Thinking about it, I am the FAQ editor, not the FAQ author. About half
of what is in the FAQ was written by others. I don't have the
authority to release their work for publication in this way.
Some issues have come up in the newsgroup that don't affect the FAQ
directly, but that seem to me rather relevant to this. Our FAQ is for
a hobbyist pursuit, and has been reprinted, in part, by some hobbyist
newsletters on the topic. This request is from someone who wants to
republish it in a non-topic-related medium.
The issue we are addressing right now is the problem of
non-participants posting "wanted to buy" and "for sale" notices,
particularly those who do this repetitively. Many of these notices are
being published anonymously (aol, delphi, and now prodigy and
compuserve accounts). No name, no address, no telephone, no
.signature. These people are not in our hobby to the extent of
participating in the group. I feel strongly right now, considering the
mail that I have from people saying "can't we do something about this?"
that general publication of the group's material for casual reading by
people who have no real interest in our hobby is only going to
encourage the commercial (I assume that this is what they are)
postings. And we have no way of knowing if these postings are
legitimate offerings to buy and sell, or just scams to collect items
and checks in payment, with no delivery of the other half of the
bargain.
Much of what is in our FAQ is technical information, prepared by
professionals as a service to the hobby, and would command substantial
prices if not donated. It is written for people who have already made
a commitment and who have a "need to know" this information. If I turn
this loose for publication in "general interest" rather than
hobby-related forums, we are failing to value the worth of the material
properly. This is bread-and-butter stuff to some of the preparers.
And I think that publishing it indiscrimately is only going to
encourage the commercial and scam stuff.
-- *********************************************************** Hank van Cleef vancleef@bga.com vancleef@tmn.com ***********************************************************
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