Douglas:
DB>  Jamshid (Quin) I can understand your outrage, a relative had a
DB>drawing of his from a book he publishes appear in another commercial
DB>publication that gave no credit to him and implied authorship.  He
DB>found it accidentally.
My research into the FAQ thing led me back to the QuickBASIC Scrapbook,
which was the first proof of when I posted the original.  I posted the
original in the QUIK_BAS echo on 28 MAR 93.  QBS has it exactly as I
posted it -- with my name intact.
QBTIPS, a LARGE collection of code posted in the echo published two
months later via PDN, had the FAQ without my name -- within two months
of publishing the QB FAQ (version 2.1) my name had been purposely erased
from it.  I know it wasn't the QBTIPS publisher, because my name is
scattered THROUGHOUT the same QBTIPS file -- only missing from the FAQ.
Technically speaking, the header of the FAQ said, "Released into the
public domain," so I have no legal recourse.  Common courtesy, however,
demands that credit ALWAYS be given where credit is due.  Someone took
great pains to remove my name from the FAQ....
DB>  I read the faq that was posted by someone other than you in the Qb
DB>echo that did give credit to you. (I recognized your style anyhow.) 
DB>You are a valuable resource and it would be sad to lose you because
DB>of such behaviour.
That FAQ has been posted and reposted and included in various
collections of QB code since I first sent it out over the echo.  It is
on so many CD-ROM collections in the BASIC directories that I cannot
keep track of it anymore.  Imagine how surprized I was when I downloaded
a file and found my FAQ there -- minus my name.
DB>  I've seen several disputes where people were caught changing the
DB>names of posters of specific messages to cause harm or taking credit
DB>for things they didn't write.  The ease of access and freedom of
DB>this medium make these things inevitable.  Warning the appropriate
DB>people and correcting the hacking by making it publicly known, as
DB>you have, seems the only solution for now.
What I really don't understand is what the crook stood to gain.  They
did not replace my name with theirs....  They just erased it throughout.
Even in a PRINT "Tweaked by Quinn Tyler Jackson" line, for crying out
loud!  What purpose was served by anonymizing a FAQ that everyone knew I
had posted?  I know that it occured between MARCH and JUNE of 1993, but
that is all I know.
In the meantime, I have received very nice email on the Internet in
response to my Theft Alert.  People who I've never even heard of have
contacted me and let me know that they've been using my source code for
years, and appreciate what I give to the public domain, and they have
been asking me to overlook this and keep the faith.
THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT:
I *will* continue to post quality public domain and free copyrighted
code, but I will also be sure to do it in a widespread fashion (ie.
here on Fido and also on the Internet, and also via direct distribution
to the archivers, simulataneously, so that the archivers get pristine
code, not stuff they had to cut out of a message.)  I will also be
registering EVERYTHING I post from now on in clumps of about ten files
as "publications" with the National Library of Canada, since I have 99
ISBN numbers to use in the next eight years.
I am registering something called SIMPLY DOCS, which allows me to
compile text (or source code) into an .EXE as an e-book.  Each one will
have an ISBN number and be registered with the National Library.
My first action will be to compile ALL of my public domain and copyright
freeware posts from as many code snippet collections as I can find into
one big e-book, which I will then distribute as widely as I can with its
own ISBN and NL registration.
In short, in the future, the crooks will have to prove they were psychic
and wrote my code before I did to get away with it.
I've decided that my proposed book on PB programming will be written --
as an EBOOK using SIMPLY DOCS.  This allows the reader to save code
examples to files for testing.  This will also allow me to easily
release updates as PB evolves, and as my skills evolve.  I suspect the
price will be around $20.00 for the first version and $5.00 for
upgrades.  Imagine that -- a book that comes in "versions."  I still
haven't settled on WHAT such a book will be about -- but I suspect it
WON'T be about hardware specific stuff -- only high level stuff that
will be portable as PB grows into Windows and OS/2.
At least in book format, ebook or not, my right to my name will be
secured.
Thanks for your support.
Jamshid
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 * POW 1.2  On Trial * A fool and his copyright are soon parted
--- Maximus/2 2.01wb
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