Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Scott MacDonald
> -Original Message-
> From: wikien-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-
> boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Gray
> Sent: 12 August 2011 18:09
> To: English Wikipedia
> Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs
> 
> Citing a print source is fine, but some (particularly querulous)
> people will occasionally challenge the print source because they don't
> believe what it says. In doing so, they'll argue that the person
> citing it can't be trusted, or that the transcription referred to is
> inaccurate, or - in this case - that there is something inherently
> wrong with the scanned file referred to. See, for example,
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kurt_Meyer_(SS_general) which used
> this style of argument before moving swiftly on to denying the
> existence of anyone who'd ever read the book.
> 
> It's a conceptually silly argument - it basically amounts to assuming
> deliberate deception at some point in the chain of evidence, which
> isn't a reasonable assumption in 98% of cases - but if someone is
> insistent enough, they can probably stonewall with it until the other
> party throws their hands up and gives in. And, sooner or later, we all
> do.
> 

There is a difference between the sourcing concepts involved in
verifiability and the concepts sources as Quality Control.

In any other work than Wikipedia, when citing a source is required, print
sources will usually (and sometimes erroneously) be preferred to online
ones. That's often because an expert academic work is usually seen as more
authoritative than a quickly written scribble from a journalist. Trust me,
cite the New York Times in most quality reference works you'll be laughed
off the planet. However, in most reference works it is assumed that the
author will be honestly and correctly using his sources - the ONLY question
is how authoritative the sources are. On the odd chance that the author is
misusing the sources, he's got a lot to lose in the way of reputation.

Wikipedia is different. We don't (for the most part) know the identity of
the author submitting the information. We don't know his honesty, or his
ability to accurately present the material he's taking from his sources. And
he's got little to lose if he's at it. Thus our Quality Control often rests
on the ability of another editor to check the source. For this reason alone,
an online source is often better. Not because it is more reliable, but
because there's a more realistic chance of source-misuse being identified.
If the article's facts seem to check out with a general article printed in
the NYT and available on line, that's better QC than having a reference to
an academic work that could theoretically be read in some academic library -
but probably no one will actually check. That's true even if said academic
work is FAR more reliable than the NYT.

I'd go further, and argue that we ought to insist on on-line sources for any
negative material on a living person. Not because on-line is more reliable,
or less biased, but because it is essential that we have a realistic Quality
Control on such information (and also because a negative BLP claim which
can't be found on-line is probably not remotely notable anyway.)

Scott


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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Ken Arromdee

On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, David Gerard wrote:

That's a rather different claim than that it is standard and accepted
practice, which is what Ken was clearly implying.


I ran into it a number of times but didn't have a particular situation
in mind.  I was sure that sooner or later someone would find one (which
indeed someone did) to cite, since it's fairly common.

A quick search for "illegal scan" on talk pages turns up this:
---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Anime_and_manga/Archive_45#SaiyanIsland.com_reliability
"SaiyanIsland.com hosts illegal scans of various manga series. AFAIK such 
websites can never be used as general sources, no matter how reliable they are 
otherwise. 「ダイノガイ千?!」? · Talk⇒Dinoguy1000 02:29, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

That's correct, per WP:ELNEVER 1. --Andrensath (talk | contribs) 02:48, 
30 May 2010 (UTC)

WP:ELNEVER doesn't apply to inline citations or general references, only 
external links, so that guideline can't be used. In such a case, cite WP:VERIFY in 
that sources containing copyrighted material fail the criteria of a reliable source 
:) ADD NOTE: More specifically WP:SOURCES."
---
and this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Angel_Munoz
"Reference 6: This is an illegally scanned article from an unknown magazine, 
hosted on Mr. Munoz's website (the poster apparently finds himself quite clever in 
using the IP of the server instead of the DNS name). If this was linked to an 
official web site in a non-infringing manner, it would most likely be a legitimate 
press source.
---
and this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Lydia_McLane
"game-port.com" - do not 'reference' a scan of a DVD (or whatever it is) - it's 
probably an illegal copy of a copyrighted work anyway. You could reference the published 
DVD itself. The image is not an appropriate way of verifying the fact.
---
Your reply, incidentally, illustrates another problem with RS: the rules
encourage using a request for sources as a way of filibustering.___
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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread David Gerard
On 12 August 2011 18:09, Andrew Gray  wrote:

