Erowid Goes Non-Profit!
- Thread starter AuraithX
- Start date
o-ver-dose-er
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2007
- Messages
- 47
Ahhh So Many Triports I Have Submitted.
RavenousBlonde
Bluelight Crew
Thou
Bluelighter
frizzantik said:
I think this forum is all the feedback one would ever hope to acquire, erowid's more of a "drugipedia" in my eyes.
nuke
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
- Messages
- 4,191
I'm surprised it took so long, really, what with all the jihadist non-profit organizations before 9/11, and erowid's been around since well before then.
Erowid is a non-biased drug resource which thankfully runs counter to the very biased government sponsored programs, and allows any young person to log on and see that the gov't programs are partially full of shit in some ways, correct in others. It has a very important place in the world of information.
Erowid is a non-biased drug resource which thankfully runs counter to the very biased government sponsored programs, and allows any young person to log on and see that the gov't programs are partially full of shit in some ways, correct in others. It has a very important place in the world of information.
MinneapolisAcid
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2007
- Messages
- 306
Sweet!
This means my donations will now be tax deductable =]
This means my donations will now be tax deductable =]
Roger&Me
Bluelighter
djfriendly said:
I'm not saying it doesn't have its limited uses. It is a good very basic resource for those not well versed in pharmacology etc. However, there are several aspects of it that I find fatally flawed. (In addition, I wouldn't go so far as to call Erowid "unbiased," I've perceived various aspects of their sight as decidedly biased in the pro-drug direction at times.)
1. The amount of shitty experience reports is baffling. Many of them seem outlandish, inaccurate, made-the-fuck-up-out-of-nowhere etc. Also, theres alot of them submitted by law enforcement and that kind of shit that truly fuck up the 'goal' of Erowid. Honestly, sometimes I wonder WHY THE FUCK they approve so many shitty reports. It's mind-boggling. WHY??
2. It's lazily updated, incomplete, not nearly comprehensive enough. There are many chemicals with next to no information available on, etc. I can't tell you how much I would improve Erowid if I ran it. Hopefully this non-profit status will help them make it better.
3. There is no type of "peer-review" process at Erowid like there is here at BL. Ideas cannot be thrown around and dissected. I would probably say that for this reason, BL is the single greatest drug resource on the net. One does NOT have to be a member to benefit from this site. It reads like a searchable database of intelligent discussion on almost every facet of drug use imaginable. So, I guess in answer to your question, I would say that BL is a superior resource. Although, admittedly, I believe even BL could be streamlined and made better in alot of ways (no I won't get into them damnit, that's not productive. I like this place pretty well.
)Honestly, I think the internet resources on drugs will be fucken awesome in the future. I just hope some group will step up the plate and make something truly comprehensive. Useful to both the beginner and the most advanced alike, because it's got IT ALL. Haha, now that's the kinda shit I have wet dreams about. :D
Mind_Movie
Bluelighter
^ why don't you offer your help to Erowid? Or start a new site?
..criticism is easy..
..criticism is easy..
Roger&Me
Bluelighter
Mind_Movie said:^ why don't you offer your help to Erowid? Or start a new site?
..criticism is easy..
Because I choose to share everything that I know about substances on this site. From a research standpoint, I think that this site is far superior to erowid. It's a searchable database of intelligent, open, but well-moderated, discussion regarding psychoactives. It's mindblowing how useful and comprehensive this database could eventually become given enough time.
And I have donated to Erowid a few times, decent amounts as well. But I really think the quality of Erowid is mediocre at best, and needs heaps of hard work in order to become anything close to comprehensive.
What I like about this site is how it builds itself, its not dependent upon a few site developers to add new information; information is constantly fluxing into the site freely from a myriad of different sources, building a searchable, malleable database where anyone can add their 2 cents.
champ
Bluelighter
^^You make valid points here, but part of what I like about erowid is the sheer volume, the breadth of information and the somewhat indiscriminate nature of what you can find on the site. There's something really cool about the fact that almost anyone can write an outlandish trip report or submit a link to a scientifically suspect article and this kind of stuff is presented alongside trip reports that have true literary merit and articles that are scientifically valid.
I guess I appreciate that in some ways they seem to disregard a lot of the usual boundaries that we use to divide types of knowledge. Objective observation versus subjective experience, science versus art, true versus false, crazy versus sane, etc.
I guess I appreciate that in some ways they seem to disregard a lot of the usual boundaries that we use to divide types of knowledge. Objective observation versus subjective experience, science versus art, true versus false, crazy versus sane, etc.
> 1. The amount of shitty experience reports is baffling. Many of them seem
> outlandish, inaccurate, made-the-fuck-up-out-of-nowhere etc. Also, theres alot
> of them submitted by law enforcement and that kind of shit that truly fuck up
> the 'goal' of Erowid. Honestly, sometimes I wonder WHY THE FUCK they approve
> so many shitty reports. It's mind-boggling. WHY??
