Disgruntled user banned several times for trolling?
Lonely Planet's popular online travel forum, Thorn Tree, has been temporarily shut down by owner BBC, reportedly after the discovery of paedophilia-related posts.
A source said that BBC executives, still smarting from the Jimmy Savile scandal, went into "panic attack mode" after a disgruntled user alerted them to swearing and posts that discussed topics related to paedophilia
The site has not officially revealed why it was necessary to close the entire forum without warning except that "a number of posts" did not conform with the site's "standards". A message on the Thorn Tree page said the forum was closed "temporarily" so the site could apply "necessary editorial and technical updates".
The founder of Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler, who no longer owns the publisher but contributes to it, told Fairfax that he was amazed the forum was still offline four days after the shutdown and criticised the BBC for not offering a more detailed explanation.
The Thorn Tree is around 16 years old, making it the oldest travel community on the web. It has become a staple for avid travellers looking for tips, advice and a connection with other globetrotters.
A source with links to Lonely Planet management said the decision to shut the forum was "all about Jimmy Savile".
The source said a disgruntled user, who had been banned several times for trolling and harassment, emailed BBC executives asking if they were aware that Thorn Tree was full of porn and swearing.
"They discovered that if you looked for terms like 'paedophile' or 'child prostitution', you got Thorn Tree hits," the source said.
"The hits are mostly discussions of current events or pointless stuff that would have been moderated, like 'Barney the dinosaur is a big purple paedophile'. However, someone found a thread about 'what's the age of consent in Mexico?' That really set them off.
"They went into full, freak out, panic attack mode."
The source said other posts the BBC executives found objectionable were related to child prostitution in Thailand.
Long-time Thorn Tree users are distressed that they got no warning of the shutdown and didn't have a chance to say goodbye. It is not clear when the site will be back online.
In the past, some have labelled Thorn Tree "scorntree" after experiences with abusive trolls on the site.
Lonely Planet was started in Melbourne by Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 1972. The pair sold a 75 per cent stake to BBC Worldwide in 2007 and the final 25 per cent in February 2011.
Tony Wheeler told Fairfax he received a phone call on December 22 to say they might have to shut down Thorn Tree and within the next 24 hours it was taken offline. He said he was "amazed" it hadn't been re-opened yet and he was still trying to find out the reason why it was shut down.
"There are always some areas which are live wires - Israel and Palestine for example - and if you don't keep a constant eye on them it can quickly go haywire," he said.
"I'm sure the BBC at the moment are extremely sensitive to anything questionable going out which could account for the current shutdown. Why it hasn't been sorted after 4 days I have no idea."
Wheeler said he was "not particularly surprised" at reports the forum was shut down due to objectionable content and criticised the BBC for not explaining why it took the forum offline beyond a "bland" statement. "OK it's Christmas but that's hardly an excuse," he said.
Several hours after this story was published BBC Worldwide spokesman Philip Fleming said BBC had found no evidence of discussions concerning paedophilia on Thorn Tree "but we have discovered instances of inappropriate language and themes".
"Until we are confident that all these rogue posts can be identified and deleted, we feel we have no option but to temporarily close the site as a precautionary measure," Fleming said.
Source: BBC Shuts Down Thorn Tree
Stay tuned for further updates.
No comments:
Post a Comment