Timothy Norton

What are publishing standards and why do we need them?

paul wheaton wrote:Some sites on the internet will publish anything that anybody submits. This is not one of those sites. . . When I talk on these forums, I am trying to nurture a style of communication that I think is good for a forum. . . a safe place for gentle souls to talk about homesteading and permaculture. . . In order to have that place, we need a strong defense against the spammers, the haters, the icky people, the trolls, the corporate trolls, the "hate in the name of love" people, etc.

That defense starts with our publishing standards.

Be nice. The rule here is simple, be nice. But what does that mean? Basically, it means being polite and respectful of others and their opinions. It means not assuming others are less than perfect because they have different ideas or do things differently.

Leave room for others' ideas and opinions. The art of disagreeing is all about the wording.
   Not nice: "You're wrong!"
   Nice: "I have a different idea about that."
   
   Not nice: "That's a stupid idea."
   Nice: "I didn't have much luck with that."

   Not nice: "Nobody does that!"
   Nice: "Interesting idea. Another possibility might be . . ."

Respect for copyright. Copyrighted material used without the original author or maker's permission is deleted. This includes links to free copies of pirated material that is protected by copyright.

Free speech and Censorship.  People sometimes think they should be able to say anything they want. They can, just not on Permies. If it violates our publishing standards, it gets deleted. Because this is a privately owned site, Permies has the right of censorship. The owner of the site, Paul Wheaton, is the one who gets to decide, and he's the one who developed our publishing standards. Our goal is to keep Permies as a positive place for constructive conversation about permaculture and homesteading.

Politics, religion, marijuana, GMOs, pesticides (and other toxic gick), justice, social justice, climate change, and other hot button subjects.  Sometimes, things like politics and spirituality are relevant to various aspects of permaculture. Or maybe someone wants to ask a question about their neighbor's use of herbicides. The problem is that people tend to have strong opinions on these topics. The discussion easily becomes divisive and argumentative, and people get defensive  and sometimes hostile. Plus, controversial topics attract trolls. The Permies solution for this is Cider Press.

Cider Press. The Cider Press is a restricted category of forums for Permies members who understand our publishing standards and know how to be nice. The requirements to post in Cider Press is to have apples and PIE (You can learn more about apples here, and about PIE here.)

The same publishing standards apply to Cider Press, with the added feature that staff can award apple cores. Apple cores means you lose apples! You can read more about apple cores and how to avoid them here.

Spammy promotions. We appreciate people who have permaculture and homesteading products, books, videos, websites, blogs, workshops, etc. to share. However, we have a spam detection system in place that will flag posts that are written in a spammy style. You can read how to promote your stuff without being labeled as a spammer, here.

Moderation issues. Sometimes, people are unhappy because we enforce our publishing standards. The place to talk about moderation, staff, or bot performance is in our tinkering with this site forum. Questions, comments or complaints about bots, staff, or moderation anywhere else on Permies will be deleted.

Probation posts. If a post is really good except for some small thing that isn't up to our publishing standards, the post is put on probation. A semi-automated PM is sent from staff explaining the problem and requesting that the post be edited to conform to our publishing standards.

A reminder for all, the Cider Press is the place for touchy subjects.

Learning moment of the day.

For three years now, I have failed to grow carrots. I try all sorts of tricks and they just don't do very well. I tried covering them with a board, ensuring proper moisture, babysat them daily and nada. This year, I took my remaining old seed and just tossed them in a bed that had space that I had not had the opportunity to plant out. This particular bed has a bunch of volunteer tomato plants that appear every year and like clockwork, they started growing. I did not get the opportunity to really weed/thin this bed so it has been overflowing with tomato plants and some turnips until yesterday.

I started to thin the plants in the bed and suddenly I was starting to see what I thought was cilantro underneath the bushy tomato plants in the shade. It didn't smell like cilantro so when I pulled one and found a six inch carrot attached to the greenery, I was overjoyed. Apparently, I just need to neglect carrots and I can grow them! No special watering or care needed!

Gardens work in funny ways man.

A new addition to my pollinator spaces, I have to tell you that I am rather impressed with Hairy Beardtongue. At roughly a foot to two foot tall, this bell shaped flowering plant thrives in well draining gritty soils providing early season blooms that attract and array of pollinators. It is quite often that I will see a bee butt sticking out of one of the many flowers of this plant when the nectar is flowing.

This flower has a native range encompassing the northeast United States and Eastern Canada going out towards the middle of both countries. I have heard that it has decent success growing in USDA zones 3-9.



Personally, I have found this perennial to be an excellent candidate for planting into rock gardens that are not soggy. I have them growing along my house foundation which has a rock barrier around it with really great success. Every year, the patch seems to grow a little bit more through both its seeds and rhizome. It appears to be rather manageable spread and has not concerned me over time.

What are you thoughts on this fun flower?

Welcome to Permies!

I have dealt with some level of lactose intolerance for a lot of my life. I kind of became blind to the effects that I was dealing with until my wife made an effort to point it out.

The worst effect that milk causes me is bloating. It can be a bit uncomfortable but life goes on, you know?

I find that yogurts and kefirs don't have this effect but drinking a glass of milk can cause this ill effect.

I wish I could figure out a way to improve the digestibility of lactose containing things, maybe I need to start a regiment of small dosed daily dairy?

I stumbled upon a conversation on another site surveying folks on what style of chicken coop they preferred when it is between a walk in or a raised coop. I figure that Permies might have some good thoughts on the subject so please consider participating in this poll!

[applepoll]

Please elaborate your reasons why in the comments.

My experience is similar to Judith’s. I spread the seed in the fall and by spring they start to appear. They are one of my earliest spring flowers that I notice.

From my own experience, placing a layer of wood chips (the thicker the better) does indeed seem to act as a magnet for worms. I think the combination of decaying organic matter, moisture, and large pore space seems to do the trick for them.

Personally, I have not had to add any outside worms to get them to appear. They just seem to figure out how to get there and appear to raise their future generations there. I hope that might be your experience too in the future if you try!

In a past career, I worked beside some very talented Urologists in an operating room whom I became good friends with over time. Some frequent conversations were about prostates and prostate health with some interesting findings.

As mentioned previously, as men age they tend to urinate more frequently. A very commonly experienced thing for men who discover they are having some form of prostate issue is frequent nighttime urges to go use the bathroom to the point that it is impairing decent quality sleep. It was not uncommon for patients to describe something along the lines of six trips (or more!) during the overnight hours to the loo. This can also come in the variation where the person experiences the urge to relive themselves but physically are unable.

Very recently, a good friend of mine confided that he was having issues going to the bathroom (either way) and after he went to the doctor discovered he appeared to have issues with his prostate. I want to emphasis that if someone is having the inability to urinate, this is an IMMEDIATE medical issue that needs to be addressed.

Now, when talking about the prostate a lot of people instantly think of cancer BUT that is not the only thing that can effect the prostate. Older men commonly have enlargement of the prostate gland just from age OR it could be a result of something like a bacterial infection. There are treatments out there if someone encounters issues but it is important to try and catch issues early on to be able to utilize the less invasive/intensive therapies that exist.