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Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

standardebooks.org

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Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#111

Post by StavrosK »

Shorel wrote: post #83
paulcarroty wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mailing lists was superior in 90's-00's, now when discourse/slack/discord/etc exists there's no reason to use ML except nostalgia. Parsing tons of new emails isn't easy. Also I'm prefer to avoid Google services 'cause privacy issues.

It is bearable when using an efficient client like Ripcord.

You don't know how much I agree. I used Ripcord the other day and forgot software could just be fast. Slack feels like a boulder in comparison.

It's not very full-featured yet, but it's so fantastic I want to pay for it. It's a shame the companies themselves don't offer clients like it.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#112

Post by StavrosK »

the_duke wrote: post #108
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are these corrections going to make it upstream to Gutenberg? It's an issue worth raising to the team. In the spirit of GPL, I think reporting any instances of clear typos in the source text upstream would be a good idea. The problem is that so much work is done to the text as part of StandardEbook production that we can't exactly just submit a single patch or diff. It would be difficult to identify the textual cor…

"Modernizing" is a very questionable thing to do IMO. Fixing typos is fine I guess, but books are the result of an era and grammar or writing style is an inherent part of a book that should not be altered.

That's true, it changes the book materially, I think.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#113

Post by StavrosK »

liability wrote: post #64
paulcarroty wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mailing lists was superior in 90's-00's, now when discourse/slack/discord/etc exists there's no reason to use ML except nostalgia. Parsing tons of new emails isn't easy. Also I'm prefer to avoid Google services 'cause privacy issues.

I soured on discord/slack/etc when their absurdly bad performance caused my laptop to get so hot it probably neutered me. Seriously though, those services are fine on a powerful tower PC plugged into the wall, but if you're on the move on battery power, they are unbearable.

Try https://cancel.fm/ripcord/, if you want to give them a try.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#114

Post by mrleinad »

StevePerkins wrote: post #97

For the Amazon-compatible "azw3" files that I'm seeing, I'm curious why the book cover thumbnail images are a separate download from the ebook file itself? Unless I'm missing a trick, it seems like you have to use Calibre (or some other application) to re-build the "azw3" file with the cover thumbnail properly embedded. Why not just ship the ebook files like that to begin with?

You can also transform the epub to a format compatible with Kindle and save a few clicks. The epub contains the cover.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#115

Post by outime »

StavrosK wrote: post #109
andrepd wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you force people to use nonfree proprietary software in order to contribute to an open project?

That's a good point. I find Zulip better than Slack/Discord for discourse (even better than mailing lists, with some caveats, and it's Apache-licensed: https://zulipchat.com/

I knew about Zulip but wasn’t aware of the free hosted plan. I can truly see it now as an alternative for orgs who can’t afford running these things themselves.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#116

Post by StavrosK »

outime wrote: post #115
StavrosK wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point. I find Zulip better than Slack/Discord for discourse (even better than mailing lists, with some caveats, and it's Apache-licensed: https://zulipchat.com/

I knew about Zulip but wasn’t aware of the free hosted plan. I can truly see it now as an alternative for orgs who can’t afford running these things themselves.

I use the free hosted plan and intend to pay for it when I need more features. It's excellent.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#117

Post by sauntheninja »

StevePerkins wrote: post #97

For the Amazon-compatible "azw3" files that I'm seeing, I'm curious why the book cover thumbnail images are a separate download from the ebook file itself? Unless I'm missing a trick, it seems like you have to use Calibre (or some other application) to re-build the "azw3" file with the cover thumbnail properly embedded. Why not just ship the ebook files like that to begin with?

Kobo is far easier just download the epub on to your mobile and use the import button from the app and it will automatically get downloaded

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#118

Post by robin_reala »

the_duke wrote: post #108
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are these corrections going to make it upstream to Gutenberg? It's an issue worth raising to the team. In the spirit of GPL, I think reporting any instances of clear typos in the source text upstream would be a good idea. The problem is that so much work is done to the text as part of StandardEbook production that we can't exactly just submit a single patch or diff. It would be difficult to identify the textual cor…

"Modernizing" is a very questionable thing to do IMO. Fixing typos is fine I guess, but books are the result of an era and grammar or writing style is an inherent part of a book that should not be altered.

We’re pretty light touch. For an example, the biggest change a typical novel gets is amending “to-day” to “today”.

Re: Standard Ebooks: Free public-domain ebooks, carefully produced

#119

Post by dfc »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #70
dfc wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean when you say "modern forums are fun to use"? I ask in 100% good faith and I am not being snarky.

They have all sorts of modern features more conducive to discussion and community-building like notifications that someone @mention/replied to you and even editing your post -- features that people generally like. If you don't think that's "fun", fair enough, but I also enumerated other benefits like their broader appeal. Any community that only has a mailing list could benefit from experimenting with a proper forum.…

My question was simply about how much fun you experience using modern forums. I have never edited a post and thought it was fun.

Some people might say it's useful and others might say it encourages people to comment first and possibly focus on polishing the comment second.

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