Virtual CBBC

I was doing my normal evening weblog roundup – I go around the various sites I enjoy reading and see what they’ve got to say – then go through some of the comments and read the blogs of the people posting comments.

It was when I hit Ben Metcalfe’s blog (love the new look by the way) and saw his brilliant analysis of the CBBC Virtual world story that I felt prompted to post.

Actually I started writing a comment but it was so long I thought it would be better to engage in the black art of blog conversation.

One of the main reasons was a couple of paragraphs on moderation.

I’ve so far resisted the burning desire to blog this story. Mainly because I couldn’t think of an angle that hasn’t already been blogged to death.

However the moderation element is worth further examination. I’ve had direct contact with the moderation budget within the BBC and several training courses on moderation and hosting (for children’s and general sites).

Anyone moderating or working on the children’s BBC pages has to have a police check, sign various forms and go on several training courses.

The moderation budget is very large (in comparison to other sites) on bbc.co.uk BUT there is also a LOT of content that needs moderating and the moderators are already pretty stretched from what I’ve been told in passing.

Plus in addition to moderation a project like CBBC Virtual would require a hosts by the bucket load.

Many think moderator and host are one in the same but they are two VERY different jobs. For a start one is a job and the other is just part of a job.

A moderator looks at a comment to decide if it brakes the house rules or not and accepts or rejects it – the moderators are a strange breed of people sitting in a basement in London (and usually Australian backpackers).

Hosts are normally people that work on the related BBC site (so I host the BBC Jersey message boards as I work on the BBC Jersey site) and they do it as part of their day to day work.

Although that isn’t strictly true – they do it as part of their day to day work, they do it when they’re online at home, they will even check in from an internet cafe while on holiday. It’s a passion and addiction – just look at Points of View.

Moderation is a HOT topic on bbc.co.uk with various message boards and services either closing or changing beyond recognition because of server load and moderation cost.

Things are probably going to change even more as well over the coming months and years as the BBC moves towards a Web2.0 format and UGC taking centre stage.

To be honest until I see a press release I’m going to treat this story with the same pinch of salt I’m treating the BBC setting up home on You Tube story.

Both plausible, both desirable, both a relatively good idea but both (the You Tube one might be worked around if done by Worldwide) would require a Public Value Test and given the current climate might not get passed.