Doss Buckalew, D3SL wrote:
What we do have is approaching 6,000 members and a mandate to represent David Weber's work within parameters set by him and BuNine in order to protect copyrights and present his/their work in a professional manner. This necessitates - NECESSITATES - that controls be in place to ensure what we in TRMN produce meets the expectations of David Weber and BuNine.
Mike Timko 4SL / 6SL Staff wrote:
Manuals cannot be released (to the public) until they are reviewed by the Space Lords & The Royal Council. During these reviews corrections are made to text & images (as necessary).
With all due respect, those arguments don't exactly make sense. If all manuals need to be approved before the public can see it and fit various requirements that take a year to figure out, then why is publishing a manual to the wiki (As BuTrain has now done) any different? If the wiki is different, then dear lord, why spend a year to design the PDF in the first place instead of publishing it to the wiki?
Further, why, in this information age do we use a closed waterfall system of design for a manual that just tells people how to categorize games and record how long they have played (and with who, and who won, etc)? Why not take advantage of the membership and release a draft (clearly marked as such, obviously) and allow the numbers of our club to effectively handle the clarifications by having thousands of eyes look at it and ask questions or spot typos and other such concerns? Organizations with a higher monetary interest have done that with things more critical to their function (the first one off the top of my head that does something similar is Green Ronin Publishing, which releases PDFs of its products shortly before they are sent to the printers so that fans of their work can spot errors, though I have seen similar things throughout the independent creator's world).
I fail to see how such drafts would in any way violate any responsibilities to be professional given best selling authors like Brandon Sanderson publicly release drafts at times, and David Weber's e-arcs are highly popular despite their lack of copyediting that the final version enjoys.
If David Weber can release his next hit book in draft form, why can't a manual that tells members of a club how to record games they played also be released in a draft form?
And this closed system, where select few are granted access and there are numerous systems that take a year to get any hint of seeing the public version is just one example of why I do believe many enjoy the red tape as part of the time-honored military role-play.
As to your calls to step up outside my ship, I have already volunteered as a BuPlan Liason, but if you need eyes to review a draft and suggest edits, send a copy my way and I'll be happy to do so.