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Dealing with People Selling Fan Projects — Page 20

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 (Edited)

Hey, some good news for this thread for once!

The wretched hive of scum and villainy that was *** seems to have shut down!

😆

The NJVC Custom Bluray Set of Harmy’s Despecialized Editions is available on Mega.

Go to this thread

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For my Holiday Special Blu I made I put in a disclaimer at the beginning where I said that it was a fan project intended to be shared with other fans and if you had bought it you’ve been had.

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 (Edited)

solkap said:

Hey, some good news for this thread for once!

The wretched hive of scum and villainy that was *** seems to have shut down!

😆

That IS good news! 😄

Though I’m sure they will pop back up somewhere else again 😠

Be ever vigilant people!

Val

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Oswarez said:

For my Holiday Special Blu I made I put in a disclaimer at the beginning where I said that it was a fan project intended to be shared with other fans and if you had bought it you’ve been had.

That’s a good idea to include the part about them being scammed if they paid for it. Whether fan editors might go further in their blurb by explaining (in short form) how this has become a major issue and the possible consequences for the future of fan editing should they continue to support and reinforce the illegal activity.

Val

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 (Edited)

solkap said:

Hey, some good news for this thread for once!

The wretched hive of scum and villainy that was *** seems to have shut down!

😆

I’ve been away from the forum for a while, but gosh this is good news to come back to. We’ve been fighting these guys for way too long.

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Booyah! Did they get a six foot mouse knocking on their door? 😛

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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^ Nice find.

Reported it to etsy - be interesting to see how etsy deals with that - and how quickly…
 

Seller seems conflicted… says they are ‘The Unruined / Despecialized Star Wars Trilogy’ - then uses ‘New Hope’ on the back of his ‘artwork’ blu ray cover.
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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This is an old post now, but anyway…

oojason said:

ZigZig said:

  1. The official sources are/were TehParadox (which is closed) and MySpleen (where invitations are not available anymore).
  2. When a newbie asks “where can I get them” on this forum, the 2 ou 3 same guys always answer with jokes, or “read the first post” (which is outdated), or don’t answer at all, or forbid access to newbies (you must be a member for 6 months before getting the private links, which is quite justified and understandable, but can give the impression of a closed club).
  3. If you want to learn more about how to get the Despecialized Editions, you have to read 161 pages of private jokes. And do not try to give your opinion or to answer to a post, you’ll receive “get out of here” or “ridiculous” for answer from some people who think that this forum is their playground, even though the vast majority of members are kind and caring.

On the other hand, if you pay on eBay, you receive a beautiful package with a box, inner sleeves and beautifully printed blurays.

I am obviously outraged that people get paid on eBay for the volunteer and free work of other people like Harmy, Poita, Adywan or DrDre. No one should claim $ 100 on eBay for Harmy’s work, it is not fair. And I’m happy to be a (young new) member of this forum, where I can learn a lot of things about SW, and share my passion with people who are, for the most part, extremely sympathetic.

But I understand why many people end up finding eBay easier than this particular forum …

 

You raise some good valid points ZigZig - and I appreciate your efforts in here to try and come up with a solution to these issues.

To try to answer some of your points - and in the interests of clarity for others reading up about this topic…

 

Harmy’s Dspecialised Editions are widely available on both public and private torrent sites - in many differing formats and sizes. That new posters state on here that they searched ‘high and low’ on the public torrent sites and still can’t find them is somewhat baffling. Also baffling are those that say they don’t know how to use torrent sites and then ask to join myspleen…
 

In Harmy’s first post in his Despecialised Edition thread on this site is the linked ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ -
which chronicles how to obtain the DE.

Harmy also has a facebook page - chronicling how to obtain his Despecialised Editions - via ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked on it.

And a twitter page too.

There is also a youtube video out there with ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked in on how to obtain the DE.

I think (though am not certain) that the above video, with ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked in, is available on other similar video sites too.
 

