Individuals without a clickable email link in the byline or at the end of an article or elsewhere on the site either do not have email, may be busy enough that they cannot respond directly to surfer mail, or may wish to protect their personal privacy. In any case, be reasonably brief and to the point with any queries. It's a busy world (ya don't say!) so consideration for others' time is always appreciated.

Due to volume of mail received it may not always be possible to reply, especially if your questions or suggestions are already answered elsewhere on the site. We do attempt to read or review all mail received, however, and all comments are taken into consideration.

F A I R - W A R N I N G   N O T I C E :

Response and reaction to site material sent to us will be considered as intended for possible public posting and further comment from the editors of the site, unless you explicitly state otherwise. Be sure when you write with such commentary that you take care to represent your views as if intended for public consumption.

• Email about science-based articles: We appreciate constructive criticisms and/or notification about what you believe may be flaws or oversights in our treatment of a subject. However, if you have something worthwhile to say, then we assume that you realize how much work it is to research a subject thoroughly. Therefore, we expect in such cases that you will be able to provide us with key peer-reviewed references to get started, plus a summary statement of your viewpoint including a clear indication of the pivotal details for examination. We will be much more likely to give your comments consideration if you can provide us with this information, otherwise likely not. (Remember what Socrates is reputed to have once said: "A sheaf of good peer-reviewed papers in hand is better than two tons of cow poop in the bush.")

• Email in response to any article: Please understand that we are all busy people, and that our time for email is of necessity limited. To produce the type of material found on this site takes effort and time (which usually comes out of our personal spare time rather than work time), and some of it requires repeated research trips to university libraries. Accordingly, take a moment to weigh the relevance of what you have to say before making inquiries. While we do enjoy receiving mail, also remember that the time answering it could be used producing new material for the website, which is to say for others who also are interested in or concerned about these topics.

Following are guidelines for types of email we can and cannot respond to:

Email inquiries we cannot or will not answer:
(all are subjects we have been asked about before)

• Detailed nutritional/health consultations. We are not in that business, and for us such inquiries are very time-consuming. If you have serious health problems that have not responded to dietary or lifestyle intervention, we suggest you consult a qualified health professional rather than seeking a cure via the internet.

• Recipe queries. Recipes are available at a number of websites. Start with the Living and Raw Foods site for raw vegan recipes. For paleodiet recipes such as pemmican, check the archives of the Paleofood listgroup. There are lots of raw recipe books if you are willing to spend the money for them, but we cannot make specific recommendations in such a subjective area. Choose carefully for yourself.

• Questions about juicers, dehydrators, the Vita-Mix, automatic sprouters, etc. These questions come up often on the Raw, Raw-Food, and other email listgroups. Check listgroup archives for these. (See our Listgroups and Subscription Information page for links to these groups and their archives.)

• Questions about sprouting, or the mechanics of raw/living-foods or paleodiet lifestyles. There are plenty of articles on the subject of vegan living foods at the Living and Raw Foods site. All you have to do is read them. Inquiries to us can be avoided by first reading some of the articles on that site, particularly Tom Billings' articles. (No guarantees about reliability of other articles--use your noggin and exercise reasonable skepticism when evaluating quality of any information presented by any author.) For questions about the mechanics of finding or preparing paleodiet-style foods, inquire of, or search, the Paleofood list.

• Homework questions for school, or where on the net you can find something. Learn to use the web's search engines or your local public, school, or university library if you need to find things. Internet links that we know of relevant to subjects explored on the Beyond Veg site have been catalogued on the Links to Off-Site Articles and Related Websites page. (If you find something worthwhile that we do not have listed, however, please let us know so we can update our links page.)

• The archives of the email lists are real treasure troves of information, and some of them can be searched for keywords. Check the archives FIRST if you have questions on the mechanics of raw lifestyles. SECOND, join one of the email lists and consider asking your questions there. The lists are a great resource for finding commentary on questions you may have, although it should go without saying that you should always be skeptical, consider the source(s) of the information presented, and think critically when evaluating any information for reliability and applicability. Again, see our Listgroups and Subscription Information page which contains info about the Raw-Food, Paleodiet, Paleofood, and other prominent email lists.

• Most of the primary authors have many years of experience in one form or another with raw or similar alternative diets--often more than the "experts," whose information and typical recommendations you may find have already been covered somewhere on the site if you take the time to look. Make sure to explore the site first to see, and don't waste your time or ours sending us old objections or "chestnuts" already addressed here. Be aware that we have heard most if not all of the arguments for raw/vegan diets many times before. Indeed, some of us used to preach them ourselves, until we learned how unsubstantiated some of the arguments turn out to be when sources are checked. Send us NEW objections and arguments if you are going to send them.

• The material on the site has been well-researched and documented where specific scientific information or claims are at issue. Anecdotal information presented about the raw movement is based on lengthy experience of the authors (again, often longer than the "experts" with advice to sell you). Where the scientific information presented here is concerned, if you are dubious, we invite and request that you check out references provided, and familiarize yourself with the evidence presented in the scientific sources referenced here before writing. We welcome information based on peer-reviewed or other scientifically acceptable sources that will help us correct any inaccuracies, but you must point us to the source so that we can verify and check things out.

• Yep, it may be regrettable, but we don't have the time or inclination to provide what we believe some fanatic rawists probably need most, psychotherapy and/or anti-cult deprogramming, over the net. See your local yellow-page listings for a therapist near you. ;-)

• Irrational flames. Just kidding ;-) but these are perfect for posting without comment. We'll rarely answer them, but if you'd like to see your letter made public as a vivid illustration of just the sorts of extremism and zealotry we discuss on the website, feel free to be our guest and put those poison-pen missives in the hopper to see if you'll win the periodic grand-prize drawing. ;-) (We could use a few of these, actually, to further demonstrate our points.)

• Constructive criticisms, objections, or comments. The field of alternative diets is something we are all still learning about. If we've missed something or you think we are in error about a particular point, do not hesitate to let us know about it so we can investigate further. Be polite about it, and you'll find we'll probably treat you in kind, and perhaps we'll find common ground to explore in the interest of improving the website's scope further.

• As mentioned on the home page, we are interested in case histories of those who have not had the best of luck with their raw or vegetarian diets, and have gotten better results making significant modifications to them not generally approved of by conventional raw or vegan wisdom. If you have something like this to contribute, send us a short letter first, and if what you have to offer would add worthwhile material to the website, we can get into more discussion then.

• We are also interested in article suggestions if you see relevant topics we haven't covered yet. Additionally, if you know how to write well and show evidence of that in your correspondence with us, we also welcome new contributors on board, so let us know if you yourself have articles or papers to offer that you believe to be worthwhile. (Please query us first, however, or we may regard unsolicited material as spam, particularly if lengthy.) We make no guarantees we will accept anything for publication and we do not pay for articles since this is an all-volunteer site. But if the information you have to offer is unique in some way, well-presented, substantiated where possible or appropriate, and needs to be heard, this is a forum where the information can see the light of day.

• Please make your letter reasonably short and to the point--long letters may not be read in their entirety, or will just be quickly scanned for the general gist; we apologize, but have only so much time.

• Finally, we hope you enjoy the site. And if you do, let us know what it was you found interesting, if it helped you in any way, and if you have an idea for how anything could be improved. Thanks for finding your way to Beyond Veg!

Contacting Beyond Veg
Back to Comments & Reactions from Readers