Papchap wrote:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LHyuht2sCGRolsJb1Pqwp2n6jL8EChf-qqLd8yf9Y0/edit
Are people just taking their time or do people not really want to do it? Or are there technical problems? Don't have a google account or something? I thought for sure there would be at least one person to have submitted to the doc by now.
I appreciate your enthusiasm, but book publishing is expensive. Personally, I would not put money into this. The exposure for copyright infringement claims is significant. Even with the best due diligence and the most honest intentions, there may be memory lapses with regard to source images. Possible litigation aside, selling hard copies successfully would require obtaining an ISBN, establishing a relationship with one or more distributors, and devising a fulfillment method. Selecting a reliable printer is another challenge. Maintaining accounts is another. For a hard copy book, publishing is best handled by a single person or a very small group. It's a lot of hard boring work.
Then there is the matter of content. If you were to have even one hundred choppers present their best three images, you'll have three hundred to deal with. I can tell you with great certainty that my three best don't compare to the three best of ReyRey, the burning couch, Claf, vicspa, Luxwiz, Daenerys, and many others. In short, an editor or editors would need to filter out all of the crap. And there would be a lot of crap. Tsunamis of crap! Think of all the cranky messages and e-mails associated with the filtering process.
I applaud your desire to highlight some of the great chops here at PSC, but I don't think a book is marketable. Perhaps a print-on-demand book would work, but design and image selection would be labor intensive. I am pretty sure that hosting for such books isn't free, but I have no experience with POD projects. Do some research.
There is another possibility. Get permission from the current PSC owners to reproduce chops on an external site. Someone here started doing that years ago on Deviant Art, as I recall, but they didn't follow through. Perhaps you could revive that. Post one PSC image a day and solicit comments. That would be fun. The galleries here are filled with great chops. An alternative is to create your own site. Check out GoDaddy. The cost is not great, I am told. Just make sure you get PSC permission.
Of course, having a new code module here at PSC to honor past greats would work, too. Not a new forum thread, but a dedicated menu selection. The galleries are neat, but they are vote-driven. Many fantastic chops did not receive many votes because they appeared during low participation periods here. And, of course, there is no GIF category, so good luck finding old animations.
If you are Hell-bent on publishing a book, wait a bit. The upcoming Reunion Contest may bring in some old farts like me, if someone sent out an e-mail. Did someone send out an e-mail? I hope so.
Anyway, I'm not trying to take the wind out of your sails. Just offering my humble opinions.
Cheers.
--Ted
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