[tirsales]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

It's impossible to prove that an instance of a document on the darknet directly results in a "lost sale," since you cannot prove that a document would have been bought if it was not available on the darknet.

That is correct. But I havent even found one evidence of a work available on the darknet being sold less then a work not (or difficult) being available.

However, when there are statements published publicly on the web that specifically state, "I downloaded X from the darknet," it is logical to assume that the specified action MAY have substituted for a sale... that there is at least a small percentage of likelihood of a lost sale.

And on the other side there is a percentage of likelihood of a sale won. Add that together - you will result in (at least) zero.

Whatever the "reality" of the darknet is, what is probably more significant to the publisher is the appearance of it.

And that is wrong. This is like imprisoning someone because I believe from heresay that he once talked to an evil person ...

Imagine if you wanted to open a store on a storefront, and right outside the store was a mob of kids, greedy hands outstretched, acting like they wanted to run in and steal your goods the minute you opened your door. They don't even have to really mean it... the impression alone may be enough to set a store owner off, and prompt them to install extra security, or even to move their store to another block.

The difference is:
a) the kids constrain other customers from entering the shop
b) stealing in a shop creates a direct loss (e.g. the lost book) while downloading from the darknet costs you - at the max - a potentiale sale, not results in a direct loss. There is no cost attached to copying a file.
I know what you mean - but that doesnt justify that behaviour (neither of pirates nor of publishers).

There may never be hard numbers on the darknet, but the impression alone is enough to set publishers off. If we want publishers to deal with consumers with a minimum of draconian security measures (or, at worst, to keep them from just leaving), we need to do our part to show them that we are not contributing to the darknet... that we are boxing the ears of the nearest Artful Dodger and sending him home to Mama, instead of holding the doors open for them to run in and out with their booty.

I am not stating that piracy - in any form - should be supported. I am just stating that there is no evidence in any form that the darknet has a bad impact - and thus the publishers/etc are just acting out of histery.

I repeat: You will never get rid of the darknet - just as you will never get rid of petty thefts or similar. But the darknet is not the problem it is stated to be.
And one of the solutions could be more customer service, etc - this will not keep your work from appearing in the darknet (nothing will) - but it will increase your sale and stop quite a large percentage of people from using that darknet availability.