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today i posted on the ams server a pdf copy of ellen swanson's "mathematics into type". i had earlier mentioned in an answer to this question that it was going to happen, and therefore edited that answer to add the new link. (i also noted the link in a comment on another question.)

the question for which the answer was edited was (legitimately) off-topic, and closed as soon as it was noticed, probably on account of the edited answer. so the information about the file availability will most likely be "lost". since this manual has been mentioned a number of times in this forum, i think the fact that it's now available on line is relevant in an answer, but obviously not in a question. (i'm probably even pushing the limits asking about it here.)

i've grubbed through the listings tagged as [books] and [manuals] (= [documentation] which isn't the same) as well as searching for references to the book itself. nothing else turned up. one posting suggested using chat for a similar purpost, but i suspect that most tex.sx readers aren't regular participants in chat.

so, is there an appropriate way to announce such happenings so that readers of this forum will be informed, and if so, what?

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    For grubbing purposes in general, see StackOverflow Ninja Search Techniques. Since you're specifically talking about a URL in posts, you could search using the tag url:"<www.who.cares.com>", and even with a wildcard. For example, see a search for url:"*mit-2.pdf", which yields only your answer.
    – Werner Mod
    Nov 30, 2012 at 0:41
  • You still can leave a comment to your answer.
    – Speravir
    Nov 30, 2012 at 2:26
  • @Werner -- thanks for the tip. i'd be really surprised if there were any other references to that url; it didn't exist until yesterday. but searches for links to other resources might yield material for the blog post suggested by doncherry.
    – barbara beeton
    Nov 30, 2012 at 13:24
  • I rephrased your question title to make it more widely applicable, hope that's ok. I'm aware that you probably didn't technically "publish" that document, but I couldn't find a brief-ish wording that would reflect the state of things correctly, so the question title is somewhat hypothetical. Feel free to roll back, rephrase, etc., of course.
    – doncherry
    Dec 1, 2012 at 3:04
  • @doncherry -- good rephrasing, although the real credit belongs elsewhere. i've made a small revision to omit the personal reference and make it a bit more general. (but if you think it too general, i'll accept a rollback.)
    – barbara beeton
    Dec 1, 2012 at 13:40
  • You should definitely mention it on this question
    – Seamus
    Dec 6, 2012 at 10:15
  • @barbara The mentioned document seems not available. Would it be possible to provide another link?
    – blackened
    Aug 16, 2017 at 8:11
  • @blackened -- the link is good, but it's on an ftp server, and more and more institutions have firewalls that refuse to access ftp servers. we are gradually moving everything to a web server, but this is not a trivial undertaking. i will try to update the link as soon as the migration has taken place. in the meantime, perhaps you can try from a different location?
    – barbara beeton
    Aug 16, 2017 at 17:55
  • @barbara Couldn't find another source.
    – blackened
    Aug 16, 2017 at 18:58
  • @blackened -- didn't mean another source for the file, but going to another location (different ip address, different firewall) to try to access the one in the link.
    – barbara beeton
    Aug 16, 2017 at 20:55

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I've only looked into the subject matter of the information you want to spread briefly (because I virtually never use math (mode) in LaTeX), but it sounds like it might make sense for you to write an article for our blog about it. It would have to be more than just an "announcement link", but I'm sure you could flesh it out into something that's relevant for our community1, e.g. give a preview of the book, summarize it, write a recension of it, point to some of the issues it addresses, or the like. You could then later just point to the blog article whenever relevant issues pop up in new questions. I guess you could actually say this announcement is just the kind of thing our blog is intended for (among others)! Check out some of the existing posts (besides the interviews) if you haven't; I think many of them are some kind of an announcement of interesting material.

1not implying that the link by itself wouldn't be relevant, it would just be a bit meager for a blog post of its own -- even though the Happy birthday, Hermann Zapf! post wasn't very long either, so I might just be wrong here.

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  • good suggestion. i'll try to find time. actually, i have a pretty good list of publications on math typesetting, and that would provide more than enough material for a blog entry. needs more research as to whether any of the other items may now be available electronically. (most pubs in my library were already out of print when i got copies from specialized bookstores, but a lot of books have been scanned and posted since then.) also research on what has been posted already on tex.sx. thanks.
    – barbara beeton
    Nov 30, 2012 at 13:19
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    @barbarabeeton it would be really wonderful if you could find the time to write the blog entry!
    – Gonzalo Medina
    Dec 1, 2012 at 22:02

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