[edwest2]

Larry,

You bring up the number one reason some people do not understand copyright law: They want free. It's the cost anyone can afford. I understand 'fair use.' As a researcher of things other than Luftwaffe history for over 40 years, I've used fair use correctly. Some online just reproduce photos from books immediately upon release, put it on their blog and are proud to do it. Others expect free, digitized records immediately, oblivious to the time and money involved. It is something I feel needs to be pointed out. The same with text. Why not download something, lift portions of the text and put it on your blog? I'll add that I did read a terrible blog entry about a World war II American bomber that committed a series of errors. The writer did not shy away from distorting the history by adding in his personal bias. Important details were missing, and it lacked important context. It was an amateur with a low level of skill attempting to write what should have been an article that could appear in a proper historical magazine. Some think 'putting it online' is enough. That learning how to do it right somehow gets in the way. Standards exist for writing books or articles. It's quite wrong to think otherwise.

I spent most of the 1980s reading military journals that most people did not know even existed in libraries. Enthusiasm can translate into good writing with some education.