But...I can see that this is the kind of arguments that lead to the first thread locked. I sincerely hope that there will be some kind of erratta AND reprint that put things back on rails. But it seems that its not going to happen until next edition (since it seems nobody in CGL really cares about correcting once published stuff).
You'd need to talk to someone on the publishing side for that, but, I believe that eratta gets added in for later printings. The first, and often second, are out before the things the playtesters and proofreaders miss are caught by the larger base. (Keep in mind, a half dozen proofreaders versus a thousand gamers means that the larger pool will catch things that squeeze through.) ... once these are detailed and compiled, an online eratta gets made, which then gets cycled in for future print runs. It can take a while for a run to drain, mind you, and if a book sells slowly, it can be seemingly forever until the corrections get in. On some products, there *is* no reprint, and the online remains the only option. (This you see mostly on adventures, which are low sellers, instead of sourcebooks, which sell well.)
PDFs are tech that I know nothing about in terms of layout and the like. I'd *think* that it's easier, but, I know that there're technical complexities to them that traditional printing doesn't have. One of the smart people will be along to whap me in the head with actual details, I'm sure.
The big thing is to keep error threads on point, "Page 13, paragraph four, 'Teh' shoudl be 'The"' is fine, as would be, "Page 74, Damien Knight is the CEO, not Richard Villers" ... things like "Lofwyr retiring to focus on his quilting hobby is STUPID and you should die in a fire" is, obviously, not.
All of us make mistakes, so helping to catch and correct them is handy.
A personal example, in Twilight Horizon, I made a booboo in my draft. Kane's one true love is a lass by the name of Kat. I managed a mental hiccup that this was Kat-o-Nine-Tales, the Jackpointer. I had a bit of banter between the two of them about the release of 'Kat in the Kradle', a 'romantic adventure' sim that was due to be released. Problem is? Wrong Kat. D'oh. Jason corrected that one for me, so the error never saw print (thank goodness!) The stuff that DOES get caught never gets seen, since the drafts never get released, but the handful that make it past do, which colors perception.
I shudder to think of what would happen if my raw drafts got out, chalk full or spelling errors, first-passes before cleanup, and so on. The guys up the chain work their collective tushes off to make the writers look good, but they only get complaints over what's missed, not compliments on what's caught, since that work is invisible.
To throw a analogy out there, take a gander at your local McDonalds. When an order gets messed up, people get upset, sometimes downright angry, and will raise a small fuss. Some people go and raise a huge to-do about it, demand to see a manager, and throw a fit. How many people ever ask for a managr and say, "Hey, my order came out just the way I wanted it, the cashier was kind, and everything was fast. I just wanted to say thank you, and ask you to pass that on to the crew for a job well done."
Do that, just one time, and people will *beam* at you, because no one ever gets thanked for 'just doing the job', but they get nailed when something goes wrong.
Mind you, I have a singel chapter of a single book under my belt, so, I'm not the expert here, but I can't tell you how much *I* appreciate the proofers and the editors. I'm a rookie writer. I'm gonna make mistakes, soem small (A few words I can never spell), some fairly large (Wrong Kat!), and some that might be huge (No, Wak, Lofwyr is not a skunk. Where would you even *get* that from?!) ... luckily, they've got my back.
I think I've rambled enough. Keep reading, and by all means, when you find errors, please pass it along! Can't get better unless we know where mistakes are.
-- Wak
