That is the most practical response to the situation that I have seen. The rest of the excahnges have been 90% self-indulgent inbox clutter. I am not inclined to get into this, but I could well Imagine volunteer contributors and proofers asking themselves why they are bothering with hard work just to support commercial interests for free. That is the greatest threat, not the fact that PG could clean up big if we got paid. Linda's suggestion is one option. Another that I think has been mooted and quashed is to put it to the harvesters that they are killing the layers of golden eggs and risking some bad publicity. Of course a combination might be the best idea. FWIW On 2010/12/03 05:34 AM, Linda Everhart wrote:
The difference in opinion in legal terms won't solve the problem, which is actually two problems: How do you stop this harvesting for profit, and should a PG volunteer continue to donate their efforts only to line harvesters pockets?
Selling public domain eBooks for Kindle on Amazon (and all other eBook sellers) is easy. That's why harvesters do it. A simple solution for PG, which already has the files formated, is to can beat the harvesters at their own game.
Yes, it will profit Amazon, but it will profit PG even more in name recognition, popularity, ethics and dollars. Just the news release that PG is going to do this would draw readers, along with donations, to the site.
I'm a business person, who operated on two basic facts, the customer is always right, and three nickels are better than a dime. (I comfortably retired 17 years ago at age 39.)
Customers want the best value and volunteers want to make a real difference. Give us that chance.
Linda Everhart codmolly@embarqmail.com
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