There is a lot of good data in even shitty experience reports. You don't have to read the shitty ones, we even provide you with ratings to tell you which are the really good ones and which ones are less than stellar. But we don't want to just delete all the reports that are written with poor grammar and not very interesting because there is much to be learned from them (especially in aggregate). For instance, we're working with some researchers to do keyword analysis of experience reports. But I definitely don't recommend reading them all.
How do you know that there's "alot of reports submitted by law enforcement"? We certainly wouldn't be surprised if there's some of that, but there's not a lot of evidence one way or another.
> 2. It's lazily updated, incomplete, not nearly comprehensive enough. There are
> many chemicals with next to no information available on, etc. I can't tell you how
> much I would improve Erowid if I ran it. Hopefully this non-profit status will help
> them make it better.
Well, however you perceive it, please believe me that none of us over here are lazy. I work on the site 10-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. I agree that we could use 10 people doing nothing but updating and adding information to the site, but we don't have the funding to be able to afford that size staff at this point. Hopefully this non-profit status will help us make it even better.
> 3. There is no type of "peer-review" process at Erowid like there is here at BL.
Erowid has a very robust peer-review process. We have hundreds of volunteers and advisors who help review and edit data that is submitted and/or published on the site. Every experience reports is read by no less than three reviewers before being either published or refused. Many documents are read by more than that. And once documents are published, we often receive corrections, additions, or edits from readers that are then worked back in to the published document. We spend a lot of time on that.
> Ideas cannot be thrown around and dissected.
Ideas and individual documents are thrown around and dissected at Erowid, you just don't happen to be in the group of people who do this level of review at Erowid, so you don't see it happen.
> One does NOT have to be a member to benefit from this site.
One doesn't have to be a member to benefit from Erowid either. I think there's plenty of room for Erowid and Bluelight and dozens of other resources to all be valuable. Different people have different preferences and learning styles. Some people prefer an open discussion forum, some prefer a more ordered resource and many prefer to have access to both.
Fire
> outlandish, inaccurate, made-the-fuck-up-out-of-nowhere etc. Also, theres alot
> of them submitted by law enforcement and that kind of shit that truly fuck up
> the 'goal' of Erowid. Honestly, sometimes I wonder WHY THE FUCK they approve
> so many shitty reports. It's mind-boggling. WHY??
There is a lot of good data in even shitty experience reports. You don't have to read the shitty ones, we even provide you with ratings to tell you which are the really good ones and which ones are less than stellar. But we don't want to just delete all the reports that are written with poor grammar and not very interesting because there is much to be learned from them (especially in aggregate). For instance, we're working with some researchers to do keyword analysis of experience reports. But I definitely don't recommend reading them all.
How do you know that there's "alot of reports submitted by law enforcement"? We certainly wouldn't be surprised if there's some of that, but there's not a lot of evidence one way or another.
> 2. It's lazily updated, incomplete, not nearly comprehensive enough. There are
> many chemicals with next to no information available on, etc. I can't tell you how
> much I would improve Erowid if I ran it. Hopefully this non-profit status will help
> them make it better.
Well, however you perceive it, please believe me that none of us over here are lazy. I work on the site 10-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. I agree that we could use 10 people doing nothing but updating and adding information to the site, but we don't have the funding to be able to afford that size staff at this point. Hopefully this non-profit status will help us make it even better.
> 3. There is no type of "peer-review" process at Erowid like there is here at BL.
Erowid has a very robust peer-review process. We have hundreds of volunteers and advisors who help review and edit data that is submitted and/or published on the site. Every experience reports is read by no less than three reviewers before being either published or refused. Many documents are read by more than that. And once documents are published, we often receive corrections, additions, or edits from readers that are then worked back in to the published document. We spend a lot of time on that.
> Ideas cannot be thrown around and dissected.
Ideas and individual documents are thrown around and dissected at Erowid, you just don't happen to be in the group of people who do this level of review at Erowid, so you don't see it happen.
> One does NOT have to be a member to benefit from this site.
One doesn't have to be a member to benefit from Erowid either. I think there's plenty of room for Erowid and Bluelight and dozens of other resources to all be valuable. Different people have different preferences and learning styles. Some people prefer an open discussion forum, some prefer a more ordered resource and many prefer to have access to both.
Fire
Carsick
Bluelight Crew
Woohoo, yet another minority I get to join.2c-buoyant said:
Actually, I'm not in many at all.
'goes to find photos so he can get entry to bme/extreme without paying'
DemonXstreeM
Bluelighter
that is awesome.
Roger&Me said:Am I the only person who thinks that Erowid is just really not that impressive, and kind of a shitty resource?![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
A lot of the information on the website is useful, but a lot of it is stupid and garbage. I've read some "Experiences" and you can tell the person writing them was just full of shit. However, if they took all the bullshit off of it, it could be a very good site.
ChemicalSmiles
Ex-Bluelighter
True true ^ ^
I still consider it a good source of information. But I know I have gotten more answers to questions on this bulletin board than from surfing EROWID.
However, when I was a young buck I learned a lot of shit from there. Definitely.
I still consider it a good source of information. But I know I have gotten more answers to questions on this bulletin board than from surfing EROWID.
However, when I was a young buck I learned a lot of shit from there. Definitely.