Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Fri May 3 07:23:36 2002

I've been browsing Mike's site, he has a lot of good information that he graciously shares, but the .pdf document are locked fom printing. It's hard on th eyees to read them off the computer screen. I posted a question on his forum, and he replied, essentially "sorry, copyright laws". I then pointed out (resoectfully) that HE owns the copyright, and allowing folks to print would not negate his copyright protection, it would just make it more convenient for people to print and save the material. Not only did my last response not make it through the forum censor (Mike himself?), but the ENTIRE thread was deleted from the forum!
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> > > > > > Is he some kind of primmadonna that can't stand to be gently corrected? I mean he's already providing the content free over the net (and I expressed my appreciation), what would be the harm in simply allowing people to freaking print it?! Jack, Paul Nyman, and all other hitting professionals with a web presence allow it, why not him?
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> > > > > Hello
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> > > > > Mike Epstein is a proved liar. Ask him about his personal conversations with Harry Heilmann sometime.
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> > > > > Melvin
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> > > > Preventing printing also prevents saving. Thus you can't copy, cut and paste, etc. You can read and remember or type word for word yourself.
> > > > This prevents plagarism and wide distribution of his materials. You have to go to his site.
> > > > This may be due to contractual issues with having also sold these articles to a magazine.
> > > > Or he may be suspicious that others will steal from him. Sometimes one suspects in others, what one sees in oneself.
> > > > I don't know what the truth is here. Mike has some good ideas but he has done some questionable things with other people's materials in the past IMO. So the jury is out. Make your own decision on this one.
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> > > It's just false sense of security. If I have disregard for copyright laws and am intent on plagiarizing, I could just retype his material and sell it under my own name. That can be said for ANY print media. The only way to totally protect yourself from plaigiarism is to not publish anything in any type of media - print or virtual. Kind of like the safest driver is the one who never gets behind the wheel. Complete protection, yes, but what's the point?
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> > > Jack has a copyright notice on this site that covers all content contained in the site. When I print out Jack's stuff (which I have done) I am not breaking his copyright. I like to print out all the tips and advice I've found on the web and keep it in one folder, so I have everything in one place. Either Mr. Epstein has an incomplete understanding of the law, or an inflated sense of self-importance (paranoia?) about people stealing his batting "secrets".
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> > i have saved his articles in adobe acrobat so at least if i want to re-read the articles i don't have to go on-line....but yes, no printing!!!....
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> > i have seen epstein accused of being a liar and a plagarizer, among other things...and apparently a censorer as well ....i think what it is is that he has made a business decision (regulate how much free info he will let get out).... i don't thin he realizes that in the long run he might do more business by being more open....
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> It's amazing to me how much people complain for no good reason. You want a print copy of Mike's articles? Go buy Collegiate Baseball magazine. But wait! Could it be that since the articles are being written at the request of Collegiate Baseball for the purpose of helping SELL magazines that maybe, just perhaps, you can't print them out because Collegiate Baseball might actually want to sell those magazines? Imagine that: a business that survives because people buy its product and then not wanting to give that product away. What a radical concept. I am frankly surprised that Collegiate Baseball even allows Mike to post the articles at all. He may own the copyright but that doesn't mean he controls the distribution and print rights. Look at the front of any book. The copyright is by the author but the publisher has control of distribution and publication.
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I mentioned that as a possibility in my earlier post as well. It would have made sense for Mike Epstein to have said that when the printing issue was raised to him. ???