Ariana's been doing an excellent series about POD, and generally getting off your ass and making a thing. This, however, is the one where she knocks it out of the park, talking about community, and engaging with people on the internet. The rule is very, very simple: engage with them as humans. Give them space to talk about what *they* want to talk about. And all other things will follow.

A Number 10 petition against the current draft Digital Economy Bill. I strongly urge all of you who are in the UK to sign it – while it will have no legal force, it'll send a message about this legislation that might cause them to back off, especially since we're now in the run up to a general election.

Charlie Stross on the Digital Economy Bill. I am going to keep linking to stuff like this, because it is absolutely vital that this bill is seen for what it is: an attempt by corporate interests to screw small and independent creators. Even if there is a reasonable argument for fighting for copyright, this bill is for far the wrong way to do as to be 100% insupportable, and *every* MP needs to be made to realise this. I've a letter written to my MP – I haven't sent it yet, because I'm holding off until just before the bill is actually under parliamentary review and vote, because I don't want my concerns to be weeks old in his mind at that time, as they would be if I sent it now, but I may post it up later on – it's no good for other people to simply send the same text, but I'm trying to summarise the issues, so if people think it would be useful to them, I'll put it up.