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ParaDon Books Publishing / Amazon Book Clubs

Katrina S. Forest

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Arg, that "paying money means you're serious" stuff drives me insane.

[sarcasm]Hey, parents, make sure to buy your kids at least $500 worth of toys this Christmas. If you don't, that means you're not serious about loving them.[/sarcasm]
 

Gillhoughly

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Dear person in charge of all things ParaDon,

Before you start whining to us that correct grammar doesn't matter for really good stories I want you to run that opinion past your fifth grade English teacher and the local librarian.

If they stare and can't speak for a moment, take that as a big fat clue that you are wrong.

I recommend you get a copy of Elements of Style and take it to heart.

You'll find it at the library along with plenty of other books dealing with the topic.

Now, how about you post a link to Stanford to indicate that you got an MFA from them and not some mail order outfit with a similar name?
 

Elaine Margarett

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So THAT'S where the "all your base are belong to us" space aliens ended up. Huh. Montana. Who would have thought they'd end up in Montana ...

Me! Me! (Waving hand in the air) They had to go somewhere after they left Nevada.
 
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Elaine Margarett

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And yet a Google search does not reveal which newspaper Mr Egland apparently moguls. In fact, the only words connecting Richard Egland with newspapers seem to come from his own press release. Truly, a legend in his own mind ...



MM


Maybe it's misspelled. Did you try googling England ?
 

MacAllister

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Heh. This just in.

Via the Contact Us link, at the bottom of the forums:
The following message was sent to you via the Absolute Write Water Cooler Contact Us form by ParaDon Assitant ( mailto:[email protected] ).

--------------------------------

Hello there, i'm writing you guys/gals to inform you that some web bandits have taken it upon themselves to tarnish our company by every ways possible. We are asking that you remove this post http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230026 from your website or else we'll be force to make our next litigation move against your operating website.

--------------------------------

Referring Page: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230026
 
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CaoPaux

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:rolleyes: I'm figured they were going for ParaGon. But I do wonder what an assitant is. Less than an assistant, more than an ... ant?
 

JL_Benet

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Now, how about you post a link to Stanford to indicate that you got an MFA from them and not some mail order outfit with a similar name?
I don't understand what a link to the Stanford website would prove. Why not a screen-shot of the directory listing in the alumni directory? That way, you can actually tell if the person went to Stanford University, as opposed to Stanford Xavier University (a noted diploma mill). I just checked my alma-mater and found that I'm still listed in the current directory, with "alumni" as my designation. That might be true for Stanford as well. Even a scan of the actual diploma is now problematic, due to websites like Superior Fake Degrees and more powerful desktop photo manipulation software. No, only a verified site mantained by an the official organization would really prove it.
That said, I did not learn grammar at all in either undergrad or grad school. We were told to read Strunk & White's and commit it to memory, but that doesn't really work that well. I've always been pretty good (due to my middle and hgh school teachers), but it wasn't until I had to teach grammar that I really got it to the degree I do today.
 

MacAllister

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What slimy rock did these friggin' idiots climb out from beneath? I responded with my boilerplate for these situations:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Absolute Write" <[email protected]>
To: "ParaDon Assitant @ Absolute Write Water Cooler" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 12:27:12 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain
Subject: Re: Absolute Write Water Cooler Contact Us Form - Site Feedback

Request denied. We never delete posts or threads at the request of a
third party. As I'm sure you're aware, under the DMCA, individuals are
responsible for the content of their own posts or comments on blogs,
message-boards, or list-serves.

sincerely,
MacAllister Stone
Owner/Admin

Their answer:
if that's the case then you can expect our cyber attack within the next few days if the feed is not deleted.

This, kiddies? This sort of threat is actually against federal law. And it's really dumb to send it from an unmasked IP, from an email address attached to your own domain.


And I'm off to file a TOS abuse report.
Just sayin'.
 

MacAllister

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It just gets better and better:
From me:
Oh, grow up.

This, kiddies? This sort of threat is actually against federal law.
And it's indescribably dumb to send it from an unmasked IP, from an
email address attached to your own domain.

So I'm off to file a TOS abuse report with your service provider; in
the meantime, I recommend you back away from the keyboard, before you
make matters even worse.

Mac

Their answer:
file your report, our cyber attack means publishing the same defamation about your site as you did us, we already have supporters much like your website willing to post our trends.

Remember -- these people want to PUBLISH you. :D
 

Wicked

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Cyber attack? :Wha:

Well, that just screams legitimate right there, doesn't it?
 

Elaine Margarett

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So what are they going to say about AW, that you can't spell, type and have bad grammar? Wait, that's me!

Sorry, Mac... :-(

EM,
head lowered in shame
 

amergina

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Well, that's mighty unprofessional of them, huh?

Personally, I like business folks to be professional and have an ounce of common sense. Picky picky, I know.
 

Creative_Solitude

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Wow...just wow.

And these folk are wanting would-be authors to entrust their manuscripts with them when they can barely string together a coherent sentence? This an now cyber threats? Oh really, ParaGon?
 

IntelligentWriter

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sorry to burst your bubble you guys, but i know somebody that's already signed to them, and his book is due for release next year
 

Richard White

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We know a lot of people who've signed with PublishAmerica, Tate Publishing, and a ton of other poor choices.

That's why this board is here.

We're not going to stop everyone from making a mistake, but we're going to do our best to at least ensure facts are available for people to make an informed choice.
 

IntelligentWriter

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my friend is not a first-time writer either, so i trust there's something he found interesting about this publishing.
 

LindaJeanne

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my friend is not a first-time writer either, so i trust there's something he found interesting about this publishing.
I think I've seen (poor) grammar similar to this somewhere before recently. Where could it have been?