³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Goodbye, it's been a good journey.

I'm going to Sport Witness. Enjoy wherever you end up guys and gals.

Disgrace.

Many tens of thousands of people use 606 and how much did it actually cost to run?

The way the bbc have handled the 606 saga has truly been a disgrace and has lost the respect of thousands.

The very least they could have done was give us some alternatives like:

1) Do shorter opening hours

2) Make the forum a voluntary moderation site where trusted members moderate the site for free meaning you do not need to hire moderation staff as we would do it for free.

3) Place advertisements on the left hand side of the pages making you revenue.

4) Sell the 606 forum to a commercial venture

I emailed the bbc on alternatives but to no avail.

This service was well used. Should have cut some of the dross from the TV listings instead.
VERY unhappy!!!!!!!

Ok a positive to start with - since the decision was made at least there have been a few decent alternatives set up.

However the main strength of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 606 is that it was on the main ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ sport pages and so you would go on there whilst also browsing the sporting stories. It was a centralised forum and the new sites will struggle to achieve as many members.

what the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ don't seem to realise is that there will be far less reason now to use the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ sport pages now 606 has ended. Sky sports football centre is for example far superior to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ anyway.

the death of 606 reflects the decline in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ as a major sports provider in this country and so this is a sad day for those of us who were brought up watching sport on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.

finally the argument that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ put forward that 606 membership levels were falling is total rubbish. Since the closure date was announced members online have not noticeably fallen at all and as for facebook and twitter replacing 606....

goodbye 606 and goodbye ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ you have let your public down. Enjoy Salford its the best place for you

You say that you will continue to allow people to discuss the biggest sports news stories.

That's lovely.

But what about those of us a little bit lower down the pyramid? Fans of Championship and League One clubs. Cricket, rugby league, and athletics fans outside of the Olympics?

It's these people that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ has betrayed with this decision. None of the alternatives out there have the ability to attract the numbers and diversity that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ was, and still is, able to.

Good riddance!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I will miss 606. Please keep it open.

why couldn't you just cut EastEnders?

Hmm, users have halved since 2008. Dare i say the audience base is similar in size to the primetime shows on 1xtra, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ asian Network and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ radio 6? And how much do they cost to run/produce?

Although I'll be sorry to see 606 go, I have to admit it has changed for the worse in the 3 years I have been a member. I used to check 606 for any F1 news before other sites, as anything interesting would have been immediately picked up by a 606er and posted. These days it is just endless WUM articles by schoolkids with fake Italian names.

So, RIP 606, and thanks for the good times.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

What I fail to comprehend is that with so many alternatives, run virtually by individuals with voluntary moderators, how come the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ could not afford to keep the site running on a similar basis, or why some other organisation could not have kept it going with voluntary moderators. It has resulted in several new sites springing up causing the existing communities to disperse. It's been good on 606 but the reasons for the closure seem totally invalid. It is not just a case of saving money as this could have been achieved easily without closing it down.

Such a sad day - and I agree a disgrace.

Please all check out and use Sportpost.com ( which I have started after many years of using ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 606.

Thanks Ben. Thanks for letting us know well in advance. Thanks for keeping us informed since January. We know you didn’t have to, but letting us know early showed us that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ are not the incompetent inner-looking organisation we all thought they were, but the world leading public service we've all grown to love.

Thanks for showing us the One True Wayâ„¢ of using the internet. I'm sure we'll all get used to posting highly argumentative debates using only 140 characters. I'm sure we'll get used to clicking that 'Like' in a fit of teenaged joy.

Thanks for allowing us to post our email addresses so we can follow our fellow fans, and dare I says it, friends. Thanks for allowing us to post our real names so we can be tracked on Facebook.

Before I gush too much more, I think I can speak for most 606 users when I say:

Thanks for everything, now...

I'll miss 660. Surely it did not cost gazillions to run, and I am not convinvced by the alternative ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ are offering.

However, I accept that the numbers have dwindled and that it is no longer a key aspect of the site. Also, there are more modern ones out there than the 606 page, which seem to feel quite old.

See you all on ja606!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Its a sad day. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ should have found a way.

