look familiar? rant

[scirious@hotmail.com (Brian Haygood)]

I don't get it guys.  Our pictures aren't copyrighted, and nobody is trying
to make a profit off of them while excluding us.  We have no profits or
interests to protect except that of generating interest in our cars, right?
Why the heck do people get so pissed when someone takes pictures from our
site?  They are just enthusiasts like us.  Hell, the pictures from Duan's
house of all the cars lined up in a VW emblem should be a cultural icon, not
something we try to take credit for and horde for ourselves.

Then some of us turn around and get pissed at VW for protecting their
trademark?  If you can talk about how anyone should be able to use the
trademark on their site, how can you then get pissed about an unprotected
photograph some dude wants to put on his dinky web page?    [note, not all
of us said the VW trademark protection was out of line; many listers
understood VW's position in protecting their trademark].

Consider this... What if the green monster were the last remaining Reiger on
the planet?  Should Al charge people to take pictures of it?  Should he
insist that his name be put in the corner of each shot? , or should he ban
people from taking their own pictures of it?      No!   Sure he is welcome
to do as he pleases, but why wouldn't he want everyone in the world to have
a picture of his great beast on their bedroom wall?  To want any type of
credit for it is to be too damn "corporate-america", and is downright
unamerican.

Support the hobby, guys and gals.  Don't put up pictures of your stuff so
you can get credit for it.  Don't support Scirocco.org because Scirocco.org
is the best VW site.  Support all the VW sites because they all give props
to the cars we love (well, except the ricey ones).  Death to Hondas! and all
that.

BH

PS:  If anybody wants a picture of my ratty looking 16v, they are welcome to
it.  (that goes for my award winning Model A Ford restoration, too).