Okay. One more thing. When it comes to copyright vs. fair use vs. piracy, my overall stance is still "Mostly the Sith deal predominantly but not exclusively in absolutes." But. Jesus, it blows my mind every time how much people feel the urge, need, and right to TELL authors.
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It may be that I possess digital copies of physical books I own that are not available for sale in digital formats. It may be that I find them more usable in this and I disagree with the legal opinion of the publisher that I'm not entitled to a digital copy of a book I purchased.
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But you know what I don't do? I don't @ the people whose hard work produced those books to tell them they're a bunch of parasitic vulture parasites, even if they're tweeting a PSA against piracy.
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You know why trad-published authors have their backs up about this? Because every time the subject is raised they get inundated with people who profess to love the products they create but who can't wait to tell them to die in a ditch if they think it's worth money.
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And I know that what happens is we take it personally when someone is saying that a thing we did, even for a really good reason that was apparent to us, is wrong. And in that moment you can feel shame, or anger, and a lot of people choose anger.
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I wish more people would embrace the healing power of feeling nothing at all. If it's not about you, don't make it about you. If it's not about you specifically, don't personalize it.
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I said in my first thread on this subject that we know there's never going to be 100% compliance. There's not even 100% agreement on what the limits of copyright vs. fair use are, and corporate money has badly skewed that one, sure.
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But if you love reading and/or you literally need a book (like for work or school) and you can't afford to support authors financially, I think the least you can do is support them emotionally. Like by not attacking them when they explain their fiscal realities.
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That's really all. Even if you think you're a radical crusader undermining the evil world of corporate publishing and that once you break the shackles authors will thank you, there's no reason to take time away from your crusade to attack the authors.
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No matter how much their tweets about cancelled serieses and books that had 20,000 fans and 200 sales feel like an attack on you personally, the author doesn't know you. There's no reason to make that introduction.
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I just. This same Discourse keeps going around with different precipitating incidents and it always goes the same. Download whatever you want! No one can stop you! But leaving taunting notes in your wake really undermines the "not a thief" narrative.
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I mean, if Jean Valjean had gone to the baker and said "I stole your bread and I'd do it again, you lazy leech. No one can stop me. I'll eat that whole wedding cake in the window. It took you how long? Uwu, cry more," I think we'd agree that's kind of a jerk move?
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But that's what authors deal with every time there's copyright discourse. That's the way it goes. Suddenly a group of mostly starving artists are being pelted with cabbages like they're aristo scum.
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And with that, I'm done. Super done. I just wanted to explain why there is so much anger and fear from authors on this topic that it boils over so quickly.
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End of conversation
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