Quote:
Originally Posted by rkomar
It seems to me that people here are falling into two camps: those that do and those that don't value the public domain (at least not enough to let it get in the way of commercializing works). I doubt any amount of arguing is going to make anyone switch camps, but it may be useful to think about this when wondering why arguments are falling on deaf ears.
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I think there are more than two camps or maybe they are sub-camps.
I am firmly in the camp that says I don't care what you do, just don't expect a pat on the head and sympathy because someone feels that they have been forced to pirate a work rather than giving up the price of several cups of coffee or waiting a month or so to get it from the library. If someone is comfortable with it just do it, they don't need my approval.
The other camp I am in is the one where authors deserve to be paid if people like their books. Very few make a living at it and for those that do actually get published, we want to take away the fruits of their labour after 20 years? Does the book quality deteriorate with time? Some do of course, but a good book endures.
What I fail to understand is the 20-50-75 years thing. Were the books published 20 years ago of better quality than the ones published 50 years ago or 80 years ago. Some are, some aren't. Most acclaimed books published 20 years ago are pretty available.
And the benefit of people being able to write spin-offs of their favorite series if only they were allowed to sooner. Do they want to wait 20 years? I doubt it. And who would care when they did.
Just saying.
Helen