To show my opposition to the internet blacklist bills (like SOPA and PIPA) currently being debated in the US, Petopia, Warcraft Mounts, WoW Tabards, Dark Urban Fantasy, and Elder Game will be going dark for twelve or so hours on most of January 18th, 2012.

(The exact hours will depend on when I get up. And while I haven’t decided exactly how to do it yet, I will be providing a cover page about why these sites aren’t available and where to find more information.)

This is the same day that Wikipedia, reddit, and others are shutting down in whole or part for twelve to twenty-four hours.

I’m not trying to punish the people who use my sites, but I think it is vitally important to educate everyone about this topic. And not just people in the US - these bills can and will affect the internet worldwide.

They most certainly have the potential to affect Petopia and the rest of the independent World of Warcraft community.

Petopia, Warcraft Mounts, WoW Tabards, and Dark Urban Fantasy are not political sites. And yet at a very basic level, all of my sites embrace a very political ideal: the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds.

Here are two quotes from the Wikimedia Foundation that sum up my feelings about this action:

[...] although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not.

and

We depend on a legal infrastructure that makes it possible for us to operate. And we depend on a legal infrastructure that also allows other sites to host user-contributed material, both information and expression.

In the past week, we’ve seen the supporters behind the SOPA bill in tactical retreat. But the broader topic of an internet blacklist is not going away. To quote Wikimedia again:

All around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the Internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms. Our concern extends beyond SOPA and PIPA: they are just part of the problem. We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.

So that’s why I’m doing this despite the fact that Petopia is not political. This isn’t about partisan politics. This isn’t about copyright infringement. This is about free as in free speech, not free as in free beer. This is about not screwing up the internet. And the internet is incredibly important to me.

So … err … I changed my mind and decided to move the book-review type books backs to the Dark Urban Fantasy blog. I am changing a few things about the way that site works and decided that it would be easier to handle that here and pure WoW, MMO, and general tech posts here.

Sorry about any confusion!

All previous Arcania posts are still available here, by the way. The Search box is probably the easiest way to find any old posts you may be looking for. Just keep in mind that the game has changed in major, major ways since this blog started – so the utility of those old posts in probably sadly lacking.

According to Wikipedia:

Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo. Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposefully cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore. Lagan is cargo that is lying on the bottom of the ocean, sometimes marked by a buoy, which can be reclaimed. Derelict is cargo that is also on the bottom of the ocean, but which no one has any hope of reclaiming.

Continue reading →

I’m in the middle of changing the rating system to add half-stars (i.e. 3.5/5.0). This will give me a little more granularity in rating the books I read most.

Some of the buckets are going to look a little odd until I get everything settled. (For example, as I type this there are a whole 3 books that have 4 stars.)

But the ranking of books (which series I recommend more than which other series) hasn’t been changed. So if you’re looking for something good, start at the top and work your way down.