<VV> Corsa Tech Guide problem solved

[Mark Corbin]

All,

Finally the mystery is solved! Apparently we now know why there is a
mismatch in the interfaces between some of the CORSA Tech Guide issues and
the latest Third Edition" release. Here's what happened.

The original "Volume 1" was issued with the "promise" from CORSA that all
future volumes would easily integrate into that volume, so that any "early
purchasers" would not have to worry about any conflicts or other problems.
It is why it was printed in loose-leaf form instead of bound. Volume 2 came
along, and held true to this concept.

At some point later, the CORSA  board decided that some of the material
needed updating and rewriting. So it was decided to "reprint" the first two
volumes' materials as an "enhanced and combined" edition. The "Third
Volume" was later produced to integrate into this "combined" edition. BUT
what may not be well-known is that in updating and printing this "enhanced
and combined" edition, the interfaces didn't match the original editions'
interfaces. As a result, if someone tries to integrate the "Third Volume"
with the original First and Second volumes, there are gross mismatches in
the interfaces, both with redundant sentences and paragraphs, and missing
information. About a third of the interfaces are affected.

The net result is that the present "combined" edition is really NOT a
"first and second 'combined' volume", but an updated version of it, and
thus is in effect an entirely NEW tech guide. It should have been labeled
as such, and the "third" volume labeled as a "second" volume supplement to
that new tech guide. But that was not done. Tim Mahler has admitted that
that decision was his, and NOT the editiors' decision. They are blameless
in this case. My appologies to them for anything I said due to my not
knowing this information.

At this point, I'd recommend that CORSA not print any more issues of the
current material, but instead (when the supply runs out) print up a soft
BOUND version of all the material contained in the present *three* volumes.
They should also remove any reference to volume number and label it simply
as the "Tech Guide up to December 2007" (or whenever the cutoff date was).
Then issue any future tech guides as the "Tech Guide from January 2008 to
whatever date" and be done with it. Besides, the current material already
produces a book that is quite thick, so why bother with future integrations?

Hopefully, this will settle the matter, as long as the membership has been
made aware of this situation with the first two editions.

-Mark