> I haven't seen Ken's particular case, but I've seen similar ones.
> Citing a print source is fine, but some (particularly querulous)
> people will occasionally challenge the print source because they don't
> believe what it says. In doing so, they'll argue that the person
> citing it can't be trusted, or that the transcription referred to is
> inaccurate, or - in this case - that there is something inherently
> wrong with the scanned file referred to. See, for example,
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kurt_Meyer_(SS_general) which used
> this style of argument before moving swiftly on to denying the
> existence of anyone who'd ever read the book.
> It's a conceptually silly argument - it basically amounts to assuming
> deliberate deception at some point in the chain of evidence, which
> isn't a reasonable assumption in 98% of cases - but if someone is
> insistent enough, they can probably stonewall with it until the other
> party throws their hands up and gives in. And, sooner or later, we all
> do.


That's a rather different claim than that it is standard and accepted
practice, which is what Ken was clearly implying.


- d.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Andrew Gray
On 12 August 2011 17:12, David Gerard  wrote:
> On 12 August 2011 17:09, Ken Arromdee  wrote:
>> On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, David Gerard wrote:
>
>>> This is false. Print sources do not require a legal scan to be available.
>
>> If you try using an illegal scan of a print source, you'll be told that
>> you have no reason to believe the copy accurately represents the source.
>
> I tend to just cite the print source and have had no problems. Please
> give diffs illustrating examples of the problems you are describing.

I haven't seen Ken's particular case, but I've seen similar ones.
Citing a print source is fine, but some (particularly querulous)
people will occasionally challenge the print source because they don't
believe what it says. In doing so, they'll argue that the person
citing it can't be trusted, or that the transcription referred to is
inaccurate, or - in this case - that there is something inherently
wrong with the scanned file referred to. See, for example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kurt_Meyer_(SS_general) which used
this style of argument before moving swiftly on to denying the
existence of anyone who'd ever read the book.

It's a conceptually silly argument - it basically amounts to assuming
deliberate deception at some point in the chain of evidence, which
isn't a reasonable assumption in 98% of cases - but if someone is
insistent enough, they can probably stonewall with it until the other
party throws their hands up and gives in. And, sooner or later, we all
do.

I have seen it used sensibly once or twice - a couple of years back, I
even went to the library to check a transcription for someone when it
seemed too outlandish to be true - but usually this approach is a good
marker of someone acting in bad faith. We can (and do) deplore it, but
it's hard to stamp out a deliberately and tendentiously over-literal
approach to verification!

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread David Gerard
On 12 August 2011 17:19, Steve Summit  wrote:
> Ken Arromdee wrote:
>> On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, David Gerard wrote:

>>> This is false. Print sources do not require a legal scan to be available.

>> If you try using an illegal scan of a print source, you'll be told that
>> you have no reason to believe the copy accurately represents the source.

> I think David meant there's no rule that says there must be a
> scan (legal or illegal) at all.
> I think your point is that there's some precedent for rejecting
> (or at least complaining about) sources that are only available
> off-line.


Rather than your interpretation, I'd like to see examples of what
Ken's complaining about - whether he was told "you can't use that
print reference" or whether he was told "you've linked to a scan
that's a copyright violation". They're rather different things.


-d.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Steve Summit
Ken Arromdee wrote:
> On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, David Gerard wrote:
>> This is false. Print sources do not require a legal scan to be available.
>
> If you try using an illegal scan of a print source, you'll be told that
> you have no reason to believe the copy accurately represents the source.

I think David meant there's no rule that says there must be a
scan (legal or illegal) at all.

I think your point is that there's some precedent for rejecting
(or at least complaining about) sources that are only available
off-line.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread David Gerard
On 12 August 2011 17:09, Ken Arromdee  wrote:
> On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, David Gerard wrote:

>> This is false. Print sources do not require a legal scan to be available.

> If you try using an illegal scan of a print source, you'll be told that
> you have no reason to believe the copy accurately represents the source.


I tend to just cite the print source and have had no problems. Please
give diffs illustrating examples of the problems you are describing.


- d.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, David Gerard wrote:
> This is false. Print sources do not require a legal scan to be available.

