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Over Bifurcated Carrots

Every once in a while, I think it’s a good idea to take the time to tell my readers a little about this blog, why it’s here and what it’s goals are.

The Readers

That’s you.  Readers of this blog include people from almost every country on earth, and almost every walk of life.  You range from small farmers and gardeners, to scientists and politicians.  You are rich and poor.  The UN has 197 member states, and in a typical month I get visitors from about 100 different countries.  On a 12 month basis, nearly all countries are represented.  Depending on the time of year, a typical day brings 500-1500 unique visitors.  On an annual basis I get well in excess of 100,000 unique visitors, and this number is almost always increasing over time.

Many readers come to the front page, for the latest information.  A large number of readers, about half, come across useful information in the archives when using search engines like Google.

These numbers represent my best estimate.  Increasingly people read this blog with services like Google and other commercial services, which can mask their true reading habits.  Some readers even use anonymizing services like proxies or tor routers — and you are very welcome!  It’s also not always possible to tell the difference between a real person and an Internet robot.  My estimates are based on current information, as well as past trends.

NGO

By definition, an NGO is an organization, and has more than one person.  I am principally one person behind this blog, but together with all of you I am much more than one.  In this sense I do sometimes operate as an NGO, and sometimes write letters and lobby lawmakers or organize events.  Please consider yourself a member, and tell me what direction you want your organization to take!

Goals

The goals of this blog are pretty straight forward.  I try to provide in the most useful way information relating to agricultural biodiversity, especially as this relates to small scale agriculture.  I make an effort to promote small farmers, plant breeders, seed companies and others who are employed or self-employed in agriculture, working on a small scale.  Of course I like home heirloom gardeners and seed savers too, as well as consumers!  Everyone interested in these topics are very welcome readers here.

I am not particularly a news blog, in the sense that I don’t make an effort to stay current on the latest developments and write about them.  You need to look elsewhere for a website or blog like that.  I write about what I want, when I want…

From time to time I also write completely off-topic posts.  You don’t have to read these…

How you can help and participate!

If you see something on this blog you like, share it with others!

It might surprise you, but I actually don’t spend a lot of time reading things on the Internet.  I decided long ago that I don’t have time for things like Facebook and Twitter.  Yes, I have a news reader and a few RSS feeds.  There are a few other blogs I read regularly.  Mostly I have a life to lead, and do other things besides reading the Internet.

At least half of all ‘news’ items on this blog are because someone sent me an email to tell me about it!  Please help by sending an email if you learn about something interesting!

Having said this, I don’t wish to be placed on any mailing lists without being consulted first, and given the opportunity to unsubscribe.  I value personal emails far more than bulk mailing lists!

Email

I like to hear from readers, and like to hear what you think.  In general I get a lot of email, and can spend several hours on it each week.  While a little bit of chatty email for a short time is welcome, I’m often overwhelmed with email.  If you have something to say, by all means send an email.  Please be a little patient however, if I need to cut our discussion short because I have too many other things to do — it’s nothing personal!  Email can take a lot of time.

If you’re in the mood to chat with like minded people, consider this discussion forum instead.

Comments and other General Policies

As far as comments go, pretty much everything but spam is allowed.  Certainly everyone is welcome to leave their opinion, no matter what that is.  I do have a few rules, but these don’t apply to normal people who leave normal comments, in a normal way.  Please feel free to leave comments!

I’m sometimes approached by people who want me to promote their cause, sometimes even help them raise money for it.  If it’s a topic related to this blog, I’ll try to be helpful.  This blog is non-commercial in nature, and in general it’s readers are not the giving type.  In order for a blog to be effective in raising money, it has to be written and set up for that goal from the beginning, and that’s just not what I try to do here.  You should not expect to get very much money here.

I get too many requests for links to be added to my blogroll to accept them all.  I am happy to hear from you if you have another blog, and will consider your request, but I only ever agree to a small number of these.  I also regularly go through my blogroll and remove links, so even getting into my blogroll is no guarantee.  Even if I don’t add you to my blogroll, I’ll probably mention you in a post, so please get in touch!

