Are external guides needed? Should users charge others for them?

The relevancy is in the content of the download and whether there is a lack of information provided about the game by the official manual, which means these type of guides are invaluable. Or whether the tactical forum should do the job in itself. That then feeds into the overall debate.

Okay, good.

The other thread remains open so far, backed by the argument that there are two valid points in there which justify the advertisement to remain open and visible. So my suggestion is to have a valid, fruitful and fair discussion in here while once this thread removes the excuse for leaving the other one open we can then close the ad and finally start enforcing the house rules again.

So the 2 points are:

1. Should community members be allowed to charge others for their guides on FM? Does the supposed high quality of such guide make a difference to that answer? Is it a bad thing that some of the ideas which are collected and presented in the guide are freely available and vented by others in here before?

2. Why can any such guide be so helpful and needed in the first place? Shouldn't SI's manual and/or the in-game help be sufficient for users to understand what they are doing and what they should do?

I'll start off myself.

re 2.

SI's manuals have been far from sufficient in the last years when the game became more complex. Especially after the move to an online manual enabled them to include more content without having to spend loads on paper manuals. However, SI are not responsible for teaching us football rules and tactics. Many things are just common sense and in any football management game there is a lot of trial and error involved in the approach to the game. If people prefer having a guide to having to go through this all by themselves, they shouldn't blame SI too much.

I think without any guide, FM remains understandable enough, so even though I hope for a better online manual in the future I won't blame SI here.

re 1.

If people devote lots of time to something and then share it with others, then nobody can seriously demand them to do this for free. People should also keep in mind that server space and traffic actually costs money. If you offer something for download which is downloaded often, that's not a cheap thing to do. And if the authors are not happy to pay that from their own pockets, then fair play to them!

It could be that some money is needed to enable them to keep going and I don't oppose that at all if that is the case. A mere donation system or 'pay what you feel it's worth' will not lead to much as experience shows

Yet, communities like ours or those of other video games have intrinsic values which include sharing ones effort with the others for free. This is hobby, this is addiction, this is nerdiness. This is not business. It will remain to be seen whether FMB are going down the business route or whether this will only be a cover for bandwith expenditure. One will see them remain valued memebers of our community, the other will see them being ambush marketers for which I have little sympathy.

No I don't think they are especially needed. Yeah FM has evolved since I started playing, but I was playing this when I was 10 or something and never had so much fun. The guides are for us more experienced tactic guru's, who want to feel more realistic when they play the game. Most kids can do a season in a day, do their transfers and then next day the next season. If you want to play it realistically and don't understand much of football they are handy.

But kids want what they see. Advertising this will undoubtedly get a kiddys head turned. And you have to actually ask yourself, when they have parted with their money, will they actually understand anything being said? I read some of these guides, and yeah I don't have a degree, and they're actually pretty complicated to take in for a 22 year old.

This will simply ruin the community where everybody has input has it is known. Not only that, do you think the thousands of people who don't come to these forums, if the ebook is well advertised elsewhere, will realise that this isn't just SI making more money? We know as Miles said they haven't agreed to this, but people who don't know anything about the situation will think "unoffical" or not it's another money making venture.

Eastwood = Spot on.

To be honest, knowing about the guide I too would love to get my hands on it. I just won't pay though, so it's not going to happen

What's the point of opening a new thread? This discussion is going on in the main one. This should be closed.

What's the point of opening a new thread? This discussion is going on in the main one. This should be closed.

Phnompenhandy = Spot on.

What's the point of opening a new thread? This discussion is going on in the main one. This should be closed.

Exactly what I thought Nevermind one thread debating it, I just didn't understand why another was needed. But I just go with the flow me!

My idea is that the discussion could go on in here. This would allow the other thread to be closed as it should be due to the advertisement in it.

If people don't like it then fair enough. Don't mean to be trolling here.

My idea is that the discussion could go on in here. This would allow the other thread to be closed as it should be due to the advertisement in it.

If people don't like it then fair enough. Don't mean to be trolling here.

Nah, I get your point - but I assume the clarification the Mods are waiting for will be subject to SI reading that thread, so it's best to collate it in there.

If it's deleted, I'm sure a second topic could be opened in FM Gen. Discussion.

Offtopic:

I've also wondered why new topic but jayahr is spot on with his last post. Can't deny it

1. Yes. No one is forced into paying.

2. They're not "needed", but some might find them useful. I've not bought it, but my guess is that much of the information could be gleaned from this site, if one is prepared to read, experiement and contribute enough to the debate.