As a kind-of-newbie, I think that this is indeed difficult to access the files. The information about them on this forum is spread over multiple topics and over multiples posts in each topic, and even some headposts contain outdated information. The guide: I followed it today to get ESB, and just failed (I can see files for TLJ, not for ANH or ESB). Public torrent trackers: mmh, there you can find multiple versions, without knowing if they are the “official” ones or altered in any way (for instance I can see a 1080p version of Harmy’s ESB, but as far as I know his version is 720p, isn’t it ?). Private trackers: probably a better source, but you have to be a happy member… Anyway, using torrent trackers if you’re not a geek who knows how to use a VPN or a remote seedboox, can get you into legal troubles in many countries. The truth is, many people don’t have many options apart from buying the stuff on ebay.

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pehache said:

This is an old post now, but anyway…

oojason said:

ZigZig said:

  1. The official sources are/were TehParadox (which is closed) and MySpleen (where invitations are not available anymore).
  2. When a newbie asks “where can I get them” on this forum, the 2 ou 3 same guys always answer with jokes, or “read the first post” (which is outdated), or don’t answer at all, or forbid access to newbies (you must be a member for 6 months before getting the private links, which is quite justified and understandable, but can give the impression of a closed club).
  3. If you want to learn more about how to get the Despecialized Editions, you have to read 161 pages of private jokes. And do not try to give your opinion or to answer to a post, you’ll receive “get out of here” or “ridiculous” for answer from some people who think that this forum is their playground, even though the vast majority of members are kind and caring.

On the other hand, if you pay on eBay, you receive a beautiful package with a box, inner sleeves and beautifully printed blurays.

I am obviously outraged that people get paid on eBay for the volunteer and free work of other people like Harmy, Poita, Adywan or DrDre. No one should claim $ 100 on eBay for Harmy’s work, it is not fair. And I’m happy to be a (young new) member of this forum, where I can learn a lot of things about SW, and share my passion with people who are, for the most part, extremely sympathetic.

But I understand why many people end up finding eBay easier than this particular forum …

 

You raise some good valid points ZigZig - and I appreciate your efforts in here to try and come up with a solution to these issues.

To try to answer some of your points - and in the interests of clarity for others reading up about this topic…

 

Harmy’s Dspecialised Editions are widely available on both public and private torrent sites - in many differing formats and sizes. That new posters state on here that they searched ‘high and low’ on the public torrent sites and still can’t find them is somewhat baffling. Also baffling are those that say they don’t know how to use torrent sites and then ask to join myspleen…
 

In Harmy’s first post in his Despecialised Edition thread on this site is the linked ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ -
which chronicles how to obtain the DE.

Harmy also has a facebook page - chronicling how to obtain his Despecialised Editions - via ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked on it.

And a twitter page too.

There is also a youtube video out there with ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked in on how to obtain the DE.

I think (though am not certain) that the above video, with ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked in, is available on other similar video sites too.
 

As a kind-of-newbie, I think that this is indeed difficult to access the files. The information about them on this forum is spread over multiple topics and over multiples posts in each topic, and even some headposts contain outdated information. The guide: I followed it today to get ESB, and just failed (I can see files for TLJ, not for ANH or ESB). Public torrent trackers: mmh, there you can find multiple versions, without knowing if they are the “official” ones or altered in any way (for instance I can see a 1080p version of Harmy’s ESB, but as far as I know his version is 720p, isn’t it ?). Private trackers: probably a better source, but you have to be a happy member… Anyway, using torrent trackers if you’re not a geek who knows how to use a VPN or a remote seedboox, can get you into legal troubles in many countries. The truth is, many people don’t have many options apart from buying the stuff on ebay.

I don’t think anyone is blaming people who may not know any better who buy them. But the people taking this freely available labor of love thing and making a rather hefty profit off it is pretty despicable.

Harmy has even said he’s trying to figure out a way to make it easier to access. So hopefully that will help things somewhat once he does.

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Darth Lucas said:
I don’t think anyone is blaming people who may not know any better who buy them. But the people taking this freely available labor of love thing and making a rather hefty profit off it is pretty despicable.

I definitely won’t stand up for these guys, I would be ashamed to do what they do. But if I was the devil’s advocate, I would point out that they give access to the GOUT to some people who don’t have other options in practice, and also that take a risk.

This is the usual story of prohibition: it generates a black market that is managed by the bad boys. The first level of prohibition is from GL himself, who retains the GOUT, and the second level is the difficulty to access the versions created by the fans.

