Pres Cafe Watch News and Information Board

[Philip]

Anyone else having problems logging in?

None at all for me. I've found the site to be remarkably stable.

It generally is. Unless a BBC bod finds out about some mild criticism on the forum and then goes crying about it on Twitter.

Do tell…

[Solari]

None at all for me. I've found the site to be remarkably stable.

It generally is. Unless a BBC bod finds out about some mild criticism on the forum and then goes crying about it on Twitter.

Do tell…

Someone put up a tweet from this person 'explaining' why the flipper had been removed on the new channel. One or two not-so-complimentary (but IMO completely innocuous) posts followed about this person, from people seemingly in the know. Said person then went crying on Twitter about being horribly abused on Pres Cafe, and asked for info about its members (i.e. us!). A veiled threat, in other words. A bunch of posts were then deleted, and since then, the moderation seems to have been significantly tightened.

[Philip]

I remember that discussion and having remembered the tweet started it off, I am dismayed by the accusation that the discussion contained personal abuse toward any BBC staffer. Unless I missed these posts, I haven't come across anything I would consider as personally abusive towards individuals. The discussion has been critical of the BBC's decisions as a whole.

[Solari]

I remember that discussion and having remembered the tweet started it off, I am dismayed by the accusation that the discussion contained personal abuse toward any BBC staffer. Unless I missed these posts, I haven't come across anything I would consider as personally abusive towards individuals. The discussion has been critical of the BBC's decisions as a whole.

From memory, someone claimed that the staffer in person was seen as something of a BBC zealot. Someone else referred to another tweet from said staffer, where the outgoing News Channel presenters were allegedly referred to as no-marks (am paraphrasing here). I and one or two others expressed our incredulity... and that was it. Hardly 'abusive'. The posts were all removed anyway once the admin/mods found out we'd been grassed up via Twitter.

[Cando]

It's the way that so many posters seem to think only they can see the issues with the new channel, and that everyone at the BBC is blind to them. From the drama of not knowing what presenters are going to be on air on Monday*, to not realising they're moving to a studio which is about to completely fail**; it's down to the good people of pres.cafe to shout about these problems and the need to fix them, with the vain hope that someone at the Beeb might pick up on them rather than just carrying on like the Titanic towards that ice berg.

* I'm pretty sure that everybody involved knows exactly who's working, when and what they are doing. Sure, there might be some existing contracts to be worked to their end, and new ones to be signed, but that's normal day-to-day stuff for any organisation, not a sign of the apocalypse
** It has had one failure big enough to cause a decamp in the last month - we have no idea of what that could be; it could be the whole studio failed or it could be the autocue monitor on the main camera gave up. Faults happen all the time, it doesn't automatically mean that everything is being held together by hopes and dreams.

There is at least 3 posters who have completely lost their minds on that thread and have completely hijacked it. Utterly deranged stuff being posted.

[Solari]

It's the way that so many posters seem to think only they can see the issues with the new channel, and that everyone at the BBC is blind to them. From the drama of not knowing what presenters are going to be on air on Monday*, to not realising they're moving to a studio which is about to completely fail**; it's down to the good people of pres.cafe to shout about these problems and the need to fix them, with the vain hope that someone at the Beeb might pick up on them rather than just carrying on like the Titanic towards that ice berg.

* I'm pretty sure that everybody involved knows exactly who's working, when and what they are doing. Sure, there might be some existing contracts to be worked to their end, and new ones to be signed, but that's normal day-to-day stuff for any organisation, not a sign of the apocalypse
** It has had one failure big enough to cause a decamp in the last month - we have no idea of what that could be; it could be the whole studio failed or it could be the autocue monitor on the main camera gave up. Faults happen all the time, it doesn't automatically mean that everything is being held together by hopes and dreams.

There is at least 3 posters who have completely lost their minds on that thread and have completely hijacked it. Utterly deranged stuff being posted.

Deranged? In what way?

