tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post435101356101721922..comments2023-07-27T03:33:25.053-07:00Comments on STORY SURGEON GENERAL: The Most Important Blog Post I Will Ever WriteRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-28268800587957365942021-01-02T10:03:23.767-08:002021-01-02T10:03:23.767-08:00You there, this is really good post here. Thanks f...You there, this is really good post here. Thanks for taking the time to post such valuable information. Quality content is what always gets the visitors coming. <a href="https://embeddedcockpit.org/" rel="nofollow">news</a><br />ahmedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00509987073468113035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-4380924919644196242020-12-06T23:32:00.016-08:002020-12-06T23:32:00.016-08:00Nice post! This is a very nice blog that I will de...Nice post! This is a very nice blog that I will definitively come back to more times this year! Thanks for informative post. <a href="https://www.trackchinapost.com/" rel="nofollow">china post tracking global</a><br />Elon Muskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10199030790142200768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-2547176088611751892014-02-07T13:26:45.419-08:002014-02-07T13:26:45.419-08:00Thanks Rochelle for that fresh perspective. I can ...Thanks Rochelle for that fresh perspective. I can see how (even with safeguards in place) people would probably figure out how to make a book even more inappropriate for children. <br />This is one of the reasons why I've merged my company with PureMedia, who are focusing on hiding specific content rather than letting readers add their own. You should check them out.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-22404121194905035912014-02-04T11:49:59.371-08:002014-02-04T11:49:59.371-08:00Full disclosure: I'm a Christian, raised by Ch...Full disclosure: I'm a Christian, raised by Christian parents. I am also adamantly against censoring.<br /><br />I can see why people would find your use for the app (censorship) to be a good idea. I know people in my church who would gladly buy it. But there are a few things about it that sit really uneasily with me:<br /><br />1) The only time my parents did anything like censoring for my sister and me was during the anti-Harry Potter mania of 2000. My sister's teacher was reading it to her 2nd grade class, and my mother was aware of all the anti-Christian hype about the book. So she read it. In reading it, she realized the content wasn't questionable at all, handed the book off to me (a 6th grader) and my sister without any more qualms, and NEVER censored our reading again.<br /><br />When I was in late middle school and had read all of my mom's inspirational books, I picked up a Harlequin romance, not knowing what it was. I was not ready or prepared for the explicit content. When I got to it, I skimmed until it was over and finished the story. I handed it back to my mom, who didn't know I was reading it, and told her there were parts I skipped.<br /><br />I think that kids are good censors on their own. They know what they're ready for. Things they're not ready for either make them uncomfortable, bored, or grossed out, and they set the books down. This was ALWAYS true for me as a kid.<br /><br />2) Your claim on the kickstarter is that it's fan fiction on steriods. It's not. It's censorship on steroids. I am part of a fan fiction community. I don't know a single person over the age of 16 or so (as a random marker) that doesn't have at least one Mature-rated story. I do - it's about domestic violence. But my M-rated story wouldn't be useful in your app. It involves a secondary character's childhood and parents, so it wouldn't be written in your surgeon.<br /><br />What the surgeon does allow for, especially with annotations and whatnot, is ADDED explicit content. Going back to Harry Potter, because I know that fandom best, there is a scene where Remus Lupin and Sirius Black lock eyes for something like 40 lines of the book. Fan fiction authors use that 40-line stare as proof that a relationship between the two of them is canon. One annotation later, and you can have a flashback to an explicit scene between the two of them.<br /><br />Someone has already gone through the "best" quotes for changing "wand" to "willy." Your app is IDEAL for that. A walk in the forest between Harry and Hermione could become a romp in the forest.<br /><br />3) As an author - a Christian author whose books have swear words in them, and whose fan fiction hinted at pre-marital sex (never explicitly, but still), I would be offended if someone changed all the d-words to "darn." As a Christian, I know I have to think through my language very carefully. And when I swear in my books, I mean it. They're harsh words for a reason. They add a dynamic that can't be achieved with a "gosh darn it" (although that's one full one I'd never use).<br /><br />Plus I wouldn't like the other potential of your app - see my point 2 - being used on my book in the least.