Wow, I don't even know if I should put my two cents in, but here it goes.
the person compiling the book makes the rules, everyone else likes it or lumps it. Suggestions taken and maybe a couple of basics* polled, but absolutely no discussion entered into.
This is not a bad idea, but the problem is, the last time, someone did offer to compile the book and that led to a lot of hand-wringing and name-calling and all sorts of things (both publicly and behind the scenes). Unfortunately (and fortunately) APUG is big, I think much bigger than a club where people know each other, or some of the other smaller forums out there. There are a lot of prima donnas, drama queens, and people who just want to stir up the pot, and unfortunately that leads to derailment. My take on what happened last time was that the majority felt that the book should be produced and curated from within APUG, not from the outside.
As such, a
de facto book committee began to form out of the chaos (I was one of those people who was on it. Don't know how I got there exactly, but it happened) and we tried hard to figure out what would make the most people happy. (edit -- see Scott's post below -- much more succinct!) In the end, however, it all fizzled out.
As a result of this experience, I would definitely agree with the following:
Summary:
- someone, maybe me, compiles a book. Hopefully someone better qualified and with more available time than me.
- person compiling the book makes the rules, everyone else likes it or lumps it.
Absolutely. One or two people, that's it, figures out EVERYTHING without discussing it on APUG publicly (that includes soliciting suggestions publicly). A poll might be alright. When you (that does not necessarily mean you
polyglot, it could be anyone, but I would have no issue whatsoever if you took this on) have figured out the logistics of everything (how many pages, i.e. 100 images does not equal 100 pages, colour profiling for submissions, costs, layouts, timelines, etc), then bring it to the community as a whole. If the majority of people like it, great. If not, it's back to the drawing board or passing the buck to someone else. Of course it goes without saying to keep Sean in the loop and to have his approval. Develop a thick skin both publicly and privately because no matter how fair and equal and whatever else you try to be, there will be those that will come after you because they will believe just the opposite. I nearly quit APUG several times during that process -- I could not believe how mean-spirited and judgemental people could be. Luckily there are just as many kind and well-meaning people around as well, and that's why I stayed (and continued to stay).
I hope this thread won't derail in any way, and that people try to stay on the positive side of things (what a great idea!) rather than nitpick every little thing they don't like. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all agree that having a collection of images (in whatever form) from the contributors of APUG be a nice thing to have, without worrying about
how big or small it is, or how expensive*, or that there are too many landscapes/nudes/Holga/portraits/colour/lith/alt process images in it because I don't like ______ kinds of photos, or that I don't personally like the person putting it together, even though he or she is willing to do the work that no one else is, or whatever... This is not going to be a perfect book. But it might be something we can all hopefully enjoy.
*Of course, as with all things, we have to stay reasonable. The question is where to compromise -- number of photos, quality of book, size of book, style of printing...to keep things within a price point that most people can accept. The one good thing though is now we have Kickstarter, which we didn't (know about) then, and it would be a much better indication of interest and commitment than we were able to get through the forum. That might be the way to go.
haha