I don’t accept guest posts, except maybe from someone I already have some kind of blog-relationship with. I used to accept guest posts, but there is too much spam out there these days, and it’s no longer possible to sort out the good and bad offers for these posts.  I don’t answer emails offering to do guest posts.

Corporations are often very sensitive to their image on the Internet, and often pay people to keep an eye on blogs like this who say unfriendly things about them.  Especially on topics related to food, there is a lot of misinformation out there, often with the express purpose of detracting from the kinds of things I write.  I’m frequently approached and asked to present this misinformation.  For example, I write on the topic of vegetarianism, and then will be asked to embed an obviously corporately sponsored video on animal based food, that provides misinformation.  This blog is not a free speech platform, and does not take it upon itself to provide all points of view.  I do not accept requests to present information different from how I have already presented it.

Everyone is welcome to present their own point of view in the comments.

Statistics and SEO

There are many statistics available for viewing on the Internet concerning website popularity.  Almost all of these statistics can be manipulated, either by yourself or by someone else for a fee.  In fact, I would say most sites manipulate their statistics, and in my opinion this is very obvious and looks childish.  Many people think they need to manipulate these statistics in order for their website to be taken seriously, but in fact the opposite is true.

I do not personally condone the manipulation of statistics related to this blog, and I do not do this myself or pay for it.  I certainly cannot guarantee that no one else does this, as it would be easy to do.

I do perform basic SEO or Search Engine Optimization.  Searching on this term will lead you to a number of websites that explain this, and if you have any questions please ask.  Basically this is a process of optimizing your site for search engines, so they can more efficiently match you with people looking for the information you offer.  This in turn means your site ends up with more visitors.

Donations and Advertising

I don’t knowingly put up irrelevant commercial links.  I don’t accept any advertising, overt or embedded, and I don’t accept any payment for writing posts.

This blog values it’s independence!

I don’t depend for survival on donations from readers, but donations are welcome.  You shouldn’t feel pressured in any way to make a contribution!

If you would like to make a small donation, consider doing this through Flattr.  You can use Flattr to either make a one time donation, or regular monthly donations.  With Flattr you can either make the donation with your name, or do it anonymously.  Even very small contributions are welcome.  Even if it doesn’t make a huge difference to my pocketbook, it’s nice to be appreciated by my readers.  You will pay some fees to use Flattr, and if you would prefer to write a US check in dollars, or make a direct deposit to my European (Euro) bank account, let me know.

I don’t knowingly accept donations from from individual, foundation or corporate interests who are opposed to the goals of this blog, or who wish to materially influence it’s direction.  Having said this, if you’re inclined to make a larger donation to help this blog, please get in touch and lets talk.  I don’t have any sort of tax exempt status, you are just giving money to a person, need to pay tax accordingly, or we need to make other arrangements.

As an alternative to direct funding, I’m also open to discussion on funded joint projects, that are consistent with the goals of this blog.

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Flattr Now Open Beta

I’ve written several times in the past weeks about Flattr, the micropayment system.

Yesterday, they announced they are going from closed beta testing to open beta.  This means anyone who wants to can sign up without the need for an invitation.  It also of course means they still consider themselves to be in the testing phase, but my experience with it so far has been very good and it all seems to work well.

To briefly summarize, with Flattr you can give small amounts of money to this and other websites which have signed up and have a Flattr button.  You choose the amount of money you want to commit to giving away each month, with a minimum of €2, and this amount is spread among the people who’s Flattr buttons you click on.  There are some costs, the fees for depositing and withdrawing money, and a 10% commission to Flattr themselves, which they promise to try to lower over time.

If you have a website yourself, you can also solicit donations through Flattr.  There is also a service called imflattrd, where you can create an online profile and flattr button even if you don’t have a website.  In particular this is useful with social networking tools.

For more detailed information, have a look at the Flattr website by following the link above.

