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U.K. Treasury Pulls Interactive Site Due to Bizarre User Suggestions, Racist Rants

by Amar Toor on July 22, 2010 at 06:30 AM

update from uk treasury site
What began as a noble British endeavor has just come down in an inglorious blaze of abuse. As Reuters reports, the U.K.'s Treasury has decided to pull its interactive 'Spending Challenge' website, after users smeared the site with weird suggestions and tirades against ethnic minorities. The challenge, which was put in place by finance minister George Osborne, was created with the intent of soliciting voter opinion on budget cuts and fiscal policy. According to the Treasury, the site has received more than 60,000 proposals -- some funny, others not so much.

One user, for example, suggested that the country generate electricity by having cats run on treadmills, while another thought the government should implement a windfall tax on anyone named Steve. Ultimately, though, the site was done in by the flood of bigotry and insensitive racial comments posted by users. The Treasury reportedly received several complaints from minority groups, which led officials to remove the interactive feature from the platform. Voters can still use the site to send suggestions or opinions to the U.K.'s fiscal overlords, but their comments will no longer be immediately posted.

In a message posted on the site, the Spending Challenge operators wrote, "As you may have noticed, the site has been the subject to a small number of malicious attacks so we have unfortunately had to pause on the interactive features for now, but we're still keen to hear any further ideas you have, which we may publish at a later date."

Thus far, there hasn't been any indication as to how long it would take for a user's non-racist comment to make it on to the site, and it remains unclear whether or not the department will use stricter criteria in assessing voter feedback. But no matter how you slice it, the Spending Challenge's demise is unfortunate. The site's moderators may not be able to control comments when they're posted immediately, but couldn't they implement some sort of time delay, a la the post-Janet Jackson Super Bowls? That way, users could still feel as if they're part of a conversation, and browse through other opinions in simulated 'real-time,' instead of just tossing their opinions into the abyss of a glorified suggestion box. [From: Reuters]

Tags: government, interactive, racism, spending, SpendingChallenge, SpendingCuts, top, uk, UkTreasury, voters, website

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