[AMD] Re: Ebay debate

This thread reminds me of the "old days" when the only information available on model airliner building came in the form of commercial catalogs.  Before the days of Airliners.net and similar photo databases, information on the latest airliner modeling products usually arrived in the form of a Vince Klimas catalog of new decals, or (most prized of all) the latest ATP Kit and Decal Catalog from Clint Groves.  About the only place to find color airliner photos of a prototype was in airliners magazines, usually published quarterly or every two months, and even then limited to only a few photos each time.  

 

I think this illustrates the fine line between an advertisement to sell a product and providing of useful modeling information.  Clint's little blurb on a new decal might contain a note on the mixing of a required color, or perhaps a modification to a standard (mostly Airfix) kit to provide the proper version to fit the decal.  The same was true in the early issues of "Airliner Modeler" magazine.  I don't think anyone complained about Clint selling decals and models in his catalog, so long as it was accompanied by useful modeling information.  Nobody returned their ATP catalog to Clint because it contained "advertisements" that paid the printing and postage bills.

 

If I post information on sales of a airliner decal or kit no longer in production, is that not also useful information to the modeler who might not otherwise know the product even existed?  I'm also providing information on where one might purchase the decal.  What's "advertising " to one AMD reader of a post may be "useful modeling information" to another.  How is a moderator to make a judgment one way or another, even if they were directed to do so?

 

In the spirit of free exchange of airliner modeling information, let's leave the AMD forum as it stands, with an agreement to emphasize more of actual building of airliner models.  

 

Gerry Cole - DEN   

 

-------------- Original message from "Christos G. Psarras" <christos@psarras.org>: --------------


> Oli,
>
> I wouldn't say that the moderators are not doing their job properly. We are
> moderators (maybe not 100% perfect), but dictators we are certainly not.