Joke

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Are you going to close this thread down after a handful of comments? You know, you read the text, you read the comments, you have something to add and *BANG* the close is already closed after a dozen posts.


Is this going to be the style of all further discussions? Can we come back in a week, when new information is availible, and post further comments? Can we debate until the subject is fully exhusted?

I look forward to debating the major sporting issues like "Should Button have won at the weekend?", "Will Man Utd will another title?" and "Liverpool: The new Liverpool"

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Been a good trip and sorry to see it go. I'm on not606 now with over 9000 users, 700 plus on line right now so all welcome.

Good luck whatever you all choose

Beeb should have found a way to keep 606, maybe they aren't getting enough money from all our licence fees....

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Wrong decision but hardly surprising...good luck to all 606ers

I find it quite funny that as you attempt to wind down 606 the number of members online continues to increase this morning.

and how can the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ think that the 606 format is outdated when there have been so many successful alternatives set up to replace it?

So sad to the end of 606.

If they wanted to save money, just cancel Eastenders and Doctors.

Well, that's that then.

How typical you have just closed it without warning... Utter contempt...

Glad it's going. In recent years comment has come from saddos with axes to grind who don't get out enough and are incapable of reasoned comment. You get what you deserve. Pity, tho. It's a great idea.

I was there right at the end and didn't get modded! Woo hoo!!!!

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ needs to get with the times.

Dropping the 606 website but keeping the phone-in is totally backtofront.

As for grown-up debate, the website never used to be overrun with childish wind ups but changes made by the bbc enabled them to flourish

Well thats that then. I had a good 5 years on the 606. Take care all

That's it then, it's gone. Forever.

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

darn it
I gotta work now:-(

Dismal management from a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in steep decline.

Just pathetic excuses for piggy-backing onto twitter.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ failed to keep up with evolution of internet debate and haven't tried to modernise 606 or adapt it to suit an ever changing internet.

Completely failed many people today. Congratulations.

I feel cheated the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ have let us down by closing 606, sport is an important part of are way of life in this country the fact that we pay a tax to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ means they should provide us with a service so sports fans can debate amongst ourselves, ok there was a few Muppets out there but by and large most 606 folk are decent enough people who have a bit of friendly banter with other fans.

Why was 6 music saved and 606 hung out to dry just because we didn’t have a voice like the radio stations DJ’s banging on about it all the time on air.

Why is it that during the news there is a reporter and support crew sent out to cover every story instead of just a report read out by the news reader, eg how many reporters are out in Switzerland covering Blatters attempts to hang on to power at FIFA?

Cuts could have been made else where and 606 could have been left alone as it was one of the best thing going for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

RANT OVER SO LONG 606

Well handled in a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ type way

Right, I see inda, devon, lobs and dazza.........we'll just stay here I reckon..

Im surprised at the comment that the user level had halved in the last 3 years _ I wonder how that worked for each sport - if it is the case (Im sure it is) then some of the blame needed to go down to the moderators policy - The first issue was never being given reasons properly for comments being removed - They were not always clear cut - I had 1 comment removed once - no idea why. Secondly - petty squabble became more frequent which turned people away - I was a member for 5 years but the last 18 months just got ridiculous - the cricket board (my favourite) was ruined - and that should of been stamped out - The rugby board was better but not by much - in the end I had to stop commenting or writing articles - In a way I will miss it - but I have a lot of friends that bailed out a while ago

Typically the site is closed with no warning, not even half way through the last day.
Couldn't handle the level of critcism coming your way Ben? Truth hurts I suppose.

I personally think that it is ridiculous that 606 is being shut down. There are lots of other things which could have been shut down or limited. Surely it does not cost much to run it and even if the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ had listened to some of its users and implemented limitations and changes to it to REDUCE costs, then most people would accept this, but to close it down completely is totally unnecessary and shows a lack of care for its users from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ. I therefore urge you, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, to see sense and to keep it running, making changes if necessary to reduce costs but NOT axing it.

Did any poster bring this up with any football club or footballer?
Too late now but it needed to be brought to the attention of a bigger audience.