My only problem with such a guide would be if some element of the system was deliberately obtuse and didn't work in a logical way and this couldn't be determined by reasonably intelligent players, or through experimentation and discussion.

One more little interesting thought. It's funny how the majority of people disagree with this for one reason or another; don't want to spend money/could lead to everything being paid for/ruin the community as we know it, yet every single one of the FMB crew and their worshippers look past the downsides and say it's a good idea.

Surely looking past the benefits for themselves (i.e after site been upgraded likely to make money for themselves) they don't all agree with this? Every member who helped create this is advocating it's existence on these forums with an obvious planned response by them "Nobody is forcing you to buy it, look for the free stuff we also provide", yet surely all 20 people who made the guide don't agree this is right? Many of the people who have helped write this guide have done so now for years, free of charge, which they wouldn't have done if they thought they deserved money for it? So somebody suddenly churps up "Hold on, lets charge. We can update the site with the money (which I believe donations alone would have covered, let alone a smaller fee) and then fill our pockets for collecting everybodys idea into one guide." Then all 20 suddenly agree that their work deserves financial credit or is it a case of follow the leader?

"Hold on, lets charge. We can update the site with the money (which I believe donations alone would have covered, let alone a smaller fee) and then fill our pockets for collecting everybodys idea into one guide."

I'm still unsure as to how voluntary and uncoerced transactions between two parties fall under the arbitration of a third party. These transactions are not zero-sum - both parties believe that they are gaining something of greater value than what they had previously and it is impossible to make interpersonal value comparisons. Everyone seems to understand that from FMB's point of view, but fails to consider that those buying it genuinely preferred having the guide than their £7.95.

Furthermore, objecting to having to pay for - potentially - your own, or freely available, content is perfectly valid. However, your primary recourse is not to purchase the guide. You could, however, compile an alternative and competing guide and sell it for, say, £4.95. This would be competition which drives down prices. Eventually, the market may become so saturated with quality content competing for a price that some altruistic young buck decides to give it away for free. Who knows, it is largely irrelevant because all of the transactions which occur are voluntary and uncoerced, so no-one can really complain.

The only argument here is that they shouldn't be advertising it on SI's forums - and they genuinely shouldn't, because "them's the rules". It's SI's forum and they set the rules but, as it stands, their inaction is tacit consent. This is what irks many, understandably so.

There is absolutely no moral argument to be had here.

I believe that this is a waste of time. The guide might be really good, I don't doubt it, but we have all, or almost all, we need around the forums, for free. Don't see the point of buying that. But thei're free to sell it. It's their work. I just don't see the point of doing it when guys like Tubey84, Cleon and many others post great guides in all around the internet for free. Both of them helped my game, so I don't think I need to buy any other guide.

Cheers.

FMB crew and their worshippers look past the downsides and say it's a good idea.

Well if there's ever an argument that shows itself up as thin it is the one that distorts and manipulates. I believe you also called people who bought the ebook foolish? Not at all prejudice are we, very balanced.

Any more insults you wish to throw at people who have bought the book and are not unless you have evidence,

fanboys?

I am starting to finding your personal accusations insulting and annoying.

K

FMB crew and their worshippers look past the downsides and say it's a good idea.

Well if there's ever an argument that shows itself up as thin it is the one that distorts and manipulates. I believe you also called people who bought the ebook foolish? Not at all prejudice are we, very balanced.

Any more insults you wish to throw at people who have bought the book and are not unless you have evidence,

fanboys?

I am starting to finding your personal accusations insulting and annoying.

K

If you're one of the fanboys I refer to, ignore me if it's such a problem to you. I don't expect every reader to agree, it's a forum. There's plenty of people here who like FMB, like myself, who aren't paying it out of principal. Then there is your "Oh the lads are fb lets get at their feet and woship them for everything they have done in the past and just pay it".

As far as I am concerned it's a stupid idea, I hope SI put a stop to these people making money out of their game. If they want to just relate it to football, fine, but as things are it's a FM guide. All it's going to do is give more and more of the "good" posters the same idea, lets start selling our work. And a useless forum with no decent debates going on.

I hope SI put a stop to these people making money out of their game

They aren't making money out of SI's game. They're selling information which relates to how the game is played. For this, there is a demand due to SI's own inadequate information. Were FMB reselling the game itself, that would be making money out of the game. It would also, given copyright law, be illegal. What they're doing is neither legally wrong, nor morally wrong - in a normative sense. It might tarnish their reputation in some peoples' eyes, but that's about where it ends.

