The BBC is closing their Disability Forum

With just one month's notice the BBC have announced that their Ouch! Disability Forum and messageboards will be closed as of 6 July, after nearly ten years of activity by and for people with disabilities and/or their families/carers/friends.

Ouch!

The suggestion by someone who should know better, is that Ouchers should join Facebook and/or Twitter in order to keep in contact with each other.

Which does not, of course, solve the problem of where people can just chat and ask questions about all matters relating to and about any form of disability.

Ouch! has been a lifeline for many people, the majority of whom have no wish whatsoever to join social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, because they felt safe on Ouch!

I have no idea if any members here have even heard of the BBC Ouch! Disability Forum, let alone ever read it or joined it, but it is a one of it's kind, nothing really like this lovely place. Therefore I do not know what anyone here thinks about the actions of the BBC, but to close down what is basically the main general forum/messageboard which is disability specific seems to me to be extreme discrimination.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

The users can join Able Here to chat, and discuss subjects on disabilities.

So tell the ouch members about Able Here! :whistle:

Karl wrote: The users can join Able Here to chat, and discuss subjects on disabilities.

So tell the ouch members about Able Here! :whistle:

Karl, do you think I hadn't already had that idea? But I cannot post the link to this Forum as it would not be permitted. There is also no PM facility on the BBC messageboards so doing it that way is also out of the question.

It took a long time for many "Ouchers" to even start to discuss their problems/ask for advice on Ouch! so for them to have to start again just would not be feasible.

I obviously don't know if you have looked at the Ouch! boards, but perhaps having a look at the thread "Messageboard Closure" on the Ouch! Talk board*** might give you some insight as to why Ouchers want to keep Ouch! and not be forced to migrate elsewhere?

I am very happy here. I am a long time member of Ouch! although have only read, not posted there since I was stalked from that board onto another BBC messageboard - a question I had asked about incontinence products being copied and posted on the Food board of all places, with the resultant comments being "guess who has to wear adult diapers", upon which I mostly gave up posting on all of the boards. But I still read Ouch! and object strenuously about it being closed.

I posted this here because I consider it to be news, and bad news at that as the BBC are obviously showing discrimination against people with disabilities.


***Sorry, but for privacy reasons I do not wish to post the direct link.

I have posted something on the ouch forum, now it is getting reviewed before it get published (hopefully)

Karl

Karl wrote: I have posted something on the ouch forum, now it is getting reviewed before it get published (hopefully)

Karl

Presumably you have just joined the BBC boards. Their rule is that new members must post a certain number of messages over a certain period of time [guesses are made that it could be ~20 posts in 24 hours but nobody really knows] before their posts go straight through.

Until then all posts are in premod and the moderation queue could be short, could be long, depending on - well, depending!

Incidentally the premod rule was brought in on 6 or 7 June 2006 IIRC - which could be correct or could be slightly out as my memory isn't infallible - could even have been 2007 but I think it was 2006. It applied even to existing members if they wanted to join/post on a different BBC board.

In other words, members of Ouch! who then wanted to post on the Food board or members of the Food board who then wanted to post on the Gardening board, would also have to go through premod on each new board.

Another rule was brought in at the same time, and that was the "three-minute rule" which meant that posters had to wait three minutes in between posts on a board. The idea was to stop the incessant chitchat, the one or two word responses, and to keep the trolls, the WUMs and the sock-puppets away.

It did not really stop the trolls and WUMs but did help, but sock-puppets are still around even though the BBC brought in yet another new system whereby each person had not only their individual U number but also a new sign-in, with only one sign-in permitted from one email address.

That sort of fell down because many people have more than one email name and address.

The only thing that the BBC did manage to do, sort of, was that if they banned someone they "supposedly" banned that user's ISP as well.

And sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not.

Anyhow, I will keep a look out for your post but please accept that if and when it appears I will not respond to it. And no, I have NOT been banned - I am just keeping well away from controversy at the moment! :whistle:

Its already online :whistle: