jon said:
>   We can improve the extant text through the errata system,
>   we can provide something better as a buried project
>   for those in the know and
>   we can provide excellent final formatted versions externally
>   based on these buried versions.
>   Maybe we can even give Amazon the nod about
>   the new versions -- that really would be consequential.

ok, let's take those one-by-one...


>   We can improve the extant text through the errata system,

nice thought.  i wish it could happen.  i wish it _would_ happen.

my observation, though, is that it does not.  not dependably.

the _only_ time an extant text gets improved is if/when
a whitewasher decides that that's what's gonna happen.

and a long list of errata doesn't necessarily give them
that kind of motivation.  it _might_.  or it might _not_.

you might be surprised at some of the solidly-documented
error-reports which whitewashers have completely ignored.

i'm just sayin'...

(and i would love for you to have success in this regard!)


>   we can provide something better as a buried project
>   for those in the know and

that you can certainly do.

and it's not a bad thing to do.

but you had earlier ruled that out flatly, jon,
said you were completely uninterested in that.

it's ok to change your mind, though.         :+)


>   we can provide excellent final formatted versions externally
>   based on these buried versions.

and you can certainly do that as well.

but you'll probably get even less traction for those files
than the "buried" updates located at project gutenberg.


>   Maybe we can even give Amazon the nod about
>   the new versions -- that really would be consequential.

well, it might or might not be "consequential", but
i'd guess you won't get any attention from amazon.

it doesn't really care much about the quality-level
of the public-domain e-books which it gives away...


>   Unfortunately I do think DP is necessary.

that will prove to be a tremendous stumbling block.

greg has offered to send volunteers your way, and
_that_ is most definitely the move you should make.

d.p. will be nothing but a tar-baby for you.  avoid!


>   I would love for Bowerbird to prove me wrong,
>   but the response to his P&P "pilot" didn't
>   fill me with confidence.

i'm not trying to "recruit" anyone.  i work alone, dude.     :+)

i actively reject followers.  they just create drag.


>   there are 1000 odd people who _want_ to do the
>   fastiduous painstaking work that, if we're honest,
>   we want to avoid.

if you don't make this fun, you are doing it wrong.

at the very least, you need to give people tools that
make the job _easy_.  if you think only masochists
can do digitization, your attitude has defeated you.

-bowerbird