How about someone creates a PDF file that could be downloaded which contains the recipes, ideas and techniques we have on cr0. This could make it alot easier for members and non members to print out recipes without having to print out all the comments and chat that generally goes with recipe threads. Also this file could be  freely avaiable on file sharing networks, homepages ect

This could also make cr0 better known and bring in more members.

A PDF file isnt editable (i think, or another non editable file) as opposed to a word document which is. This would in effect contain a copyright statement + disclaimer, a link to cr0 and some of the best recipes we have.

It could even contain photos to each recipe and/or step by step photos and techniques which would help newbies create the BIR dishes. Basically a free e-book which could be used as a reference guide for everyones enjoyment.

The advantage is, that if a free e-book was available it would help prevent people copying recipes and selling them, (which they can do anyway) if its free why pay for it?. The book could be downloadable from  any of our members own sites (free of charge), torrent and a host of other sharing programs. This would make our site better known to the wider community. Im not suggesting all recipes should be included, and of course each persons recipe would/could only be published with their permission.But as this site gets bigger and bigger and more information is exchanged there could be a need to distill the  essense and share it with other curry enthusiasts who havent discovered us yet.

Also it would make a backup copy of recipes. This might be one solution to stop people making cash off the work we have put in for cr0. For me the spirit of cr0 is the freely sharing of information, ideas and recipes, a mini community dedicated to recreating our favourite BIR food.

Just a thought.

Ashes

And a great thought/idea too!  .  Perhaps we could combine this with my suggestion elsewhere to create an Ebook and the proceeds go to UNESCO or something worthwhile for kidz.  At least then we may get some financial return for our efforts that would contribute to helping the sad poor world that we have benefited from with our curries!

Trust in your trip
CP

Hi Ashes

Quote from: Ashes on October 26, 2006, 10:03 AM
A PDF file isnt editable (i think, or another non editable file)

Unfortunately PDFs are editable and there is no such thing as an uneditable/uncopyable text document, so that scuppers that idea. In my opinion it would also be a very bad idea to neatly package up the two years' worth of curry making effort that has gone into this site by tens of contributing members, and freely distribute it to all and sundry. Anyone who is seriously into the restaurant style curry making should relish trawling through this forum and by doing so it also gives new members an idea of our goals and what has gone before, so to speak.

QuoteFor me the spirit of cr0 is the freely sharing of information, ideas and recipes, a mini community dedicated to recreating our favourite BIR food.

I agree but I think it should be kept within the confines of this forum.

I hate to say it, but while the copyright of any individual information belongs to whoever posted it on the forum, the copyright of the forum as a whole belongs to Stew, the admin. The onus, therefore, when any copyright infringement is brought to our attention, is on Stew to serve notice of copyright breach and if that fails to produce results to then get heavy with an official lawyer/solicitor letter and so on.

YF

"there is always some unscrupulous fat bastard out there who is quite willing to sell his first born for profit !"

so you know who it is then CC  ;D

I dont think you will stop it, any member could leave
a secure site then sell on ebay.

You could also blame the coop
for selling onions, who's to blame ?

Would it be fair to exclude future members by
making this site hard to join or have a look around,
then provide feedback.

Anyway dont you think it's the technique that's required
and years of practise,
Loads of stuff for sale on ebay anyway,
and some duff books in the shops too
and we all know who he/she/it is !

lets not forget all the other cooking sites out there
giving all for free too.

An Ebook on ebay for a charity sounds like a great idea,
that should stop them. if the price is right.
We could include links to this site too.

curry on,

graeme.

Yellow Fingers

Anyone who is seriously into the restaurant style curry making should relish trawling through this forum

With respect thats rediculous! Trawling through 2 yrs worth of posts can be tiresome and time consuming. if youre looking for a specific piece of information it would be better to have it to hand. 2 years of information now, soon 3 years .....

I never suggested any of the information is uncopyable. anyone with one eye and a ballpoint can copy! :

"In my opinion it would also be a very bad idea to neatly package up the two years' worth of curry making effort that has gone into this site by tens of contributing members, and freely distribute it to all and sundry."