They aren't making money out of SI's game. They're selling information which relates to how the game is played. For this, there is a demand due to SI's own inadequate information. Were FMB reselling the game itself, that would be making money out of the game. It would also, given copyright law, be illegal. What they're doing is neither legally wrong, nor morally wrong - in a normative sense. It might tarnish their reputation in some peoples' eyes, but that's about where it ends.

Oh okay fair play, not actually read the guide myself. And i'm not well up on law or copyright issues or anything.. I assumed that as the whole guide is made in reference to said game, they'd need permission to do that? I imagine it's loaded with screen shots of the game to help describe what they're explaining, for which I thought they'd need permission to publish that but meh I'm probably wrong.

Well if you're right lets just hope the rest of the people who make these kind of guides don't see pound signs. What I don't see is, people could actually have started threads on here, using SI's bandwith. And let EVERYBODY collate the information, add their two cents to the discussion, rather than saying "oh we spent 500 hours on this, we want paying for it".

They aren't making money out of SI's game. They're selling information which relates to how the game is played. For this, there is a demand due to SI's own inadequate information. Were FMB reselling the game itself, that would be making money out of the game. It would also, given copyright law, be illegal. What they're doing is neither legally wrong, nor morally wrong - in a normative sense. It might tarnish their reputation in some peoples' eyes, but that's about where it ends.

I agree. They're doing nothing wrong. SI can't do a thing (at least I think so). Just like I said it's their work and they sell it if they want to. Now it's up to us to buy it or not. I won't 'cause I don't need it (and I don't spend money on those kinds of things). But certainly there's people who will buy it and enjoy it. You have the right to seel your own work, unless you copy it from someone else. So they're using their rights. If you don't like it, just don't buy it. You just can't make them put up for download for free if they don't want to, not even by calling SI on this.

Cheers.

Personally, I have followed the development of the TT&F from its earliest inception, and have been a big fan of it in helping to decipher the slider issues we all had in previous versions of the game. Then in FM '10, with the advent of the tactics wizard, I suddenly realised that I didn't actually need TT&F any more, as I could actually translate the way I wanted my team to play from my head to the screen effectively without outside assistance.

This leaves 2 areas of the game which still inspire confusion and argument - training and, for want of a better phrase, "Communication and Psychological warfare".

Training is an ongoing issue, in which some people, for example ProZone and SFraser to name two, are coming up with some excellent ideas and theories entirely for free, and sharing them with the community in order to promote discussion and generate data to validate their ideas.

CPW, has, until very recently, also been freely available across the board. There are still a number of people who do espouse their theories for free on many of the forums associated with FM. The FMB team, however, has decided that this year's edition will be chargeable to the tune of £8. An interesting decision in my mind, as having spent a good deal of time looking at their CPW '08 thread (http://forums.fm-britain.co.uk/index.php?topic=7362.0), I find it hard to imagine how much extra stuff they could have come up with to justify the cost. This is with particular referrence to the fact that the average paperback novel will set you back about £6-8 and requires an awful lot more overheads than an e-book.

That said, however, they are free to charge if they want to, and we are free to buy or not to buy as we want to. In the same way, SI are free to allow advertising on their forums, or not allow it as they see fit.

So should the other thread be locked? I don't care, I can easily ignore it if I choose to......

Should SI's documentation be better and more detailed thus negating the need for a guide like this? I think SI could spend the next 6 months doing nothing but producing guides for us and it still wouldn't stop people from coming up with their own theories about how the game should be played, so why bother!

That's my viewpoint......

If you're one of the fanboys I refer to, ignore me if it's such a problem to you. I don't expect every reader to agree, it's a forum. There's plenty of people here who like FMB, like myself, who aren't paying it out of principal. Then there is your "Oh the lads are fb lets get at their feet and woship them for everything they have done in the past and just pay it".

As far as I am concerned it's a stupid idea, I hope SI put a stop to these people making money out of their game. If they want to just relate it to football, fine, but as things are it's a FM guide. All it's going to do is give more and more of the "good" posters the same idea, lets start selling our work. And a useless forum with no decent debates going on.

I do not wish to get into a slagging match or start hurling insults at each other. The debate is on an issue that in the scale of things is very minor. We obvioulsy do not agree but I am neither fanboy (why that is used I never know) nor foolish with my money (hence why I was able to retire early).

