On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 bkeir@pgdp.net wrote:
The many discussions I've had with academics about PG and DP point to their unshakable distrust, sight unseen, of the quality of work done by "unqualified" volunteer/amateurs.
"You mean you let ANYONE do your proofreading??!?!?" is both a question I was asked, and a fair summary of their attitude of incredulity.
The open-source, distributed but computer-linked volunteer paradigm is still too new in the world for its strengths, and the quality of its productions, to be trusted by the average academic. Give it a few decades, and population replacement MAY change this.
On the other hand, scholars and librarians around the world have also said just the opposite, remarking VERY positively about our collections of Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, and many others. The truth is that there will always be those who can't abide anything "not invented here." This goes from messages we have received that ONLY the sender's favorite edition should be used, and all others should be denied a place in ANY eBook library. On the other hand, there is always the Darwinian approach: Those who do not use eBooks simply won't be able to keep up with the those who do. This might be one of the best reasons for NOT giving them each eBook as an exact copy of a particular paper edition. I've also heard that many of those who complain, actually use our eBooks in secret, and ONLY want the provenance so they can steal them without giving credit where credit is due. Apparently they feel they can't actually take them publicly, because they don't wan't to give credit to Project Gutenberg, but if they know which paper edition we used, they can bypass giving us any credit. Somehow this reminds me of Napoleon, in "Animal Farm". . . . Michael