Dave from Vermont suggested that we post out-of-print ACMOC Magazines on the club's Internet web site, so that everyone could have access to the articles for information. Most members were not members in 1992 when the club was formed, and many of the older magazines (and some recent ones too) are no longer available. The following comes from the minutes of the board's meeting this past Wednesday, December 12, 2007. We are looking for comments and suggestions from the viewers of this bb.


"H. Magazine and Website Committee report.


"George Howard, chairman of the committee, stated that we recently received the following message on the club’s Internet bulletin board.

“Hey GWH, I called the ACMOC office last week and they are out of issue 70, and a lot of other issues from the last few years. I don't know if this can be done or not, but would it be possible to make some of the unavailable issues for purchase, available on this website so people could read them? There are a lot of great articles in the magazine and it is a shame that members that have joined recently may never get a chance to read them. Just a thought. Dave”

"George asked the meeting if anyone would care to give the committee advice on this matter before the committee considers it and reports back to the board. In response, several directors expressed concern about the impact that posting the magazines on the Internet would have on the value of the original magazines. They noted that the out-of-print magazines, especially the early magazines (when Dave Smith was the excellent editor), were highly collectible and had substantial value. The several directors do not want to see the value of the original magazines reduced by virtue of the availability of copies on the Internet. The interest of our newer club members, and of viewers of our Internet web site, is not for the entire magazine, but only for the content of the articles. It was specifically suggested that all advertisements as found in the original magazines should not be posted on the Internet, as they represent items no longer for sale, and the posting of addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses would compromise the advertisers’ privacy. Concern was also expressed about who has the copyright interest in the articles, and how posting the articles on the Internet would facilitate the copying and distribution of the magazines much to the prejudice of the copyright holders. The meeting developed a consensus that the Magazine and Website Committee ought to consult our Internet website administrator, Joe Black, to see if we could post the articles from the out-of-print and no longer available newsletters or magazines on the club’s website, in a manner that would prevent down-loading. George also suggested that a future project would be the indexing of the articles back to the first magazine or newsletter, and posting the index with the magazine articles on the club’s Internet website, to facilitate the public’s access to the information. Tricia advised that Jenny had already started the indexing, and suggested that George consult with Jenny to find out more about the indexing project."


Readers of this bb: Your comments, please? GWH

GWH,
Would agree....indexing by volume is key.
Those desiring articles or back issues can post for copies in the classified section of the BB or arrange for private scanning of material.
Effort would be much better expended on the indexing and archiving of the BB material than getting bogged down in another bureaucratic merry-go-round.

I would not reprint or post the original 12 . just my 2 cents worth leroy

Thanks George, I'm not looking to devalue the magazines in anyones collection, especially my own. I have almost all the magazines, except the first 5 and #8, but at 58 to 70 there is a big hole in my collection and I would like to be able to read the articles. I'm still going to look for those issues to buy to add to my collection. The maintainance articles, restoration articles and the pictures of restored machines would all be helpful to all members doing restorations, or just trying to keep their machines running. Maybe if the articles could be available to read-only on the website with no indication of what issue they came from that would satisfy some of the BOD fears. Certainly the advertisements don't need to be made available, almost all would be outdated anyway. Thanks for your time and effort. Dave

I have been a member since the beginning, and have every copy of the mag. The first few were just xerox copies and if placed on the web in any way that they might be duplicated is not a good idea. I am not sure how many copies of 1-8 exist, but very few. I agree with MR.22, not the first 12 or so.