I received a comment on the website the other day that has me puzzled. I'll include the text here, since the poster didn't leave any contact information:
"this web site... you are collecting data under the guise of sharing information. If I see my information reprinted in a book without my permission, well, heaven help you!"
This, and the lack of submissions to the guide from site visitors leads me to the conclusion that I need to explain better how the guide works, so site visitors understand what it is they're taking part in.
Here's how it works:
1. There are mineral collectors all over the country who want to share information about sites they have visited. The guide is a forum to collect and share the knowledge of many individuals, and help those who are new to the hobby to know where to go.
2. I am also a mineral collector. I visit known collecting sites and write about them. I also find new locations and document them. So the guide also receives contributions from me.
For now, most of the information in the guide comes either from my own trips, or information I have gleaned online and from mineral publications. I don't know everything (I don't even know very much), so I have opened the project up to anyone who wants to download and contribute to the guide.
So there you have it! That's how it works. This guide is a group project and the information contained in it is free. I make a few dollars a month from Google advertisements on the website--as you can see it's definitely not a lucrative project. I will continue to maintain the guide because I love the hobby (although I won't object if you donate a buck or two to the cause...).
I am curious to hear how you like the site--whether you use the guide and any questions or ideas you have. After reading this post, would you take a second and leave some feedback in the comments section?
Thanks everyone for helping this project to grow!
Rock on,
Dave Owen
RockhoundGuide.com
Provo, UT
P.S. A number of site visitors seem to be confused by the download page. You don't have to submit something to the guide in order to download it. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the download link. Many visitors are putting dummy information into the form--if you don't have anything to add, don't worry about it! Just get the guide, visit a site or two, and then COME BACK to the site and give your two cents.
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One man's ramblings in the deserts and mountains of Utah.
3 comments:
Dave,
Keep up the good work. I have had a few bad apples contact me on my site as well. Good Rockhounding resources are far and few between online that are free. Also to address the comment that was left to you most likely the place they would have given you was not a new discovery. If there willing to tell the whole world via the internet they should not get mad if it ends up in a book, maybe not by you but some other person dewing research for a book.
Thanks for the moral support. Every once in awhile I get a comment that is purely negative, but those are few and far between. Even if I did write a book 20 years from now (which I'm not planning on doing), I doubt it will have compensated me for the gas I spent criss-crossing the country.
By the way, I just checked out your site. It looks great. I'll add a link .
Hello Dave,
First I want say that this is a great blog. Second, you will get all kinds of negative reactions while doing a rock hounding blog. People think that because they have known about something for a long time that they own the information or they have exclusive rights without claims filed. Many people also make false statements as to who owns the collecting sites and what the laws are regarding access. Thank you for sharing this fantastic information.
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