I want to reassure Mike Gurstein that he was NOT one of the persons I referred to (and not by name) re the Encyclopedia of Community delinquency. If he had asked me privately, I would have told him. Mike had his own reasons for not contributing, informed us in a quite professional way in timely fashion, and we got a fine replacement. (Also a reader of this list). The two people I had in mind only told us TWO WEEKS before the shipping date that they wouldn't have their articles done -- after repeated inquiries by myself and the project coordinator. You can imagine the bind this unprofessional conduct left us in -- and I repeat my deep gratitude to the two colleagues who lept into the breach. Those two authors know the stress that the defaulters put on them, on me, and on the project. (The two delinquent authors appear to have shrugged it off, with one saying something like "Well, don't most people not deliver sometimes?") As to Mike's point about compensation, that seems to be a general issue. I know of many books that I've contributed to where I don't get compensated except for the sheer joy of getting my ideas out to some part of the reading public. And, in fact, contributors to the Encyclopedia ARE getting compensated in terms spelled out up front. Those with articles of 1500 words or more get a copy of the 4 volumes of the Encyclopedia. Most authors get some modest $$s too. This is more than most people get paid in many book ventures. Indeed, no one else protested. While I have your attention, I would like to say that the 49 articles I edited are all solid, and will offer great starting points to you and to your students doing research. (There are probably another 350 articles in other fields of community; I can't vouch for them, but I do know that the senior editors and project manager were very serious about readable, but scholarly, quality). We all make individual decisions in these matters, and I respect Mike's. I've turned down requests to be in textbooks on similar grounds. I do think the general issues of author compensation go beyond the AoIR list, and that the issues are inappropriate to debate here. I do agree with Mike that the web is a wonderful way to get your messages out. Cheers, Barry ___________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman@chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 ___________________________________________________________________