I agree with many of the comments posted above, 606 was a great community and it is for that reason that alternative sites are set up. Ben, I was a fan of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for many years, but so far all I have witnessed is a steady decline, particularly on the sports pages. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is often late with a story, sometimes by only an hour but I have frequently seen stories that are a week or more late. I have also found that sometimes the journalist appears not to have written a particular article and merely copies it verbatim from another source..something we use to get pulled up on 606 for. So now you are saving vast quantities of money where will it be going, sending some of your journalists back to school to study? One final thing, in a sport where most of the home nations have success, Rugby Union, when will the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ get behind it properly and bid for the RWC or are you going to waste it on individual sportsmen who don't succeed ? Great shame you closed 606.

"Dropping the 606 website but keeping the phone-in is totally backtofront."

Just perhaps its all about the money?

"In many ways 606 belongs to an earlier era of the web." = Rubbish! Citing facebook and twitter as alternatives is codswallop! These are not forums in which discussions and points of view are shared in terms of a collective conversation which is exactly why neither facebook nor twitter sell themsleves as forums!

Twitter and facebook are useless in terms of meaningful debate and serve only for less than useful one liner soundbites. Is this what the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ means when it says "streamlined approach"?! The dumbing down of debate to mere soundbites????

I give up......

At least 14 comments awaiting moderation Lets keep 'em busy!

Its gone.

My favourite smiley - laugh>

Well thats that, bye bye everyone

"Let's be clear though, we still welcome comment and debate."

Keep telling yourself that

The visible ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ wastage - eg sending additional reporters off to foreign climes at the drop of a hat or seemingly keeping a helicopter permanently in the air to cover the most banal domestic event or hosting absolute dross tv shows etc etc - is bad enough. But to then close down something that gives pleasure to many and can only cost a pittance shows how remote ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ accountants and management are from the real world. I don't listen to the 606 phone-ins - not a fan of Alan Green and not interested in Chelsea, Man City etc, clubs that will self destroy sometime soon.

Best wishes to all real footie fans out there and, at least, thanks to 606 for having given us this opportunity over the years.

Sky Blue Sid lives.

It's a load of rubbish about Facebook and Twitter being the reason for a decrease in numbers on 606. The real reason is because it was so poorly moderated and ruined by wind up merchants which drove most sane and intelligent sports fans away. I used to enjoy 606 but I moved on a long time ago and I have no sad feelings about its demise whatsoever. Good riddance to a rouge state of libellous posts, hateful and spiteful "members" hiding behind anonymity and multiple IDs, and some of the most disgusting and disrespectful things I've ever read about many of our sporting heroes. Good riddance to a disgrace of a forum.

So the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ continues to dumb down its TV scheduling, but a resource used by a small but dedicated niche of its market is removed. A small niche that also are in the main license fee payers.

Surely a niche interest group being disenfranchised is against the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ’s equal opportunities criteria?

Men, thanks for the insightful posts over the years, thanks for the funnies. I will look for new pastures in a week or so, then the football chat will continue.

Utterly terrible management from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ. No interaction with the users at all, no negotiation around looking for a new party to host 606, no attempts at all to salvage anything for the users. Lazy business, if only ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ bothered responding to the users about the closure of 606 then maybe they'll have kept some of the respect they lost. Embarrassing.

I'm bitterly disappointed that 606 has closed, I've laughed, I've debated and I've made some good friends through 606. When it was good, it was very, very good and the Spurs board was among the best. Gin N Tonic

Very annoyed with the closure of 606. What was the cost of 606? Yes numbers have been in decline however it is a great way to engage with 'core' bbc users discussing anything to do with sport, whether it being 'front-page' news headlines or in my case most of the time chesterfields recent game. And that is the real annoyance, that i presume the debate in the future will be similar to the bbc news website, with comments displayed at the bottom of the page. And thats the problem, people want to engage in more than the select few headlines and top stories, and that was the beauty of 606.

Lost lots of respect for the bbc over this, bbc sport still is the best sports news site around, but its now lost its personal feel.

Well it's been emotional.

