I feel compelled to say that I'm currently reading that thread and I'm on your side. I like your idea of 'a greater literary landscape'; imagine the chaos if published authors jerked books out of printing at will(of course, there are some I'd pay to do just that. . .). Some people seem to forget the rant part of that community.

Tape/writing/damage on books makes me weep, too, except in the cases where they bring knowledge of the history of the book.