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

A Welcome and Thank-you Message from Douglas Adams, 8 Sep 1999
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A157349

"...You can create your own Guide Entries containing anything you want, from your opinions of world events to a description of your home town, and it all goes to make up the h2g2 Guide, the sort of guide which was not possible before we had the means of live, shared information resources." (...and is only now possible within the limitations of BBC's elections guidelines, or in forums other than h2g2. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.)

Unfortunately, h2g2 failed as a commercial (or semi-commercial) venture. The BBC pays the bills and allows the site to continue. The BBC has legal obligations under its charter and under UK law to be politically neutral.
While the current policy of combining all discussions together is unfortunate, it's a considerable improvement on the outright ban that used to be in place.

"The BBC has legal obligations under its charter and under UK law to be politically neutral."

Their position seems to be that the public is so stupid, they will confuse postings on a public forum with official statements by the BBC, in spite of clear disclaimers on every single page of h2g2. I've actually seen that kind of ignorance by people who blogged about my essay "Furniture Whores and Debit Card Toilets" and think it carries the BBC's credibility. Those idiots should be the exception to the rule. They shouldn't be the example around which rules are based.
http://www.dragonscoveherald.com/blog/index.php?p=1044

I don't care. I'm going to bring this up at every election and every war and every "crisis" that precedes a war, when we're told that our discussions have to be restricted in fear of an imagined, ignorant critic. As long as BBC wants to apply silly rules, they should be reminded of what this site was meant to be. Someday they'll get it right.