Website survey results

What you thought, and what we'll change.

Over a thousand of you sent in your comments. Here are some of the highlights.

VIDEO

While you were very kind about the actual video, a lot of you don't like Real Player. So many of you complained, that we've got special permission from bbc.co.uk HQ to use Windows Media as well from now on.

We've put up The Doctor Who Years as three test files (see separate news story), but bear with us as we convert our back catalogue.

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GAMES

A lot of you asked for more games, so that's what we'll do in the future. In the meantime, it might be an idea to ask you for Dalek Game hints and tips (we're so rubbish, we're still stuck on level three).

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HOMEPAGES

You were very kind about these. But you asked for an index of them all. Well, now there is. See the link at the bottom.

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PICTURES

You liked the pictures, but wanted more. Also, a few people asked for pictures for bigger screen sizes. Currently, most users are still on 800x600, but we'll look at going large.

Finally, a few ladies asked for a picture of *that kiss*. Happy to oblige:

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SCREENSAVERS AND SOUNDS

Lots of you loved the sounds and wanted more. We'll update the sounds soon, but sadly, for reasons of music copyright, we can't offer the full Murray Gold theme.

Quite a few asked for a screensaver based on the title sequence. We've made a pilot version. Follow the link at the bottom of the page, and let us know.

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SPIN-OFF SITES

You liked the spin-off sites, but wanted to see more done with them. We're currently talking about what the next stage will be - but thanks for your comments and suggestions.

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WHOSPY

WhoSpy will return soon. Hopefully with less teacups and spoons this time, but just as cryptic as ever.

And, for those who asked, 23-6-801 started as a mistake on the Psalm board in episode 8, and became a bit of misleading fun. But thanks for all your theories on that one.

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CLASSIC SERIES AND NAVIGATION

Quite a few of you spotted that we're currently two sites with two designs. Hopefully this, and the site's navigation, will be tidied up in the next couple of weeks as the Cult Doctor Who site becomes part of this site.

Quite a few people also asked for the Classic series site to contain a better introduction to the previous 40 years for new fans. All right then. We'll do that.

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NEWS

Some of you were puzzled that our news and product information is often behind fan sites.

The BBC's Doctor Who website can only report news and product information as released to us by the BBC and BBC Worldwide. It's not in our remit to report on rumour or unconfirmed speculation (no matter how true it later turns out to be), unless the BBC Press Office itself issues a statement.

Often negotiations around Doctor Who are incredibly complicated and technical, and it's not only factually, but legally, important that the BBC does not comment until such negotiations are true. That includes us.

You may have read on fansite X that Y says that Z will be in the next series of Doctor Who. It could be true. But, if the negotiation isn't complete, the BBC simply can't say anything about it until Z signs on the dotted line.

Some fan sites do an excellent job of being able to report and control rumours - and a lot of what they report turns out to be true - but some of it doesn't. We, sadly, have to be completely accurate. There's also some news we can't report as, while it may not seem significant, its actually considered a spoiler by the Production Team.

It's even more complicated with product releases and information. The BBC's website is a public service, and so cannot be seen to be promoting commercially available products. We've checked with Editorial Policy, and the new guidelines are fairly tight - we can only report on products in a news context. At its most stringent, we can't put up a book cover unless we're putting it up first, or covering that book in an informative and interesting way (ie we can't crib the press release). Given the sheer volume of external commercial operators that BBC Worldwide deals with, it's rare that we'll get exclusive details of a product.

But we're trying. In the meantime, here's a soothing picture of kittens:

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Thanks again to everyone who took part. We'll leave the last word to Ads, who said: "I wish there is such a thing as dalecks! They would be so cool"

Quite.