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 (Edited)

pehache said:

This is an old post now, but anyway…

oojason said:

ZigZig said:

  1. The official sources are/were TehParadox (which is closed) and MySpleen (where invitations are not available anymore).
  2. When a newbie asks “where can I get them” on this forum, the 2 ou 3 same guys always answer with jokes, or “read the first post” (which is outdated), or don’t answer at all, or forbid access to newbies (you must be a member for 6 months before getting the private links, which is quite justified and understandable, but can give the impression of a closed club).
  3. If you want to learn more about how to get the Despecialized Editions, you have to read 161 pages of private jokes. And do not try to give your opinion or to answer to a post, you’ll receive “get out of here” or “ridiculous” for answer from some people who think that this forum is their playground, even though the vast majority of members are kind and caring.

On the other hand, if you pay on eBay, you receive a beautiful package with a box, inner sleeves and beautifully printed blurays.

I am obviously outraged that people get paid on eBay for the volunteer and free work of other people like Harmy, Poita, Adywan or DrDre. No one should claim $ 100 on eBay for Harmy’s work, it is not fair. And I’m happy to be a (young new) member of this forum, where I can learn a lot of things about SW, and share my passion with people who are, for the most part, extremely sympathetic.

But I understand why many people end up finding eBay easier than this particular forum …

 

You raise some good valid points ZigZig - and I appreciate your efforts in here to try and come up with a solution to these issues.

To try to answer some of your points - and in the interests of clarity for others reading up about this topic…

 

Harmy’s Dspecialised Editions are widely available on both public and private torrent sites - in many differing formats and sizes. That new posters state on here that they searched ‘high and low’ on the public torrent sites and still can’t find them is somewhat baffling. Also baffling are those that say they don’t know how to use torrent sites and then ask to join myspleen…
 

In Harmy’s first post in his Despecialised Edition thread on this site is the linked ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ -
which chronicles how to obtain the DE.

Harmy also has a facebook page - chronicling how to obtain his Despecialised Editions - via ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked on it.

And a twitter page too.

There is also a youtube video out there with ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked in on how to obtain the DE.

I think (though am not certain) that the above video, with ‘The Ultimate Introductory Guide’ linked in, is available on other similar video sites too.
 

As a kind-of-newbie, I think that this is indeed difficult to access the files. The information about them on this forum is spread over multiple topics and over multiples posts in each topic, and even some headposts contain outdated information. The guide: I followed it today to get ESB, and just failed (I can see files for TLJ, not for ANH or ESB). Public torrent trackers: mmh, there you can find multiple versions, without knowing if they are the “official” ones or altered in any way (for instance I can see a 1080p version of Harmy’s ESB, but as far as I know his version is 720p, isn’t it ?). Private trackers: probably a better source, but you have to be a happy member… Anyway, using torrent trackers if you’re not a geek who knows how to use a VPN or a remote seedboox, can get you into legal troubles in many countries. The truth is, many people don’t have many options apart from buying the stuff on ebay.

Yes mate, it is bit of an old post. The ‘Why isn’t it easier to acquire Harmy’s Despecialized Editions?’ post from the ‘How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - some info & answers to members’ queries thread, may be more useful?
 

Have you informed HanDuet there is an issue with for acquiring ESB? (When I receive PMs asking for help from members I’m surprised so few have actually contacted HanDuet to give him a heads-up that something has gone wrong and requires fixing or addressing).

In Section 10 of HanDuet’s superb guide:-

'If you find any errors, have feedback, or can think of ideas for improving this guide, please leave a comment on my Facebook page. I will also post on that page when a new version of this guide is published, so please “like” the page if you’d be informed of future updates:

https://www.facebook.com/HanDuet.SWDE/
 

Or that the person PMing for assistance hasn’t previously made a post asking in the relevant thread - or even read through the relevant threads - to see if the issue they are having has already been addressed.

 

pehache said:

Darth Lucas said:
I don’t think anyone is blaming people who may not know any better who buy them. But the people taking this freely available labor of love thing and making a rather hefty profit off it is pretty despicable.

