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

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
As long as the books give sufficient indication that they are from
Wikipedia, as long as the license requirement is met, this gentlemen is
welcome to ask as much as people are willing to pay. If anything this is
EXACTLY something that we can do as well. The German Verein did a good job a
few years back with publishing its own books.

It is fine that you do not like it. When you agitate against this do realise
that it has been said often enough that commercial parties are welcome to do
this. If you want to do better, you can, and when you feel that it needs to
be more clear where the content comes from, you will make that more clear as
well.
Thanks,
      GerardM

2009/8/14 Renata St <renatawiki at gmail.com>

> It was raised before on the Village Pump, but I think this is so disturbing
> that we ought to do something.
>
> "Alphascript Publishing" has published over 1900 (and counting) books, all
> available on Amazon. Prices range from $31 to $179. All of these books are
> simple computer-generated copies from Wikipedia and (at least according to
> one Amazon reviewer) couple other public domain websites. Trouble is, from
> book description page there is absolutely no way of knowing that the book
> is
> a Wikipedia mirror on paper. At least several Amazon buyers have been
> fooled. What really gets my blood boiling is that Amazon user "VDM Verlag
> Dr.Müller" (I think someone exposed him as 100% shareholder of the
> publishing co) goes on rating these products as "five star"....
>
> The publisher seems to observe the copyright (even includes full edit
> history) so legal action seems impossible. Someone already contacted
> Amazon,
> but they "are not responsible for the quality of books sold". In the
> meantime the number of such books grew from 900 in June to almost 2000 as
> of
> today... I think we should do something. At the very least publishing
> product reviews warning that what this is....
>
> See:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PrimeHunter/Alphascript_Publishing_sells_free_articles_as_expensive_books
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(miscellaneous)/Archive_20#The_Alphascript-Amazon-Wikipedia_book_hoax<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28miscellaneous%29/Archive_20#The_Alphascript-Amazon-Wikipedia_book_hoax>
> http://rufftoon.livejournal.com/59337.html
>
> Thanks,
> Renata
>
> P.S. on a happier note: half of Wikipedia editors now can claim to be
> "published authors".
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