Thanks for everything. I find it hard to understand how 606 gets the axe whereas I'm sure other MBs still exist on fewer numbers? e.g. Radio 4

Stop pumping millions of license money into rugby union and the 6 nations....... keep 606,

It's only a sport for posh people anyway!

Ahh.........so that's devon, dazza, lobs, inda, bahamas, 17th, incredibleriseofgomes and gin!
It's like home!

Disgrace ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ. Disgrace

Had some fun times on 606: Spurs fans trying to wind Gooners up, Man Utd fans gloating when Arsenal went out of the Champions League to Barcelona - are the same Utd fans gloating now?

I think not!

Goodbye 606!

And good luck to the three teams who gained promotion to the PL!

Very short sighted by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
The overall coverage of sport by the organisation is reducing by the year, removing an opportunity to discuss evenrts with other fans offers further confirmation the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ see sport as an evil it must rid itself of.

Can't agree Ben, we're not all going to keep in touch through Farcebook or Tw*tter.

I refused to join Farcebook in the early days as I felt it was just inherently an unsafe place to post so much private info .... and, guess what, I do believe I was correct.

Twit-ter has all the appeal of being in a train carriage with the most boring people in the world AND they're all shouting into their mobile phones to their very best friend, who is probably sitting right next to them.

This was, again, my first reaction to it's over-hyped introduction - and people like Stephen Fry and Jake Humphrey (never mind all the brainless Premier League players) have proven that opinion correct many times over..... oops there they all go again!

Nice to see you're keeping the quaint old telephone contact option for the show on the quaint old wireless, but a shame you're also doing away with e-mail for many of the live web commentary events and only accepting text messages as an alternative.

Anyone at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ know the location of their posterior in relation to their elbow joint?

lol, how does this exactly cut costs if user load was falling? Sounds like a right load of old tosh.

Noooooooooo!!!!!! Up the Saints!

Shame about the forum closure. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ becoming increasingly out of touch with genuine fans

Second thought: if 606 was so out of touch in terms of the modern internet... why does ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ radio, with a declining audience (for several decades now, I think), still exist?

Radio is so far out of touch with the modern world that it is somewhat similar to me attempting to go to the local supermarket by chariot.

penny pinching cost saving measure, aimed at destroying the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ website.

606 was never properly advertised - very few sports articles properly linked to it. Then they wondered why it didn't take off and lost numbers.

A forum based around the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ news website SHOULD be massive due to the millions of people who read each article. The fact it failed is due to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ stupidity.

Fabulous service ripped away without consultation. Shame on you Aunty...

So the SAVE 606 campaign counted for nothing?

Go to not606 and you will find the same people you posted with and the same banter but with much more functioanlity in the site.

not606.com

Let's stand up by having a sit-in.

devon, dazza, lobs, inda, bahamas, 17th, incredibleriseofgomes and gin, harrysdisciple, preston..the list grows..this is officially the new SPURS board...........anyone else is a wum...

I support this decision. Partly because whenever I've looked at 606 it has been over-run by trolls and WUMS. But mostly because there are so many forums out there, and setting one up is so easy. I don't consider it the best use of public money to pay people to replicate what is being done elsewhere, perfectly well, by amateurs. If money is tight the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ should be focusing on its core remit - top quality coverage, writing and photography - which I believe it still does very well.

so the bbc take your licence fee money, spend it on what they want. but when you want something like 606, u get no say at all. u dont get a say in them taking ur money though. very poor

Numbers were in decline because they were being actively managed down by reduced advertising and linking to articles. Slaps forehead.

Must. Resist. Urge. To. Break. House. Rules.

Stand up, if you hate the Beeb
Stand up, if you hate the Beeb
Stand up, if you hate the Beeb

Stand up.

I've always enjoyed using the 606 message boards and think it's a real shame they're gone. It offered a completely different platform to share your views and enter discussions, which Twitter, Text-ins, etc simply do not accomodate for.

Anyway I'd like to thank everyone at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and agencies that helped make 606 happen and also to the users that have made it a fun and interesting place to visit.

Steffen Freund Crossbar Superstar OUT!!

So 606 joins the grave populated by Chants of the week, Quotes of the weeks and Robbo's blog. The four things that made the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport website the unique place it was.