Why? This site is the culmination of that effort. Free of charge too to "all and sundry".
Youre not worried some undesirables might get hold of the recipes surely?

If you search the net youll find that several sites have compiled information, e-books, recipes and software. There are indeed files available on this very site. This isnt some kind of radicle new idea, its what people have been doing since the beginning of the internet.

As far as i know swf files are not editable or atleast you need a special program to convert them. If someone is going to go to the effort of ripping off this site then its going to be very difficult to stop them, unless you create a closed site, but doesnt that defeat the object?

Given the amount of information on this site, i think it would be a very good idea to compile the information. We arent trying to keep this site a secret, like you said there are "10?s" of people who have contributed, wouldnt it better if it were 100?s?

Im sure Stew would enjoy the extra clicks and who knows maybe someone will one day arrive and tell us the "curry secret".  ;D. Creating an information file (e-book) which is freely distributed is free advertising, this site could easily be the biggest curry site on the internet, maybe in a few years time Stew ends up selling it to Google

Like i said, it was just a thought, trying to think bigger, id rather see this site grow and expand than to become an elitist corner.

Regards Ashes

I think the best thing to do is to promote cr0 as much as possible so all the curry heads out there can find us for free.  A lot of the problem espcially with ebay scammers is that they appeal to the right people,  before cr0 I had bought a few bits of crap of ebay hoping this be the one and im sure a few other memebers have as well.   If people knew of this site and the free information thats available the ebay scammers will no longer have a product to sell.

As someone else mentioned it's not just the recipes its the general banter and the information that comes out from it thats just as useful.  Without reading through some posts and asking questions on here the recipes on their own wouldn't be much more useful than a copy of the KD book to a complete BIR novice. 

Quote from: George on October 26, 2006, 09:23 AM
Please don't put a general control on the ability to copy and paste.

I agree George...I also copy and paste...recipes....and sell them on e-bay...no I don't! 

Seriously though....I copy and paste recipes, to print them, to try them......so, as George says, please do not prevent people from copying and pasting!   

And to be honest following a recipe wont let you recreate a BIR dish, you also need years of experience and technique (which I believe personally I am now at the stage where I have just advanced from scratching the surface)

Quote from: Mark J on October 26, 2006, 09:49 PM
And to be honest following a recipe wont let you recreate a BIR dish, you also need years of experience and technique (which I believe personally I am now at the stage where I have just advanced from scratching the surface)

Mark

I have the greatest respect for your views but I'm sorry I have to disagree with you on this point. I'm not saying you're wrong but my own viewpoint is the opposite, for what it's worth. I don't think anyone needs more than a few minutes of experience and technique if a recipe is well-written enough and reveals enough of what you need to know.

I suggest the issue is a knowledge gap in terms of ingrdedients and/or (more likely) the methods. If you have all the knowledge, I don't believe much practice will be required at all.

Regards
George

Hmm, a hot debate still goes on!  I feel it is a topic I can't add any more to.  Great cooks can do things with the minimum of experience George I agree, but not everyone here has the benefit of being experienced in cooking. As I have said before, one of the 'secrets' as I was taught, was to cook using the eyes and nose as the guide, that goes for Western as well as Asian cooking, and I truly believe that ability is gained with experience.  I doubt if you will ever see an Asian cook taste the meals they produce; they just know.  I mentioned that many years ago (in Abu Dhabi)  a few of us (curry cooks) both Asian, Arab,and Western decided to write the ultimate curry cook book based mainly on techniques/methods not just recipes, as we all recognised this was the key.  If you recall we found straight away that recipes we put together with the techniques.methods were often better done by others than we made ourselves, especially the Asian women who were not trained 'professional' cooks.  Each time we did an analysis to see why this should be so we got a shrug and an 'I dont know I just did it' for an answer.  But in the final analysis the Asian cooks had grown up with curry cooking as taught by their Mothers and family.  So experience was the case; and we futher tested this by asking them to cook Western dishes, which often turned out to be very good but not as we expeceted them to be froma Western perspective!

So that passionate debate has raged for amny years

CP