Know your tools: a comment (spammer...)

There's money to be made building up links to website for the purpose of improving search rankings and/or just generating more click-through traffic. Many people object to "robotic" comments that are obviously being posted for this purpose, so the race is on to make better ways
Clearly, somewhere out there, someone has made available a clever little tool that will comment on blogs and news articles, using randomised text snippets and methods of expression to presumably make it somewhat harder to quickly spot when a comment is not genuine.
But if you're going to use such a tool it might be worth learning to use it before setting it off. Here's a comment posted to our new TwoTen blog - spot the mistake...

{
{I have|I've} been {surfing|browsing} online more than {three|3|2|4} hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. {It's|It is} pretty worth enough for me.
{In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made good content as you
did, the {internet|net|web} will be {much more|a lot more}
useful than ever before.|
I {couldn't|could not} {resist|refrain from} commenting. {Very well|Perfectly|Well|Exceptionally well} written!|
{I will|I'll} {right away|immediately} {take hold
of|grab|clutch|grasp|seize|snatch} your {rss|rss feed} as I
{can not|can't} {in finding|find|to find} your {email|e-mail} subscription {link|hyperlink} or {newsletter|e-newsletter} service. Do {you have|you've} any?
{Please|Kindly} {allow|permit|let} me {realize|recognize|understand|recognise|know} {so
that|in order that} I {may just|may|could}
subscribe. Thanks.|
{It is|It's} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make some plans for the future and {it is|it's} time to be happy.

{I have|I've} read this post and if I could I {want to|wish to|desire to} suggest you {few|some} interesting things or {advice|suggestions|tips}. {Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write next articles referring to this article. I {want to|wish to|desire to} read {more|even more} things about it!|
{It is|It's} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make
{a few|some} plans for {the future|the longer term|the long run} and {it is|it's} time to be happy. {I have|I've} {read|learn}
this {post|submit|publish|put up} and if I {may just|may|could} I {want to|wish to|desire to} {suggest|recommend|counsel} you {few|some} {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} {things|issues}
or {advice|suggestions|tips}. {Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write {next|subsequent} articles {relating to|referring to|regarding} this article.
I {want to|wish to|desire to} {read|learn} {more|even more} {things|issues} {approximately|about} it!
|
{I have|I've} been {surfing|browsing} {online|on-line} {more than|greater than} {three|3} hours {these days|nowadays|today|lately|as of late}, {yet|but} I {never|by no means} {found|discovered} any {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} article like yours. {It's|It is} {lovely|pretty|beautiful} {worth|value|price} {enough|sufficient} for me.
{In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners}
and bloggers made {just right|good|excellent} {content|content material} as {you did|you probably did}, the {internet|net|web} {will be|shall be|might be|will probably be|can be|will likely be} {much more|a lot more} {useful|helpful} than ever before.
|
Ahaa, its {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {discussion|conversation|dialogue}
{regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph}
{here|at this place} at this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web
site}, I have read all that, so {now|at this time} me also
commenting {here|at this place}.|
I am sure this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} has touched all the internet
{users|people|viewers|visitors}, its really really {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} on building up new
{blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}.|
Wow, this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} is {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}, my {sister|younger sister}
is analyzing {such|these|these kinds of} things, {so|thus|therefore}
I am going to {tell|inform|let know|convey} her.
|
{Saved as a favorite|bookmarked!!}, {I really like|I like|I love} {your blog|your site|your web site|your website}!

|
Way cool! Some {very|extremely} valid points! I appreciate you
{writing this|penning this} {article|post|write-up} {and the|and also the|plus the} rest of the {site is|website is}
{also very|extremely|very|also really|really} good.
|
Hi, {I do believe|I do think} {this is an excellent|this is a great} {blog|website|web site|site}.

