This week Feedback highlights some of the articles and features that have sparked some keen insights or raised very pertinent questions in our debate forums. Food for thought on DVD vs cinema release, the intricacies of ice at the winter Olympics, missing a point or two on Greece and the Euro, and RNW's recent leap into social networking.

Alice in Wonderland, which has been eagerly awaited by many. But, they will have to wait a bit longer now as the article Dutch cinemas in Alice in Wonderland boycott” by Britta Wielaard explains:
  

“The row is over the film's proposed DVD release date. Disney plans to release the movie on DVD in June 2010, only three months after it premieres in theatres. This violates an earlier agreement between cinemas and DVD producers that states that releases should be at least four months apart.” 

Which means that with both American and European cinemas boycotting audiences will have to wait until the DVD release to see the movie. Iamam wrote in to point out, they both seemed to be missing the point:

“This is one of those movies that really shows the added value of cinema's over home cinema viewing (the bigger screen, wider sound, and HELLO, 3D...). Not showing it is not just gonna hurt cinema's, I'd think that the audience is being withheld an experience which they'd want to try to relive on DVD. If that experience is not there in the first place, then there's no experience to relive.”

Some of our debates seem to invite a more personal tète-à-tète between respondents, such as the article Dutch Olympic skaters outraged over poor ice quality” by Rob Kievit. According to the article:

“Skater Jan Bos said after his race: "This [ice] is not of Olympic quality. It is laughable”... Vancouver is using Olympia resurfacing machines constructed by one of the Games' sponsors, General Motors, which has no experience in building such equipment. The organisers admitted defeat when they ordered a replacement of a different make to be flown in from the Calgary ice stadium...”

You can check out the website for the more interpersonal debate, but Tdot wrote in from Canada to set us all straight on a point or two:

“Get your facts straight Radio Netherlands... Olympia machines are NOT made by GM, they are made by Resurfice Corp, owned by the Schlupp family in Elmira Ontario, while they use some off the shelf GM parts (mainly the wheels and drivetrain), they not GM products. Olympia Ice Machines are used in Vancouver by GM Place, home of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, this might be why you are confused, their use in GM place probably swayed Vancouver organizers to use Olympia products, not to mention they are also a Canadian company.”

Thanks to Tdot for writing in and teaching us just how intricate the care of ice can be. Now, to the care of currency, or more specifically, the Euro. Network Europe had two related features: Euro emergency - alarm bells are ringing for the world's second currency and Greece in the grip - strikes bring the EU's weakest economy to a standstill.

Anonymous wrote in to ask what the point of all the fuss is about:

“According to this CNBC report (http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959/?slide=21) Greece's external debt is 160% of its GDP...and countries like NL, UK, Belgium, and Germany range between 200% -400% of their GDP. So why so fuzz much fuzz about Greece??”

Luckily for us, Dave, wrote in and was willing to bring it all down to the main point [edited, full text on webpage]:

“There is a big difference between a liquidity problem and a solvency problem. When a company or a country has enough assets to cover its liabilities but they have a problem raising the money they need to pay off the loan they have a liquidity problem. But when an entity has more debt than it can serve than it has a solvency problem and in that case more debt and loans will only dig it into a bigger hole. Greece has a liquidity problem since it has much more debt than the economy can serve. Germany and the Euro are perhaps willing to give them loan in attractive interest rates but unless they are willing to consistently transfer money from the core of Europe to the weak countries those countries are doomed...”

Thanks for that Dave.

And finally, you may have noticed that RNW has joined the social networking age:

“Visit Twitter for a quick update on our programmes and blogs. Check out our videos on YouTube. Or go to Facebook for more personal interaction with the producers at Radio Netherlands Worldwide.”

Programmes on Facebook include: Newsline, The State We're In, Earth Beat, Euro Hit 40, South Asia Wired and Bridges with Africa. The problemme, spotted by one of our regular readers/listeners, was that we also published the articles Social networking sites used by foreign intelligence services by Hans de Vreij, and Sexy sheep sell safe surfing by Perro de Jong.

According to the article by Hans de Vreij:

“The average person usually joins social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to get to know others better. However, as the Dutch secret services AIVD (General Intelligence and Security Service) and MIVD (Military Intelligence and Security Service) point out, people should be careful when placing information on their personal sites.”

Which was echoed in the advice in the article by Perro de Jong:

“Internet users are the biggest threat to their own privacy on the web. Before they know it, millions of people could have access to their saucy holiday photos, or their creditcard details. "Think before you put anything online" is the motto of the sixth European Safer Internet Day.”

This lead to a bit of confusion and sparked Jasmin to write [edited, full text on website]:

“I really do not understand the policy of RNW: on one hand you put up articles warning people about the dangers of social networking sites and their adverse impact upon professional and personal life and on the other hand the whole of RNW company is on Facebook and is inviting visitors to join as FB fans!!! T ...RNW has become a very commercial site...and has lost that cosy feeling of a home...modernisation, you would say...expansion...well, best wishes..”

RNW Security specialist, Hans de Vreij, responds:

“Thanks for your reaction. We DID put up an article, in which the Dutch secret services warn certain people to be aware of the risks of social networks. These are people in which foreign (or domestic, for that matter) intelligence services might have a particular interest, such as certain categories of civil servants, scientists, or key managers of multinational companies. For 'normal' people, there are no inherent risks associated with using social networks. RNW, like many other broadcasting stations, newspapers and what have you, is active on sites like Facebook for our fans. We are certainly not "a very commercial site" - RNW is a non-profit organisation. As to the cosy feeling you refer to, I'm sure the different programme makers wouldn't want to lose that....”

And, that, I think, is the point.