Re: Who wins?

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Peter J. Kappesser (pjkappes@mailbox.syr.edu)
Tue, 16 May 1995 04:37:12 -0400

Recently tierna@agora.rdrop.com (Britt Klein) wrote:
>These folks are businesspeople, not philanthropists. They are
>publishing from incorporated businesses in order to make a profit. Period.
>If they weren't profiting (and name recognition can be every bit as profitable
>as money, remember) from the CD-ROMs they wouldn't bother to publish them in
>the first place. Ditto the book publishers/`writers'. They're out to make
>a buck and instead of using their own original material they're collecting
>ours free of charge and using it.
>[...]
>Therefore, full authors or compilers, businessmen or hobbyist, the people who
>create and maintain online FAQs should be the ones profiting, not some
>publisher claiming that they're doing such a great and wonderful service for
>the community and thank-you-very-much-for-your-free-contribution.

Here's a thought: Someone who finds their FAQ, or substantial portions
thereof, published somewhere without compensation, could send an itemized
bill to the "Accounts Payable" department of the publisher. Include the
title of the book, author's/editor's name, and something like "Consideration
for Material Excerpted Without Permission from Blurfl FAQ -- 1000 words,
pages 37-39: $500.00." If they challenge it, send a copy of your FAQ. If
they ignore it, dun them three times and turn it over to a collection
agency. In any case the editor's gonna have some 'splainin' to do.

--
"Life is like a box of chocolates. Unless you're careful, your fingers get
 all gooey."				-- "Forrest Gump", first draft
pjkappes@mailbox.syr.edu (Peter Kappesser)	http://web.syr.edu/~pjkappes/

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