I am totally baffled by some of the points being made in this thread, but it is not new to see the "us/them" issue pop up again. In the past it has been labelled an "elitism" issue and for some reason, certain individuals feel like they are owed ALL info. They are mistaken in this belief of what they are owed. As webchief pointed out, while TDH is all about sharing and everyone is encouraged to share, there is no requirement for it and therefore no real leg for any of us to stand on in regard to complaining about someone not sharing a particular method or piece of info.
In my time here, I have come to see that info is withheld for a number of reasons.
-Sometimes it is due to obligation. Someone shares info and asks you not to share it.
-Someimes it is due to financial reasons. Someone who sells items discovers a new method for achieving greater accuracy and wants to keep it secret to have one-up on the competition. Or,someone makes a discovery of a found item and holds on to that information so he and his friends can attain copies of that item before it is made public knowledge and the price goes through the roof.
-Sometimes it is for the glory. "I know something you don't know!" -Sometimes it is because they have shared something in the past and gotten burned on it. I know one individual who shared information with the board and was crapped all over for his efforts and he swore never to do it again. I know another who made information available about a particular discovery and later someone else took credit for that discovery.
While we may not, on a personal level, agree with all of these reasons for not sharing, they are all valid.
There seems to be an indication here that the thread was pulled last night because of this HUGE TEMPLATE SECRET. While, I won't speak for the administration, that seems utterly ridiculous because:
-I have never seen the mods pull a thread due to info given.
-Rogue Studios and FP (no, I don't mind naming them) clearly appeared to be joking about it being a "secret."
-What would be gained by pulling the thread after so many had already read about the templates.
-If it was pulled due to the template info, this thread would not be allowed to continue.
Honestly, the whole template thing is NOT even a secret. Just because something is not publicly posted does not make it a secret. It simply isn't knowledge that had been shared on the board yet.
Some also seem to be hinting that using templates is cheating or an easy way out or that it "explains" why some people have such amazing paint jobs. Actually it is "building a better mousetrap." If FP and Rogue Studios and others have discovered a method for more accurately painting their helmets, more power to them. Perhaps they will share more of their thoughts on this process and help others along as well, but if they choose not to, that is their business and I don't see where anyone has a right to give them grief about it.
Also, as GotMaul pointed out, while both FP and RS's helmets are some of the best out there, neither are perfect representations. Why would you want their templates? That would be like a copy of a copy. I have made hundreds of high resolution reference pictures available to EVERYONE for FREE, showing virutally every corner and angle of the ESB and ROtJ helmets. Why not go to the source instead of petitioning "senior memebers" for their interpretations of the orignal. I think a group project to make a set of templates would be AWESOME and who is to say that the templates made by that group couldn't be even better and more accurate than what the senior members have.