Social Bookmarking

[Paradoxic]

Well I added a new feature to Salvia Source...social bookmarking links for the articles on the site. This is a way you all can help Salvia Source by adding bookmarks with services: Digg.com, Del.icio.us, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Furl. When your reading cultivation guides, knowledge articles, trip reports, grow logs, or just simply interesting articles that people have posted you should click the links at the top of the topic, it only takes a second to add them...or if they are already added you can Digg it, or up its rating (whatever they call it) to make the article more visible on the sites.

Thanks a lot, and if you have any other social bookmarking services you'd like to see on Salvia Source just post 'em.

[Arcygenical]

Mmm... While I support increasing SS's popularity... I can't say I'd like too many facebook/myspace whatever users getting into salvia... Nor those digg snobs. Straight route to regulation in my books.m

Nice feature nontheless

[Paradoxic]

Yeah, thats something to consider. However, the way I look at it, its better that people visit a site with some decent information and a community of members that promote safe and responsible use of Salvia. Theres already many articles about Salvia that are on Digg and Facebook, we might as well lead those interested to the good articles and not the bullshit propaganda news or the sites that just sell Salvia as an alternative to MJ.

[tcamdg]

Yeah, thats something to consider. However, the way I look at it, its better that people visit a site with some decent information and a community of members that promote safe and responsible use of Salvia. Theres already many articles about Salvia that are on Digg and Facebook, we might as well lead those interested to the good articles and not the bullshit propaganda news or the sites that just sell Salvia as an alternative to MJ.

i agree. strategically, though, might it be better to de-emphasize its consumption and actively discourage its recreational use? i guess i'm mostly looking at the "trip reports" button and section. maybe calling it "psychoactive properties" with an "experiences" section somewhere in there.

i'm sorry, i REALLY hate to start picking at someone else's site without an invitation to do so. it's just that i was originally drawn to salviasource because i perceived it to have a much heavier emphasis on the horticulture of S. divinorum (with the cultivation section, genetic exchange idea, grow logs, and what-not). my thinking is that if we can really demonstrate the "legitimacy" of S. divinorum, we can successfully slow or reverse the trend toward illegalization.

you see, i actually have no plans to "use" S. divinorum (i have some serious philosophical and moral issues with using, to excess or for insufficient cause, drugs that affect one's ability to reason. (this is a carefully worded statement, in case anyone out there is looking to jump at me for it, just fyi )), but this plant deeply fascinates me: politically, medically, horticulturally, and even morally. in fact, this plant has launched me into what's proving to be a very enjoyable horticultural/gardening hobby, and has thus opened a world to me that heretofore i took for granted. in other words, were it not for this plant, i'd still be missing out on the great pleasure i derive from this several month-old, long life expectancy hobby.

again, i'm really sorry to nit-pick, i won't do it ever again...just throwing some thoughts out there.

[Paradoxic]

Yeah, I agree with you. And please, don't be sorry for critiquing my site, I really do appreciate it. I think it would be a better idea to call the section "Experiences" rather than trips because trips would definitely make it easier for people to throw Salvia into the category of abused drugs. So when I get the chance I think I will change the title of that section, so thanks for bringing that up. And yeah I definitely meant for this site to be mostly focused on cultivation, but just like you, the plant and the experience it gives completely fascinates me. So it felt like the experience was something that couldn't be left out.