I stumbledupon it ;) {I will|I am going to|I'm going to|I may} {come back|return|revisit} {once again|yet again} {since I|since i have} {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} it. Money and freedom {is the best|is the greatest} way to change, may you be rich and continue to {help|guide} {other people|others}.|
Woah! I'm really {loving|enjoying|digging} the template/theme of this
{site|website|blog}. It's simple, yet effective. A lot of times it's {very hard|very difficult|challenging|tough|difficult|hard} to get that "perfect balance" between {superb usability|user friendliness|usability} and {visual appearance|visual appeal|appearance}.
I must say {that you've|you have|you've} done a {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|fantastic|excellent|great} job with this.

{In addition|Additionally|Also}, the blog loads {very|extremely|super} {fast|quick} for me on {Safari|Internet explorer|Chrome|Opera|Firefox}.
{Superb|Exceptional|Outstanding|Excellent} Blog!|
These are {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {great|enormous|impressive|wonderful|fantastic} ideas in {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} blogging.
You have touched some {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {points|factors|things} here.

Any way keep up wrinting.|
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are usually|tend to
be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure|coverage|reporting}!
Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome|fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I've {incorporated||added|included} you guys to {|my|our||my personal|my own} blogroll.|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey}! Someone in my {Myspace|Facebook} group shared this {site|website} with us so I came to {give it a look|look it over|take a look|check it out}. I'm definitely {enjoying|loving} the information.
I'm {book-marking|bookmarking} and will be tweeting this to my followers! {Terrific|Wonderful|Great|Fantastic|Outstanding|Exceptional|Superb|Excellent} blog and {wonderful|terrific|brilliant|amazing|great|excellent|fantastic|outstanding|superb} {style and design|design and style|design}.|
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure|coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome|fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I've {incorporated|added|included} you guys to {|my|our|my personal|my own} blogroll.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey} would you mind {stating|sharing}
which blog platform you're {working with|using}? I'm {looking|planning|going} to start my own blog {in
the near future|soon} but I'm having a {tough|difficult|hard} time {making a decision|selecting|choosing|deciding} between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your {design and style|design|layout} seems different then most blogs and I'm looking for something
{completely unique|unique}. P.S {My apologies|Apologies|Sorry} for
{getting|being} off-topic but I had to ask!|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hey there|Hello|Hey} would you mind letting me know which {webhost|hosting company|web host} you're {utilizing|working with|using}? I've loaded your blog in 3 {completely different|different} {internet browsers|web browsers|browsers} and
I must say this blog loads a lot {quicker|faster} then most.
Can you {suggest|recommend} a good {internet hosting|web hosting|hosting} provider at a {honest|reasonable|fair} price?
{Thanks a lot|Kudos|Cheers|Thank you|Many thanks|Thanks}, I appreciate it!
|
{I love|I really like|I like|Everyone loves}
it {when people|when individuals|when folks|whenever people} {come together|get together} and share {opinions|thoughts|views|ideas}.
Great {blog|website|site}, {keep it up|continue the good work|stick with
it}!|
Thank you for the {auspicious|good} writeup.
It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to {far|more} added agreeable
from you! {By the way|However}, how {can|could} we communicate?
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hello|Hey} just wanted to give you a quick heads up.

The {text|words} in your {content|post|article} seem to be running off the screen in {Ie|Internet explorer|Chrome|Firefox|Safari|Opera}.

