Gap Errors

[Orlion]

From Stephen R. Donaldson's website:

Readers of this site have mentioned that the text of the e-versions of the GAP books is significantly corrupt: corrupt in a way that commonly happens when a book is scanned and posted without proofreading. "Careless" is the kindest word I can think of to describe the problem. I have contacted Bantam/Spectra about this, but the editor declines to take any action unless I can provide specific examples (as many as possible?). Well, I don't have TIME to re-proofread the GAP books right now: I need to be hard at work on "The Last Dark". In addition, the mental gear-shift of going back into Angus and Morn while I'm working on Covenant and Linden would probably wreck my transmission. So....

Help? Anyone? If you have the time and the inclination to tackle such a laborious task, your efforts would be much appreciated--at least by me (my editor would probably curse and gnash her teeth).

2/3/10

Perhaps we can organize a re-read and comparison of sorts... should be fairly quick if we can get enough people to work on different parts, and it'd be more efficient to!

Just checked Random Houses website, looks like all the books with the exception of Forbidden Knowledge are available in the questionable e-format...

I say, let's have at it!

[wayfriend]

I'd certainly be willing.

But, alas, I have no eReader.

[Orlion]

I'd certainly be willing.

But, alas, I have no eReader.

You can download one for either the Kindle or the Nook onto your computer and read e-books like that(I'd prefer the later, since it can read PDFs). I find out how to do it and whether the Gap e-books exist in different forms (I know they're on Kindle, but I don't know yet if they're on the other ones).

[Orlion]

All right! They exist at B & N, and further more, the website had this to say:

eBooks, also known as electronic books, are the digital equivalent of printed books. Barnes & Noble eBooks can be read on the iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry, or PC and Mac computers. Please check back for an expanded list of other supported devices.

To read eBooks on your device, you'll need the free Barnes & Noble eReader, the leading eBook formatting application. It's simple to install, easy to use, and free to download. (links to Download the free eReader CDS page)

[wayfriend]

ok, I could do this.

[Orlion]

Awesome! We could probably each do half of The Real Story, then determine who gets what book afterwards... or even one person could do The Real Story and the other does another book... hmm... that'd probably be quicker.

As for others, feel free to join in as well! The more people we have looking, the more likely and quicker all the errors will be found!

[StevieG]

Orlion I'd be willing to help here too - is it comparing the e-books to the paper books?

[Orlion]

Orlion I'd be willing to help here too - is it comparing the e-books to the paper books?

That's exactly what it is! Any book you'd prefer to review? (Same for you, wayfriend! If there's one you'd specifically want to check out, just tell me here or by PM)

[StevieG]

No preference really. I reckon there would be a few other interested parties...

Nominate a book/series of chapters and I'll do what I can.

[Rigel]

I would recommend starting a sub-forum for each book, and a thread for each chapter in said book.

These forums and threads could be deleted after the proof-read.

[Orlion]

I would recommend starting a sub-forum for each book, and a thread for each chapter in said book.

These forums and threads could be deleted after the proof-read.

That's a good idea.... I shall pester the mods about it with my petitions!

[Avatar]

Comparison probably wouldn't be necessary. Just proof reading it sounded like. If it was scanned by OCR and then not edited, it'll be filled with spelling mistakes, words that the software read wrong, stuff like that.

--A

[Spiral Jacobs]

Wow this is a perfect excuses for a re-read . I'd be willing to join, hopefully I'll have enough time.

[CovenantJr]

Good project. I think helping SRD (and forcing cooperation from a disinterested editor) is a worthwhile endeavour. I'll make some enquiries about the sub-forum idea.

[CovenantJr]

Alright, we'll go ahead with the sub-forums. It's thought to be a good idea to inform SRD that this is going ahead, so he knows people are working on it and he can direct others here if non-KW people express interest in undertaking the task.

Orlion, would you like to compose a message for Danlo to send to SRD (since you initiated the project), or would you prefer someone else to do it?

[Avatar]

Sub-Forums are up.

No quitting now.

--A

[Orlion]

Alright, we'll go ahead with the sub-forums. It's thought to be a good idea to inform SRD that this is going ahead, so he knows people are working on it and he can direct others here if non-KW people express interest in undertaking the task.

Orlion, would you like to compose a message for Danlo to send to SRD (since you initiated the project), or would you prefer someone else to do it?

Yeah, I'll give it a shot.

[StevieG]

So how are we going to do this?

If we can get errors into some sort of standard format it would be good. Perhaps a table or spreadsheet?

Book, Chapter of error, word or phrase in question, and what it should be - something like that?

Disregard if you don't think it's a good idea.

[Orlion]

So how are we going to do this?

If we can get errors into some sort of standard format it would be good. Perhaps a table or spreadsheet?

Book, Chapter of error, word or phrase in question, and what it should be - something like that?

Disregard if you don't think it's a good idea.

Yeah, we definitely need that... at the moment, we'll place the errors in the proper forum. I think with the errors, we should specify if we are using a Kindle edition or otherwise (different format, might be different problems) and just to be thorough, the edition of the book the e-book was compared to (this is unnecessary if it's just a spelling error or the like).

Also, verification. If we can get people to check on the error found, we can attach names of people who have found and verified it, so that we know it's not just a bad download, but a problem with the file.

[kevinswatch]

Maybe we can give a special item prize to all the people who help out.

-jay