<br /><br />4) Along those lines, we live in a fallen world, and we write stories about a fallen world. Without the Fall, there's no conflict. Without conflict, there's no story. In order to show the need for redemption, you must actually show the need for redemption. This is where The Color Purple comes to mind for me. At my Christian liberal arts school, I took a "modern fiction" class. From a Quaker professor. And all but one of the books we read had a rape scene. Why? These books showed the character of our fallen world and our need for a savior. And they also happened to be really good books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-30972940087009626022014-02-04T07:56:32.155-08:002014-02-04T07:56:32.155-08:00Thanks for your comment, Anon. I agree that someti...Thanks for your comment, Anon. I agree that sometimes kids could benefit from learning about and discussing hard topics. But I also believe it is the parent's right to determine when and how those topics are addressed.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-80134598373608897832014-02-04T04:26:02.381-08:002014-02-04T04:26:02.381-08:00Okay, there are some books in which the content fo...Okay, there are some books in which the content found objectionable by some is probably superfluous. That isn't the kind of lit people include on school reading lists, though. This content was written and included for a reason, usually to teach the reader a greater sense of empathy towards others. <br /><br />In the case of The Color Purple, I think a lot of people who have requested bans haven't read the chapter that's usually cited, they just hear that it has sexual content and dismiss it. It's appropriately squicky and horrifying for being about child abuse, quite the opposite of erotic. If your concern wasn't that, but that the work depicts the existence of evil in the world and the viewpoint of a survivor, how is that in opposition to morality? Discussion of problems such as domestic violence is important for preventing or stopping it, or helping survivors. Many classrooms have at least one student who was abused themselves, that kid could be your kid's best friend. I know I would have been able to act with greater understanding and compassion as a young teenager, had I known more at the time. I still regret not being able to do more to help my friends. For that reason, I think young people should be exposed to potentially uncomfortable topics and talk about them. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-13559747027137235562014-01-29T13:37:58.952-08:002014-01-29T13:37:58.952-08:00Thanks Tanya, for your reply. You're probably ...Thanks Tanya, for your reply. You're probably right that with this technology someone will probably desecrate the Book of Mormon. (if they haven't already) it's interesting you should bring that up, because I talked about how the Bible has been changed so often by so many people. You should check out the post right after this one and let me know if that helps you understand my position. I'm not in this to make author's mad. I like authors. They make some of my favorite things. :)Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-75504746246973166432014-01-28T17:02:17.260-08:002014-01-28T17:02:17.260-08:00I'm trying to understand your argument, and yo...I'm trying to understand your argument, and your different point of view. But here's where I'm having a problem. Your argument is that you want to read books, but are unhappy when the books don't fit your moral, so you want to change them, even if the authors are made unhappy by you doing that. You are willing to make creators unhappy so that you can be happy. And worse than that, you're rationalizing it like your god is instructing you to do that. Like any author who is upset that you are twisting their work and making it say something it doesn't has no right to complain, because by golly, your god gave you permission.<br /><br />I have to ask. If someone took the Book of Mormon and used Story Surgeon on it, and made a spoofy version that they found hilarious, one that twisted it and made it blasphemous... Would that make you happy? Because I guarantee that if you push this into the world, someone is going to do it. With your holy text, and with everyone else's. I know I'm guessing here, but my guess is that someone doing that would make a Mormon upset.<br /><br />If that would upset a Mormon, then how is an author supposed to feel, when they pour their heart and soul into something, only to have it tamed and blunted, and twisted to mean things they didn't want? I am not yet an author, but I'm working very hard to be one someday. And when my books are out there, I sincerely hope that if your choice is between not reading my books or mutilating it to suit your purposes, I hope that I don't see a single cent out of your pocket. You should read other things, and not inflict yourself on the rest of us.Tanyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12986296250574706818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-47158602466369006822014-01-25T13:24:40.870-08:002014-01-25T13:24:40.870-08:00Thanks Anon, for your comment. (It made me smile.)...Thanks Anon, for your comment. (It made me smile.) I appreciate your support. I want to see this app made. If someone else decides to run with it and do a better job, I'll support them wholeheartedly. The only thing about that, however, is I'd be worried they would charge a monthly subscription fee (like Clearplay) and I'm poor. :)<br />If I manage to get enough funding for the app, it will be available for a couple dollars (if not for free.) Take that moneyed interests of the world! :)Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-33228970830468034572014-01-25T10:58:09.214-08:002014-01-25T10:58:09.214-08:00Just one more voice urging you to push on. If the...Just one more voice urging you to push on. If the moneyed interests of the world continue to have their way with fair use and the public domain then the only place left to hear anything other than the official voice of mainstream media will be the sidewalk outside the big box store. Then they'll want to take out the sidewalk because of, you know, the auto industry, and walking not being taxable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-55288892411595272482014-01-24T21:26:58.632-08:002014-01-24T21:26:58.632-08:00Fair enough. I appreciate your candor. Thanks for ...Fair enough. I appreciate your candor. Thanks for taking the time to comment.