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ARA and PARC Committee Members Openly Conspire to Counterfeit DVD Products
Many eyebrows have been raised both here and overseas due to the actions of certain members of the Australian Rocketry Association (ARA) and the Perth Advanced Rocket Club (PARC) as they openly negotiated pricing for various stages of reproducing copies of international rocketry DVD productions.
In a recent thread (since concealed by pw access only) on the Australian Rocketry Association's forum, details of pricing were posted between forum members based on 'how much detail' is required; cases, printing etc. all the way through to 'if you want it looking like the original'.
Some of the DVD productions touted for mass duplication were those created by well known rocket media production company VooDoo Digital Productions as sold by Liberty Launch Systems and Rockets Magazine.
The folks that create these rocketry productions are a great bunch of guys who put together a fantastic and value for money product. As others have declared before me, often for less than the cost of the tank of fuel used to get to a single launch, you can purchase many of their titles.
One of the producers at VDP, Chuck Rudy, an active member of the ARA forum at the time, posted a simple reply noting his disappointment at the actions of the members participating in the thread. A reply came by way of the current secretary of the ARA, who also happens to be the secretary of PARC, who also happens to be the owner of the web site that hosts the forum:
Wolflair wrote
"sorry you feel that way chuck i can understand what you are saying but most members have brought diffrent DVDS to each other so that we are not doubling up a few are copyed but overall more have been brought
even the major movie companys have now found swapping of files has led to more purchase of there product overall lots of members are buying DVDS dont worry about that" [sic]
So, poor spelling and appalling grammar aside (Yeah, I know. Secretary.), he and his ARA buddies actually have the mind set that the wholesale duplicating of copyrighted material is OK.
What he and his cohorts are really saying is 'I have no respect for you or for the hard work you and your companions have done to produce this material. I'm gonna climb up and stand over this hobby and with all my flaccidity, relieve my bladder of its contents upon it.'
This then poses the question: If they are at ease doing this, what other activities are they at ease with? We got in contact with a former Vice President of PARC for comment. He had this to say:
"I'm utterly disgusted but at the same time, not really surprised. What really gets me though is how long its taken for their true colours to shine through. Like all façades, decay eventually sets in.
"He, in particular, was a loose cannon. Mate, the stories I could tell: didn't follow the rules of the club himself yet preached them ad nauseum to those around him - often incorrectly too! Took actions in the name of the club without prior approval or even knowledge of the committee on a regular basis. To get his point across, he would quote phrases and wording out of the club constitution. Only problem was, the phrases he was "quoting", often weren't in there. What a dick.
Actually, I wonder if he's even learned to produce minutes yet. Couldn't do them while I was there. Produced plenty of excuses... couldn't produce minutes.
"One of my favourite pieces of correspondence from him was when there was a period of heavy emailing between the committee members about an upcoming launch. He wasn't happy about something because one of his replies was - and this was mid discussion - 'Please send any further correspondence in writing as per constitution'. What an Idiot.
"And not just that either. I mean he couldn't spell for shit. Didn't even try. I remember the rest of that particular email was;
- mostly spelt correctly
- had commas, full stops and other punctuation
- and at least used capital letters at the beginning of each sentence.
"This meant one thing. We all knew it too: his wife had written it. Here was the true puppet master. Whenever things go too hot for wonderboy, wifey would stick in her nose and pretend to be him. She always had (still has?) one hand inserted firmly up his clacker."
It seems that the former VP is not the only one who feels this way. The CGN webguy had this to say:
"They're a piece of work alright. I remember once I got an email from her about some photos I had randomly appearing on the index page. Just shots of rockets, people, rockety things at launches we attended.
Admittedly, there's a bit of swearing and innuendo in some of the articles on the site. Meh. Anyway, one of the photos was of her two kids standing at the launch controller, the older one was giving the younger one a hug and they were both smiling for the camera. At any other time, a nice photo. Some other shots were of the flight line, showing everyone setup and doing their thing. Just so happened that, wait for it, sometimes their Torana could be seen.
"Well, the list of things she wanted removed from the web site BEGAN with... Pics of my Torana. Further down the list was Pics of any of my children.
"Fucking b----s.
"Look, I've got no problem with any reasonable request and even though the law says I don't need to remove any photos, I'm not without empathy, I understand. So I removed the kids' photo. No biggie.
"But, to LIST YOUR CAR AHEAD OF YOUR CHILDREN as an order of priority!
"I... I'm stunned... I'm almost lost for words... Fucking W---- T---- B-----"
It seems that many people, especially here in Australia, would like to see the perpetrators of this organised piracy hung from the rafters by their testies (yes, they all have them). There are many more people, however, who absolutely do not condone their actions. This small handfull of self lovers have severely hurt the reputation of all Australian rocket hobbyists by shining them with an underhanded and deceitful light.
Don't be surprised if the guys selling these products do not allow them for sale in this country after this fiasco.
Any PARC and ARA members who take their hobby seriously should be thinking carefully about whom they have representing them not only as a club but also as a national organization.
