I would ask and accept help from people who know how to publish ebooks and print on demand books. Such help was offered by people on this forum and elsewhere. This could have been done within weeks at the most. Instead we were told the matter was in hand and would be published within weeks. I would publish ISofCF too, and save needless energy making a new introduction and other changes. You could do that later in another edition if you really want, if it takes years. Personally I would not charge $9.99 for the ebook either - unless I needed the income I suppose. Because I didn't write the book and I would want as many people as possible to read it.
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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slimboyfat
Evidently Ray Franz felt it was more important for his work to fall into the hands of his trusted friends than to hand it off to a younger and more pro-active party.
Ray Franz, as I recall, made no provision for the publication or transfer of the rights to his books after his death.
His wife naturally inherited those rights since he died first. It was Cynthia's decision leave the rights to her friends in her will, not Ray Franz. Ray Franz's apparent lack of concern about what happened to his books was much commented on at the time.
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slimboyfat
I think that Ray Franz's intention to include the material does not equal permission from the copyright owner in law. I suspect Ray Franz would have made sure this was in order if he had got round to it himself. Has the current publisher done so?
The reasons for cynicism are these.
1. There is no good reason why the book could not have continued to be published when Cynthia died in 2013, in the original format, just as it had continued to be published in 2010 when Ray Franz died.
2. We were promised at the time that the book would be available within weeks. Instead it has taken nearly half a decade. Why?
3. It is still not actually available in print yet. It's promised for a few weeks' time, but we've been here before. I hope it does get released, but on track record we shouldn't count our chickens yet.
4. $9.99 in certainly not expensive, but it's not as cheap as it might be either, for an ebook if your main intention is the widest circulation possible. Unfortunately between the delays, changes, and ebook charges, it seems fair to conclude that wide distribution, as quickly as possible, does not appear to have been the priority of the copyright owner.
5. It's terrible that anyone suffers illness or through the illness of others. But to deflect any valid criticism for poor decisions over many years on that basis is what is cynical.
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slimboyfat
My copy of the Great Crowd booklet says "Copyright 1992 by John Mitchell All rights reserved". Do they have permission to reproduce the booklet from the copyright owner? It would be ironic (but again not the end of the world) if after all this fuss, they published this material without permission from whoever owns it.
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slimboyfat
It's not the end of the world that someone from Watchman has written an introduction. But to ask whether Franz would have approved, I think is relevant to people who are interested. That's all.
And is it possible to regret Deborah Dykstra's loss and difficult time over the last few years. But at the same time think she hasn't handled the publication of the book very well? Which predates illness and death of her husband by years. I think this is possible. There has never been any reasonable explanation why publication didn't continue after Cynthia's deaths 2013, just as it had done after Ray Franz himself died three years earlier. So far it is available as an ebook. If it does actually come out as a physical book too even better. There is no reason why a book can't be released in print simultaneously but we'll need to wait and see what happens.
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Merger or Consolidation in Scotland?
by The Fall Guy inaccording to the borg's web site, the kilbirnie kh on the ayrshire coast of scotland appears to have been terminated and the congregation now has to travel even further to share the irvine kh in ayrshire.
word is that numerous jw's in the area have been involved in a congregation "shuffle.".
anyone got any details on the sale or the "personnel" switching?.
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slimboyfat
No I asked about this on a previous thread and no information was forthcoming.
As I recall, there were congregations in Stevenston, Ardrossan and Kilbirnie at one time. Isn't that right?
Apparently the Kilbirnie congregation was moved to Stevenston but still called Kilbirnie. And now it's moved to Irvine but still called Kilbirnie. And who knows what happened to Stevenston congregation? Maybe it was closed because of bad publicity. But I also heard a rumour that Kilbirnie ran out of money.
Sorry can't add much but speculation.
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Funny News From My Old Congragation - Elder Fight!
by pale.emperor ini haven't stopped laughing since i heard this.
a pimo in my last congregation told me that an elder has been removed from his elder position.
apparently he grabbed another elder by the throat, put him up against a wall in the back room and punched him in on the nose... during an elders meeting on thursday evening after the meeting.. the congregation were running round like headless chickens wondering what to do?
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slimboyfat
Strange they should argue over something there's a clear WT ruling on.
There's probably background to the dispute in other issues as it's hard to believe many elders would go out on a limb to defend the rights of DFed people.
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slimboyfat
Fair enough that what Ray Franz would have wanted is not the final word.
From a reader's perspective however, the addition of an introduction from a Trinitarian, the great crowd booklet, and single pages from ISofCF in the appendix was not worth waiting 5 plus years. Was there some sort of misunderstanding that a new edition needed to be produced before it could be republished? I think the majority of people just wanted to read the original book as quickly as possible.
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slimboyfat
I didn’t say the introduction mentioned the Trinity but it was written by someone who promotes the Trinity against non-Trinitarian “cults”. Ray Franz didn’t even allow Randy Waters to sell his book because he was a Trinitarian. Just saying. It’s not what you think, it’s what Ray Franz would have thought.
The other question is who holds the copyright of the Great Crowd booklet?
Plus if the appendix really contains single pages from ISofCF that doesn’t sound terribly practical or helpful. Why not simply republish the book?
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2018-List Of Publications Approved For Discard!
by Atlantis incopy & paste;.
atlantis listed only one form which is the s-60-e--2/18, but there are several items in the zipped folder.. .
2018 list of publications approved for discard.
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slimboyfat
The letter says these old items from the bookroom should first be displayed to the congregation for a last opportunity to take them before they are disposed. That's a pretty odd way to try to hide something. I suggest people are misunderstanding the purpose and intent of this list.