What is it with FSB?

www.freestompboxes.org is another place I hang out in. I don't know that I fully agree or disagree with their ethics/vision of the pedal world. A lot of folks devote their time to degooping and posting circuits there. For the uninformed, gooping is laying some kind of material over a circuit to render it un-visible.

So they degoop, reverse engineer it, and post it on the web. Their argument is no one should be trying to patent or copyright ideas, and should freely give out their stuff for all to see. I get that, I really do. Kinda like buying a Ford but not being allowed to look under the hood.

But as a builder and modifier of pedals, how do I feel about that? I'm not sure. Part of me says, "If someone wants to take the time to trace out & post my work, I really could care less. I just want to get paid for the stuff I do. What they do with it after that is out of my hands." It's kinda like if I do buy that Ford, it's mine to do whatever I want with it after that.

On the other hand, I see why so many builders want to protect their work especially if they designed their own 100% original circuit. The R&D that goes into making an original circuit that is both a) original, using unique parts & design and b) using those unique parts to create a unique sound... well, it's a lot to consider.

There is no line: I want to be able to fix my crappy Morley wah or whatever for 10 cents instead of sending it back to the factory for $50, know what I mean? What if I like a pedal, but want to change the clipping a little? It's mine now. I should be able to do what I want with it. So I don't want to deal with goop that's gonna break everything if I try to pull it off.

But the part that REALLY gets me thinking is: FSB's moderators seem so anarchistic, yet they immediately jump all over someone who posted a topic in the wrong section of the forum or gets long winded with threads. For being so anti-trust they sure do have a lot of rules. ;)