I'm not sure if this is a {format|formatting} issue or something to do with {web browser|internet browser|browser} compatibility but I {thought|figured} I'd post
to let you know. The {style and design|design
and style|layout|design} look great though! Hope you get the
{problem|issue} {solved|resolved|fixed} soon. {Kudos|Cheers|Many thanks|Thanks}|
This is a topic {that is|that's|which is} {close to|near to} my heart... {Cheers|Many thanks|Best wishes|Take care|Thank you}! {Where|Exactly where} are your contact details though?|
It's very {easy|simple|trouble-free|straightforward|effortless} to find
out any {topic|matter} on {net|web} as compared to {books|textbooks}, as I found this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} at this {website|web site|site|web page}.
|
Does your {site|website|blog} have a contact page?
I'm having {a tough time|problems|trouble} locating it but, I'd like
to {send|shoot} you an {e-mail|email}. I've got some {creative ideas|recommendations|suggestions|ideas} for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great {site|website|blog} and I look forward to seeing it {develop|improve|expand|grow} over time.|
{Hola|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Greetings}! I've been {following|reading} your
{site|web site|website|weblog|blog} for {a long time|a while|some
time} now and finally got the {bravery|courage} to go ahead and give you a shout out from {New Caney|Kingwood|Huffman|Porter|Houston|Dallas|Austin|Lubbock|Humble|Atascocita} {Tx|Texas}!
Just wanted to {tell you|mention|say} keep up the {fantastic|excellent|great|good} {job|work}!
|
Greetings from {Idaho|Carolina|Ohio|Colorado|Florida|Los
angeles|California}! I'm {bored to tears|bored to death|bored} at work so I decided to {check out|browse} your {site|website|blog} on my iphone during lunch break. I {enjoy|really like|love} the {knowledge|info|information} you {present|provide} here and can't wait to take a look when I get home.
I'm {shocked|amazed|surprised} at how {quick|fast} your blog loaded on my {mobile|cell phone|phone} .. I'm
not even using WIFI, just 3G .. {Anyhow|Anyways}, {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|good|wonderful|fantastic|excellent|great} {site|blog}!
|
Its {like you|such as you} {read|learn} my {mind|thoughts}!
You {seem|appear} {to understand|to know|to grasp} {so much|a lot}
{approximately|about} this, {like you|such as you} wrote the {book|e-book|guide|ebook|e book} in it or
something. {I think|I feel|I believe} {that you|that you simply|that you just} {could|can} do with
{some|a few} {%|p.c.|percent} to {force|pressure|drive|power}
the message {house|home} {a bit|a little bit}, {however|but} {other than|instead of} that,
{this is|that is} {great|wonderful|fantastic|magnificent|excellent} blog.
{A great|An excellent|A fantastic} read. {I'll|I will} {definitely|certainly} be back.|
I visited {multiple|many|several|various} {websites|sites|web sites|web pages|blogs} {but|except|however} the audio {quality|feature} for audio songs {current|present|existing} at this {website|web site|site|web page} is {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {marvelous|wonderful|excellent|fabulous|superb}.|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hello}, i read your blog {occasionally|from time to time} and i own a similar one and i was just {wondering|curious} if you get a lot of spam {comments|responses|feedback|remarks}? If so how do you {prevent|reduce|stop|protect against} it, any plugin or anything you can {advise|suggest|recommend}? I get so much lately it's driving me
{mad|insane|crazy} so any {assistance|help|support}
is very much appreciated.|
Greetings! {Very helpful|Very useful} advice
{within this|in this particular} {article|post}!

{It is the|It's the} little changes {that make|which will make|that produce|that will make} {the biggest|the largest|the greatest|the most important|the most significant} changes. {Thanks a lot|Thanks|Many thanks} for sharing!|
{I really|I truly|I seriously|I absolutely} love {your blog|your site|your website}.. {Very nice|Excellent|Pleasant|Great} colors & theme. Did you {create|develop|make|build} {this website|this site|this web site|this amazing site} yourself? Please reply back as I'm
{looking to|trying to|planning to|wanting to|hoping to|attempting to} create
{my own|my very own|my own personal} {blog|website|site} and {would like
to|want to|would love to} {know|learn|find out} where you got this from or {what the|exactly what the|just what
the} theme {is called|is named}. {Thanks|Many thanks|Thank you|Cheers|Appreciate it|Kudos}!

