Dangerously e-books: How do I know if my ebooks have been altered?

[Billi]

I'm sure Harry wouldn't want me to take one of his files, change a bit of formatting, correct a typo, and call it my own and re-upload it. And yet that's exactly what he's now suggesting.

No, it isn't. The procedure is stated in post 473 and I've seen Harry many times including corrections that have been sent to him by members here.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by shalym

One of the things that really bothers me about the people making suggestions about changing/creating guidelines is that they are not really doing it in a way that makes a difference to the forum. If you really want to make a change to the forum, you are probably better off making an official request in the Feedback forum at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13

THAT would also be considered "doing something to help change the situation". I notice, however, that not one of the people who are so upset about this have bothered to even do that.

Shari

Problem solved.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Problem solved.

Thank you

Shari

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Billi

No, it isn't. The procedure is stated in post 473 and I've seen Harry many times including corrections that have been sent to him by members here.

Absolutely. My "Sherlock Holmes Omnibus" for example (which is, as a matter of interest, the most downloaded book in the MR library) is currently at version 11, and most of those revisions have been as a result of people being kind enough to point out errors to me.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by shalym

I'm not saying that it's a huge problem for me. You are. If I thought it was a big problem, I would do something about it...either here on the forum, or for my own books in my personal library.

What is a huge problem for me is the absurd indifference to accuracy, and ultimately to history. Words mean something. Or at least they are supposed to. And what have we seen in this thread, over and over? People have been saying that changes to text don't matter, that words don't matter.

This is a bunch of people who read, who are insisting that words don't matter! Yeah, that kind of indifference upsets me. What's the point of having any sort of digital library here if no one really cares about the content?

If the government changed words in a book, we'd holler censorship. But when an individual does it, ho hum, it's just his or her editorial judgment. This is insane. What are the limits of acceptable changes?

Sun Surfer offered an excellent post. Someone please tell me what would be the problem trying to create some guidelines for uploads. What is so horrifying about that, that the suggestion has caused such consternation and such a kerfuffle?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Iterative improvement is precisely how good ebooks get created. Some of my Dickens uploads have been revised a dozen times, largely as a result of people telling me about errors. I'm certainly not telling you what you are "supposed to do", but if you care about the fidelity of ebooks as much as you claim to, I find it both surprising and disappointing that you're apparently unwilling to do a stroke of work to actually improve them.

You've revised them, right? It's not other people taking your file and putting their own name on it. The question was about correcting a file IF THE UPLOADER DOESN'T DO IT, whether it's typos or a text change.

I am not going to proofread other people's work. That's their responsibility because they're the ones who've uploaded the material. So please stop being surprised and disappointed. It's getting awfully old.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Catlady

You've revised them, right? It's not other people taking your file and putting their own name on it. The question was about correcting a file IF THE UPLOADER DOESN'T DO IT, whether it's typos or a text change.

I am not going to proofread other people's work. That's their responsibility because they're the ones who've uploaded the material. So please stop being surprised and disappointed. It's getting awfully old.

IF THE UPLOADER DOESN'T DO IT, you're perfectly free to make the change yourself and upload a new version of the book. Maybe you think that this is a time consuming practice, and that's why you're so upset about it? It really isn't...I can unpack an epub, fix a typo, re-save and upload a new version in about 15 minutes or less.

Shari

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Billi

No, it isn't. The procedure is stated in post 473 and I've seen Harry many times including corrections that have been sent to him by members here.

In post 464, you said:

We have enough examples where corrections have been done and uploaded by other members then the original uploader.

{emphasis added}

You said corrections. You did not say a new version of the entire file.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by shalym

IF THE UPLOADER DOESN'T DO IT, you're perfectly free to make the change yourself and upload a new version of the book. Maybe you think that this is a time consuming practice, and that's why you're so upset about it? It really isn't...I can unpack an epub, fix a typo, re-save and upload a new version in about 15 minutes or less.

Shari

Fine, go fix AlexBell's change from "gay" to "light-hearted."

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Catlady

You've revised them, right? It's not other people taking your file and putting their own name on it. The question was about correcting a file IF THE UPLOADER DOESN'T DO IT, whether it's typos or a text change.

If the uploader doesn't do it, that is the time to upload a new edition yourself. Offer the corrections to the original uploader first.

I am not going to proofread other people's work. That's their responsibility because they're the ones who've uploaded the material. So please stop being surprised and disappointed. It's getting awfully old.

Yes, I think we've all got the idea by now that you can't be bothered to lift a finger to help.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Fine, go fix AlexBell's change from "gay" to "light-hearted."

If I had any interest in reading that book, I would. Sadly, that book doesn't interest me enough to make the change. If I were to find errors in books that did interest me, on the other hand, I would make changes to my own copy, and probably contact the person who had originally created the file to let them know. I would not however, do it in the "general discussion" forum, I would probably do it either by private message or in the thread related to the book in the MR library. (or probably both) If the original creator didn't change the book, I might upload a new copy, if the error was a large one. I would certainly post something in the thread related to the book so that others would know about the issue.

Shari

[doubleshuffle]

Dear Catlady, if - as you have declared in dozens of posts here - the MR library is totally not up to your standards, and you think the uploaders don't care enough about the quality of their uploads: why do you waste your time here at all? You can see that we want to keep on providing subpar ebooks, so why don't you find a place that meets your standards and leave us incorrigible hacks alone? Please?

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You don't think that helping our community is a benefit? That is a little disappointing to hear, but of course the decision is entirely yours.

You've misconstrued things, as there are many ways to help a community and many can help in their own small ways. You may take a lot of time on your uploads and do moderation duties as well, but I don't see you taking the time to run a book club here that others enjoy. Variety is the spice of life, no?

However, I also think you're conflating a few things. As I mentioned in another post, there is a big difference between mistakes and purposeful changes, and I am only concerned with the latter. I trust that most uploaders don't make purposeful changes (hopefully) but I see only good from a guideline encouraging uploaders not to change text and otherwise to note any changes.

You're venturing off on a tangent about generally helping proofread texts for mistakes once uploaded. I'll have you know, I have found mistakes in texts before that I've let the uploader know about and they've accordingly fixed the errors. I think that's a common practice around here for many and that's the very iterative improvement you're speaking of. We can continue to do this and have a sensible guideline to encourage uploaders not to change text.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

You've misconstrued things, as there are many ways to help a community and many can help in their own small ways. You may take a lot of time on your uploads and do moderation duties as well, but I don't see you taking the time to run a book club here that others enjoy. Variety is the spice of life, no?

However, I also think you're conflating a few things. As I mentioned in another post, there is a big difference between mistakes and purposeful changes, and I am only concerned with the latter. I trust that most uploaders don't make purposeful changes (hopefully) but I see only good from a guideline encouraging uploaders not to change text and otherwise to note any changes.

You're venturing off on a tangent about generally helping proofread texts for mistakes once uploaded. I'll have you know, I have found mistakes in texts before that I've let the uploader know about and they've accordingly fixed the errors. I think that's a common practice around here for many and that's the very iterative improvement you're speaking of. We can continue to do this and have a sensible guideline to encourage uploaders not to change text.

So it seems that you are not one of the people that are complaining about it but doing nothing else. In that case, I don't believe that Harry meant to include you in those that are not helping the community.

Shari

[issybird]

Originally Posted by shalym

So it seems that you are not one of the people that are complaining about it but doing nothing else. In that case, I don't believe that Harry meant to include you in those that are not helping the community.

Shari

Whew! So glad we got that sorted.