Place the blame where it belongs.

[acprinter]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I remember Freddie Prinz using that as his gagline in Chico and the Man. That attitude is older than you think!

It may be old, but it is becoming more so every day. I only have to look at my 1 year old house that I am repairing. Everything from plumbing leaks to shoddy wiring; I had outlets not grounded, pvc landscape pipes not glued, paint job on exterior, they missed large areas and gutters that leak. I have repaired most of the items because if they couldn't do it right the first time, the second time is usually worse.

Also I am a fine-art photographer; the quality of photography has dropped considerably in the past 10 years. New photographers don't seem to feel that learning the craft is important. You have to become a craftman first to allow your vision to grow.

A quote by Ansel Adams: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by acprinter

It may be old, but it is becoming more so every day. I only have to look at my 1 year old house that I am repairing. Everything from plumbing leaks to shoddy wiring; I had outlets not grounded, pvc landscape pipes not glued, paint job on exterior, they missed large areas and gutters that leak. I have repaired most of the items because if they couldn't do it right the first time, the second time is usually worse.

The house my family bought, built roughly 1960 in what was at the time one of the richest counties in the U.S., had most of these problems, and a few besides. The "in my day" arguments really don't hold up... people were lazy a decade, a century, and a millennia ago. Moreso now? Judging from my experiences, I wouldn't say so.

Anyway, accusations of laziness aren't dealing with the problem, that is, assigning responsibility to the proper organizations to do their due diligence. The best way to do that is to make it clear you will not buy from them unless they do their jobs properly. That means boycotting publishers, not Sony or Amazon.

[MaggieScratch]

I complained to Ballantine about some issues I had with an ebook I purchased from them and received a rather snotty e-mail in return saying essentially, "It's not our fault, we outsource ebooks and it's their fault." But--don't you pay them to do it? Can't you pass on the complaint to them? Aren't you upset that this contractor is messing up your house's good name? Apparently not. I don't understand that attitude at all.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

I complained to Ballantine about some issues I had with an ebook I purchased from them and received a rather snotty e-mail in return saying essentially, "It's not our fault, we outsource ebooks and it's their fault." But--don't you pay them to do it? Can't you pass on the complaint to them? Aren't you upset that this contractor is messing up your house's good name? Apparently not. I don't understand that attitude at all.

Yes, Ballantine should pass on the complaint, and/or find another outsourcer. But the only thing that will give them incentive to do that is for customers like you to make it clear that you won't be buying any more of their product until they straighten it out.

And tell them that includes printed books... that will probably get their attention faster.

[cjracer]

I am sure I was still reading Amazon's discussion forum for the Kindle in the last week ? Does anyone know what happened to it ? On another note about the Kindle, I just ordered the Kindle 2 --have had the first Kindle for about a year-- I read that the Kindle 2 is being supplied by an expanded whispernet...but it does not apply to the Kindle 1. Why wouldn't it be available for the Kindle 1...I have never had great luck with the whispernet for my Kindle 1....if I wanted to use Whispernet I couldn't get reception for it from my home and many other places. So why not let the Kindle 1 users have the expanded coverage. ? Anyone know about these 2 issues?
cjracer@intnet.net

[reddwarf]

I agree with Steve Jordan's post when he said that "They're just the retailers... that's not their job"! I believe that it is the publisher or editor job if it is a paper.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by cjracer

Why wouldn't it be available for the Kindle 1...I have never had great luck with the whispernet for my Kindle 1....if I wanted to use Whispernet I couldn't get reception for it from my home and many other places. So why not let the Kindle 1 users have the expanded coverage. ? Anyone know about these 2 issues?
cjracer@intnet.net

This is just a guess, but it might have to do with EVDO (Sprint’s Broadband data service) Revision A or RevA. To receive RevA requires hardware and firmware that supports it. If Kindle1 doesn't have a RevA radio, it can't receive RevA.

That's not really a big deal though, RevA is a little faster than Rev0, but not significantly so, and the coverage is the same.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by basschick

true, but wouldn't it be great if someone could zoom through the books once to get rid of the glaring errors like two words run together or completely wrong punctuation?

One reason why PG have 3 proof-reading rounds at picking up errors. Even then some get passed the 3rd check, despite due care and attention ....

[rcuadro]

Well, people intruduced the 9 99 boycot tag to complain about the expensive books so why not a crappy formatting tag