The VAT proposal is not about screening books, it is about informing readers. I thought you were all in favor of that.
Evan----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Loran Bailey" <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:12 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: VAT's proposed change to adult rating system
To be honest, when I choose a book to read I do so on the basis of the synopsis, various reviews I have read, sometimes the fact that the title appears in a bibliography and back when I was sighted I even made the mistake of judging a few books by their covers, that is, I liked the picture on them. There are other criteria too, such as genre, author and more. However, no matter what factors go into my decision I still find myself occasionally reading books I don't like. In fact, I am currently reading a book I downloaded from RFB&D that I am disliking more and more as I go along. Personally, I seem to have a compulsion to finish any book I start, no matter how much I dislike it, but that is just my own little quirk. I am well aware that others will just quit and go on to something else and that is okay with me. I suppose that quitting is the most effective way to rid oneself of a stinker that one accidentally starts to read. One thing I have never expected, though, is for other people to screen my books for me. I have also never felt obligated to screen books for others. There are any number of books I might recommend and while discussing books with others I might mention that I came across a stinker and tell why I thought it was a stinker, but it is not my place to screen books for other people. I would suppose that everyone else makes their decisions about what to read in much the same way. That is, they know what they like or what they need for a particular purpose and they seek out books that meet those criteria. I would also suppose that now and then they make a mistake. When one of those mistakes are made and assuming that the person making the mistake does not have my compulsion, what is the big problem about just stopping the reading? What is this demand that others screen the books? Is there really any other person, and especially any other person you do not know intimately, who cannot also make a mistake when screening your books?_ _ _ "As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the world" Virginia Woolf The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html----- Original Message ----- From: "EVAN REESE" <mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 11:41 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: VAT's proposed change to adult rating systemWe can't overcomplexify the system or nobody will use it. Every book is unique, and we can't have a check mark for every possible level of content that people might want to know about. Remember that the proposal for check marks is for people who want a quick way of weeding out content that they may want to avoid in their reading. That means that it needs to be fairly short and simple. If we have a lot of marks to check, readers will not want to go through them to see if any are checked, and submitters and proofers won't want to have to decide on which ones and how many to check. Submitters and proofers will always have the long synopsis in which they can give a more nuanced description of a book's content if they wish.Evan----- Original Message ----- From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 8:12 PMSubject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: VAT's proposed change to adult rating systemHmm My only objection to these categories is that sexual situations is different from explicit descriptions of sex; it could include kissing and mild situations such as caressing; would people object to that? Also,, although "strong lanugage might be o.k. for obscenities, would it include profanity (as commonly understood, Roger)?CindyWish List (i.e., books wanted added to the collection) and books-being-scanned list available at sites belowWish List: https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Bookshare+Wish+ListBooks Being Scanned List: https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Books+Being+Scanned+List--- On Sun, 3/28/10, Judy s. <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:From: Judy s. <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] VAT's proposed change to adult rating system To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Sunday, March 28, 2010, 12:48 PM Because numerous problems around the adult rating system have come up frequently the following was proposed by the Volunteer Advisory Team to Bookshare. It is currently under consideration by Bookshare for implementation. From VAT to Bookshare: Based on discussions on the volunteer booklist, and amongst ourselves, we, the volunteer advisory team, would like to request that Bookshare make the following changes to the book rating system: 1. Both submitters and proofreaders should have the ability to make decisions concerning a book's content status. 2. That three checkboxes indicating whether or not a book has "strong language", "descriptions of sexual situations" and "violence" either replace the current method of rating a book as adult or not, or be developed in addition to the current adult rating structure. 3. That the results of these checkboxes be placed prominently on the new books list, most popular books list and book searches, any screen that shows multiple books as well as on the book information screen. 4. That options can be configured in My Account, so that a user can elect not to be presented with titles that have been marked as containing strong language, explicit descriptions of sex or violence. and 5. That Bookshare publish guidelines, including, but not necessarily limited to a complete list of words which the tools consider to indicate adult content, for volunteers to employ when making these designations, so that as much as possible of the subjectivity can be removed. Judy s, co-chair, VAT To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. 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