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The BBC on Mastodon

bbc.co.uk

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101–110 of 188 posts

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#101

Post by darreninthenet »

Barrin92 wrote: post #65
darreninthenet wrote: post #42

Interesting fact - the BBC has always been around experimenting with new media etc - in the early days of ISPs in the UK, the BBC was one of the first and in fact had the best (ie carried the most newsgroups) UseNet server from a UK based ISP at the time.

and not just new media either. They also sold about a million BBC Micros. In the early 80s most British schools had one. The British public system has produced a lot of pretty cool tech. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro

Yup I grew up with one of those, my dad got some bonus at work and bought a BBC Micro B (with a 5.25" floppy drive, gasp!) when I was 7 and it was my first encounter with a computer... and then he got the (original) Elite game and I was hooked on computers ever since

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#102

Post by ta1243 »

alexsereno wrote: post #90
ta1243 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BBC has to prove it's serving the entire UK. An anonymous RSS doesn't allow that. It's frustrating, but it's also inevitable from such a hostile environment.

“Inevitable” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this comment

Inevitable in that people in charge of the BBC want to prove that people (specifically an appropriate cross-section of the British public) use the BBC to keep the funding secure

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#103

Post by pessimizer »

darreninthenet wrote: post #42

Interesting fact - the BBC has always been around experimenting with new media etc - in the early days of ISPs in the UK, the BBC was one of the first and in fact had the best (ie carried the most newsgroups) UseNet server from a UK based ISP at the time.

Sadly, years ago they tossed their massive, intricate website that was filled with goodies (you could even download study guides for documentaries they broadcast years ago, or go through their citations), replaced it with a modern nothing, and hid their streams behind crappy apps.

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#104

Post by robertlagrant »

alexsereno wrote: post #90
ta1243 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BBC has to prove it's serving the entire UK. An anonymous RSS doesn't allow that. It's frustrating, but it's also inevitable from such a hostile environment.

“Inevitable” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this comment

No; inevitable is a claim, not a support.

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#105

Post by robertlagrant »

ta1243 wrote: post #102
alexsereno wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Inevitable” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this comment

Inevitable in that people in charge of the BBC want to prove that people (specifically an appropriate cross-section of the British public) use the BBC to keep the funding secure

They could do that by entering the 21st century and having an IP-locked subscription system.

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#106

Post by pessimizer »

uhtred wrote: post #96
DRW_ wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because the term "social media" came later and was popularised by certain kinds of social media networks, it doesn't mean it doesn't encompass regular old fashioned forums too. What is this right now other than a social interaction about a piece of media (the article)? This is a very arbitrary distinction for you to draw.

see comment below. you are wrong no matter how nerdy your logic.

Ah, "everyone knows." The only argument that can't possibly work against anyone.

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#107

Post by NoboruWataya »

Always cool to see mainstream orgs get involved with the Fediverse and their explainer is good, but there is no way to ascertain what they will consider a successful experiment at the end of the six months. It leads me to believe there is a good chance the whole thing will be scrapped in a few months, which makes me less inclined to engage with it (which in turn increases the likelihood that it will be considered a failure, etc).

I suppose it's better than silently subjecting it to a six-month probation period, but I can't imagine it is so expensive to maintain (and use as a mirror for their Twitter etc) that they need the probation period at all. And if in six months the BBC publicly pronounce that they don't see the value in Mastodon it will probably be a net negative for the Fediverse.

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#108

Post by NoboruWataya »

JdeBP wrote: post #75

This is the first major "name" to have set itself up in the FediVerse, after smaller outfits like (for examples) the Texas Observer and Bylines have been established there for some time. It does indicate which way the wind is now blowing; and they've done it the right way with a dedicated site under the BBC's own control. I think that this is going to be a problem in the medium term, though, unless actual people at t…

> This is the first major "name" to have set itself up in the FediVerse

In the news space maybe, but the European Union and the Dutch government already have their own instances.

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#109

Post by Evidlo »

robertlagrant wrote: post #105
ta1243 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inevitable in that people in charge of the BBC want to prove that people (specifically an appropriate cross-section of the British public) use the BBC to keep the funding secure

They could do that by entering the 21st century and having an IP-locked subscription system.

How does that get them subscription estimates?

Re: The BBC on Mastodon

#110

Post by zeeZ »

JdeBP wrote: post #86
brucethemoose2 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But won't replies from other servers show up on the BBC's page if they post something?

Not necessarily, no. There's a whole long standing organization of sysops dedicated to silencing and blocking the (few, I've never even heard of one myself) places on the WWW that the sort of stuff that you are talking about would come from. If the BBC sysops are on the ball, they'll already be looking at what block lists to subscribe to. In fact, they've had the system up since June, and I wouldn't be surprised that…

I clicked on their federated timeline and the first thing I saw was a post from someone named "horsefucker thicc".
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