[WikiEN-l] Alphascript Publishing: 1900+ copy&pasted books from Wikipedia

[Bod Notbod]

On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 11:10 PM, Renata St<renatawiki at gmail.com> wrote:

> It was raised before on the Village Pump, but I think this is so disturbing
> that we ought to do something.

As others have said, I don't find this disturbing at all. It would be
good if a Wikipedian bought one of the books to ensure compliance with
our license but even if it doesn't I would still be unmoved.

I don't think it requires a concerted effort by Wikipedia to attack
the publisher by trying to post a review of all 2,000 books.
Purchasers of the books who feel they were conned can post their own
reviews if they buy them and are alarmed to discover how they were
produced.

I wouldn't be against Wikipedia having its own range of print works
provided they were profitable and all funds were ploughed back into
the Foundation. But I certainly don't think it would be a good idea if
it were purely motivated by trying to compete someone out of the
market.