I know Art personally. He is a cranky old timer. He is also a friend. He has some very strong opinions on the subject (and not just about his designs, I've seen him look askance at a clone of a Centuri design also). He is vocal about his opinions. Occasionally, he is a real pain. He also goes way above and beyond to help rocket enthusiasts at all ages and levels. He'd give you the shirt off his back if needed.
I don't agree with Art on a lot of things. I disagree with him on the cloning matter, as per my previous post in this thread. I would never accuse him of being a bad, mean, malicious or even a mean spirited person. He's not. He's a great guy. He's just... Art.
Very true... I've gotten the same impression of him from the times I've met him, when they were flying at our place at Shiner.
We're all entitled to our opinions, even if others disagree. I think we increasingly forget that nowdays... or at least many people do.
Art's entitled to his opinions about cloning and such, and I'm entitled to mine, as JAL is to his, as everyone else is to theirs. I'm not past cloning stuff, but I'm not particularly doing it, either. I basically "cloned" a Big Bertha for a night launcher, to loft a whirligig LED toy... basically printed off the BB fin pattern and built my own out of paper towel tubing for a cheap night launcher. Modded it with standoffs sufficient to clear the much larger dome of the whirligig toy. Worked great. If someone has a problem with that, well, that's THEIR problem and their opinion, and they're welcome to it. As vendors sometimes taking a stance or stating an opinion strongly tends to be a little more polarizing, because 1) it's usually disseminated to more people and thus discussed more, and 2) it kind of puts people into the position of either "supporting" that particular position if they do business with that vendor, or "opposing" it by not doing business with them. Probably most people couldn't care less, either agree or disagree somewhat with the vendors position or flat out could care less and are only looking for product, BUT for some folks it comes down to a "I will/will not buy from this person because I do/don't want to support that position." As a vendor, that would tend to hurt sales I would think... though of course maybe you gain more than you lose, depending on the position and popular opinion...
At any rate, it's also true that just because one is vendor doesn't mean one has to surrender all their opinions-- they're equally entitled to them as any of us. BUT, it's probably wise to be cautious or thoughtful about how one states their opinions, so that folks don't get "the wrong idea" and take things the wrong way and alienate potential customers due to simple gaffes and misunderstandings, or being too vociferous in stating one's opinions or positions... And if one wants to be highly vocal in their opinions, well, they'd better be prepared to lose some sales, because it's pretty obvious that whatever the position, there's going to be some folks around who disagree about it just as strongly...
Later! OL JR