[Solari]

God, this BBC ticker discourse is probably the most boring thing I’ve read across any of the three forums. What is the point of keeping a log of when it works and doesn’t? We know it doesn’t work properly. I’m sure the BBC know it doesn’t work properly. I suspect it will be fully removed or redesigned at some point, but it’s not as if the BBC is exactly flush with cash right now. Yeah, it’s crap, but keeping a log of its run times won’t do much.

[dosxuk]

There is at least 3 posters who have completely lost their minds on that thread and have completely hijacked it. Utterly deranged stuff being posted.

Deranged? In what way?

While I'm not sure I would use the word deranged, it has gotten pretty hysterical. The outrage over the ticker is just ridiculous, as are the conspiracy theories that staff are deliberately doing things badly to try and make management u-turn. Then there's the pile on from a small group if someone dares posts something positive about the changes means that there is little chance of getting a balanced discussion.

Add to that a whole load of speculation about the technicalities of broadcasting the channel from a bunch of people who've never been anywhere near a broadcast environment - and then leaping to conclusions about what is/isn't possible and complaining that things aren't being done the way they expect. It's just a toxic thread right now.

One of the big things going for the blue place was that there were enough broadcast professionals posting that it tempered the excesses of the enthusiasts. Being able to suggest how something works and to get a reply from someone that actually knows how it worked meant that actual knowledge was shared. TVF did have a bit of a reputation amongst broadcasters, but it was mainly treated with amusement. I'm not sure the same could be said for the current BBC News thread on PC.

Chris Cook used to post regularly on TVF - but if you were him, or any other BBC News staffer, would you dare pop your head up on that thread?

[bilky asko]

I suppose there's the "protection" of the forum being behind a registration wall, so the only way anyone can see the replies to threads is by registering.

[all new Phil]

It’s frustrating because for those of us who - you know - actually want to watch good quality news coverage, the channel is much better now than it was before. They’ve reworked the entire way the channel operates, and things are properly explained and analysed. They’ve had to fit this new format into their existing presentation, albeit temporarily, which is why some bits don’t look quite right, but Christ, I wish people would look at the bigger picture rather than catastrophise because sometimes they use an old title sequence depending on which studio they’re using.

[Solari]

There is at least 3 posters who have completely lost their minds on that thread and have completely hijacked it. Utterly deranged stuff being posted.

Deranged? In what way?

While I'm not sure I would use the word deranged, it has gotten pretty hysterical. The outrage over the ticker is just ridiculous, as are the conspiracy theories that staff are deliberately doing things badly to try and make management u-turn. Then there's the pile on from a small group if someone dares posts something positive about the changes means that there is little chance of getting a balanced discussion.

Add to that a whole load of speculation about the technicalities of broadcasting the channel from a bunch of people who've never been anywhere near a broadcast environment - and then leaping to conclusions about what is/isn't possible and complaining that things aren't being done the way they expect. It's just a toxic thread right now.

One of the big things going for the blue place was that there were enough broadcast professionals posting that it tempered the excesses of the enthusiasts. Being able to suggest how something works and to get a reply from someone that actually knows how it worked meant that actual knowledge was shared. TVF did have a bit of a reputation amongst broadcasters, but it was mainly treated with amusement. I'm not sure the same could be said for the current BBC News thread on PC.

Chris Cook used to post regularly on TVF - but if you were him, or any other BBC News staffer, would you dare pop your head up on that thread?

I will admit that I am one of the people who has (jokingly!) suggested some sort of sabotage. I'd like to think the difference is that I try and do it with some humour, and that it's fairly obvious I'm not being (entirely) serious. The slackness of the whole thing is obviously much more likely to be down to lack of people/resources - which is the reason World and 24 merged in the first place!

There are at least one or two BBC staffers who appear in the thread from time to time, to be fair, and others who read it but don't post. I think the reason they don't post as much as they once did is a) there are fewer BBC staffers to post, b) it is registration-only, which probably stops a lot of potential posters and c) a lot of knowledgeable people who would have posted have fallen by the wayside with the forum musical chairs of the past couple of years. It is a shame, I agree - I think we all learned a lot just from insiders' posts.