|
{Hi there|Hello there|Howdy}! This {post|article|blog post} {couldn't|could not} be written {any better|much better}! {Reading through|Looking at|Going through|Looking through} this {post|article} reminds me of my previous roommate! He {always|constantly|continually} kept {talking about|preaching about} this. {I will|I'll|I am
going to|I most certainly will} {forward|send} {this article|this information|this post} to him.
{Pretty sure|Fairly certain} {he will|he'll|he's going to} {have a good|have a
very good|have a great} read. {Thank you for|Thanks for|Many thanks for|I
appreciate you for} sharing!|
{Wow|Whoa|Incredible|Amazing}! This blog looks {exactly|just} like my old
one! It's on a {completely|entirely|totally} different {topic|subject} but it has pretty much the same {layout|page layout} and design. {Excellent|Wonderful|Great|Outstanding|Superb} choice of colors!|
{There is|There's} {definately|certainly} {a lot to|a great deal to} {know about|learn about|find
out about} this {subject|topic|issue}. {I like|I love|I
really like} {all the|all of the} points {you made|you've made|you have made}.|
{You made|You've made|You have made} some {decent|good|really good} points there.
I {looked|checked} {on the internet|on the web|on the net} {for more info|for more information|to find out more|to learn
more|for additional information} about the issue and found {most individuals|most people} will
go along with your views on {this website|this site|this web site}.
|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What's up}, I {log on to|check|read} your {new stuff|blogs|blog} {regularly|like every week|daily|on a regular basis}. Your {story-telling|writing|humoristic} style is {awesome|witty}, keep {doing what you're doing|up the good
work|it up}!|
I {simply|just} {could not|couldn't} {leave|depart|go away} your {site|web site|website} {prior to|before} suggesting that I {really|extremely|actually} {enjoyed|loved} {the standard|the usual} {information|info} {a person|an individual} {supply|provide} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {visitors|guests}? Is {going to|gonna} be {back|again} {frequently|regularly|incessantly|steadily|ceaselessly|often|continuously} {in order to|to} {check up on|check out|inspect|investigate cross-check} new posts|
{I wanted|I needed|I want to|I need to} to thank you for this {great|excellent|fantastic|wonderful|good|very good} read!! I {definitely|certainly|absolutely} {enjoyed|loved} every {little bit of|bit of} it. {I have|I've got|I have got} you {bookmarked|book
marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} {to check out|to look at} new {stuff you|things you} post…|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What's up}, just wanted to {mention|say|tell you}, I {enjoyed|liked|loved} this {article|post|blog post}. It was {inspiring|funny|practical|helpful}. Keep on posting!|
I {{leave|drop|{write|create}} a {comment|leave a response}|drop a {comment|leave a response}|{comment|leave a response}} {each time|when|whenever} I {appreciate|like|especially enjoy} a {post|article} on a {site|{blog|website}|site|website} or {I have|if I have} something to {add|contribute|valuable to contribute} {to the discussion|to the conversation}. {It is|Usually it is|Usually it's|It's} {a result of|triggered by|caused by} the {passion|fire|sincerness} {communicated|displayed} in the {post|article} I {read|looked at|browsed}. And {on|after} this {post|article} TwoTen.is | Array. I {{was|was actually} moved|{was|was actually} excited} enough to {drop|{leave|drop|{write|create}}|post} a {thought|{comment|{comment|leave a response}a response}} {:-P|:)|;)|;-)|:-)} I {do have|actually do have} {{some|a few} questions|a couple of questions|2 questions} for you {if you {don't|do not|usually do not|tend
not to} mind|if it's {allright|okay}}. {Is it|Could it be} {just|only|simply} me or {do|does it {seem|appear|give the impression|look|look as if|look like} like} {some|a few} of {the|these} {comments|responses|remarks} {look|appear|come across} {like they are|as if they are|like} {coming from|written by|left by} brain dead {people|visitors|folks|individuals}? :-P And, if you are {posting|writing} {on|at} {other|additional} {sites|social sites|online sites|online social sites|places}, {I'd|I would} like to {follow|keep up with} {you|{anything|everything} {new|fresh} you have to post}.

