It’s quite simple: it’s British
Published by on March 12th, 2006
The strapline: BritCaster.com - At the heart of UK podcasting.
The main header link to register states: ” Register your British podcast”.
The registration form states: “Please note that Britcaster currently only promotes and accepts registrations from British podcasts and British podcast producers. Your registration will be checked by an admin for eligibility.”
And the Terms & Conditions state that a podcast is considered British only if: “At least one of the regular significant, audible contributors to the podcast show must be a citizen of the UK or UK expat living abroad.”
Yet, over a third of podcast submissions are from podcasters who are clearly not British (mostly American)! Pretty much every week I am adding to the registration information trying to stall non-British registrations. The form itself even bounces if the registrant chooses any nationality other than British - stating in a bright red error message: “Britcaster only accepts registrations from British podcasters…”
I realise that many podcasters out there desperate for an extra listener or two will just fill in forms willy-nilly, but do they believe a blatant mirepresentation by being a non British podcast on an exclusively British listing site can benefit them in any way.
It escapes me.
I check all submissions manually for eligibility and request further evidence of their Britishness if it is not clear from the podcast and/or website that they are in fact British. These are a selection of responses I have had back:
- You should make it clearer you only want British
- It was worth a shot
- We still have the Queen on our currency
- Isn’t Canada part of the commonwealth?
- It’s the American way
- Oops
- <silence>
What is interesting perhaps, is that I had absolutely no bogus registration attempts when registration consisted of emailing me with the podcast details. Despite the statement on the form that a human will verify the details, it seems that slightly less personal action of filling in a form, rather than communicating with a human being, permits the registrant a little less responsibility for accepting the nature of the site.
Have online forms removed our inhibitions to comply?