If you try using an illegal scan of a print source, you'll be told that
you have no reason to believe the copy accurately represents the source.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread David Gerard
On 12 August 2011 15:58, Ken Arromdee  wrote:

> Except in the rare cases where the owners give permission (or where you own
> a copy of the magazine and don't need the scan anyway), this solution
> doesn't work since illegal copies aren't considered reliable sources.  We
> can't even link to them, never mind use them for sources.


This is false. Print sources do not require a legal scan to be available.


- d.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, geni wrote:
>> But things the white nerds who wrote Wikipedia care about, like comic
>> books or MUDs or text games or anime which are underserved by RSs?
>> Well, if they don't have RSs, they can go screw themselves. (If you
>> care so much about fancruft, go work on a Wikia! We're busy trying to
>> figure out how to deal with editor retention.)
> That particular subgroup would probably be better served by setting up
> a more conventional electronic open access journal. I would expect
> being backed by the charity behind wikipedia would get it enough
> profile to get some decent submissions.

I hate this response, along with variations such as "convince the person to
publish it himself" and "convince the source to publish a correction".  It
amounts to "we don't need to listen to your complaint about bad policy
because you can work around the bad policy by jumping through a lot of hoops".
Jumping through the hoops is often completely impractical, and even when it's
technically possible it's orders of magnitude more difficult than just
using the source would be if the policy was fixed.

Imagine if we did this in other situations.  "Yeah, it's the encyclopedia
that anyone can edit.  So if your date of birth is in error, just go get
published in an electronic open access journal and we'd be glad to let you
fix the entry."

> Heh also paying for the scanning of the old time computer game
> magazines would be a viable approach.

Except in the rare cases where the owners give permission (or where you own
a copy of the magazine and don't need the scan anyway), this solution
doesn't work since illegal copies aren't considered reliable sources.  We
can't even link to them, never mind use them for sources.

Of course, scanning them will result in a don't-ask-don't-tell policy where
Wikipedians insert information based on scans they're not actually allowed to
use as sources, but they don't volunteer the information that they used an
illegal copy.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Fri, 12 Aug 2011, Charles Matthews wrote:
>> This fails to be a useful method when the self-published source is the 
>> personal
>> experience of a professional in the industry.
>> The standard Wikipedian's response to this quandry is "well, if they can't
>> get a reliable source to quote them, it must not be that important in the 
>> first
>> place", which ignores the realities of the modern Internet.
> The standard Wikipedian's response to the standard Wikipedian's response
> is that we have IAR for particular exceptions to a "rule of thumb". The
> standard response to that is that the "community" has shown a drift over
> time from people who like rules-of-thumb and IAR, to people who like rules,
> period. The standard response to that is WP:CREEP. The standard response
> to the comment that nobody reads what WP:CREEP says about "Editors don't
> believe that nobody reads the directions" is that ... hey, there is a thing
> called the "human condition" and we somewhat have to live with it.

True, it's all been said before.

But when you look at what actually *happens* in situations of this sort,
the people who like the rules always win unless the article simply goes under
everyone's radar.  There are standard responses and counter-responses, but
they don't all work.

Wikipedia is based around rules to the point where if there's a dispute
between a rule and IAR (even though IAR is technically a rule), the rule
wins unless the person claiming the rule is just one guy.  There are enough
people looking for an excuse to get rid of Babylon 5, comics, webcomics, or
MUDs that IAR is never going to win.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Charles Matthews
On 11/08/2011 23:03, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
> There was an article in the New York Times a few days ago, on a related theme:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html?_r=2
>
> One of its arguments was that there are whole cultures that lack published 
> "reliable sources".
>
Which is true. I think though that this argument about "ethnographic" 
content in WP is rather an old one. There was a time before WP:V was 
cast-iron policy, you know, and some of the implications were probably 
brought up in 2003-4 (the archives of this list may reveal this). Does 
it matter? Not so much, I think. The Web rewards sites doing one thing 
well; and compiling material from RS as "one thing" covers an awful lot 
of useful ground.

We tend to think of such cultures in set ways: the "street", or 
picturesque because not mainstream. I most recently encountered this 
constraint, though, in the form of an article on games to play on a car 
journey. Most families don't document their own "oral culture". I think 
the argument tends to forget that there can be wikis that are not Wikipedia.

