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[Novem5er]

Originally Posted by JohnSnow

You're engaging in an act of logical sophistry by talking about the difference between 1 person benefitting from a product and 10 people benefitting from the product. Since it's hard to say where you "draw the line" in that case, you're arguing that it's hard to say where to draw the line period.

To which I say: rubbish!

At the point at which you post a product online for anyone to use, we're not talking about the difference between 1 and 10 people benefitting. We're talking about the difference between 1 and THOUSANDS. At that point, I think we'd all agree that whatever line there is has been crossed.

Or are you telling me that it's "fair" for 9000 people to use the product as long as one of them paid for it? Really? Really?!

Under what theory is this right? I suppose the idea is that none of those 9000 would have paid for it, and so you're not actually costing anyone anything. And you know this for a fact, do you? Fine. Prove it and you won't go to jail.

Sorry, but people are just bending over backwards to try to find some justification for unethical behavior. And the point at which someone is trying to equate stealing music with freeing slaves, I think we're awfully close to Godwin's Law.

JohnSnow, I accept your opinion and I always value your posts. No hard feelings, on my part, for any of this.

That said, I think you're arguing against yourself now. You say it's okay to copy a couple pages or to let a few people benefit without having paid for it . . . because it's not hurting anyone? But you're saying that 9,000 downloads is NOT okay because . . . it surely IS hurting someone? You put that burden of proof on me, but isn't it the prosecution's job to provide evidence of guilt?

What if 9,000 downloads also meant 9,000 purchased core books? What if people who downloaded, out of curiosity, were never going to purchase it at all? How does one prove that downloads hurt sales by claiming it hurt "potential" sales?

No, if you read my other posts, I'm not claiming that we just spread free RPG books around the net, nor any other form of knowledge. What I'm saying is that any source of knowledge HAS to be financially supported, but by far fewer people than the number that actually benefit from that knowledge.