I probably made a similar promise to myself once, but now I've
broken it, and I'm not sorry.
Several years ago, an editor at Addison-Wesley contacted me and
asked if I had any interest in doing a book version of the
comp.lang.c FAQ list. My answer was immediate, because I had
(rather immodestly, I suppose) always imagined that the Usenet
version was nearly publication quality already.
I was concerned, of course, that someone might complain that
this commercial publisher (A-W) would then have "stolen" the
newsgroup's FAQ list. But my editors were excessively generous
during the contract negotiation process, and granted my every
request: I maintained the express right to cross-pollinate the
posted list with new material from the book version, and even to
place the entire text of the book on the web, if I ever get
around to it.
Addison-Wesley's support (yes, the ugly monetary kind; their
advance was my primary income during the year I worked on the
book) enabled me to make many improvements to the FAQ list,
improvements which I never would have been able to make
otherwise, and improvements which the newsgroup (I do believe)
has benefited from. The posted version of the FAQ list was
cross-pollinated with many improvements which it had long needed
but which for several years I had not managed to make. The book
production process gave me an excuse to completely revamp the
master manuscripts such that I could (and did) create an HTML
version for the web corresponding to the flat-text version posted
to Usenet.
The price the newsgroup had to pay for these improvements was
that the posted version now has a more heavyhanded copyright
notice, intoning that "Content from the book... is made available
here by permission of the author and the publisher as a service
to the community. It is intended to complement the use of the
published text and is protected by international copyright laws."
Everything else being equal, I don't like heavyhanded copyright
notices, either, but it seemed like a small price to pay.
Furthermore, to deny the newsgroup the improvements to the
FAQ list it received would have been at least as senseless and
petty as for someone to have complained that I had "sold out."
Thankfully, nobody has. The newsgroup got a better FAQ list out
of the deal, and nobody seems to begrudge me the fact that I'm
now making a little bit of royalty income off of the thing.
(Naturally, I don't mind that part, either. But don't worry,
it's not a lot of money.)
Steve Summit
scs@eskimo.com
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