So your point is...….that Mr. Alway & the NAR is trusting in the goodness of rocketeers enough to sell those supplements via USB on the "honor system" trusting that rocketeers would honor copyrights ...…….. and because Mr. Alway has publicly stated that he believes that there is at least one rocketeer that has not honored that kind of trust for ROTW, so Mr. Alway might as well sell ROTW the same way ???
Also, not sure what is meant by " …..ROTW should have been similarly preserved...…"
The supplements seem to be available on NARTS not for archival purposes, but for purchase by paying customers, I assume with the sales proceeds benefitting the NAR and possibly covering some of Mr. Alway's time & expenses.
(1)
"HONOR SYSTEM" - There are, literally, thousands of postings of Peter's scale data, all over the internet. This includes posts by "non-rocketeer's", as well. As Peter has previously said, "the genie is out of the bottle". This is not an attempt to justify posting Peter's material, but it is pointing to the size of the problem, which goes far beyond this forum.
(2)
USB's - If those materials, which are all copyrighted, are openly available in electronic format, what is the concern over "electronic versions" of all of Peter's publications ?
(3)
PRESERVATION - Right now, ROTW is out of print and no copies are available, without paying an exorbitant price for them. If ROTW had been preserved on USB by the NAR, as were all of the Supplements and several other books by Peter Alway, there would currently be no problem with people obtaining the book easily, and at reasonable cost. By not doing so, modelers are unable to readily get the data they need, unless they pay "scalper prices" online or obtain the data, privately, through emails from people who have the book ( Isn't that the same problem ? ) . Either way, the lack of availability is responsible for many of the current problems.
(4)
PAYING CUSTOMERS - The same could be true, if ROTW were similarly available on USB, as all of the supplements are. People have said that ROTW should not be available in electronic format, for fear of easy duplication, yet all of the Supplements and two other books by Peter Alway are available on USB from the NAR. Yes, initially, they would need to be purchased, but the same is also true for printed versions. They could, most certainly, be easily duplicated once obtained. Yet, they exist and are readily available in easily-duplicated, electronic format.
(5)
SELLING ROTW THE "SAME WAY" - The profit margin, for Peter, would be greater with an electronic version of ROTW, since no printing or re-printing expenses would be incurred. Plus, availability would never be an issue.
Dave F.