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

[this first post is a place holder, so that the thread will not disappear if the main body of it is moderated. See next post.]

Please clarify which Afghanistan "Crisis" these rules apply to. Some would say it is a crisis that the Taleban is allegedly funding or harboring al-Qaeda, an accomplice to the Sept 11 attacks, and that this crisis will be ended by the US and other military forces attacking them. Others would say the bigger crisis is the international laws that have been brushed aside by the US and other military forces who have decided that swift retaliation is more important than justice. Others would say the largest crisis currently in Afghanistan is the number of people who will starve this winter after three years of draught, a crisis that some relief organizations had been in the process of addressing before the war began. Maybe there are others I'm missing. The on-going crisis of human rights abuses by the Taleban?

It is a matter of opinion which of these crises is the larger one. I'm curious which one the h2g2 Editors meant when they wrote this page. Also wondering whether my pointing out alternate interpretations of what the word "crisis" means now will be considered too political, or too "sensitive" in times like these.

There is a tiny sliver of serious intent in this question, because I'm wondering if the "h2g2 Guidelines on the Afghanistan Crisis" will last only until strikes end in Afghanistan (the second interpretation of "Afghanistan Crisis"), or until the coalition against terrorism declares victory many years from now (first interpretation), or only a year or two from now after the combined effects of the draught and war have run their course.

Sorry Subcom - we obviously can't tell you how long these guidelines will be in force, because nobody knows what is going to happen in Afghanistan. These guidelines are being applied BBC-wide, and h2g2 will implement them as long as they are necessary (which means as long as the BBC require all their sites to adhere to the guidelines).

Obviously the hope is that it won't be for long, but we would assume that it will continue for at least as long as the war in Afghanistan.

Oh no,not the dreaded "D" notice??
Censorship by any other name, would smell the same.
Rod

Nope, not a D notice, just sensible precautions in a time of war. The guidelines are mostly concerned with protecting human life, after all.

This has nothing to do with "protecting human life." These guidelines are an attempt to CYA, to prevent even the most outlandish accusations that BBC could be responsible for inspiring maniacs to attack each other.

Sorry, Subcom, it has *everything* to do with protecting human life. That *is* where these guidelines come from, and we're doing what we can to demonstrate this.

Incidentally, we (h2g2) were also offered the option of disallowing any Afghan-related discussions on h2g2, instead referring all such discussions to the Great Debate BBC board (as we did in the Elections as we didn't have the resources to cope at that time). We vastly preferred to keep it on h2g2 this time, but to enable this we have to implement BBC-wide guidelines. In this case we are happy to do so, because (as others have noted) these are sensible precautions in a time of war.

Sorry you don't see it that way, but we're not sure we say much more than we already have.

Well, thank you for taking the more reasonable option. I'm glad to see that you're not trying to silence supporters of peace.

That, after all, is the Government whips' job.