{Could|Would} you {list|make a list} {all|every one|the complete
urls} of {your|all your} {social|communal|community|public|shared} {pages|sites} like your {twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile|linkedin
profile, Facebook page or twitter feed|Facebook page,
twitter feed, or linkedin profile}?|
{Hi there|Hello}, I enjoy reading {all of|through} your
{article|post|article post}. I {like|wanted} to write a little comment to support you.
|
I {always|constantly|every time} spent my half an hour to read
this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}'s {articles|posts|articles or reviews|content} {everyday|daily|every day|all the time} along with a {cup|mug} of coffee.|
I {always|for all time|all the time|constantly|every time} emailed this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site} post page to all my {friends|associates|contacts}, {because|since|as|for the reason that} if like to read it {then|after that|next|afterward} my {friends|links|contacts} will too.|
My {coder|programmer|developer} is trying to {persuade|convince} me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the {expenses|costs}. But he's tryiong none the less.
I've been using {Movable-type|WordPress} on {a number of|a variety of|numerous|several|various} websites for about a year and am {nervous|anxious|worried|concerned} about switching to another platform. I have heard {fantastic|very good|excellent|great|good} things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can {transfer|import} all my wordpress {content|posts} into it? {Any kind of|Any} help would be {really|greatly} appreciated!|
{Hello|Hi|Hello there|Hi there|Howdy|Good day}! I could have sworn I've {been
to|visited} {this blog|this web site|this website|this site|your blog}
before but after {browsing through|going through|looking at}
{some of the|a few of the|many of the} {posts|articles} I realized it's new to me. {Anyways|Anyhow|Nonetheless|Regardless}, I'm {definitely|certainly} {happy|pleased|delighted} {I found|I discovered|I
came across|I stumbled upon} it and I'll be {bookmarking|book-marking} it and checking back {frequently|regularly|often}!|
{Terrific|Great|Wonderful} {article|work}! {This is|That is} {the type of|the kind of} {information|info} {that are meant to|that are supposed to|that should} be shared {around the|across the} {web|internet|net}. {Disgrace|Shame} on {the {seek|search} engines|Google} for {now not|not|no longer} positioning this {post|submit|publish|put up} {upper|higher}! Come on over and {talk over with|discuss with|seek advice from|visit|consult with} my {site|web site|website} . {Thank you|Thanks} =)|
Heya {i'm|i am} for the first time here. I {came across|found} this board and I
find It {truly|really} useful & it helped me out {a lot|much}.

I hope to give something back and {help|aid} others like you {helped|aided} me.
|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|Hello there|Howdy|Greetings}, {I think|I
believe|I do believe|I do think|There's no doubt that} {your site|your website|your web site|your blog} {might be|may be|could be|could possibly be} having {browser|internet browser|web browser} compatibility {issues|problems}. {When I|Whenever I} {look at your|take a look at your} {website|web site|site|blog} in Safari, it looks fine {but when|however when|however, if|however, when} opening in {Internet Explorer|IE|I.E.}, {it has|it's got} some overlapping issues.
{I just|I simply|I merely} wanted to {give you a|provide
you with a} quick heads up! {Other than that|Apart from that|Besides that|Aside from that}, {fantastic|wonderful|great|excellent}
{blog|website|site}!|
{A person|Someone|Somebody} {necessarily|essentially} {lend a hand|help|assist}
to make {seriously|critically|significantly|severely} {articles|posts} {I would|I might|I'd} state. {This is|That is} the {first|very first} time I frequented your {web page|website page} and {to this point|so far|thus far|up to now}? I {amazed|surprised} with the {research|analysis} you made to {create|make} {this actual|this particular} {post|submit|publish|put up} {incredible|amazing|extraordinary}. {Great|Wonderful|Fantastic|Magnificent|Excellent} {task|process|activity|job}!|
Heya {i'm|i am} for {the primary|the first} time here. I {came across|found} this board and I {in finding|find|to find} It {truly|really} {useful|helpful} & it helped
me out {a lot|much}. {I am hoping|I hope|I'm hoping} {to give|to offer|to provide|to present} {something|one thing} {back|again} and {help|aid} others {like you|such as you} {helped|aided} me.|
{Hello|Hi|Hello there|Hi there|Howdy|Good day|Hey there}! {I just|I simply} {would like to|want to|wish to} {give you a|offer you a} {huge|big} thumbs up {for the|for your} {great|excellent} {info|information} {you have|you've got|you have got} {here|right here} on this post.

