As the forum's base has naturally expanded and broadened, there has been a significant uptick in the number of people who just want to "do it cheap". -There's nothing intrinsically wrong with cost being a factor; for many of the longer-established forum members, this may originally have been an influence, and there's nothing wrong with that per se; -It's a powerful/helpful motivator.
But the CORE ethos here is learning and expanding one's abilities... Not ripping off designs which command a high price in the market.
There's been at least one recent thread which springs to mind, where the poster made it clear that they didn't care about learning how to build things, they just wanted something for cheaper than its legitimate purchase price.
This is NOT in tune with the forum's core ethos. In some cases, the original posters have expressed irritation when others have declined to give their time and efforts for free, and this is plainly NOT an acceptable state of affairs. -I recently read an article about the "piratebay" convictions, where the 'comments' section made me despair for the general public attitude to Intellectual Property.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/pirateverdict.html
The comments appear to indicate that an overwhelming proportion of people simply don't value 'ownership rights' and see wholesale replication and distribution as "not a crime". I despair.
Now we've all copied things, but in order to build things you HAVE to have a design to work from, and it's natural to choose a design which works particularly well... -specially if it's manageable. -But that's only tolerable as a MEANS TO AN END... the furthering of understanding, for example... or the DEVELOPMENT or IMPROVEMENT of a design.
It's like 'feeding' versus 'leeching'. Some here contribute, though not everyone can. Others here LEARN. But those who arrive with a declaration that they just want something cheap and don't want to learn anything, appear to me to be purely leeching.
Ive tried to "feed" with my one or two original designs, I've also come up with a 'development' or two and a couple of handy PCB designs right from data sheets... but there are others who contribute much more. -I know that over the years we've lost contributors because of an eventual disappointment, or a feeling of being taken for granted.
I think that if anyone is truly here to learn, that's one thing, but it can be difficult identifying those who don't care about the field... and are here simply to 'take'.
Keith