An apology and explanation for the current messageboard service.
If you're a regular user of our messageboards, it can't have escaped your attention that they're behaving even more erratically than usual.
They're closed overnight, and there have been recent periods when they've been unavailable, or inoperable during the day.
For this we're sorry, and would like to say thank you to all of our users who have stayed with us over the last few weeks.
We're currently awaiting some information on how long it will be before the boards return to normal.
In the meantime, we do have a statement about the overnight posting situation from
Tom Loosemore, Acting Controller, BBC Interactive Development And Services:
Thanks to all of you who have commented on the introduction of overnight 'closing-time' on some (although not all) of our message boards. I appreciate that, for some of you, this change has proved problematic. Much as we want to make access to our service as convenient as possible, there is a reason why we've closed overnight and I hope that by explaining our thinking below, you will be able to understand why we've taken this step.
The BBC prides itself on its global reputation for allowing users to chat and message safely via the web. It can do this because it has resource (albeit finite) to monitor its message boards. Dealing with the relatively small number of postings on the site during the night ended up having a disproportional impact on the support we could give during the day when the vast majority of messages were being posted. It was clear, therefore, that the most positive step to take - and one which would directly affect as few users as possible - would be to stop messages being posted after closing time.
Some boards still allow posting after closing time. In these circumstances website teams have been able to reschedule their production work in order to moderate their own overnight queue of messages, and so have taken on this additional responsibility.
As part of our on-going commitment to provide the best and most accessible service we can, we are constantly looking for new ways of working. This may, however, mean that we have to make further changes to the way the boards are run. We do aim to provide as much prior notice of any change as we possibly can.
We do value your contributions and hope you'll continue to enjoy posting.
Tom Loosemore, Acting Controller, BBC Interactive Development And Services