If the fear is that this could escalate, then that is speculation so far. Therefore, we shall see. But what would be worse is that it splits the community, that do such good work and until now for free. I do not see this as a money grabbing exercise, others might.

Though as I said we come from different ends of the spectrum on this issue so therefore I will agree to disagree and watch with interest to see how things develope.

K

Usually cringeworthyness is funny, but I actually find charging for the guide and the little blurbs about each contributor so cringeworthy that it's irritating.

I've seen people infracted for advertising their fansites in the wrong area of the forum, why is this guide any different?

Oh okay fair play, not actually read the guide myself. And i'm not well up on law or copyright issues or anything.. I assumed that as the whole guide is made in reference to said game, they'd need permission to do that? I imagine it's loaded with screen shots of the game to help describe what they're explaining, for which I thought they'd need permission to publish that but meh I'm probably wrong.

Eastwood, just to clarify:

1. There are no screenshots from the game inside of CPW '10.

2. There are no excerpts taken from the game's manual.

3. There are no trademarked/copyrighted images taken from the game's promotional material.

4. There is not even a single usage of the game's fully trademarked name (capitalized "Football Manager") inside of the guide.

5. There is a legal disclaimer made in red on the guide that we are in no way associated with SEGA or Sports Interactive, it is not an official publication supported, endorsed, authorized by either company.

We have truly attempted to go above and beyond the requirements of fair-use copyright law in order to show as much good faith as possible to SEGA and Sports Interactive in regards to the game we love to play and their intellectual property.

CPW, has, until very recently, also been freely available across the board. There are still a number of people who do espouse their theories for free on many of the forums associated with FM. The FMB team, however, has decided that this year's edition will be chargeable to the tune of £8. An interesting decision in my mind, as having spent a good deal of time looking at their CPW '08 thread (http://forums.fm-britain.co.uk/index.php?topic=7362.0), I find it hard to imagine how much extra stuff they could have come up with to justify the cost. This is with particular referrence to the fact that the average paperback novel will set you back about £6-8 and requires an awful lot more overheads than an e-book.

8 quid is a lot for 77 pages, very true.

Usually cringeworthyness is funny, but I actually find charging for the guide and the little blurbs about each contributor so cringeworthy that it's irritating.

I've seen people infracted for advertising their fansites in the wrong area of the forum, why is this guide any different?

It's not, so I expect those threads not to be closed in the future. Otherwise I'll get a bit silly again to make sure people don't miss unequal treatment on here

you could say whats the point of a game like this lol. once you buy a good squad and have a set of good tactics, just sitting back and hitting play will see you win, win , win. same old gets boring, as for me, winning is like playing roulette lol

I think putting a value per page is a bit misleading, the value is upon the information that is in the book. If you think the book is worth £7.95 or not that is entirely your percpective, what we have attempted to do in those 77 pages in offer something worth the value of £7.95 and those who have bought it so far have given us good feedback to the value it has given them for the game.

Just look around the internet, there is plenty of ebooks around the web that costs into their £40-60 for 100-200 pages.

Football Manager 2010 on Amazon - £14.99

A 77 page guide on Football Manager - £7.95

The argument that CPW is worth the money - Priceless.

^^

As has been pointed out a few times, I think fairly: the value of something is different for every person, and people will decide whether or not they think something's 'worth the money' or not. You don't think it's worth the money, but someone else might.

As an aside, I think it's interesting that the guide is advertised as being 'written by FM10 beta testers'. Is that something that's fair game to use as a selling point?

Football Manager 2010 on Amazon - £14.99

A 77 page guide on Football Manager - £7.95

The argument that CPW is worth the money - Priceless.

^^

With respect not a good argument. I can buy many games cheaper than I can buy the Prima Guides. So for you is it the price that is upsetting you and not the fact they are advertising it on here. Is it both.

For me the price was worth it. It has squeezed more out of the game. The example you use here is like knowing the price of everything but knowing the quality of nothing? Your contributions have been interesting but not this one for me!

So far the debate has been mainly intense but well balanced imho.

K...

'Twas a joke my dear Kazza I'm not switched "on" 24/7!

'Twas a joke my dear Kazza I'm not switched "on" 24/7!

Apologies, I need to take a chill pill. It is Friday..

I have gained nothing significant from any forum member here or from any other forum.

What I concluded myself playing a dozen saves over 2 different patches and studying real football tactics has been sufficient to make the game enjoyable.

