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I’m going to tackle this first as a moderator, and then as an author. As a moderator, our archive code doesn’t allow for such a feature. While we’re well aware there is no practical way to keep anyone from copying and pasting material from almost any fiction archive, it has never been AFF policy to enable that, since plagiarism is a crime. People have lost jobs and been sued for actual monetary damages over theft of intellectual property and copyright violation. As an author, both on this site and published for sale, I have a strong objection to making it easier to find my hard work posted on a pirate website, earning someone else money. I don’t make my living writing. Most of us don’t, because only a relative few authors are going to reach “star” status and be able to support themselves solely by writing. It still doesn’t make it any less wrenching to see my work on a pirate site, and yes, I file the DMCA, and yes, I go after the hosting site if the pirate doesn’t comply. And yes, I’d file charges. I spend a long time writing a novel, polishing it, submitting it to a publisher, working with an editor, and marketing it. I probably should be nice and not mention your nom de plume as part of the inspiration for this post, but let’s just say I can’t resist.

I’m answering this as an author on this site, not as a staff member. But I am pretty sure that there will not be any kind of a download feature added to the site. And as an author, I would not want one.

Those authors that wish to make their works available via PDF, ebook, etc, are already free do to so using a website designed for that (ie, yahoo groups, livejournal, etc).

As a reader, I do see where some other readers would appreciate the option to download to read offline. However that does not take into consideration how much easier it is to steal from the writers. I’d point out that it is already all too easy to copy/paste someone else’s hard earned words. I am willing to sacrifice being able to read offline to afford some protection. As a staff member, we take a very dim view of thievery. I direct anyone wishing for proof to browse through the Hall of Shame. As a writer, I’m not against making stories accessible to readers, but I do want my work as protected as possible. Having had work stolen from me, I can vouch that it is an extraordinarily unpleasant violation of trust.

I second this. I don’t want to make it any easier for people to plagiarize or steal and sell my work, it’s already too easy as it is. I love that AFF doesn’t have that option.

In other news, while I’m on about songs, I go on holiday at the end of october. Going to be seeing Stacey Kent live while I’m away.

Is it possible to base an entire song around the lyric: “Dreaming of a lighthouse in the woods” Yes. Yes, it is.

Magus hasn’t been here since March, DA hasn’t been online since 2 months exactly. Does anyone have any update on them?