Our first news article was published here on Pirate Times one year ago. The two first articles we published on 13 August  2012 was “How Sweden found an effective way of broadening their politics” and “You can participate in European politics”. Since then we have covered most of the pirate elections that have taken place the past year. We reported on conferences and general assemblies of national and international Pirate Parties and organisations. We have seen the pirate movement grow and seen several historic “firsts” for the Pirate movement: the first Pirate Mayor (Switzerland, September 2012), the first Pirate Senator (Czech Republic, October 2012), the first three Pirate MPs (Iceland, April 2013), the first two Municipal Councillors (Croatia, May 2013), the first Pirate Trade Unionist (Greece, May 2013). Many of these were covered by team members who traveled to these events at their own expense.

Throughout these past 12 months we have had 25 article authors write 237 posts with a total 184.149 words. This productivity of news led us to win the “Pirate Blogger of the year” award, on December 2012, from the Young Pirates of East Sweden chapter. We write news to inspire and inform others which is why we take a lot of pride in that several of our posts are translated to many different languages (thanks all you who have helped to translate them!). We had around 85.000 visitors (only counting people seeing our news directly on our website) from all over the world where about half came from USA, Germany, Sweden, UK or Spain. From our visitors we have been given money through flattr by 67 persons totaling 212.51 Euro from those 967 flattrs they gave us. Of that money we have spent 105 Euros on various costs. Thanks a lot for your support! Means a lot to use knowing people are willing to support our work.

Our top 5 viewed articles:

• According to Spanish law, internet piracy is the same as torture (June 2, 2013) by Fabian Plaza Miranda (7511 pageviews)
• The pirate world 2012 (January 24, 2013) by Josef Ohlsson Collentine (5417 pageviews)
• Pirate Parties Help Victims of Megaupload Seizure (February 1, 2013) by Andrew Reitemeyer (2622 pageviews)
• The Hydra Bay – PPSE Pulls Back But TPB Emerges in Norway and Spain (February 26, 2013) by Josef Ohlsson Collentine (2050 pageviews)
• Alex Arnold Becomes the First Elected Pirate Mayor! (September 24, 2012) by Anton Nordenfur (1977 pageviews)

At the end of 2012 we had a team-meeting where we set goals to reach at the end of 2013 for Pirate Times. We have progressed on these goals but will need your help to fulfill them by the end of this year (4.5 months remaining). The goals we want to achieve for Pirate Times:

• We want to grow our team by at least six more regularly contributing members so we can achieve the goal of one article per day (If you are interested please apply by joining the mailing list and introducing yourself).
• 1000 readers per day
• 333/500 newsletter subscribers
• 1323/2500 Facebook Page likes
• 1328/2500 Twitter followers
• Translate Pirate Times to French and Spanish (slow progress but moving forward)
• To start a podcasting service (still in planning stages, if you have an interest in helping please give us a shout!)
• To get ourselves quoted more by the main stream media (a few more mentions)

We end this post with a few comments from some of our team members about what Pirate Times has meant for them during this year. We hope to see some comments from you readers as well about what Pirate Times has meant for you?

Gefion
What I love about the Times is the international view on things. So often I get stuck in my own national view of what the pirate movement is, what pirates are, what is relevant. The Times and all the articles from various countries around the globe helps me to bear in mind that we are an international movement, with international topics that are too big to be covered – or solved – by one country alone. Whatever we can achieve, we can do best internationally. I like to think that the Times contributes some momentum to this common goal.

Andrew
I joined as a proof reader and soon started writing and editing. For me the most valuable thing I have gotten from the Pirate Times is meeting the team members – many of whom have gone on to take important roles in the movement at national or international levels. Also the privilage of getting to know Pirates from across the globe many of whom I have the honour to be able to call personal friends.

Josef
We created Pirate Times as an international news hub to make Pirate Parties more aware of each other and the international movement that they are. In our first year we have come fairly far on this goal and many people have met up or been inspired from something they read on Pirate Times. Everytime I see or hear how our news have helped someone I get motivated to work harder. A big thanks to my team members whom have made this possible, especially the ones who have been keeping up the hard work when times got tough.

Loïc
The Pirate Times is in my opinion one of the most important parts of the Pirate movement, by sharing information between pirates and with the rest of the world, it allows us to keep the swarm coherent and to grow it further. Who would miss being part of this?

pakki
This open-minded, international and vanguard pirate magazine is the shifty eye beyond the pirate’s nose. When I began contributing by learning and writing about international topics concerning everything around Pirate Parties, I’ve realized its magnificient potential and get known to a lot of inspiring people in this movement around the globe. I am very proud and grateful to be part of this. We all have to fill this world more with such great avenues. Participate!

Stathis
I feel happy being in the team of Pirate Times. I had the opportunity to meet with pirates from around the world and shared thoughts, opinions and questions about the Pirate movement. Best things that happened to me: Interviewing Rick Falkvinge (founder of Pirate movement) and meeting in person with Andrew Reitemeyer. Call to all Pirate Parties: Let’s join forces; come in contact with Pirate Times to promote all small or big activities.

Fabián
It’s always good to know there are more Pirates in different countries fighting for the same ideals and changing the world one step at a time. I also love the fact that the Pirate Times lets you know about Pirate initiatives abroad, so that you can learn from their success and import it into your own country.

Matic
I’m very happy to be a member of a team of broad-minded people who are working very hard to post articles regulary and who are always willing to offer help to other members. Pirate Times is an important platform for all Pirates around the globe for updates about other Pirates and problems they face. I hope that Pirate Times will maintain its position as important information source for all people involved in the Pirate Movement. There were Ups and Downs during this year but that’s the fate of every child who wants to learn to walk. Or as ancient Chinese philosopher said: “Every journey starts with first step.”

About Josef Ohlsson Collentine

I’m a dual citizen (American/Swede) and try to integrate my reflections from a more global perspective if possible. I’m the organizational leader for Pirate Times and work actively to strengthen the pirate movement through this work as well as being the international contact for Piratpartiet (PPSE). Elected board member of PPSE for 2015-2018.
If you would like to ask me something I speak English, Swedish and Spanish. Find me on the links below

 

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Our first news article was published here on Pirate Times one year ago. The two first articles we published on 13 August  2012 was “How Sweden found an effective way…