I see that I am the lone person taking a differing opinion. Personally, I don't care which way the decision goes. All I'm saying is that I can understand the moral feelings Wood Butcher is going through.
Many of the folks responding to this thread don't have the memory of past discussions where someone's thoughts or design was taken by another and then turned into their own product for sale or even into a commercial product. I wasn't that long ago that we had a strong discussion coming to the defense of a member who had the name of the product used by a commercial firm.
And to those who wonder if I've used any of the tutorials....
I haven't used anything dealing with pens themselves. I've used some of Curtis's tutorials in shop work. Part of the fun in pen making is coming up with your own ideas. Tutorials mean we're too lazy to think of our own means of doing it.[/quote]
I agree there has been rather heated discussions on past pens such as Bruce's circuit board pen (remember he made a deal with the company too) and also the so called watch pen, Curtis' catus blanks has come under fire as well as many of the blanks sold today that are copied and peddled. and there have been others. But if we were to adhere to that way of thinking lets just shut this site down right now because each and every person here has copied someone elses work and that includes you sir. There would be no reason other than share stories of our pathetic lives with each other. This site was formed with the premise to further the art of pen making and to share with other artisans something passionate that we all do and that is create pens.
It is interesting that the person that has profited the most from this type pen has not made a statement here. I for one would like to hear their take on this.
But beside that, to say that tutorials make us lazy people is a slap at all of us and I do not particularly think that is very nice. How in the world do we as humans learn anything. We have teachers from the very earliest parts of our lives which start with our parents. We continue every day to learn from others weather it be job related, hobby related, sports related or so on. Tutorials weather done on utube or here and put in word form is just another means of gathering knowledge. Looking at a tutorial does not mean you are going to do something exactly the same because each tutorial is one person's view or method of doing something. I say this over and over again, if you are afraid of being copied and you want to corner the market on your idea then never show it. But also if you want to corner a market come up with something that can't be copied using ordinary materials and tools and make it something that will take expense to do and see how many copy you.
How many of the big name pen companies do you think are being copied?? Every one of them. Just take a look at the pens on the market that are sold by the big names. Heck I try to make my version of some of their designs. Unless you have patents and deep pockets to protect your ideas morals and ethics will not get it done.
Tutorials do have their place on this forum. It is up to the individual who is writing it to decide if they want to share their ideas. It is then up to us to decide what to do with these bits of information. I hope we all take bits and pieces from many and come up with our own designs so they can be copied and continue evolution of the pen.
As been said before if you do not want to know how a person does a particular type pen then don't read the tutorial. Just like everybody keeps saying about different forums her, if you don't like what you are reading, don't read them. Simple.
So to sum up my feelings again I believe tutorials are a part of this site and will continue to support any who write them and thank them for doing so. I will read them if it interests me.
Good luck with your decision.
