Seems like it has something to do with this post:
There is a known scam going about which is still drawing people in. Someone I know just paid £35 for a book on a particular subject, published by Alphascript Publishing.
Within the first few pages among copyright information was a small easily missed disclaimer ‘all source material drawn from articles on wikipedia’.
These muppets are literally (badly) gathering info from Wikipedia, calling themselves ‘editors’ and selling the books via Amazon and other outlets for a huge price.
Be aware and avoid at all costs. Thieving gits.
What he said.
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Is there anything that can be done about this so called book about MST3K? Can Amazon.com be made to remove it from their website?
It would be helpful if someone would write a review for the product and warn potential buyers.
While wikipedia may have fairly accurate info on MST3K it does not have enough of it to fill a book. The fact that it did not have a actual photo should have tipped you off to something shady. Good eye Sampo.
What do you mean it didn’t have an actual photo? The cover clearly shows a section of a space-like background that might conceivably be similarish to a backdrop that may have shown up behind the SOL once or possibly twice, even…
There’s also a green circle that says its taken from wikipeida articles.
My question is what is suppose to be in the book? Are they reviews, or what?
I threw in a very short review explaining what the “book” is in reality. Hope it keeps people away.
At least they could photocopy THE AMAZING COLOSSAL GUIDE and list it so it’s not $75+ to buy one! What dumb asses! :???:
Lovely cover picture btw. It’s very spacey and all…very appealing to us wacked out fans of stuff like MST3k. good call.
:razz:
I’m hoping once Mallon gets wind of this, that’ll be the end of it. It’s one thing to have people trying to ride your coattails, but this does nothing but soil the MST3k brand.
Did some research the company is based in Mauratinas and has printed over 1700 books which are pressumably scams as well.
Hope they get sued by 1700 sources.
List price of $51? As it’s a cut and paste book, what costs are they covering? Sheesh. I wouldn’t pay a cent for this, but I’d love to see it once just to check out how crappy it is.
I called and left Barbbb a message to check into it.
This gives me an idea. Does anyone know if there’s any companies online that will “publish” little custom paperback books for you? I think it would be cool to have the season 7 through 10 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide additions printed into book form. If not, it’s something Jim should consider.
BuckDat #13 yes, lulu.com does book publishing on demand. If I remember you upload your book and people buy a copy and they print one for them. It makes it possible to publish a book without a “publishing house” investing tons of money to print a bunch of books in the hope they all sell.
I’d like to know if there is anything illegal publishing public domain material. Does wikipedia have any rights to the material on their site? My first impression is that these guys can try to sell as much of wikipedia as people are willing to buy.
Other than being a sleazy way to make a buck, I don’t think there’s anything stopping these guys from doing this. Please correct me if i’m wrong.
In response to Zombies question, if a work is in the public domain there is nothing the original author can do to stop people from making copies. I believe Wikipedia declares its articles are public domain so anybody can take them and use them as they wish. But they also say you have to give them credit. The PublicDomain laws are weird.