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-37361360815349860382014-01-24T21:16:40.292-08:002014-01-24T21:16:40.292-08:00Ryan, in my case, it is the author's vision. M...Ryan, in my case, it is the author's vision. My books won't have the prurient material that you seek to exclude-but your tool would be perfectly capable of inserting it. It would also be perfectly capable of entirely changing the underlying messages of my work.<br /><br />Would I make more money by going the route of sleaze? Probably but that's not the sole reason I write. Why should I support your efforts when, in a year, I can discover that my book now has a hard romance of a type that I wouldn't condone.<br /><br />You raised the issue of piracy - I'm not worried about piracy, all of my books will be non-DRM. But corruption, the placement of someone else words in my mouth and by my name, that bothers me.Paul Duffauhttp://www.paulduffau.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-90137827495836855102014-01-24T18:54:58.784-08:002014-01-24T18:54:58.784-08:00Thanks for your comment! As Victoria Strauss said,...Thanks for your comment! As Victoria Strauss said, she's worried determined people will find a way to use Story Surgeon to pirate the books or share the entire altered version rather than the filter. I agree with her, but I believe the app will accomplish more good than harm. (Like helping parents, and even increasing an author's eBook sales.) when I spend a month creating a filter for a book, I'm going to pressure my friends and family to buy the original eBook so they can use it. Yes, some might figure out how to use it for dishonest purposes.<br />Should we outlaw CD burners because they can be used to pirate music?Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-10522245503565712162014-01-24T17:04:19.139-08:002014-01-24T17:04:19.139-08:00I can appreciate your values. As an author, my onl...I can appreciate your values. As an author, my only qualm with your app is that the filters can be shared. Once you can take this "creation" outside of the app, you open the door for plagiarism. Period. If the filter is only within the app, and only within the reader and cannot be shared, then ... at least to my mind ... it is no different than if someone were to sit in the Louvre and redraw a masterpiece to their own sensibility. It only lives in their sketchbook and no where else. <br /><br />The crack in the door to plagiarism is the same, again to my way of thinking, as saying "here is a tool to potentially steal someone's paycheck from them." Why should I be forced to willfully put my earnings, my ability to support my family at risk?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-60178050149485169982014-01-24T16:56:13.892-08:002014-01-24T16:56:13.892-08:00Thanks for your comment, Paul. I think what it com...Thanks for your comment, Paul. I think what it comes down to is this: is it more important to an author to maintain the integrity of their vision, or to have more people enjoy (and pay for) their book. The answer is different for everybody. To me, the most important thing is enjoying as many great books as I can. (And mature content makes it hard for me to enjoy them.) If that is hypocracy, then I suppose I'm a hypocrite.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789434379917863100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90538799134436029.post-90313304213327873252014-01-24T14:39:39.223-08:002014-01-24T14:39:39.223-08:00I offer this as a writer who deliberately writes w...I offer this as a writer who deliberately writes with as little profanity as possible and, to this point at least, no sex. If you have a young lady that runs, I have a book she'll love - and it's clean entertainment, by deliberate design. What you propose is different. <br /><br />Perhaps a question that should be fully asked, Ryan, is why you should seek to alter the art of another person purely for your own enjoyment? In effect, that is precisely what you are attempting to do. You do not own the story but only the medium that it is delivered on (and perhaps given the laws on electronic materials, not even that.) <br /><br />I respect your position of choosing God over the works of man. That is noble. But it certainly appears that, rather than create your own art, or seek out art that meets your standards, you simply say that it is acceptable for you to continue to encourage the publication of objectionable materials (through the purchase of them) while decrying the foulness. That, I believe, qualifies as hypocrisy. I would say that the same thing could be said of Clearplay with the added proviso that they also profit from the foulness in a direct fashion. <br /><br />Perhaps another question you should ask is whether it is morally acceptable to support artists whose work you find objectionable? Clearplay made their decision. They'll take the profits while tsk-tsking all the way to the bank. <br /><br /><br /><br />Paul Duffauhttp://www.paulduffau.comnoreply@blogger.com