James Linden wrote:
You can laugh at ZML all you want, but from the examples and personal discussion with Bowerbird, I have learned that ZML is not at all what most people think it is. From the examples that I have seen, ZML is basically PG vanilla text format, but cleaned up and normalized.
Because Bowerbird is more enamoured in hearing himself talking than in doing any research whatsoever, ZML doesn't address the simplest issues of text markup. Bowerbird just somehow found the DP rules for formatting proofed texts and amplified them with some rather sub-optimal ad hoc extensions, like the use of tabs for marking centered text etc. Altogether ZML is not much better (more likely worse) than what DP is outputting right now.
Yes, I have blocked Bowerbird from joining the PGXML list, but he is the _only_ person that I've blocked. The only reason for this is because of other people's reactions to him, not because of Bowerbird himself.
That is an original way of seeing things ...
I've made no secret of my personal opinions of PG:
1) the website is a disgrace 3) the catalog system is a hack job done by unqualified people
That's what I've fixed in the last year.
4) the PG text format is extremely disgusting
That's what I tried to fix. But ran against 5)
5) PG makes volunteers work uphill to get anything done
-- Marcello Perathoner webmaster@gutenberg.org