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OK, look, I came in all wrong. I was anticipating being attacked (considering some of the posting history on this topic, I think that's a reasonable expectation, TBH). But I should have left some of the defensiveness between the keyboard and the chair, as they say.
I still think there is a clash of mental models going on here.
I understand how the people who feel that Tor promised one thing and delivered something else are so annoyed. And I can see how they feel that they weren't treated with the level of customer service they had hoped for. I happen to think that the reaction to finding out that the initial guess about what Tor.com was wrong is a little over the top, but that's not to say I don't see the line of thought that led up to it.
But can anyone here try to set that aside for a little bit, and see the same transaction from the point of view of people trying to build an lively, enthusiastic community? Can anyone see how the tone and demeanor of the people who came to tor.com to complain was antithetical to that goal? Because until you can see that, you can't understand how this situation came about. And all this unproductive and wasteful anger could be used on better causes.
My perception of tor.com is that it is a long term project, years long, with an eye to associating the Tor brand with a lively, interesting and intelligent community in the science fiction world. That takes priority, I suspect, over the sales of a few eBooks at the start.
But the message that there is an appetite for eBooks has certainly gotten across. I don't know Tor politics, but I know big corporate politics, and I suspect that the eBook people at Tor (and I understand that there are many) appreciated having some weight behind their arguments about the importance of getting electronic editions out. Having people get too angry and say they won't buy them may be counterproductive, of course, but I suspect the good effect outweighs the bad.
Another good effect of the intersection between these communities is that, from what I hear, some of the Tor PDF's weren't formatted correctly. I understand you guys have a lot of expertise in that kind of area. If you're not perceived as being quite so annoyed at tor.com, I bet some of the people there would love to discuss the matter with you.
I don't know that I will hang out much on MobileRead. I am actually between eBook readers, having worn out my Palm Vx through overuse. And, as a hobby bookbinder, I do have at least one foot in the pBook world. But one day, I'd like to bind an eBook reader in a traditional pBook style, and have the best of both worlds. Can I come here for advice when that time comes?
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