Forum changes

Wed 19 Feb, 11:47 (last edited on Wed 19 Feb, 11:51)

Hi all,

As you may be aware, a new law, the Online Safety Act, comes into force in mid-March governing forums, social networks and other online spaces where users can post their own content.

The Online Safety Act is targeted at the big players (Facebook, TikTok, Twitter etc.) and has not been written with small sites in mind. It is however a huge issue for small sites, both in terms of the hoops that site admins have to jump through, and potential liability.

Quite a lot of small sites are shutting down as a result, as has been reported in the Observer, Telegraph, New Scientist and elsewhere. I don't want to have to shut this website down, but it does mean there'll need to be some changes.

This is a long posting explaining what’s going on. A shorter summary of the changes is on the News page.

General site changes

Simple changes first:

• You will now see at the bottom of every page a "Report this content" link. This is only for safety issues, particularly those relating to children – not because something is factually wrong, or you disagree with it, or there's a technical problem, or whatever.
• When you post an advert, you will be asked to tick a box confirming that the item you are selling/giving away is not illegal.
• You can now block an individual user from sending you messages.
• It is now a formal requirement that under-18s may not have an account on the site.

Forum

The situation with the forum, which is the main place that content is posted without moderation, is more complex and I'll explain what is changing here. If you don't post to the forum you don't need to read the rest of this.

Currently the main board is "retroactively moderated", which means your comments go online immediately, and the site admins will only delete/edit them if they see a problem some time later.

From now, this will continue to be true most of the time, but you may sometimes see that your comment is held for approval.

If this happens to you, it does not mean you are under suspicion or anything like that. Comments will be held based on a mix of factors, including some degree of random selection, that ensure we are seen to be making reasonable efforts to be aware of the content being posted. Usually the review queue is checked multiple times a day so there should not be too much of a delay.

The forum rules have changed and you should familiarise yourself with them before posting.

Debate board

It's more of a problem for the Debate board. The Debate board exists as a "not actively moderated" space where forum regulars can talk about whatever they want. Unfortunately it isn't clear how compatible the Online Safety Act is with having a "not actively moderated" board.

For the time being, therefore, the Debate board is switched off.

I attended a webinar with Ofcom and other operators of small sites last week and this was one of a bunch of questions left with them. The webinar was not the most illuminating experience to be honest, but hopefully they will answer sooner rather than later and I will be able to reinstate the board.

Until then, this does not mean you can use the main board to talk about 20mph limits in Wales, or LTNs in Oxford, or whatever your non-Charlbury hobbyhorse might be. With the best will in the world, the admins do not have the time or the inclination to spend hours moderating people who are incapable of understanding "The forum is here to help Charlbury residents and get things done in the town", nor to soothe their wounded egos afterwards. If you post off-topic or argumentative stuff it may be deleted and/or your account may be disabled without further recourse. (More on that below.)

Discussion changes

Separately there are two changes to the forum. These are not directly connected with the OSA but given that I’ve had to overhaul the site code it seemed like a good time to do it.

Roads: Lately the forum has been dominated by debates about potholes and parking. This is now starting to drown out other topics (e.g. the surgery). If you want to post anything about roads, there is now a separate (moderated) board for that. Please do not post about roads in the main board: your post will be moved and it saves everyone a lot of hassle if you can just post in the right place first off.

Rushy Bank: I am asking people not to discuss Rushy Bank or anything related to it on the forum. Unfortunately there has been a whole lot of legal action around the proposed development and getting sued is not my idea of fun. Any reference on the forum, direct or oblique, to Rushy Bank, the "Friends of the West Oxfordshire Cotswolds" or their activities will at the least be deleted, and is likely to result in your account being deleted too.

How the site is run

This site is privately owned and hosted, by me. It doesn't receive any public funding (or any funding at all!). I'm helped by Susie, Colin and Richard B on day-to-day admin like checking the review queue, which is an enormous boon and for which I am very grateful. Ultimately though the legal responsibility is mine, and if anyone is going to get prosecuted or sued it will be me.

I think the best analogy is a pub landlord – I try to keep a reasonably congenial air to the establishment and sometimes that involves telling people to go home. Nonetheless (a) the landlord doesn't have any obligation to serve you; (b) the landlord can throw you out and even bar you if he/she wants; (c) other pubs are available, so if you don't like this one then you can go to another; (d) you don't stand at the bar and loudly diss the landlord's football team; (e) conversely, the landlord is only human and will probably cut you some slack if you support the same team.

If you are banned then your "free speech" rights are not being infringed (as per the classic XKCD cartoon). It's simply that I think the pub would be nicer without you and I don't want to serve you any more. You might disagree but I pay the rent for this pub, so… sorry. Just go to another pub, such as those run by that lovely Mr Zuckerberg or delightful Mr Musk.

Running a small forum is much harder than it was when I started doing this almost 25 years ago. The Online Safety Act is just one example of how the legal environment is less sympathetic. The technical challenges are greater, too (for example, making sure emails are delivered to people's inboxes used to be easy, now it's a huge hassle). Entirely personally I think it's good that Charlbury has its own locally run site rather than being entirely beholden to Zuckerberg, Musk and chums – too much of what we do online is at the whim of a few unpleasant libertarians in Silicon Valley. But that's solely my opinion and I would encourage people who think otherwise to patronise one of those establishments instead. (Reddit and Discord aren't too bad if you want somewhere just to talk without interference.)

Finally, all these changes have meant a lot of the site code has changed and there may be bugs. If the site behaves erratically at times then please bear with it.

Thank you to all those who contribute to the (usually) congenial atmosphere and here's to many more years of "I have found my missing cat", "where is my DPD delivery?" and "I recommend Ed Bradbury".