4 ms·

Just looked through the entire website to answer this question. Seems like they only accept english books :( "Types of ebooks we don’t accept: - Non-English-lan

by slevis 1y ago

Just looked through the entire website to answer this question. Seems like they only accept english books :( "Types of ebooks we don’t accept: - Non-English-language books. Translations to English are, of course, OK." (https://standardebooks.org/contribute/collections-policy https://standardebooks.org/contribute/collections-policy)

SamBam 1y ago
Weird. Why the explicit rule against them? I understand if the existing editors can't personally proofread the submissions, but that's why peer-review exists. Or an open-source project in general where people can post corrections. Jimbo Wales didn't need to speak a hundred languages to launch Wikipedia.
- contact9879 1y ago
  To me, that niche is already covered by Wikisource. Standard Ebooks as a project is very strict about conforming to its editorial and quality standards. On boarding more languages would require volunteer editorial experts in those languages. Besides, projects in other languages can absolutely build upon Standard Ebooks work, but to expect Standard Ebooks itself to support other languages is just too outside the scope and expertise of the volunteers available.
  - kelvinjps10 1y ago
    If you were to find the expert editors for the other languages would you let them publish the works in those other languages on standards books website?
    - contact9879 1y ago
      well, that would be up to Alex. but as that would require a pretty substantial organizational and responsibility shift, I imagine, no, he would not. As it is now, Alex is editorially responsible for all output of Standard Ebooks. Changing that would require someone with the time and experience willing to take on all the responsibilities that Alex currently has for each of those other languages.
- kmoser 1y ago
  Answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43601273 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43601273
- npteljes 1y ago
  A well-defined focus can help management of a project, for example, by not having the participants spread too thin. The website and toolchain are open source, so if someone would build an international version, and do it persistently, I'm sure they would link or maybe even merge the projects a bit.

by slevis 1y ago

SamBam 1y ago

Weird. Why the explicit rule against them? I understand if the existing editors can't personally proofread the submissions, but that's why peer-review exists. Or an open-source project in general where people can post corrections. Jimbo Wales didn't need to speak a hundred languages to launch Wikipedia.

contact9879 1y ago
To me, that niche is already covered by Wikisource. Standard Ebooks as a project is very strict about conforming to its editorial and quality standards. On boarding more languages would require volunteer editorial experts in those languages. Besides, projects in other languages can absolutely build upon Standard Ebooks work, but to expect Standard Ebooks itself to support other languages is just too outside the scope and expertise of the volunteers available.
- kelvinjps10 1y ago
  If you were to find the expert editors for the other languages would you let them publish the works in those other languages on standards books website?
  - contact9879 1y ago
    well, that would be up to Alex. but as that would require a pretty substantial organizational and responsibility shift, I imagine, no, he would not. As it is now, Alex is editorially responsible for all output of Standard Ebooks. Changing that would require someone with the time and experience willing to take on all the responsibilities that Alex currently has for each of those other languages.
kmoser 1y ago
Answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43601273 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43601273
npteljes 1y ago
A well-defined focus can help management of a project, for example, by not having the participants spread too thin. The website and toolchain are open source, so if someone would build an international version, and do it persistently, I'm sure they would link or maybe even merge the projects a bit.