In the moments I got stuck in a row of bad results I went out on forums and asked for help. But the advices, even the sounded very confident and professional, never helped. I stopped playing the saves or got sacked. If I tried myself to change things it has worked in majority of cases. I guess I know my own save better than any other guy on the forum.

I wouldn't give a dime for advice about FM2010. I'd lough if someone requested me to pay him. The bragging about tactical knowledge and positive feedback some people get for it is enough of a ego food. Thats all they need.

Anyway, looks like that thread has been deleted, so you were right to open this one after all.

I wish they'd just blanked out the OP and locked the thread. There was an interesting discussion going on, and I'm not sure it's fair to delete a thead which people had spent time contributing to.

But hell, I'll complain about anything

I "soft deleted" the thread, so blame me

None of the content is gone, it's just not available at the moment. It can be re-opened though, if I'm advised to do so. I just felt the whole situation had got silly and considering that we're all in agreement that the "advert" nature was in breach of the forum rules here, I think it was the best course of action to take.

If anyone wants to point fingers or apportion blame that the thread remained open for so long, then feel free to point the finger at me. My first instinct was to close the thread, but I didn't. I was waiting to get some official feedback, but decided not to wait any longer.

I "soft deleted" the thread, so blame me

None of the content is gone, it's just not available at the moment. It can be re-opened though, if I'm advised to do so. I just felt the whole situation had got silly and considering that we're all in agreement that the "advert" nature was in breach of the forum rules here, I think it was the best course of action to take.

If anyone wants to point fingers or apportion blame that the thread remained open for so long, then feel free to point the finger at me. My first instinct was to close the thread, but I didn't. I was waiting to get some official feedback, but decided not to wait any longer.

It's not your fault. Neither the moderators here nor SI stirred up this hornets nest.

People would do well to remember that, but they wont.

I don't envy your position cleaning up this mess but any finger pointing at the mods here or at SI is unfair. For whatever it is worth I want to make that point completely clear.

Nah, that's fair enough heath. It's a difficult decision, and I guess you could argue that the thread being there (even locked, with the OP blanked, and the discussion that followed) would still have constituted an advert.

As SFraser says, it wasn't a great position for any of the mods/SI group to be in.

Nah, that's fair enough heath. It's a difficult decision, and I guess you could argue that the thread being there (even locked, with the OP blanked, and the discussion that followed) would still have constituted an advert.

As SFraser says, it wasn't a great position for any of the mods/SI group to be in.

Self inflicted. Clear breach of the rules. How are the mods not too blame?

I'm certain if a thread like was created by somebody with no history or relationships on this forum, then it would be closed instantly. The action taken could have been swifter, and the apparent commotion could have been lessened. Obviously it was a difficult situation, so all things considered, heath, "the only lessons are those from which we learn nothing". There's no need for finger pointing or blame.

Anyway, on the OP:

It shouldn't be necessary to charge for guides. It isn't economically viable, because information is readily available to those who want it, with far more ease than traditional publishing. Heck, most of it was on FM Britain's website.

I can't remember what the other question was, so I'll leave it.

Self inflicted. Clear breach of the rules. How are the mods not too blame?

I'm ok with that line of thought, simply because I'm one of the designated mods for T&TT, plus I've got broad shoulders

It's not your fault. Neither the moderators here nor SI stirred up this hornets nest.

People would do well to remember that, but they wont.

I don't envy your position cleaning up this mess but any finger pointing at the mods here or at SI is unfair. For whatever it is worth I want to make that point completely clear.

I said exactly the same to mod wwfan in the deleted thread. This issue is almost unprecedented so the mods have no parameters in which to operate. The creators of the guide are very long-standing and well-respected members of this forum, so the matter has placed the mods in a delicate situation.

What's more, they were working with SI on the tactics wizard and brought out TTF10 with SI's blessing and a forward. We don't currently know how much SI were informed about CPW and whether they had any idea there would be a charge.If SI has also been caught unawares, it puts them in a tricky situation too.

FWIW, I really like those guys who created the guide. Along with wwfan and more recently SFraser, they've been at the forefront of enhancing my long-term enjoyment of the game, do I really regret that this has happened. Regardless of the issues of whether there ought to be a charge for the product, and whether it ought to have been promoted in a thread on this forum, at the very least I think we can agree that they've gone about their PR somewhat clumsily and left innocent parties - particularly wwfan who worked with them on TT&F - in an unwelcome predicament.

So unless there are issues I'm unaware of (and I will confess that I haven't seen the guide and don't know exactly who has contributed), I strongly feel that no one should be pointing fingers at mods or anyone else who is not involved in producing or profiting from the guide.

