LOTR ebook erratum and ebook quality

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John the Miner

I await with bated breath ...

By the way, you use ... incorrectly. there should not be a space before or after.

Also, why would you want to eat worms?

And to answer your question that I did not quote, the answer is errata.

[John the Miner]

errata: shows you the benefits of a good education!
I think I will go with the majority of sources, which advocate the use of a space before and after ellipses ...
But, again, who says style should be an issue in a discussion such as this?
Is there a style guide that MobileRead Forums recommends? Is there a dictionary that is supposed to be used by participants?
If there are, then why don't people use them? If there are, then I would gladly use them for the sake of consistency.
Is there a moderator who enforces the use of a style guide or a dictionary in these pages? Does the moderator state that the serial comma MUST be used before a submission will be allowed to appear?

[CallOfCth'reader]

Originally Posted by John the Miner

I would have thought all the "proofreaders" around the joint would have jumped on that one right from the word "go".
But, being a professional proofreader with about 50 years' experience, what would I know?

I really am confused about what you are trying to achieve with your posts in this thread. The general theme seems to be that the original release of LoTR had errors in, that shouldn't have happened in such a long awaited text; the final text should have been proof read by a professional.

You seem to be advocating that it shouldn't have been proofread at all, because 'modern' internet-speak has done away accepted grammatical rules and/or spelling.

I've obviously missed something, but you haven't gone out of your way to present a clear message.

[Quexos]

As such I blame you for my ebooks containing mistakes. How dare you sell me ebooks full of errata ?

Originally Posted by John the Miner

I would have thought all the "proofreaders" around the joint would have jumped on that one right from the word "go".
But, being a professional proofreader with about 50 years' experience, what would I know?

[John the Miner]

Once upon a time (like all good fairy stories start out), editing and proofreading were regarded as essential in the production of a text.
These days, that dictum has gone the way of the dodo and the invasive, pervasive influence of the internet/social media ensures it will never again be anywhere as important as it once was.
As such, I rest my case, m'lud.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John the Miner

errata: shows you the benefits of a good education!
I think I will go with the majority of sources, which advocate the use of a space before and after ellipses ...
But, again, who says style should be an issue in a discussion such as this?
Is there a style guide that MobileRead Forums recommends? Is there a dictionary that is supposed to be used by participants?
If there are, then why don't people use them? If there are, then I would gladly use them for the sake of consistency.
Is there a moderator who enforces the use of a style guide or a dictionary in these pages? Does the moderator state that the serial comma MUST be used before a submission will be allowed to appear?

Correct styling is part of proofreading. As for ellipses, in an eBook, there should be a non-breaking space before and after each . unless you have say a " after the last dot. If you don't use a non-breaking space, then your spacing can be off and that is wrong.

Spaces before and after —. Using – instead and putting spaces around is wrong.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John the Miner

Once upon a time (like all good fairy stories start out), editing and proofreading were regarded as essential in the production of a text.
These days, that dictum has gone the way of the dodo and the invasive, pervasive influence of the internet/social media ensures it will never again be anywhere as important as it once was.
As such, I rest my case, m'lud.

What a load of crap!

[John the Miner]

OK. Have it your way. I'm just glad you're not paying my freight.
There used to be a saying in a newspaper I worked in when there was any sort of conflict of ideas: There are two ways through this; there's the right way, and there's the wrong way. And then, of course, there's your way.

[pdurrant]

Moderator Notice

Members should take care to follow the posting guidelines, especially the first:

1. Discuss Things Politely

Thank you.

[John the Miner]

Doesn't worry me ... I'm outa here.
How could I possibly compete with a 29,000-plus poster?
Just one final thought: how would the "proofreader" members punctuate a statement like "This animal eats roots shoots and leaves"?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by John the Miner

Doesn't worry me ... I'm outa here.
How could I possibly compete with a 29,000-plus poster?

Easily?

I do not think anybody care about number of posts here.

[Quexos]

Ok guys let us get back on topic please.
So if anybody spots any errors in the LOTR books, let the rest of us know please. Or has this huge book come to be 100% error free ?

[plib]

Originally Posted by John the Miner

errata: shows you the benefits of a good education!

One of the oldest schools in the world, and one which undoubtedly gives a good, if not superior, education is Winchester College. Of particular note is the school motto, "Manners Makyth Man".

There is more to a good education than learning the proper plural form of Latin nouns.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Ok guys let us get back on topic please.
So if anybody spots any errors in the LOTR books, let the rest of us know please. Or has this huge book come to be 100% error free ?

The only remaining error I know about is the erroneous hyphen in Dunadan.

But there are undoubtedly more errors, most likely in the Appendices which are very complex.

One problem with the current ebook version is the use of small graphics for the in-line runes. There are small bitmaps, so they don't resize with the text.

I hope that these will eventually be replaced with resizing SVG graphics, or perhaps with a custom font, in a new ebook edition. The Appendices could really benefit from this too. I might be persuaded to spend on a new edition if it was done really well.

[snarkophilus]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

One problem with the current ebook version is the use of small graphics for the in-line runes. There are small bitmaps, so they don't resize with the text.

I hope that these will eventually be replaced with resizing SVG graphics, or perhaps with a custom font, in a new ebook edition. The Appendices could really benefit from this too.

This almost sounds like a challenge! LOTR is almost at the top of my to-read list (for the first time on the ereader). I'll keep it in the back of my mind...

Cheers,
Simon.