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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 3293171" data-attributes="member: 9053">Since I'm one of the people who mentioned watermarking as a no-go for me in another thread, I thought I would reply to this one.First of all, I don't deal in bootleg PDFs. Frankly, I'm really insulted by the connotation that someone who doesn't like watermarking would only be of that opinion if they were going to share or steal PDFs.I BUY PDFs. For a long time my .sig had "I buy PDFs, just not those with DRM" in it, because that's the truth. Watermarking is a form of DRM, and I don't support it, and that's just about it.I don't like watermarking, because I don't want a watermark on my printed pages, and I also don't want it because it gets us back to the notion that when I'm buying a PDF from a company, I'm actually only "renting the current presentation of the data." Frankly, that's nonsense. When I buy that PDF, I've made a purchase from you, I don't have something on loan from you.Why do companies watermark? Because they believe it will help cut down on piracy. Does it? No way. If someone wants to pirate your book, they'll do it. I, on the other hand, and the guy giving you money, mostly because I want to support you and support the industry, and keep you writing. The people who are asking about watermarks before they buy a product aren't your problem: the folks that pirate your PDFs know how to take those out.So here's the bottom line: you might think it's silly that I won't buy a watermarked PDF, or that I'm secretly pirating all of your books out onto bittorrent, but, frankly, I don't care. PDFs may not be a viable long-term business medium, which is too bad, because I think many companies out there are putting out some very interesting stuff. Still, I'll be...err...darned if I'll support a business practice that treats me like I'm a thief. There are ways that you can sell a PDF without any copy protection and still get customers to buy them: offer service and updates after the sale! In the long run, that's the only way we'll still see PDFs being sold in five years (if not sooner).Oh, and I suppose you wouldn't mind if I put a time and date stamp on every page of your new copy of Complete Scoundrel, would you?Sorry if that comes off as harsh, but this is a hot button issue with me. No offense is intended to anyone in this thread, but when I see "there's no good reason someone would not support watermarking if they weren't a pirate," it frosts my pumpkin! --Steve</blockquote>

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