Charles


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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread Charles Matthews
On 10/08/2011 16:40, Ken Arromdee wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Aug 2011, Carcharoth wrote:
>> My rule of thumb for self-published sources is to see if they cite
>> their sources. If they do, then you can check what they say. If they
>> don't, then you can't, and that can be a problem even with so-called
>> 'reliable' sources.
> This fails to be a useful method when the self-published source is the 
> personal
> experience of a professional in the industry.
>
> This happens a lot with Internet publications, such as J. Michael
> Straczynski's postings in the Babylon 5 newsgroup, or Jim Shooter's blog
> (jimshooter.com).
>
> The standard Wikipedian's response to this quandry is "well, if they can't
> get a reliable source to quote them, it must not be that important in the 
> first
> place", which ignores the realities of the modern Internet.
>
The standard Wikipedian's response to the standard Wikipedian's response is 
that we have IAR for particular exceptions to a "rule of thumb". The standard 
response to that is that the "community" has shown a drift over time from 
people who like rules-of-thumb and IAR, to people who like rules, period. The 
standard response to that is WP:CREEP. The standard response to the comment 
that nobody reads what WP:CREEP says about "Editors don't believe that nobody 
reads the directions" is that ... hey, there is a thing called the "human 
condition" and we somewhat have to live with it. [[Wabi-sabi#Western_use]] got 
there before WP was thought of, but it of course now sounds very old-school. 
Though the insight that trying to legislate perfection into what we do is 
rather foolish is worth saying occasionally, even if it is wasted on fanatics 
for the MoS and inline verification-ultras. Hey, I can now slip in my view  
that we need to look again at "barriers to entry" in general, not just as 
special pleading for Babylon 5 fans.

Charles





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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-12 Thread David Gerard
On 12 August 2011 01:54, geni  wrote:

> Heh also paying for the scanning of the old time computer game
> magazines would be a viable approach.


Some enthusiast scanning and putting up a stack of such magazines
would provide quite a lot of support material.


- d.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-11 Thread geni
On 12 August 2011 00:08, Gwern Branwen  wrote:
> But things the white nerds who wrote Wikipedia care about, like comic
> books or MUDs or text games or anime which are underserved by RSs?
> Well, if they don't have RSs, they can go screw themselves. (If you
> care so much about fancruft, go work on a Wikia! We're busy trying to
> figure out how to deal with editor retention.)
>

That particular subgroup would probably be better served by setting up
a more conventional electronic open access journal. I would expect
being backed by the charity behind wikipedia would get it enough
profile to get some decent submissions.

Heh also paying for the scanning of the old time computer game
magazines would be a viable approach.

-- 
geni

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-11 Thread Gwern Branwen
On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:
> There was an article in the New York Times a few days ago, on a related theme:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html?_r=2
>
> One of its arguments was that there are whole cultures that lack published 
> "reliable sources".

I found that article very funny, personally. So apparently it's noble
and worthwhile for the Foundation to go out into South Africa or India
and spend the donations listening to people on random things like how
to make a drink (not to produce articles, even, but just a
documentary).

But things the white nerds who wrote Wikipedia care about, like comic
books or MUDs or text games or anime which are underserved by RSs?
Well, if they don't have RSs, they can go screw themselves. (If you
care so much about fancruft, go work on a Wikia! We're busy trying to
figure out how to deal with editor retention.)

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-11 Thread Andreas Kolbe
There was an article in the New York Times a few days ago, on a related theme:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html?_r=2

One of its arguments was that there are whole cultures that lack published 
"reliable sources".

Quote:

---o0o---
In the case of dabba kali, a children’s game played in the Kerala state of 
India, there was a Wikipedia article in the local language, Malayalam, that 
included photos, a drawing and a detailed description of the rules, but no 
sources to back up what was written. Other than, of course, the 40 million 
people who played it as children.
There is no doubt, he said, that the article would have been deleted from 
English Wikipedia if it didn’t have any sources to cite. Those are the rules of 
the game, and those are the rules he would like to change, or at least bend, 
or, if all else fails, work around.
“There is this desire to grow Wikipedia in parts of the world,” he said, adding 
that “if we don’t have a more generous and expansive citation policy, the 
current one will prove to be a massive roadblock that you literally can’t get 
past. There is a very finite amount of citable material, which means a very 
finite number of articles, and there will be no more.”
---o0o---

Andreas

--- On Wed, 10/8/11, Ken Arromdee  wrote:

From: Ken Arromdee 
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs
To: "English Wikipedia" 
Date: Wednesday, 10 August, 2011, 16:40

On Tue, 9 Aug 2011, Carcharoth wrote:
> My rule of thumb for self-published sources is to see if they cite
> their sources. If they do, then you can check what they say. If they
> don't, then you can't, and that can be a problem even with so-called
> 'reliable' sources.

