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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F77636?thread=8018187 A shame, but not a surprise. Unfortunately, with the massive cuts being inflicted on the BBC (and other government funded organisations and government departments) made it inevitable that part of BBC online had to go, and h2g2 and 606 were always likely to suffer. I've seen the collective community and cult community closed previously. The site's main traffic is for things like news, sport, weather and mainly the iPlayer. they weren't going to cut those things, as the iPlayer in particular is the market leader of its type, and probably takes a lot of money to run. h2g2 was revolutionary when launched, and is a fine example of a multi-faceted web service. the problem is, no one of those facets is a market leader. There are lots of online "answers" sites more reliable than ask h2g2. For all that people mock wikipedia for its inaccuracy, it beats h2g2 into a cocked hat as an online encyclopedia (and although its years since i wrote an h2g2 article, I found myself updating a couple of wikipedia entries this weekend). In terms of social networking, h2g2 doesn't even rate. Brand recognition is low, membership is not all that high. Although it is the no.2 result on google for scrambled eggs. I work for a government department which is to feel the force of massive budget cuts. University tuition fees are increasing, welfare benefits are decreasing, funding for school sports is reducing. The BBC is suffering from these cuts as well. The BBC can't afford to keep doing everything it's doing, it's just a shame that the niche bit they're getting rid of is one we like, albeit many of us don't go there as much as we used to. The view of most people who use the BBC website would feel the same way about h2g2 as em6, in post 27 of the thread linked to above, feels about 606 when she says: "What the hell is 606 and why should i care about it?"

Sad but true.