101st Blog Post Special

After writing a 100 posts, I have decided to make this one a bit of a special one. This is a post about al fo the crazy things that I have learnt and how they have made this blog into what it has become. I started looking into this because I was interested in the things that are happening in Wales, but looking back over some of my posts, I have gone beyond this remit. Not only that, since I have done this I have learnt a lot about the law AND how to write an FoI request. This is my way of getting some order in my thoughts and trying to put into words what I have learnt

Never overload governments with FoI requests

Looking back at the beginning of this blog, I did send a lot of requests to all the councils in Wales. This made them totally under strain AND put them against me, too. Not only that , but it meant that I had to wade through a LOT of correspondence from the councils AND check to see which ones had got back in touch with me . In one day I had over 130 emails providing the information that I had asked. This was a strain on myself and these councils. Not only that but the sheer cost of the council getting the information on this is amazing. So what have I learnt? Space out the FoI request with the councils! They have neither the resources or the time to be able to handle the amount of FoI requests that central government can.

Never use the FoI to prove conspiracies (Directly)

I have had a crack at looking at some conspiracy theories on this blog (Here, here, here, here). Looking through the pile at www.whatdotheyknow.com found hundreds of request saying things like “Give me all detuials of the conspiracy”, or “Tell me how you are perverting the course of justice”. Silliness. If you look back at the people who have REALLY investigated these sort of things had to do a LOT of digging (Look at all the president's men, or the Thalidomide investigation). They had to do a VERY sustained investigation on this matter. They didn't just say “Give me this”. They asked lots of little questions on the matter and built up. Asking lots of little questions is better than asking one big question.

Archives are amazing

The amount of information that these organisations have is amazing. The amount of things that you can find in them are amazing. When you ask questions to these organizations, sometimes they are going to just refer you to the archive. It happened with me a number of times on this matter. Most of the councils have an archive, and will refer you to it (look at my post into the SS Castalia, Cold War Structures, and Breslow Tunnels). Sometimes all you need to know is where the Archive is.

As an additional, remember the 20 year rule. This is the law that releases all the documents to the public domain. This can affect your ability to gain documents from the authorities (As they have already passed it on).

A lot of information is out there already

I thought that I was being quite adventurous in some of my requests, only to find out that there were was a whole body of investigations into these matters already. Self drive cars, when I asked for all reports on this matter, they stated that a whole body of reports had been made and showed me where to get them. Rather chillingly, was when I asked the government how to be an arms dealer, the information was readily available to us. Amazing how much is out there.

Plan your FoI request before hand.

A lot of times I sit with a note pad and think about what to write about and what to think about. Sometimes it works and some times it doesnt. So when I started to think about MH17, I had a massive correspondence on one of my requests with the foreign office. That's not good. Not only that but it can irritate the office you are dealing with. It's not their responsibility to “Fish out” the purpose of the FoI request. Sometimes you have to think about what you are ACTAUALLY asking for. For example, I am thinking of doing something on Fifa, so when I asked them this, it turned into a bit of a mess. So I have think about where I am going on this one.

This is for me to clear out a few issues in my head. This is for me to look back at the previous 100 posts and see what I can do on this matter. The thing is now I have a bigger issue. What am I going to do for my next 100 posts (I will do these every 100 posts, for reflection).

So where can I go next? Well here is a little list of what I am thinking of next:

Building applications approved.	Arms Deals	Obesity rates	Pipe work
Lost Water	Fifa	Tax Evasion	Foster placements
Cold Cases	Objective one funding	Air Quality	Paintballing
Docks	G Cloud	Tax evasion	Criminal Convictions
NATO	United Nations	Rivers	Robots

Pretty broad section there, isn't it? So let's see what else I dig up.