I would really encourage all readers to become part of Flattr.  As well as being able to donate small amounts of money to my efforts here, there are an increasing number of other sites accepting Flattr donations as well.  The amount of money you have to commit is relatively small.  After you have paid fees and the like, the minimum cost is around $30/yr, and if you have a website this will be partly or completely offset by donations others give to you.

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Minute Meme: Copying is not Theft

Following up on my posts from yesterday, this is a 1 minute video meant to be a response to similar short blurbs sponsored by the recording industry.  I would encourage you to read about the background of the video at it’s original source.  In particular they are not necessarily suggesting copying can’t be harmful in the end, they just feel copying can be a good thing and the true definition of copying is too important to be distorted by those who want to discourage us from doing it.

Animation, lyrics, and tune by Nina Paley. Music arranged by Nik Phelps; vocals by Connie Champagne.

questioncopyright.org

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Wikileaks: Afghanistan War Diary 2004-2009

Arguably one of the most significant uses of the Internet to publish information that belongs in the public domain.  You can read more about it and access the documents on the Wikileaks site.

Recently the Swedish Pirate Party, who have two seats in the EU parliament and is their own ISP, have offered ISP services to Wikileaks should they find it useful.

For those of you who are Flattr users, you can flattr them here:


Wikileaks: Afghanistan War Diary 2004-2009

For those of you who aren’t Flattr users and are interested, contact me for an invitation code or sign up for a code on the Flattr website.

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Pirate Party

Probably a lot of people reading this have heard of the Swedish Pirate Party or perhaps The Pirate Bay website where you can find things like videos, music, software and other things to download, copyrighted and otherwise.

In fact the idea of the Pirate Party has spread worldwide, and many countries have similar emerging parties.

The Pirate Party really came to peoples attention when The Pirate Bay website was raided by the Swedish police.  It was raided, not because it was in violation of Swedish or other law, it was raided on the request of the US government who threatened trade sanctions against Sweden(!) if they didn’t shut the website down.  In Sweden this is illegal.  Politicians are not allowed to request the police to do this, but they did it anyway.

In the following video, Peter Sunde, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay website tells the story of The Pirate Bay, the Swedish Pirate Party and Flattr:

In the last European elections the Swedish Pirate Party won 2 seats in the EU Parliament. Since the ISP of The Pirate Bay was ordered by a judge to disconnect the website, the Swedish Pirate Party decided to become an ISP and now hosts The Pirate Bay website in the Swedish parliament building. The Swedish constitution gives them immunity from prosecution as long as their actions are consistent with their party mandate. This is the reason The Pirate Bay website is still available on the Internet.

I am no spokesperson for the Swedish or any other Pirate Party. In fact one of the things I’ve discovered recently is there is a huge diversity of opinions within these parties. As a rule however, these parties are opposed to the injustices imposed by copyright holders on users of the Internet. These include lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, disconnection of Internet service and other actions.

I think many Pirate Party members feel like I do, that downloading anything from the Internet is a good thing. It is the nature of how the Internet works technically. It’s how information and computer tools are distributed and it’s how people communicate. This is simply an important aspect of how the Internet works, and people should use it as such.

Few people are opposed to creators of this content being paid! I think it’s a fine idea for people to be paid for their work. The idea of enforcing this payment by imposing rules on the use of the Internet is seriously flawed.

There are even some politicians who believe people who break these or other rules should have their Internet service disconnected! Can you imagine this? This is like taking away someone’s library card, because they’ve abused the information in the books.

In today’s world the Internet is far beyond a luxury. If you’re a person of any age in school, you’ll almost certainly receive a portion of your assignments on the Internet. Some companies now only bill via the Internet. It’s simply the largest and most important source of information and communication, and it’s not something you take away from someone because they’ve been bad! Already it’s a necessary part of life, and in the coming years it’s going to be even more important.

This video has some Dutch but it’s mostly in English, and features the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party talking a bit about the party principles:

While these principles apply now to the Internet, there are ramifications for Democracy as a whole. Do we want seed companies to someday be able to tell us we can’t trade seeds over the Internet?