{I will be|I'll be|I am} {coming back to|returning to} {your blog|your site|your website|your web site} for more soon.|
I {always|all the time|every time} used to {read|study} {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} in news papers but now as I am a user of {internet|web|net} {so|thus|therefore} from now I am using net for {articles|posts|articles or reviews|content}, thanks to web.|
Your {way|method|means|mode} of {describing|explaining|telling} {everything|all|the whole thing} in this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} is {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}, {all|every one} {can|be able to|be capable of} {easily|without difficulty|effortlessly|simply} {understand|know|be aware of} it, Thanks a lot.|
{Hi|Hello} there, {I found|I discovered} your {blog|website|web site|site} {by means of|via|by the use of|by way of} Google {at the same time as|whilst|even as|while} {searching for|looking for} a {similar|comparable|related} {topic|matter|subject}, your {site|web site|website} {got here|came} up, it {looks|appears|seems|seems to be|appears to be like} {good|great}. {I have|I've} bookmarked it
in my google bookmarks.
{Hello|Hi} there, {simply|just} {turned into|became|was|become|changed into} {aware of|alert to} your {blog|weblog} {thru|through|via} Google,
{and found|and located} that {it is|it's} {really|truly} informative. {I'm|I am} {gonna|going to} {watch out|be
careful} for brussels. {I will|I'll} {appreciate|be grateful} {if you|should you|when you|in the event you|in case you|for those who|if you happen to} {continue|proceed} this {in future}. {A lot of|Lots of|Many|Numerous} {other folks|folks|other people|people} {will be|shall be|might be|will probably be|can be|will likely be} benefited {from your|out of your} writing. Cheers!|
{I am|I'm} curious to find out what blog {system|platform} {you have been|you happen to be|you are|you're} {working with|utilizing|using}? I'm {experiencing|having} some {minor|small} security {problems|issues}
with my latest {site|website|blog} and {I would|I'd} like to find something more {safe|risk-free|safeguarded|secure}. Do you have any {solutions|suggestions|recommendations}?|
{I am|I'm} {extremely|really} impressed with your writing skills
{and also|as well as} with the layout on your {blog|weblog}.
Is this a paid theme or did you {customize|modify} it yourself?
{Either way|Anyway} keep up the {nice|excellent} quality writing, {it's|it is} rare to see a {nice|great} blog like this one {these days|nowadays|today}.|
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Adding real value through ICT

A lot has been written in recent years regarding the importance of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) staff understanding the business in which they work and therefore being able to add real value to the business through their selection and application of technology. Organisations the world around have taken heed of this, particularly after noting the positive results generated for the trailblazers, and have worked to get their ICT staff aligned with the organisation instead of treating them as outsiders. Many specialist sectors tend to be a little behind in these trends, and it seems to me that this is the case in the charitable sector, at least in the UK (exceptions noted!).

So how can ICT staff in charities can add real value? It can take some time for the best of us to identify technologies that will help in a given sector, let alone an individual organisation, but with charities there is a neat starting point - almost all charities depend on specific aspects of culture: the willingness of people to give, to volunteer; to spend some of their own time doing things for the benefit of others. Regardless of what else a charity does, educate, feed, heal, house, clothe, etc., it is essential to their success that the general populace has the desire and interest in giving freely, whether of time, skills, cash or a mix of the three. Anything that promotes this behaviour in our culture encourages charity and therefore helps charities to thrive.

This is the same positive aspect of cultures and individuals that allows open source software to thrive; people give of their time, their skills and/or their cash for the benefit of the greater good. So there is one simple thing that ICT staff in charities can do to add real charitable value; switch their charities to using open source.

Switch the charity to open source not because a given technical solution available at that instant of assessment and acquisition is "the best". Nor because the use of open source allows you to ensure the chosen solution becomes the best (once in use and the success criteria far better understood). Nor because the same technical people interested in open source are more likely to be interested in working in the charitable sector even if that means lower pay. Not even for the other long term cost savings offered by open source. Think, for a moment, about the tendency of charities to be helping the under-privileged in the global society and how an open source solution, having no cost of purchase, is likely to permit adoption by those very same under-privileged people, and how the charity's use of it tends to help to improve the software for all other users; let that influence the decision.

But in the final analysis, switch to open source because it promotes a charitable outlook in the greater society. The ultimate way to add value to your charity through technology. Technically not necessarily simple, but philosophically so, and drawing on ancient philosophies at that. Cultivate the desire to give charity; giving begats giving; do unto others as you would be done by.

To promote your charity, act charitably in your choice of ICT.


(A version of this posting appeared on Oxford Archaeology's blog server in 2007)

Another historical perspective...

There are so many questions around the existing copyright system; not least is that, whatever the historical justifications, the world has changed a huge amount since the discussions were last had in full. The presumption that, for example, breach of copyright "for profit" should be seen in the same way as when it was "not for profit" was presumably not considered historically, because the costs of reproduction were such that breach was generally for profit.

Of course the initial presumption that producers of content should have special protection over above producers of other things should also be revisited. Why should not doctors be paid for every time you use the leg they repaired? Plumbers each time someone uses the tap they installed?

For those who want to debate the need for change, please go and read this entry to the Future of Copyright contest. Engage in the debate there, engage in it here, I'm happy. But don't get into the position of thinking there's nothing wrong, just because you're used to thinking that. Today's historical perspective:

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.  

Thomas Paine, 1776

Copyright, content industries and "that's not fair"

In the sense of "and I'm going to tell my mummy government". Robert Heinlein penned the following quotation, as part of his first ever published story:

"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back."

Robert A Heinlein, Life-Line, 1939

The copyright reform battle is enshrined in this thinking. On the one side we have people reasonably pointing out that the move to digital from analogue completely changes how content can and is being reproduced, reducing some formerly expensive processes to zero cost; on the other we have the rights holders shouting "no fair" and demanding the law is made tighter, rights extended longer, and that everyone else must be made to expend their resources and all unreasonable efforts to protect their lucrative business model.

But their business model, historically lucrative and rather young, is now outdated. Setting a book for a PDF can be carried out using cost-free software in hours and reproduction is free; people are creating popular music in their bedrooms and distributing it at no cost, and with the rise of Aframe (and presumably soon a Samwers clone ;) ) film production costs are following the huge drop in distribution and reproduction that digital and the Internet had already brought.

A start-up founder should...

A start-up founder should be able to man the support lines, develop strategy, make a sale, prepare financial statements, design a marketing plan, write website content, balance accounts, build a desk, set targets, comfort their staff, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch to investors, programme a computer, cook up a business plan, grow efficiently, fail gallantly. Specialisation is for big corporates.

(with apologies to the ghost of Robert A Heinlein)

BT and the insanity of over-large companies

Here's a thing. Rural broadband. It's bad. It's bad partly because it's a long way along copper lines to the houses from the exchange (although I know people next door to their rural exchange who get suspiciously low speeds). This major element of the problem could be quickly and easily resolved by moving to fibre to the cabinet (FTTC). The cabinet is typically only a few hundred yards from the houses it serves, and fibre optic connections can carry signals over great distances with minimal loss of performance.

But BT, who rural residents are dependent on for infrastructure, don't see rural exchanges as economic to upgrade. The same BT, but in a different department, are tearing their hair out over the cost of maintaining copper infrastructure for these rural exchanges, as copper theft becomes increasingly common and rural locations are relatively low risk targets. Replacing a stolen length of copper serving an entire village is expensive in so many ways; the cable is expensive, the civil engineering that can be required is expensive, the telephony engineers to reconnect all the connections is expensive, the customer support dealing with complaints for the week or so the village is disconnected is expensive; and then there's the societal cost where elderly residents are cut off from the outside world for that long, potentially putting lives at risk.

Is it really so expensive to move rural exchanges to FTTC? That much more expensive than the costs of the copper cable thefts? More expensive than lives? Is it really uneconomic? No, probably not. But the upgrade department budget will be so very, very distant from the repair department budget; there's almost certainly no one with oversight of the two cost centres at a detail level necessary to see the opportunity. So rural residents get hit from both sides, having the lowest level of service while paying the same amount for their connection, while BT pay out for patching symptoms of a problem they could just rid themselves of.

