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BBC's recipe archive being taken offline


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The BBC has announced far reaching cuts in order to make the cost savings ordered by the Government. The BBC website is a key target and a range of areas such as travel and food will be hard hit. BBC Food's vast library of over 11,000 recipes is going to be culled.

This is a much loved and used website and a precious resource for people across the country providing easy, free and importantly independent information on a vast range of foods and recipe options. The database provides inspiration for those with a few ingredients to come up with meal ideas and cook from scratch.
 

Surely it is madness to remove such a comprehensive archive which has taken years to create, not to mention time and money. Whilst maintaining and developing it undoubtedly takes investment, simply retaining the archive in its current form is surely not an overly expensive task, especially measured against the meagre cost savings and the loss to the community, as evidenced by the outcry on social media.

We plead with the BBC to keep the recipes and find cost savings elsewhere.

 

https://www.change.org/p/bbc-save-the-bbc-s-recipe-archive?recruiter=543074450&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink

 

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Except it isn't going off line at all. It will still be available, but will no longer be updated. The recipes are being archived and will remain available through the BBC Good Food website.

 

BBC climbdown over online recipes after public outcry

 

To be fair, the BBC never said they were going offline; just that they would no longer be indexed or searchable from the BBC site. They would still turn up on the likes of Google.

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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The Guardian is taking this opportunity to promote its own recipes. 

 

loved this comment from one of its readers

 

"The government has rightly recognised, the not-for-profit sharing of recipes amongst dangerously like-minded individuals represents a clear and present danger to the ordered fabric of any modern day capitalist oriented entrepreneurial society, undermining and subverting the cut and thrust of day to day money making opportunities and intellectual property rights of skilled innovators in indeed such crucial areas as leftover chicken, lentil bakes and many more .. These are by no means trifling issues, and The Guardian should leave well alone!"

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

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That's good to hear, @liuzhou - feels like the petition did the job.

 

Personally my fear is that the move to BBC Good Food is the first step towards charging for this content at a future date. 

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5 hours ago, thampik said:

That's good to hear, @liuzhou - feels like the petition did the job.

 

 

 

Not sure about that.

 

Quote

“To be absolutely clear there was never a possibility that recipes would be removed … all the recipes were and will be made available to everyone,”  - James Harding, the BBC’s head of news and current affairs

 

BBC head of news denies recipes U-turn

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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