Mark wrote: """If it were up to me, I would end it today. However, as time goes on, review may become increasingly irrelevant anyway. For instance, how will the fact that Google is about to digitize several major libraries relate to the absence of a global policy regarding online review? """
Well, one way the policy of review hurts is that there a lot less books written about Baha'i related topics, than there would be without review. Why invest the time and effort to write a book when it may never see the light of day because of review? There are also a lot less magazine articles, newspaper articles, and other communication pieces written and communication activities undertaken than there would be without review. The consequence is that the Faith gets a lot less publicity, and therefore gets noticed a lot less. On top of all that, the Baha'i books that are published are a lot less creative than they otherwise would have been, and so we get a lot of the same kind of books written over and over again, rather than new kinds of thinking, which would be more interesting and useful and therefore help to attract a lot more seekers to the faith. Without review, for all we know, there might have been Baha'i best-sellers; books about the Baha'i Faith, in whole or in part, that sold so many copies than they were atop the New York Times best sellers charts. We'll never know what we have lost. Yes, the internet helps. But the internet is not optimal for all kinds of communication, and internet communication has its down sides, as we all have seen. Ron __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
