Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:Alternately, much of Clay's original guides were formulated for consolidation through at least 15 major contributing collectors and restorers which started in mid 1990s. Written direct publication did not occur until the very early 2000s with the expansion explosion of the internet. Bandwidth problems with downloads even in the early 2000s used to be an issue back in those days, and it cost money, much more than today. People literally printed out every single page on these guides, page by page. Leeching was still just as common as torrents today. Most people probably don't remember using a dial up modem to try and get to a newsgroup to get any sort of pinball repair assistance in the 1990s, and that was "new" back at that point. Otherwise your only option was operator friends, Randy Fromm, a few other sources, or the "School of Hard Knocks".
Some of contributors are deceased, including one recent notable provider, Steve Charland. People probably did not know of the developments/advice he provided in fixing the grounding issues, pop bumper driver boards, edge connectors, and other common problems of the SS80 systems.
Steve Charland NEVER EVER helped with my repair guides. NEVER. In fact, he was totally against them. He contributed ZERO to any of the repair guides. Z E R O. John Robertson helped lightly, and he was in fact the guy that identified the system80 ground issues to Gottlieb itself. Charland had NOTHING to do with this in any way, shape or form.
So please get your facts correct. as you are WRONG. (Since you mentioned battery damage as "acid damage" just cements your total lack of knowledge and credibility on the subject matter too.)
There were no major contributors. Most people wanted nothing to do with the guides. Guys like Joel Cook and many others tried to "block" them to the best or their abilities, because they felt threatened by the repair guides. They felt if the guides were "out there", it limited their ability to charge money for repairs. And in the few documents these individuals did write, they made things so complicated (and missing key information), that most people just gave up and sent them their boards for repair. It was the classic "bait and send" thing. Make it complicated, leave out or obscure important information, and they will get so frustrated they'll send you the board for repair. Also making it complicated just cements the ideas that "they are the experts", and the only ones that can do repairs.
In addition, everyone that contributed are listed in the bibliography of each repair guide. And their contributions are footnoted too. If you actually read them, you'll see there are not a lot of footnotes. There's a reason for that.
I spent tens of thousands of hours documenting, testing, writing, photographing repair procedures for pinball. So don't come here and spout your ill-informed information. I WAS THERE. I KNOW WHAT WAS DONE AND BY WHOM. You don't know crap because YOU WEREN'T THERE. You're just a monday morning quarterback at best.