[FM Discuss] Deleting an unwanted book from My Manuals?

[Daniel James]

Hi Adam,

> in my
> opinion when you share something your ownership stops right there -
> otherwise it is not sharing its just trading under a threat of ultimate
> sole proprietorship - and to me thats not sharing at all.

There's a difference between proprietorship (I own the work) and
creative control (I am the author of the work). Many authors sell
publishing rights to a third party, but retain creative control. No
author with any kind of reputation would participate in free culture
without the right to distance themselves from bad edits.

> i do agree that a work should be altered in whatever way necessary to
> protect someone should they be put 'in harms way' through their
> attribution or contribution.

There's more than one kind of harm possible. Personal safety or
security, yes, but also career/reputation damage.

Just suppose I was an academic historian who published a book under a
free culture licence, only to find that someone inserted a bonkers
theory about some controversial subject into the text. Then a journalist
picked up the story without bothering to check the attribution of the
edits on that chapter. My promising career could be over because I had
published under a free license.

So I think the original author has the right to accept or reject edits,
and if the book is forked, the right to insist that their name is
acknowledged as the original source, but also distanced from
unauthorised edits.

Cheers!

Daniel