Spot on there Phnompenhandy, very clumsily done from a big name in the FM community scene. They dropped SI right in this one.

It is a terribly short sighted decision from FM Britain. They clearly never considered the potential consequences to their actions, and it will be SI that is left to deal with the fallout. Those involved in FM Britain are a hugely positive force in the FM community, but they did not think this one through.

This is a bad decision by FM Britain placing SI in an awkward position. Anyone thinking otherwise is delluding themselves. It very much is innocent parties that are going to take the brunt of this mess, and that only magnifies just how poor a decision this was by FM Britain.

If anyone wants to point fingers, make sure you aim them in the right direction.

I "soft deleted" the thread, so blame me

None of the content is gone, it's just not available at the moment. It can be re-opened though, if I'm advised to do so. I just felt the whole situation had got silly and considering that we're all in agreement that the "advert" nature was in breach of the forum rules here, I think it was the best course of action to take.

If anyone wants to point fingers or apportion blame that the thread remained open for so long, then feel free to point the finger at me. My first instinct was to close the thread, but I didn't. I was waiting to get some official feedback, but decided not to wait any longer.

Makes absolute perfect sense and should have been done immediately tbh Heath - I think I suggested the move to a hidden forum the other night, can't remember. But I can understand the pressure not to "tread on someones toes" with this.

For me, it just goes to show the influence a fansite can be if it's afforded too much influence on what they support. Or even if it's perceived interest rather than actually real.

It was like a social experiment to me in the very fact that an action that would be second nature for a Moderator was delayed for three days simply because of a reputation of a website!!! The human mind is a strange thing.

Well, they say a picture speaks a thousand words... I saw this image and it just sums up the last few days "excitement".

lolz ^^

Just to add to the confusion.

I couldn't agree more, heathxxx

7th commandment:

"All animals are equal", but....

To be fair I can't understand all that tinkering about the decision to delete a thread that clearly broke the rules of these forums.

I don't want to blame anyone but there was no need for such a drama.

I don't want to blame anyone but there was no need for such a drama.

You need an appropriate smiley

I think everyone was caught off guard in this instance.

Suffice it to say, certainly in my own opinion, that as far as the forum goes, rules are rules. Likewise, I certainly don't plan to sit in a similar situation again.

Yes, I'm a moderator, but I'm also just a forum user like everyone else (albeit with a few extra buttons available). The less actual moderation I have to do, the better it is for everyone, including myself. Ultimately, that's down to the users though.

In a way though, you could compare what's happened with what Alex Ferguson was on about this week. You had two clear cut offences by Gerrard and Ferdinand. One was punished whilst the other wasn't. The issue is consistency.

When the rules are obviously broken, it's clear to see why people get annoyed when one case is acted upon strictly, whilst another isn't.

I certainly aim to ensure that anything that's in breach of the house rules is acted upon, as quickly as it can be, as fairly as possible. This one threw me a bit, as it did a lot of people, for obvious reasons. That's perhaps a weak excuse at best, but it's also one that can be learned from.

I dont really post but this topic is one I've been interested in observing closely after I found out about FMB's decision to become a corporate entity.

You're absolutely correct heathxxx, "rules are rules" - it would have been disappointing if SI had allowed any special treatment because of the FMB team containing 'movers and shakers' ... I also agree completely with SFraser's summation that responsibility for this delicate situation lies clearly at the door of FMB.

Clearly I accept the logic that anyone is free to attempt to make a profit as long as copyrights are not infringed etc but where I think this becomes rather more murky is that at least some of the main players behind this guide have worked for/with SI in recent times. I'm assuming this was unpaid work but I'd be interested in that being clarified. I can't help but wonder why, if this guide and subsequent projects alongside the contributions of the FNB contributers are so very worthwhile, doesn't it point to the original guidance materials shipped with the game being inadequate? Furthermore, I know times are hard economically right now but doesn't it also cause one to wonder why these people aren't employed by SI to provide these useful contributions for those of us who purchase the game?

The reason this and no guide is endorsed or created by SI is because SI don't want to tell us how to play the game, because that would be completely ridiculous.

An official guide would be seen as the "correct" way to play the game, when Football Manager is all about different playstyles and approaches.

The in-game manual (as I've said about eight times now I think xD) is solely to show you how to play the game at the bare bones - for example, using menus and understanding very basic footballing terms. It's an introduction, not a guide, which is exactly the right way to go for SI.