Archers fans have been ticked off for threatening its fictional characters online.
Facebook shut one forum after ruling that lovers of Radio 4’s rural soap broke its “community standards”.
The website is policed by software that cannot tell the difference between threats to real and fictional people.
Fans have raged that they’d like to see characters “burned on the village green”, given “a kick in the plums” or “a full-on battering”.
Sixth-former George Grundy was branded a “right little t***”, with one member adding: “Hopefully he’ll fall in the combine harvester”.
Another listener blasted: “A lot of slow-burn storylines at the moment. Bring on the napalm for f***s sake.”
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A comment about wanting a character to be “burned on the village green” was also censored by the US site’s automated bots, which cannot tell the difference between threats to real and fictional people.
The Archers Appreciation Reborn forum told its 2,100 members: “We are getting increasing numbers of warnings about posts threatening violence.
“It matters not that we are discussing fictional characters. Members are still posting about ‘things’ they’d like to do to Ambridge residents.”
The forum restarted this year after an earlier incarnation, called The Archers Appreciation Group, was shut down for rule-breaking.
Group leader Lynda Hance wrote on the forum: “FB might close this forum like they did its predecessor. If that happens I won’t resurrect it a 3rd time.
“So, enjoy this group, but also take responsibility for its continued existence.”
Last year, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, 75, told how she is a huge fan of the show.
Set in the fictional English village of Ambridge, The Archers is the world’s longest-running soap, having been broadcast since 1951.
