sites to post-moderation for the duration of the elections, we've decided to direct members of all DNA sites to the Hub to discuss the UK elections. The Hub will be post-moderated for the duration. So, if you'd like to discuss the UK elections, please either start a discussion on the Elections2004 page on the Hub or post to one of the existing conversations on the Elections2004 page. Where else can we discuss the elections on the BBC? A number of areas have been prepared for the discussions, so if you wish to discuss the elections you can post to the election discussions page on the Hub, or if you prefer, to one of these BBC messageboards: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2/h2.cgi?x=y&board=greatdebate - The Great Debate messageboard http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2/h2...x=y&board=england&sort=T&state=init - English Regions messageboards http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2/h2.cgi?state=init&board=asianlife - Asian Life messageboards http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2/h2.cgi?state=init&board=essentials - One Life messageboards This only applies to the elections in the UK, and only for the duration of the elections. You are still free to talk about political issues from elsewhere in the world on any of the DNA sites. As soon as the elections are over, the restrictions will be lifted.
What is the scope of the restrictions? I understand that a discussion along the lines of, "I'm voting for X because they are great and all the other candidates are a bunch of ...", will have to be hosted in the moderated area. But what about discussions relating to the scope of the elections? For example can I discuss on h2g2 why the BBC, and other broadcast media, has to be impartial. Or for example can I discuss past elections and how that impacts upon what is happening today? I feel there could be an awful lot of yikes conversations coming up, as they sail a bit too close to the wind. That said, I do appreciate that in this instance you have to do this. So my attitude and behaviour will be somewhat different to that during the Iraq war clampdown.
Peta, I could hug you! In fact... I will  They'll be an awful lot of people who read the title of this announcement and immediately think "Oh no! Not again! We're banned from talking about something important or we're going to be shipped off to the messageboards", but no, we finally get to talk on a DNA site - And who cares if the skin changes colour! Thanks!
Sounds like a good move... I'm going to think to myself at this point that it might be cool if this kind of thing could be implemented by allowing a certain set of A-numbers and their associated F-numbers on a DNA site to be switched into a different moderation mode to the rest of the site, thus allowing an election discussion area on, say, h2g2, without affecting the rest of the site. But ultimately the effect wouldn't be much different to hosting it on the Hub, it just wouldn't require the entire Hub to change moderation mode.
Hi Greydesk, It'd be fine to discuss why the BBC has to remain impartial. You could discuss past elections, but how it impacts on this years' elections could be more tricky, it would really depend on the individual postings. Ideally I'd suggest moving conversations relating to the elections over here for the duration, you'll find people here who'd like to discuss the issues and we can all keep an eye on things to ensure that conversations are hosted according to the BBC Guidelines. Thanks for the understanding! I hope the skin switch causes the minimum inconvenience to those who wish to discuss the elections. 
Hi MaW, Yes, good idea, it's something that we're working on for future messageboard developments. This is a workaround, but next year we may well have something a little more sturdy!
A pleasure Whisky! We wanted to be able to do this last year, but were unable to. This year we're happy to be able to do things differently, and we hope it makes discussions about the election easier for all DNA members! We've invited the hosts and community members from all DNA sites over to this page, so you might see Emily and Ian from Get Writing, Katherine and Penn from WW2 and Rowan from collective, as well as the h2g2 Editors; Paully, Jimster and Natalie. We're hoping to make anyone from any DNA sites feel welcome within this discussion (so if you see new faces they may not be from h2g2 or the hub). All are welcome so please say 'hi' to people from other DNA sites if and when they come across!
This will be the first election that I actually get a vote in! Hmm, what to do with my new-found power? I think it's really positive that we've got a DNA forum to hold discussions about these election in - I'll try to hang out there and contribute to a lively debate!
Peta, glad to hear it, you've got cleverer people than me working on BBCi so I'm sure someone thought of it a long time ago  Frankie, I don't care what you do with your vote as long as you actually use it. But that's a discussion for elsewhere 
Hi All, The restrictions on election discussions have now been lifted. You're now free to discuss the UK mayoral, local and EU elections on any of the DNA community sites. The Hub has now been set back to unmoderated status. Thank you very much for co-operating with the ruling over the past five weeks. 
So was it regarded a success? I don't remember any posts being removed when we were discussing politics.
Hi Z, Yes, it was a great success. The DNA community members were fantastic, the conversations were being reviewed by our political advisors, and the Hub conversations were an example of excellent community posting. to everyone who posted!
That's good, I have to say that I hardly felt monitored at all. I knew that the thread wasn't completely balanced - but still no posts were removed.
They just had to be balanced, within reason. On the messageboards some areas were targetted by some political groups - they were basically campaigning by posting repeatedly; it was obviously organised and targetted and the objective was to whip up support.That didn't happen here, so all was well!
"That didn't happen here, so all was well!" it didn't happen here because h2g2 specifically, but some of the other sites as well are absolutely full of rabid and intelligent individualists. "the party line" would have been easily spotted, and then reported as trolling, or just picked to pieces by those who were cleverer than the people trolling. that sort of campaigning only works when someone clever thinks up some buzzwords, and then the party faithfull parrot it back to people who are stupider than the person who thought it up. We are clever enough to spot it, and then sufficiently cleverer than those who would be posting it to tear it down, which would be counterproductive to those running the campaign.
Spot on xyroth! If they had have done it I would have left the content up, and left them to the wolves! The community would have descended and really enjoyed taking their arguments apart, sliver by sliver! Pity it didn't happen here really, it would have really invigorated the Hub election conversations.
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