This fails to be a useful method when the self-published source is the personal
experience of a professional in the industry.

This happens a lot with Internet publications, such as J. Michael
Straczynski's postings in the Babylon 5 newsgroup, or Jim Shooter's blog
(jimshooter.com).

The standard Wikipedian's response to this quandry is "well, if they can't
get a reliable source to quote them, it must not be that important in the first
place", which ignores the realities of the modern Internet.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-10 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Tue, 9 Aug 2011, Carcharoth wrote:
> My rule of thumb for self-published sources is to see if they cite
> their sources. If they do, then you can check what they say. If they
> don't, then you can't, and that can be a problem even with so-called
> 'reliable' sources.

This fails to be a useful method when the self-published source is the personal
experience of a professional in the industry.

This happens a lot with Internet publications, such as J. Michael
Straczynski's postings in the Babylon 5 newsgroup, or Jim Shooter's blog
(jimshooter.com).

The standard Wikipedian's response to this quandry is "well, if they can't
get a reliable source to quote them, it must not be that important in the first
place", which ignores the realities of the modern Internet.

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Re: [WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-09 Thread Carcharoth
On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 6:10 PM, Gwern Branwen  wrote:
> "Brain Diving: The Ghost with the Most" by Brain Ruh, _ANN_
> http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/brain-diving/2011-08-09

>> ...However, this puts books like Drazen's in an odd predicament. It's not 
>> really an academic book, since it lacks the references and theories 
>> something like that would entail, which means it's not a good candidate for 
>> a university press.

My rule of thumb for self-published sources is to see if they cite
their sources. If they do, then you can check what they say. If they
don't, then you can't, and that can be a problem even with so-called
'reliable' sources. The best measure of reliability after a really
reputable name and publisher and reputation, is citing of sources
(there is a reason why this is done, after all). So much so, that when
I buy (or browse) books that I might consider useful for Wikipedia
editing, the first thing I do is look at the back to see how good the
references are (if there are any). If there are none, I may buy
(borrow if in a library) the book anyway as something of interest, but
would be far less likely to use it for Wikipedia editing.

Carcharoth

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[WikiEN-l] WP:RSs

2011-08-09 Thread Gwern Branwen
"Brain Diving: The Ghost with the Most" by Brain Ruh, _ANN_
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/brain-diving/2011-08-09

> "This time, though, instead of a fictional book about the supernatural I'm 
> going to be examining a nonfiction book about Japanese ghosts – Patrick 
> Drazen's  A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: From 
> Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga, which was recently self-published 
> through the iUniverse service. This is Drazen's second book; the first one, 
> Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation, came out in 
> 2002 from Stone Bridge Press and was an introduction to many of the genres 
> and themes that can be found in anime.
> I think the switch from a commercial press to self-publication may indicate 
> the direction English-language anime and manga scholarship may be heading in. 
> A few years ago, when Japanese popular culture seemed like the Next Big 
> Thing, there were more publishers that seemed like they were willing to take 
> a chance on books about anime and manga.
>
> Unfortunately, as I know firsthand (and as I've heard from other authors, 
> confirming that it's not just me) these books didn't sell nearly as well as 
> anyone was hoping, which in turn meant that these publishers didn't want to 
> take risks with additional books along these lines. After all, all publishers 
> need to make money in one way or another to stay afloat. In the last few 
> years, the majority of books on anime and manga have been published by 
> university presses, perhaps most notably the University of Minnesota Press.
>
> ...However, this puts books like Drazen's in an odd predicament. It's not 
> really an academic book, since it lacks the references and theories something 
> like that would entail, which means it's not a good candidate for a 
> university press. However, since few popular presses have seen their books on 
> anime and manga reflect positively on their bottom lines, there aren't many 
> other options these days other than self-publishing. Of course, these days 
> publishing a book on your own doesn't have nearly the same connotations it 
> did decades ago, when vanity presses were the domain of those with more money 
> (and ego) than sense. These days you can self-publish a quality product, get 
> it up on Amazon for all to see, and (if you're savvy about these things) 
> perhaps even make a tidy profit."

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net

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