You're right Galvin...

Tottenham have slapped a £50m price tag on left-sided player Gareth Bale, who is believed to be a target for Juventus and Inter Milan. However, they will let midfielder Luka Modric go for about £25m - despite denying the Croatian is on his way to Chelsea or Manchester United.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Have the Mirror journoes lost their marbles? Why would we accept half the value of our best player..? Discuss please...

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 606 had real potential, tis a shame that the management haven't done it justice. I imagine some sort of negative impact on the website in general and a reduction in those paying their license fee. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ not providing what the British tax payer desires.

61 - All together now We shall not, we shall not be moved...

"I support this decision. Partly because whenever I've looked at 606 it has been over-run by trolls and WUMS"

Totally agree - when you have idiots who use usernames like Holte Legends, bombarding the Spurs board with claptrap day after day, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ have made the right decision to close 606.

I'm laughing out loud at the contention that 606 is the home of "grown-up football debate" :D

Most of the opinions on there - usually from the callers, but occasionally from the more "colourful" hosts/pundits, are just daft. I usually find that the number of interesting and/or sensible opinions in any given show is half the number of "sack the manager"-type opinions. That's why I haven't been a regular listener for about seven years.

More biased views from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ staff and less banter from the General Public.

Not what people pay their Licence fee for.......

Anyone got any and s?

"We shall not, we shall not be moved"

Preston! Ridiculous story, though not surprising.may as well pack it in if we sell Luka.

Ere, /dna/606/A85189936 - Some people are STILL POSTING on 606.... What's going on?

Beat me to it by 5 minutes G&T :(

Still, where's the and s to keep us occupied while we "Hoddle" round thew 606 "Glaziers"?

Not 606. 1060 members on line at this moment and increasing by the minute. Come and visit.

Why not approach the users of the 606 site first before closing? We know how the forum should be run and even suggest much more efficient way of the running it!

With all due respect, I don't want to read the un-necessary blogs written by most of the toilet standard journalists you have in here. The users of 606 create their own debates, so I see no need for the over-bloated journo-section that exists.

Other forums have been set up with little cost, but with the dedication of users that want to create a social space for debate and exchanging views.

Shows how out of touch the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is.

Ive been a 606 forum member for 3 years now and i loved being on it i was addictive, Im Unhappy and bitterly dissapointed with the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for closing the 606 forum down I pay my Licence fee to you guys and then you go and this. Without being disrespectful i think you shutting this dow is in my honest opinion 100% out of order and i urge the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to reopen it. Its a total disgrace it has to be said!

The passing of the 606 website is sad but in truth it had run its course a bit like all the 606 nonsense on Radio 5 Live. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ of live sport also needs a overhaul as it has become a 2nd rate Sky. Over the weekend with so much world class sport and last night what did we get more of the same football drivel which has seen 5live become a shadow of it's former self.

No it is time for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to cut much of its football content. Way to much coverage on a sport where with the very rare exception we as a Country are rubbish at.

Why are all comments being pre-moderated?

RIP 606 :(

"In many ways 606 belongs to an earlier era of the web. Technology and user behaviour have been transformed in the years since it was launched in 2003. As I have mentioned before, it is worth remembering that this was back in the days before the likes of Facebook and Twitter came along to change not only the internet but, some would argue, create whole new forms of social interaction."
-----------------------

Utterly uninformed and ludicrous comment. The web is evolving for sure and pretty soon Twitter and Facebook will look old hat....but Message Boards - which is what 606 was - have been around since day one of the web and many millions are still here.

Of course these Message Boards evolve too - or not in the case of 606 but whose fault is that? - but what they do not do is turn into Twitter or FB.

Nor do Twitter or FB try to be Message Boards.

It's like saying - we had to stop making ships because they are old hat now we have cars. Wait, no it's not...it's nowhere near as informed or sensible.

Goodbye 606 we'll miss you....just as we'll miss the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ itself which seems to be intent on ritual suicide - after they've finished dismembering themselves publicly. It's a shame but we have to sit and watch....literally,

What no smileys? I was requesting virtual tea and cakes. Is there no budget for them?