Comparison Chart of Major AR Brands

[MH64]

Regardless of how things transpired its unfortunate.
Crane writes an article and then the publisher adds a chart that wasn't included by the author. Things get published, all under the original authors name. Thereby creating what appears to be an author that 'borrows' others work without giving credit.
Then said author gets testy when called on the matter as he states that he did not plagiarize anything yet the entire article was under his name. So even though the publisher may have added to the article after its submission, it would appear to any and all that read it that the author did so.

Now since the publisher has taken responsiblity for the inclusion of the 'chart' without the knowledge of the articles author, any "accusation" in regards to said article about how this incident might affect the authors "professional
relationship with the Harris hierarchy and/or my writing career in
general" is now academic with the publishers admission.

[militarymoron]

as one who has put a lot of hard work into photography and writeups on my site, i'd be pissed as well. as mentioned before, the chart is not in public domain even though it's on a public forum, and is the copyright of the creator.

david crane shouldn't be worried about his writing career. if someone else put the chart in without his knowledge, that misunderstanding can easily be worked out. the editor should be able to clear that up.

i've had my photos stolen before but haven't had much legal recourse as far as calculating damages. reuters stole a pic and used it in an illustration, blackhawk stole a pic and used it in a catalog. when i wrote them about it, they said 'sorry - it was submitted to us. we won't use it again.'

not defending mr. crane, but i do vltor's ads for surefire combat tactics, G&W for law enforcement, shotgun news etc. i often get confused between primedia/intermedia and harris publications as i have to upload the ads to their ftp servers. i've gotten it wrong more than once. if mr. crane submits articles to multiple publications, it's easy to get mixed up.

sorry this happened to you, rob - credit should be given where it's due. it's so easy to ask for permission - there's no excuse for not asking or finding out who the credit belongs to.

[Sam]

That publication have made errors and mistakes before in the past. If enough people stir up enough shit and email the editor, I'm sure they will print a "correction" for their omission of the real researcher that came up with the "Chart", who is RobS.

[rob_s]

I believe we are well on the way to an acceptable resolution for all involved. Cameron Hopkins of the publishing company has explained how the chart came to be in the article, and has offered to not only print a correction with the proper credit given but also to print an article to include the chart and a sort of a history of how we came to the current version.

reprinted with Cameron's permission

I take full responsibility for failing to attribute the data in a chart about Mil Spec features on commercially produced rifles that appeared in your story in the latest COMBAT TACTICS. I put the chart together as a supplement to your story based on information that I was forwarded from a friend of mine who is a Colt certified armorer and police officer . Much of your "Truth About Mil Spec" was based on Colt and my buddy tried to get me more supporting material, like Colt factory photos. He had been a very good "background" source to help gather some hard-to-find facts about Mil Spec rifles. He told me he got the chart information "off the internet" but as you can appreciate, that's a rather wide ranging statement and can include anything from Wikipedia to Google.

I've now found out that the chart was put together by Rob S***** and www.m4carbine.net. I've e-mailed Rob to apologize for omitting a credit for his site as being the originators of the data. I offered to run a correction in the next issue.

I hope you accept my apology and if you would, please pass along to anyone who asks that I accept full responsibility and that you had no knowledge of any of the graphics that went with your story, including the chart.



Cordially,


Cameron

and

Thank you for your understanding of the situation with me unintentionally using the data from your chart without attribution. I spoke to my friend who sent me the data originally, and it turns out that he'd never visited your site but had seen the chart, in one form or another, on AR15.com and the 10-8 forum. Remember the old adage? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Obviously you've done a great job in researching and putting together a very useful list of features of ARs!

Your idea of reprinting an updated chart is excellent and will serve the dual purpose of giving credit where credit is due as well as promoting www.m4carbine.net. In fact, if you'd like to include a brief story along with the chart on how you and your colleagues put it together and what your opinions are of the current crop of ARs, we would publish it with the story and compensate you with a writer's stipend for your work.

By all means, feel free to print my e-mail to you and to David about my responsibility for the lack of proper attribution.

Again, thank you for your understanding and your great suggestion on how to best set the record straight in the next issue. If I could receive the updated chart and accompanying story by the middle to late July, that would meet our deadline. Thanks again,



Cordially,


Cameron

[carbinero]

Nice resolution potential!

1. Seems reasonable they would allow the new article to be printed on m4carbine.net in full...on this thread would be appropriate

2. The article would be a great place to explain what "M4" means, why carbine length gas systems suggest "fixes" with a 16" barrel, the increasing availability of middies.

[Ed L.]

Sounds like a win to me!

On another note, I just noticed that Noveske does not High Pressure Test (HPT) their Bolts. Is this anything to be concerned about, as Noveskes are considered top notch?

[Sidewinder6]

Glad they stepped up to address this problem the way they did. Probably a good wake up call on their own attention to detail.

[Littlelebowski]

And the gun industry shows the rest how to conduct themselves...

[militarymoron]

cameron hopkins is a good, professional guy - i would not have expected a different response from him. glad it's been worked out.

[rubiconjp]

Wow very reasonable and responsible people. I definitely will have to buy the August issue then.

Again, thanks for your work Rob! This goes a long way to promote this great forum. Thanks to you, I have sold my Bushmaster and just bought a 6920.