Providing free documentation of books that will never be printed again benefits the community in a much more "nurturing and positive way" than selling second hand copies of these books will ever do.
The fact that you can't see this says more about you than it does we "adolescents".
I don't object to product documentation that has been abandoned and has no real intrinsic value, but was only originally intended to help you use software or some add on hardware.
Anyone who does this is still taking a chance, and the original publisher has the right to police their copyright and come after you.
When someone was considering releasing a revised version of THEIR work (Babel) as late as a few years ago, and some self indulgent nit decides their opinion to post a digital version online, and cheats everyone out of a new version by removing the incentive to the author is okay and they delude themselves into thinking they're doing a public service.... well, that's just perverse thinking.
If these tactics you're so fond of worked so well, why isn't the Amiga platform the current dominant platform? Why isn't the community a vibrant, creative mix of hundreds of thousands of people? Why is it a muddy mix of very few without any clear direction for the platform to recover the position it once had?
pffft!
Be serious. You're not doing a public service. You're telling yourself what you're doing is of value when no one will remember what you did. If you crack and post you've broken a contract with every author and developer who has ever published anything. If you simply point people at digital versions, you're encouraging that behavior. If you use infringed work, you're encouraging that behavior.
The people who are likely to be remembered are the original authors, the original designers, those who put time in and ran users groups, those who put time & resources in to stage conventions. ...and those people are not likely to ever return to a market where their time and expertise is no longer respected by the market honoring the contract of their copyright.
I'm done with this thread.
My listing is over and I hope the person who bought the book gets a lot out of it.
Until next time... If I have something to list again I'm sure there will be plenty more people questioning my starting price, or if I'm even entitled to ANY monies for something I actually paid for (used or new), as well as my motives and how selling used items isn't supportive of the market.
Guess what? I could care less what you think, and you're not persuading anyone to your point of view.
Anyone who owns or has owned hardware, software or reference deserves, at least, some level of consideration for not simply tossing it in the recycle.
That they also get to enjoy these sorts of wonderful exchanges (tongue firmly in cheek) questioning their intentions (which seem mostly to be interested in getting something for nothing and not nearly as morally superior as they are framed) is tiring, insulting, tedious and damaging to the community and anyone who might want a good selection of used items to be available, as well as any potential new items.
