Post by @utterlymundane@hachyderm.io

2026-10-16 10:54 UTC

@cstross@wandering.shop these days I wonder how many other^wof those downloads are people who have purchased a copy but want to get around drm restrictions and actually read the damn thing.

Replies (2)

@cstross@wandering.shop 2026-10-16 11:01

@utterlymundane@hachyderm.io I figure that's a big chunk of it. Another is folks who bought a paper copy but don't see why they should pay twice. (To be fair, neither do I.) As I said, the only ones I'm angry about are the people stealing my income directly, by copying my work and then counterfeiting it for commercial resale. (And any unauthorized translations actively sold by publishers confident that I have no recourse in Outer Potrzebie. (Yes, that *is* a Donald Knuth joke.)

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@bovaz@misskey.social 2026-10-16 13:12

@utterlymundane@hachyderm.io @cstross@wandering.shop That's one use of it for me. Another, rarer, has been "demo": I'll basically read a few pages/chapters before choosing to buy a thing I haven't heard enough about.

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