Annelidans,
The injunction against discussing "operation of commercial and home worm-
farms" has again been queried. There is no difficulty. Plain 'OPERATION' is
not 'RESEARCH' and therefore is outside the charter of ANNELIDA. It's
simply not of interest here. Furthermore, 'operation' can be the thin end
of a wedge that widens into touting for business and unsolicited
advertising of services. Both are strongly disapproved of on Bionet. Some
people may not be aware that Bionet, the organisation that provides our
server facilities, has the probably the least tolerance of intrusive
commercial activity and advertising that exists on the Internet. I approve
of that policy. However, those involved in commercial worm activities are
very welcome to participate in discussion and surely can contribute and
gain useful information on culture research. Just don't consider this list
as a captive audience for selling (or buying) anything.
Peter JW Olive writes:
>The distinction between research and commercial applications is
>difficult to draw and as I am involved in both ...
As Dr Olive intimates, and as I've already said in another posting, there
is a continuum once we get into aquaculture/agriculture topics, but if we
all bear in mind that this particular list and its audience of annelidan
subscribers are devoted to worm science and not to the promotion and
facilitation of worm commerce I do not believe anyone will get into
trouble.
> ...deal with aspects relating to the commercial side. Of course it will
> be necessary to respect commercial confidentiality. ...
While I understand why those words are becoming more commonly used with
respect to contract research I'm afraid that doesn't sound much like the
open and cooperative exchange of information this list aims for.
I look forward to hearing as much about Peter Olive's worm culture research
as he is free to tell us. By the by -- Annelida has just had its busiest
24 hours with about 10 messages -- congratulations folks (and keep them
coming).
Finally, anyone who feels compelled to sign off for the holidays, etc -- send
to <biosci-server at net.bio.net> -- not to the rest of us. And come back soon,
but do it *silently*. Thanks so much :-)
'Discussion Leader'
--
Geoff Read <gread at actrix.gen.nz>
Annelida resources => http://www.actrix.gen.nz/users/chaeto/index.html
