I have to say, given how great the RPF community is in general, the fact that some mouth-breathing oxygen-theif might grab someone's photoshop work and sell it on Ebay is a TERRIBLE reason not to share stuff. (c'mon sumatra, listen up!)
For crissakes! If one could make a lot of money at it, everyone on this board would be rich.
I'm for ignoring them.
Here's the thing: as has been often stated before, the whole prop-collecting/making thing is a big fat grey area. Not as far as I'm concerned, but definitely as far as the studios and copyright holders are concerned. it's not even our own work. We're replicating the work of others. (Imagine the propmakers forum discussions: "hey, some a-hole on the RPF is replacting the lighter I designed for Constantine and SELLING the thing!") But most of the RPF community makes props not-for-profit. Just ask anyone who's even TRIED make a profit. It's hard. REALLY HARD. I know for a fact that Lucasfilm keeps tabs on stuff of theirs that people are replicating and doesn't care as long as the people in question are not making too much money. They see it as brand building. And it is. But that's not the point.
The main reason people make and share props is the sheer pleasure of sharing our obsessions with others right? Sometimes studios take notice about certain things and those things get quiet (anyone tried to sell an oscar casting lately? Or talk about Robby the Robot?).
Anyone who'd take ***** that other RPFers worked hard on and sell it as their own is
A: outside the community (even if they're a troll, or they're sockpuppeting, or simply lying, they know that they themselves are OUTSIDE, even if we don't.
B: Not even worthy of one's notice. Really. **** em. They're not going to pay next month's rent selling cans of Dharma Initiative food.
So Please! Keep sharing. Who cares if some idiot wants to waste his time making an extra few bucks by being a lower-life-form. I expect to see my Middle-earth map on ebay someday, if it hasn't happened already. I got my pleasure out of it. I got my props (pun intended), I occupied a dozen cross-country plane flights drawing it.
Not worth my notice if someone is passing it off. I'm going to share the next thing I draw.
I promise.