Here's my take on the bringing legitimacy to Salvia. I think it would look phony to say that we are only interested in Salvia to grow it because we all know that we wouldn't grow it in this fashion if we were not so fascinated by its effects and history of human use. In order to bring legitimacy I think we need to show that it can be a powerful tool for things like introspection. We need to emphasize the fact that Salvia is not a drug that lends itself well to recreational use. Maybe I should write a good essay about my ethical stance on the issue and try to get that "Digged." I'm curious about your opinions, I'd really like to hear more. If you want to write an essay or short excerpt I would love to publish it on the site. Maybe a bunch of us should collaborate...? I honestly think that the US (and perhaps elsewhere) can make a move towards acceptance of the use of mind-altering substances for things like personal growth and even medication (such as for depression). Right now MJ is being more accepted, there's more research being done with illicit psychoactives, and there are massive communities online that discuss the responsible use (although not always) of substances like Salvia. I think we are on the verge of a turning point in how we approach psychoactives. I think we are slowly realizing that the traditional approach of hiding these substances is no longer effective (if it ever even was). Now anyone can get online and read all about these mind altering chemicals and can also order them legally...and I'm not just talking about Salvia. You can get morning glory (LSA), san pedro (mescaline), kratom, DMT-producing plants, you name it. Times are changing and I think Salvia is at the forefront.

[JD1stTimer]

I certainly hope Salvia never gets criminalized nationwide (U.S.).  But I agree about Myspace at least... as far as the media is concerned, any bad thing that so much as touches myspace will mysteriously fly to your home in the middle of the night to eat up your children...  It's like the de-facto BRATS (Boogeymen RApid Transit System) to the news agencies.

[tcamdg]

i see the button's been change to "experiences," awesome! gives the site a much different feel (and i can open the site without as much risk of sabotaging my career...

about giving legitimacy to S. divinorum: i can almost guarantee that any non-academic (chemical, phytophysiological, chemical, anthropological, medical, etc.) emphasis on its psychoactive properties will increase the rate at which it's banned. morning glories and san pedros are very popular in landscaping (i.e., a legitimate use) and really not conducive to abuse, for a variety of reasons. i don't know much about kratom and DMT-producing plants, but i *do* know that i don't know much about them...which is pretty much my guess as to why they're not controlled

my plan for keeping S. divinorum legal would go something like this:
1-vigilantly enforce "no one under 18" and encourage people not to buy for minors (like retailers do with cigarettes)
2-demonstrate that the community can police itself effectively: eviscerate anyone that promotes its recreational use, especially for monetary gain (i think i've mentioned this is part of the reason why i like salviasource...so much emphasis is put on the live plants as opposed to these 913x strength extracts). nothing says "pass this law NOW" like people trying to get-rich-quick off of a "get your legal high here!"
3-put *heavy* negative peer pressure on anyone that boasts about their abuse/trips (as opposed to experience descriptions). like these people that put videos of themselves "tripping" on youtube. each of those videos is essentially a commercial for illegalization
4-be very careful about recommending S. divinorum for any pharmacological or home remedy uses. only make claims that can be supported by repeatable studies, etc. caution people that S. divinorum is *not* to be used as an anti-depressant or whatever, pending studies, or at least not without the supervision of a physician. avoid wonder-drug-sounding statements (i haven't seen much of that here, but plenty of other places...sheesh...)
5-provide links/"information for parents"
6-and of course, heavy emphasis on horticulture (and anthropology)

there are probably some other points to this plan, but those are the basics, i think. just some thoughts

EDIT: typos

[Paradoxic]

Pretty good list, and I think the leaders of the Salvia community are following it pretty well. I was thinking, to better satisfy number 2 we should create a list of Salvia vendors that sell irresponsibly and lobby them online to change their ways. All sites selling Salvia should link to Daniel Siebert's User Guide and also not advertise their product as a recreational legal high or MJ alternative. I started a topic for this, please search the Internet and add on to the list:
http://www.salviasource.org/forum/salvia-law/list-of-irresponsible-salvia-vendors/0/

[SynapticFlatulence]

nother concern I have is whether or not you are logging IP's on the forum. If there were to be legal shift in someones area their growlog coupled with their ip could be quite incriminating. You as webmaster could be compelled to divulge that info by court order.
better to not log them and avoid this scenario altogether.

[Paradoxic]

Yeah, SMF definitely logs IP addresses. I think thats a good idea to remove the feature. However, I need to come up with a system that still allows me to ban IP addresses. So perhaps I can find a way to log them just until the point I know they are not spammers. I will start looking for mods on SMF to make this work.