Sharing restoration information - some questions

[nthomas1]

I recorded the restoration of my Series 2 Fulvia in the Fulvia Forum.  Since then I've had over 320,000 views of this and a couple of related threads (brake master cylinder restoration, dashboard restoration,  etc).   I get enquiries and questions from Fulvisti from all over the world - many parts of Europe, plus Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA and Canada etc.  Often people have asked for download copies of certain sections of the threads - some times because they are having access problems with the LMC website, and sometimes they'd just like something printed to hang on the garage wall for reference while they are working on their car.

I'm now wondering how I can make all of this information more readily available.  I'm angling towards a self-published book which would combine all of the threads, and which could be sequenced with a more efficient flow than the set of forum threads. I would extract the text from the threads and combine it with the original photographs, and add some additional ones. The book could then be made available at cost, and could be uploaded to a website. I have no interest in making money on the venture but rather my objective is to help others with their restorations in the most efficient way.  I therefore have some questions to pose.

1) Are there any copyright issues associated with me extracting the text from the Forum?   I assume there would be no problem with extracting my own wording, but what about the comments from other members that are interspersed? 

2) There are a number of ways that I could handle the comments from other members.  Which of those would be the best? They are: (A) Include comments exactly as worded, with an acknowledgment to the originator using their forum name, or (B) Include exactly as worded but omitting the name of the originator, or (C) Rewrite the comments to extract the essence, and include without naming the originator.   By far the easiest option would be A, especially as my own text often refers to commenters by name, and that would have to be eliminated with the other options.  The hardest option would be C as the rewriting of 50 pages worth of comments would be a lot of work.

I'd appreciate any insights.
Cheers, Norm

[Parisien]

Yes, interesting post and options to be debated.

Perhaps this needs to be taken up by the committee and some considerations, guidance given.

No doubt it's been done on other fora, perhaps their experiences can be shared.

Of course there will differences in ways certain repairs or restorations are carried out and to varying levels!



P

[nthomas1]

My story would not purport to be definitive with regard to any of the work I did, and I'd make that very clear. It would just show how one person went about learning the skills and solving the problems (mostly previous botched repairs) with one specific car.

[DavidLaver]

I'm delighted you're thinking of doing this.

[RRomanis]

Hi Norm
I can’t offer guidance on your questions; but I would like to add my encourage for you to take this on. It would be an excellent resource for many.
Robert

[chriswgawne]

It sounds like a really great idea Norman.
I am not an expert in matters such as these but if there is to be no commercial aspect to this ( i.e no cost) I would have thought it was best presented online for an number of reasons such as access by all, ease of updating/editing and so on.
I am a great believer in information sharing.
Chris

[nthomas1]

I know what you mean Chris.  You'd think that online would be best, but so many people have pleaded with me for download extracts that they can print.   So my thinking is to use something like Kindle KDP so that paperback versions can be printed, as well as the book being available on line.

[GG]

One easy, non-controversial way would be to summarize (and rewrite) the questions and points offered in your own language as insights... and then publish as you wish.

My sense is that quoting emails or on-line comments without permission is very murky ground indeed, and best avoided.

[nthomas1]

I think you are right Geoffrey, and I suspected that would be the recommendation from the committee - though I've heard nothing from the committee yet.   You describe it as an easy solution - maybe so for an accomplished author like you!   For me it will be quite a slog rewriting 50 pages of comments, but I'm up for it! Cheers, Norm

[HBG]

I recorded the restoration of my Series 2 Fulvia in the Fulvia Forum.  Since then I've had over 320,000 views of this....

Sorry about that, 300000 views were me.
.