Planet Botch is a blog/website covering a broad range of subjects, but taking a particular interest in musical instruments/devices/software, the social web and forums, the blogosphere, privacy, and new ideas/concepts. All of the content is original. If it's on Planet Botch it was created specifically for and by Planet Botch - and that includes the free VST software downloads. The site started in 2011, initially as a humour project. But after some experimentation with different types of content, demand for musically-orientated and analytical material soon drove the site in a different direction, and that's been the main focus ever since. Planet Botch has consistently gathered momentum, with site hits having approximately doubled in the last three months, as I update this Welcome page in November 2012.
Planet Botch is divided into sections, which are described below. Clicking a heading will take you to the relevant landing page for your chosen section...
Music Making Section
Free software (VST instruments and effects) for PC musicians, created in-house at Planet Botch, plus detailed retrospective reviews of interesting musical instruments and music-related devices from the past and present. The reviews cover a particularly extensive range of electric guitars and related products (as well as keyboards, recording gadgets, etc.), and serve as completely unbiased, detailed and informed appraisals of gear you may struggle to find information about elsewhere.
Social Web Section
The Social Web Section incorporates a wide range of articles on social networking, forums / message boards, the blogosphere, and the psychology of the social web user. There are also some tutorial pieces relating to Tumblr, its Search Engine Optimisation, and how to carry out design enhancements. If you think you might need to know what the blogosphere is
really thinking, how to follow Twitter accounts anonymously and without the account holders knowing, or simply how to get yourself out of trouble on a forum, this is the section for you.
General Section
The General Section incorporates some of the most fascinating and useful material on the site. Should you pay to promote creative work online? Why is low self esteem a good thing? How seriously is your work at risk of plagiarism? How d'you prove your psychic is fake? Why should you
never trust a survey?... These intriguing questions, and many more, are explored and answered within Planet Botch's General content.
Music Section
The music section comprises original
Planet Botch recordings, which you can instantly stream without the need for downloading. The tracks have a commercial sound, incorporating a wide range of influences including rock, soul, ska, blues, reggae, trad gospel, punk, and much more. Since all tracks were recorded in a studio and not on the road, there was sadly no opportunity for me to lend them credibility by smashing up a hotel and falling out of a window. I hope this doesn't spoil your enjoyment.
LOL Section
As mentioned earlier, Planet Botch began as an experimental humour project, and this is where all of the early content resides. So, can you sue your parents if you're stupid?... What's it like to have a hair replacement?... How d'you brainwash yourself?... Do people still go to the lavatory in the afterlife?... What happens when you invite a guest blogger onto your site, then realise what a moron he is and ban him, then lift the ban and try to supervise him with a piece of blog-monitoring freeware?... The answers to all these questions, and many more, can be found in the
Planet Botch LOL Section.
This content was created in full consultation with a group of legal and safety experts, all of whom have since disassociated themselves from it, in writing. The author(s) shall accept no liability whatsoever should readers be injured, traumatised, evicted, divorced, arrested, fined, imprisoned, sectioned, murdered by members of their own family or otherwise incurred in financial, emotional or physical expense as a consequence of taking any notice of material in the LOL section. Any issues raised with the site administrator about the quality of the content are likely to receive a curt response on the grounds that I already know it is rubbish and do not need to be told.
Colour Therapy Centre
Planet Botch has its own colour therapy centre (incorporated within the LOL Section). Why not improve your life by staring at specially-selected coloured rectangles?... Like this one, for example...
The Disclaimer
It is important that visitors read the disclaimer. This is not it. This is a preliminary disclaimer which warns anyone of an excessively nervous disposition that the main disclaimer may prove upsetting or disturbing. For this to be the case, your nervous disposition would have to be quite bad. You would need to be the sort of person for whom milk has to be diluted to prevent it from overwhelming you with flavour. Someone may also have to write: "You are not going home in a coffin" on the cup to reassure you that the watered down milk is not going to give you botulism or something. If you recognise yourself in the above description, you should know that the main disclaimer contains words such as 'traumatised', 'sectioned' and 'imprisoned'. It is not inevitable that you are going to be sectioned or banged up. This will only happen if you read advice I've given as a joke and then actually do it. And even then a good lawyer may be able to get you off. So just chill out and stop stressing over everything. Essentially, if you can look at the picture on the right without dying from fright then you'll be able to safely read the main disclaimer. If you can't and the shock of seeing the picture has killed you, I extend my deepest condolences to your family.
Posted by: Bob Leggitt
