11

Proposal: E-books and E-book Readers

Sadly, the original e-books proposal failed to gain enough momentum during the commitment phase and (as per policy) was closed because it was over two years old.

Thankfully, the story doesn't end there. I have restarted the proposal (which you can view using the link above) and I am hoping that things will be different this time around. In just a few hours, we already have 5 followers and a bunch of good questions.

In order to ensure the success of this proposal, I need to make sure that:

  • The scope I have defined has the best chance at succeeding.
    I basically copied the scope from the previous proposal without making a lot of changes - but if anyone can provide a legitimate reason for broadening the scope, I am willing to consider making changes.

  • The word gets out.
    It almost goes without saying but if the proposal is going to make it past the definition stage (and especially the commitment phase) then the word needs to get out. I've begun promoting my new proposal on my social media accounts (where it makes sense, of course) and I'm hoping others follow suit. If anyone has suggestions for groups or websites that might be interested in participating, that would be awesome.

So basically that's where things are at with this proposal. I'm hoping we can demonstrate that an e-books site would have a large and dedicated following - and if anyone has further suggestions for making this a reality... don`t hesitate to mention them.

One week later: well, I'm happy to announce that we're nearing the halfway point of the definition phase. We have 30 followers and six questions with a score of 10 or more (and some more that are close). I tried to promote this proposal on the Kindle Forums, but received an error message saying something about purchasing a product from the Amazon store first.

So, if you haven't followed the proposal yet, please do so now. We need you. Also, please be sure to vote for the remaining questions so we can complete this stage and move on to the commitment stage.

3
  • 2
    Most of the example questions seem to me like basic usability issues, which are addressed in any decent device's manual. I'm not seeing the benefit of a Q&A site; particularly, I'm not seeing what an "expert-level" question might be.
    – Ziv
    Oct 16, 2012 at 11:30
  • @ziv If you have questions or comments for this proposal, please post it as a discussion. Comments used in this manner cannot be vetted, answered, and properly voted on.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Oct 16, 2012 at 14:26
  • Not really a question, but rather a call for votes. That means it is a "request", not a "question".
    – e-sushi
    Aug 1, 2013 at 6:59

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
9

It's good to see this proposal re-started, it has the makings of a good stack exchange site, if we can redo the definition phase well.

I think the original proposal possibly concentrated a little too much on kindle & nook to the exclusion of other platforms. I think that widening the scope to include software to support e-book reading and publishing software (such as calibre) and e-book software on phone, PC and tablet, could significantly enhance the appeal of this proposal.

To help this along, I've added a few questions which I hope will help with this.

I also think that we need to nip shopping questions in the bud. We have already had some upvotes wasted on a shopping question:

I've already suggested how this proposed question could be improved so that it is no longer a shopping question.

1
  • Yes, that's correct - although the scope probably could use some rewording, questions involving software for interacting with e-book readers (such as Calibre) are certainly on-topic.
    – Nathan Osman
    Oct 16, 2012 at 17:12

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .