I think that the internet has changed everything as people now tend to "publish" on a website rather than in book form. I once spent several years researching the 320 names on the local war memorial with the intention of publishing a booklet. When the centenary of the start of the Great War was about to happen I shared it with the local museum who had very little research of their own. They put the list on line and manage the website and it is available for everyone to view.
I am happy that the dead are properly commemorated and don't give a second thought to all the time and effort that went into the research.
The whole exercise made me realise that I am a researcher and not a writer and that it is often better for someone else to knock my research into shape.
I have recently compiled several other regimental lists and uploaded then on the WW2 Talk Forum. What encourages me to do it, apart from the recording
of long forgotten individuals, is that so many others are willing to share information and research documents from their own research.
Lastly, the internet has made it so much easier to research from home, but has also made it almost impossible to protect your own work.
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