bad news on the books

[Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>]

Well, after a LONG weekend, wherein Nora and Gary Burgess (both cofounders
of the Lojban effort who are not on Lojban List, but deserve our collective
thanks) looked through over 100 copies of the book, we have determined
that the printing problem is intermittent, but altogether TOO frequent.

To be specific, they found 29 defective books in 121 copies.  There was
one box of 16 books that had 7 bad copies, and another box of 16 books where
 they found no bad copies, so we have no way to predict who among those who
received the 80+ copies already sent out, got bad copies - merely that
odds are that a lot more than the 5 bad copies reported are floating
around.

Needless to say, I've stopped sending out copies while we checked the stock.
The manual check done by Gary and Nora should have weeded out most if not
all bad copies, but even still, human error could have let a couple slip
through.  We have to decide what our risk is in sending the 90-odd "good"
copies out is, since we do not know what if any settlement we can achieve
with the printer.

I will likely try to notify all purchasers individually, but if you got the
book and are reading this, those 1 in 4 odds make it worth your while to
check your copy thoroughly.  We are guaranteeing satisafction or
money back (credit card charges have not yet been submitted, but this
guarantee is not limited to credit card customers).  You are likely to
have to send us the bad copy to get a replacement, but this may depend on
what the printer has to say- infortunately the key person atthe printer
that we need to talk to is out of the country until after the New year
starts.

Those with personalized autographs from the author will need to note what
John wrote to them if they want the inscription replicated on the new
copy.  He did not keep any records on what he inscribed.

The holiday season around here is unfortunately less than jolly, alas.
Short of an unexpectedly generous attitude on the part of the printer,
I am afraid LLG is going to take a financial bath trying to fix this mess.
This of course will completely stop me from getting started on the dictionarya
 nd other held up projects till it gets resolved.

lojbab
----
lojbab                                                lojbab@access.digex.net
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA                        703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: ftp.access.digex.net /pub/access/lojbab
    or see Lojban WWW Server: href="http://xiron.pc.helsinki.fi/lojban/";
    Order _The Complete Lojban Language_ - see our Web pages or ask me.