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Message: <blockquote data-quote="portermj" data-source="post: 4768619" data-attributes="member: 26990">Actually, sales of out of print materials can create interest in reprints.  Downlifted copies depress that interest.A creator shouldn't have to worry about making money on a particular property at any given time.  Think about the comic book industry.  For most of its history old issues of most comics weren't generating income for the companies.  They got their income from publishing and licensing, with the odd reprint to cover missed printer deadlines.  Now trade paperbacks are a major part of the industry.  TP's ability to prop up the industry wouldn't have been possible if widespread theft of the contents of back issues by bootleggers was an acceptable practice.WOTC has reprinted material from earlier editions so they do make use of old IP.  It may, at some point, start to reprint old products or sell pdfs of the products.  Downlifting illegal pdfs of those products reduces the chance that those products will be legimately offered because every bootleg copy is a lost sale of a future legitimate copy of that item. Personally, I have serious doubts that piracy makes the game more accessable.  Someone with the income to buy a computer and pay for internet service can pay for a new book, they can read reviews of any new book, they can probably thumb through a new product at a book store or hobby shop.  They can certainly plunk down a few bucks at a used book store for old TSR products.As for the abilty to preview a product before buying it, I have serious doubts that every downlifter deletes stolen pdfs when they decide they aren't going to buy the book or pdf.  It's like the episode of the Boondocks where Grandpa complains that movies are terrible, the food is overpriced, that tickets are too expensive, but it never occurs to him to just not go to movies.Downlifters want to be exempt from supporting creative endovers.  They just want to pay for the 10% of the really good stuff while still experience the other 90%.  They want the rest of us to provide the support that makes any medium (video games, movies, books, music, tv shows) large enough and diverse enough to give creators enough space to create really great art.</blockquote>

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