Big companies don't have to be run in this short-sighted, disconnected way. But so many are...

What we can learn from monkeys (part 2)

If, the saying goes, you take enough monkeys and typewriters then given enough time it is statistically probable that they will reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Not a word or a phrase at a time, but each play as a coherent whole. The chance of the letter "n" being pressed, out of the 46 keys on our typewriter, is 1/46, the same for "o", the same for "w", for " "[1], for "i","s"," ","t","h","e"," ","w","i","n","t","e","r" and so on until we get the complete and excellent opening line of Richard III:

"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York"

The probability of this occurring with just one monkey is 1/46*1/46*1/46 and so on for the number of characters (76). To be more specific, the probability of creating just this first line is

1 in a number far too big to even write out in normal numbers (46^76)

Hmmm. Ok, to bring it down to numbers worth writing out, let's just look at the first two words "Now is", a total of 6 characters, which the chances of one monkey randomly tapping out is

1 in 9,474,296,896 (making the odds of winning the UK lottery jackpot of 1 in 13,000,000 seem positively likely!)

But with enough monkeys and enough time it becomes more and more likely that not only will one them tap out those opening 6 characters, but also the opening 76 characters, and even the all of the large number of characters that is Richard III, all the rest of Shakespeare's surviving plays and even the lost ones (although I'm not sure how we would know the lost ones had been correctly typed out...). By combining an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters, it would not be statistically significant that the monkeys produced the complete works; if you started with nothing and in 6 weeks someone delivers a typewritten manuscript the fact that infinite monkeys were involved means that statistically it would be not unlikely i.e. not *mathematically* improbable that the manuscript has been produced by pure random chance by a bunch of monkeys with typewriters.

Arthur looked up. "Ford!" he said, "there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out."[2]

So here our ever helpful monkeys are helping teach us something about statistics; that they are a dangerous source of truths. While not mathematically improbable, this truth is heavily dependent on a few highly unlikely things, like having an infinite living space in which to house infinite numbers of monkeys with their typewriters.

This becomes even more of an issue when numbers turned into statistics to be used by politicians and news outlets and those others with an agenda, who all too often mistake correlation for causation, using statistics to demonstrate why some new policy or other is needed or why a current one should be changed, when (1) not understanding that statistical significance is mostly about having, or assuming, the right amount of monkeys and that (2) the fact that two measurements correlate does not mean one caused the other. News outlets in particular also have a tendency to reproduce statistics as the agenda-pusher would have them reproduced "the murder rate in the country has gone up 10%" (was 10 in year 1, 11 in year 2); the same numbers could just as easily, and probably less misleadingly, have been reported with a more qualitative statement such as "the murder rate in the country was stable".

It is this misuse and misunderstanding that help give rise to the saying "Lies, damned lies and statistics"[3]; but everyone is at it. Internal "news outlets" (news inlets?) are equally prone to misleading messages of the types "90% of users rate the IT support service as 4/5 or higher", which is more precisely reported as "of the people who got around to filling out the satisfaction survey when their helpdesk ticket was closed, 90% rated the service as 4/5 or higher". A statement that would be further informed by the information that the survey defaults to 5 and you have to change it to anything lower; then take into account such truisms as people are more likely to complain than praise. Eventually a qualitative statement would work out to be more useful "the IT support service is making very few people angry", which if new software is being rolled out is good news indeed!

Qualitative statements are seen to carry less weight than ones laden with numbers, which in organisations is probably the fault of the CFO; this seems ironic, given the quantity of assumptions and informed guesswork that is the basis of corporate accountants...

In the end remember this: statistics just provide information in a numerical form. What it all actually means is a matter of interpretation. In other words don't be mislead into believing the numbers are not just another qualitative measure...

[1] Although surely the space bar is so much bigger it would be more likely to be pressed? Damn these complications and assumptions...
[2] Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, with a little help from the Improbability Drive
[3] Said by someone, some time in some form: http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/lies.htm