"While it may not be illegal, I find it ethically lacking when one persons buys a book and then shares the contents freely with others."

Isn't this one of those literalist approaches that achieves exactly the opposite of what was intended? It is one shared by a number of people but if followed would mean that this section of the hobby will become the province of the old and the mean.

Not to mention, it's totally antithetical to the purpose of this group, since the proportion of  any body of knowledge on any defined era inevitably comes more and more from second-hand sources, due to the march of time.

He who holds such  a view should withdraw from well, all groups, since, by his own definition, just by being here and reading posts, he is surely putting himself in the position of being a 'receiver of stolen goods'  ... information unwittingly absorbed can't be 'un-known'. 

I see this view as one factor causing American outline modelling to decline overseas. The place it occupied is being ceded to other kids who take a more relaxed approach to sharing their toys.

Because of assistance here, I embarked on my collection of RPCYCs, now at five and counting ... not to mention other freight and passenger equipment  books. Once you've had three or four assists with information from a particular book, you do get to thinking 'well, maybe I need to buy that one.'  I'd say it was the smartest kind of marketing.

Benjamin Scanlon

Tottenham Hale, England