Re: [Bug-gnupedia] Content Format

[Bob Dodd]

--- Alexander Braun <address@hidden> wrote:
[snip]
> There's no dual standard. any word-user may be allowed to post
> whatever he
> wants - he just has to choose the right format. Everybody has the
> _right_
> to use proprietary software, and believe it or not I'm still talking
> to
> him/her. But this _right_ to use proprietary software does not mean
> he has
> the right to see us handling word-files, nor have we the duty to
> handle
> them, because we have the right to try to push the thought and the
> realization of freedom and we choose to do this.

Freedom is a philosophical concept, I'm more concerned about the
practicalities... For any encyclopedia/libarary to succeed it needs
content, and the vast majority of people who know enough to contribute
content are not *us*. They don't have to contribute, but we need their
participation to succeed. The onus is thereofore on GNE to to provide
the appropriate comfort level to allow them to participate, however we
choose to do that. Allowing submission in Word is simply the easiest,
fastest, and most effective way to get good quality submissions *now*.
We can choose to reject Word submissions and lose a huge army of
potential contributers, or force them to write in Ascii text and hence
reduce the potential quality of their work, but the only people who
will actually lose are *us*, and those who use our work.

/Bob Dodd 


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