Friday, December 14, 2007

Notice of EBay Scam

Will the greed of people never cease? I got an email from a great guy who had unfortunately bought a DVD from Ebay. The DVD was just a collection of free videos from folks like me who had posted them on YouTube or our own sites for folks to see free of charge. This guy had made collections and was selling them on EBay. Not only is this a violation of all the copyright laws around but it is also an attempt to profit from other people's work and generostiy.

Trust me, it takes a lot to make even a home video if you want it to turn out decently. But this is fine for me because I enjoy it and I like people to see how I do stuff. Hopefully they improve on it and we share the info. That is one of the great things about wood turners. If you do not share, you have not gotten the idea of turning in the first place.

A while ago at a show I was asked by a turner how I made a particular piece. This is an entirely different question from a wood turner than from a regular customer. He thanked me for sharing my "secrets" with him. There are no secrets in wood turning. Just good techniques and practice.

However, there is a big difference between sharing for free while giving credit where credit is due and the idea of selling free material to people while giving the understanding that this is good value.

Enough rant. I am going to turn.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that is just so not right!! i like all the free videos and advice you can get out there, but for someone to steal the free work of others and profit from it in not ok!!

and thanks for sharing for free!!

Rasmus

Darrell Feltmate said...

Rasmus
thanks for the kind words and support. One of the hallmarks of wood turning is sharing. David Ellsworth was saying in an interview that one of the criteria for the beginning of the American Association of Woodturners was "if you don't want to share, we don't want you." It has never been a deterrent and is reflected in all the other associations I know. I have learned a lot from other people who turn and gave freely, why not me? Take care and all the best.