they won't allow you to use facts to embarrass them...

that seems to be jim's objection to the whitewashers.

and they won't let you step in and replace their work...

***

which is why david widger posted jim's version of "huck"
at a separate number from david's own version of "huck".

otherwise, david woulda voluntarily replaced his own work.
which, quite realistically, we cannot expect anyone to do...

but it wouldn't have been that different even if it had been
some other volunteer's work david was reluctant to replace.

as greg has pointed out, it's a somewhat delicate issue to
answer the question about the removal of _anyone's_ work.

and i certainly don't have the answer.

(well, i could probably think up a number of ways to avoid
the situation where jim's superior "huck" gets downloaded
much less frequently than david's inferior version, but that
just sidesteps the more thorny question of replacing work.)

however, i pretty much accept that the whitewashers have
the power to do whatever they want, so it wouldn't really
make any difference even if i _did_ have the answer, since
the whitewashers will just keep on doing what _they_ want.

so i accept david's action.  indeed, since jim has admitted
that his version is _different_ than david's, i don't see how
jim's version could replace david's version in any situation.
it would be different if jim's version were the same as #76.

it seems to me, though, that different versions _should_ be
posted as different numbers.  they're not exactly the same.

but since jim has whined about this matter for so very long,
i think it might be interesting to give him a thought problem
about just exactly what he would recommend on this issue...

so let's give him a little incentive...

let's imagine...  say i've corrected the errors in jim's version.
i have generated a list of his errors, and created an interface
where you can check that all those errors are indeed wrong.

moreover, i have created a clean version of the same edition
that jim used.  so imagine that i am going to submit it to p.g.,
along with the pagescans, to create a better overall package...

this is the question for jim.

what should p.g. do with my submission?

1.  reject it.

2.  put it under a new number.

3.  accept it, and overwrite jim's edition with mine, complete
with a new credit-line mentioning "a volunteer", but no name.
(i would not take a joint credit-line, because that might imply
we'd worked together; and likely neither would jim, probably.
it would be acceptable to me if the credit-line got _deleted_.)
jim's flawed version could be stored in the "old" subdirectory,
because hey, nobody ever looks inside those anyway, do they?

anyone else is invited to chip in their opinion as well, but i am
especially interested in jim's thoughts.  and, if he makes a post
before thanksgiving, i will consider it in my deliberations about
whether or not, after thanksgiving weekend, i will indeed make
a submission to p.g. of a corrected edition of jim's "huck finn".

-bowerbird