h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi.

I'm Social Media Executive for BBC Online and I have responsibility for H2G2.

By now some of you may have read the announcements about the review of BBC Online, so I wanted to tell you as soon as I could about how this will affect H2G2.

If you haven't seen the announcements, the big news is that BBC Online is having to cut its budget by 25% and is being reorganised. Part of this reorganisation will see the BBC moving away from stand alone communities and message boards. Last year some message boards were closed, more will close this year. The BBC's other big community 606 is scheduled for closure. (You can read about why we're moving in this direction on this blog post from Ian Hunter: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/01/delivering_quality_first_on_bb.html )

The review is part of the BBC's Putting Quality First strategy which you can read about here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/2011/01/delivering-quality-first.shtml . BBC Online will be reorganised into five portfolios of "products". All parts of BBC Online have to fit with these. Over the past year all areas of the site have been reviewed to see where, and if, they fit. Sadly the conclusion myself and my colleagues have come to is that H2G2 does not fit in the new shape of BBC Online.

However, H2G2 is unusual. It is a pre-existing community that the BBC brought into its fold, not a community that the BBC set up from scratch. So rather than closing it, we've decided to explore another option.

This process has been referred to elsewhere as the "disposal" of H2G2. I'll admit this is not a great choices of words, but what is means is that we'll be looking for proposals from others to take on the running of H2G2.

I'll be involved in this process. For me an important part of it will be how any prospective new owner of H2G2 intends to deal with the H2G2 community and safeguard the community's interests as we try to find a new home for the site. H2G2 is the community and without the community the site would die. If it is to have a future outside the BBC the community needs to be maintained and nurtured and I'll be doing my best to see that happens.

I'll be trying to tell you everything I can about this process as it happens, although some of the details will have to be confidential for legal reasons.

I know this news will come as a shock to you. So ask me any questions you like in comments and I'll respond.

Regards
Nick Reynolds
Social Media Executive for BBC Online

How long do we have? If you can't sell it, will it be available as 'read only' version?

Do you have any idea about timeframes - i.e. when H2G2 is going to be transferred?

I very much appreciate how great you guys have all been with communication of late, it makes the blow a bit easier to handle.

Hi Nick.

As far as you can tell us (confidentiality, etc), can you answer the following?

How much would the community need to raise to purchase h2g2?
What (if anything) would remain the sole property of the BBC?

Would it be possible to transfer the Guide and the community to a hosted website, e.g. http://ning.com, or something similar, where the software is pre existing and maintained by a third party?

hear that? It's Douglas Adams turning in his grave

I hear Robert Graves turning in his...

No, doesn't work.

Yeah, i'd wondered if some sort of wiki (NOT wikipedia, before I get lynched, but the tech that it's based on) might be a solution. Funding can be done through donations... I've seen other sites cope, sometimes through 'selling' customisable avatars/taglines etc in retuen for much need cash flow.

I think this could be the rallying call the community needed after the divide that Noohootoo caused. I will do anything I can to keep this place going in whatever form.

Hmmm, it seems odd that the BBC acknowledges the high quality of the content on this site but doesn't see it as "Putting Quality First"!

But what the others said. Thanks for keeping us updated. I'm sure this came as a surprise to everyone, else we'd not have seen the investment in the new site!

Well, for me, if the BBC 'disposes' of H2G2 then it'll be the end of the road. There is no way any outside organisation will take on the running of this site without introducing advertising or other ways of producing revenue. Frankly I'm disgusted by the fact we went through a fairly comprehensive MOT and we were all assured we'd passed the test and met all the criteria for the BBC's online content. Based on this we then start the progress of having H2G2 'upgraded', (currently ongoing) to ensure we met even more the online content/look across the whole of the BBC online. Now, out of the blue we're to be dumped?
I for one would NOT be prepared to pay for access nor will I stay on if we end up with annoying adverts all over the place in order to raise revenue for whoever takes on the site. I think the manner in which this has come about stinks frankly.
I'll watch and see what happens but I have a deep foreboding that this is the end of a worthwhile project in which the BBC should have been proud to have and to maintain. H2G2 is unique, there isn't anywhere else on the web like it and if we end up in 'private' hands it'll destroy what we've built.
If it goes outside the BBC then I would want all my work removing especially Eg's. I wrote them for the BBC and this community, not for some money making mongrels that'll end up with the site.

BMT

Because that attitude is really helpful.

Trouble with that is, BMT, that we granted the BBC to use our content in which ever way they see fit, and that probably includes selling it.

Thank you Nick.

I guessing it will not be set up as an independent not for profit foundation

It's a bit tricky at this point to give you more information about money and timings. For example I can't tell you how much you might need to run H2G2. If I did the lawyers and corporate communications people would treat me in the same way as I treat a slice of bread and jam (i.e gobble me up), and rightly so as it might affect any deal we might put together.

I think one thing that the BBC does recognise is that the H2G2 community is all important to the running of the site. Whoever takes it on would have to respect that.

One thing I would be concerned about is how the site would be monetised in the future. Currently we 'subscribe' through our license fee and enjoy ad-free useage and content. Has this been discussed yet?
Possible scenarios, as I see it, would be revenue via online adverts, a subscription charge, or voluntary donations in the spirit of wikipedia etc. - I think the first two options may well sign the death warrant of h2g2?

Nick, you need to stop with the bull"""", you know full well there's no way, outside of the BBC, that anyone would take on this site without making money from it. That, by it's very nature, means H2G2 ceases to be anything more than another online commercial operation and the community and all it stands for goes out the window.
Talk about how to lose trust, the BBC have shown today that they cannot and never will be, trusted ever again. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.


BMT

As someone who lives in America, it often struck me as odd that a site with researchers world-wide clung to the BBC the way they did over the last ten years, while others like facebook or twitter managed to stand alone. I hope and pray this is not the end for hootoo.

@BMT

h2g2 was an "online commercial operation" before the BBC purchased it. If you want to support a non-commercial option see F19585?thread=8018352