I definitely won’t stand up for these guys, I would be ashamed to do what they do. But if I was the devil’s advocate, I would point out that they give access to the GOUT to some people who don’t have other options in practice, and also that take a risk.

This is the usual story of prohibition: it generates a black market that is managed by the bad boys. The first level of prohibition is from GL himself, who retains the GOUT, and the second level is the difficulty to access the versions created by the fans.

As Darth Lucas stated above, Harmy is looking at ways to make them easier to access…
 

Just a couple of things to remember for those thinking of buying the Despeicalized Editions (or other Preservations and Fan Edits) from ebay or other scammers and sites…

‘I have found some online sites and listing selling fan projects from on here…’
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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oojason said:
Yes mate, it is bit of an old post. The ‘Why isn’t it easier to acquire Harmy’s Despecialized Editions?’ post from the ‘How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - some info & answers to members’ queries thread, may be more useful?
 

Well, that’s not really the point, I fully understand the reasons why the files are not easily accessible.

My point is: the black market is generated by the difficulty to access the files (and somehow it can be an endless fight)

oojason said:
Have you informed HanDuet there is an issue with for acquiring ESB? (When I receive PMs asking for help from members I’m surprised so few have actually contacted HanDuet to give him a heads-up that something has gone wrong and requires fixing or addressing).

In Section 10 of HanDuet’s superb guide:-

'If you find any errors, have feedback, or can think of ideas for improving this guide, please leave a comment on my Facebook page. I will also post on that page when a new version of this guide is published, so please “like” the page if you’d be informed of future updates:

https://www.facebook.com/HanDuet.SWDE/

Again, not really my point. I know I will eventually find the files (actually it’s already the case). I am just wondering what can think a newcomer who is told “RTFM”, who does, and who nevertheless fails accessing the files…

Or that the person PMing for assistance hasn’t previously made a post asking in the relevant thread - or even read through the relevant threads - to see if the issue they are having has already been addressed.

There are tons of threads and posts here, with 2 consequences :

  1. the newcomer can easily be lost without knowing where to start searching. I’m not a pure newcomer here, but still I often feel lost in the forum.
  2. the newcomer can even think that the answer to his problem is indeed already somewhere in the threads, and won’t dare asking again

You probably knows where is every bit of the content of this forum, because you have been here for years.

And anyway, not everybody can read/write english easily…

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pehache said:

oojason said:
Yes mate, it is bit of an old post. The ‘Why isn’t it easier to acquire Harmy’s Despecialized Editions?’ post from the ‘How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - some info & answers to members’ queries thread, may be more useful?
 

Well, that’s not really the point, I fully understand the reasons why the files are not easily accessible.

My point is: the black market is generated by the difficulty to access the files (and somehow it can be an endless fight)

The black market would exist regardless even if there was a Despecialized website with a simple ‘download here’ link on it.

The black market existed before Despecialized for other projects, also exists for other easier-to-get projects, and will exist for future projects to come.

It’s unfortunate, nobody here likes it, yet that’s the way it has always been. From con hall stalls & dodgy video shops year ago, to modern dodgy websites selling projects, to ebay and other sites… and you’ll also find many of these scammers also sell other projects too.

oojason said:
Have you informed HanDuet there is an issue with for acquiring ESB? (When I receive PMs asking for help from members I’m surprised so few have actually contacted HanDuet to give him a heads-up that something has gone wrong and requires fixing or addressing).

In Section 10 of HanDuet’s superb guide:-

'If you find any errors, have feedback, or can think of ideas for improving this guide, please leave a comment on my Facebook page. I will also post on that page when a new version of this guide is published, so please “like” the page if you’d be informed of future updates:

https://www.facebook.com/HanDuet.SWDE/

Again, not really my point. I know I will eventually find the files (actually it’s already the case). I am just wondering what can think a newcomer who is told “RTFM”, who does, and who nevertheless fails accessing the files…

I think it is the point - if there is an error with the Guide, or the Guide isn’t functioning as it should, then it’s best to let HanDuet know of it, for him to try and fix and address, yes? As it says in the Guide itself. And also so others don’t have the same frustrations and issues too.

Or that the person PMing for assistance hasn’t previously made a post asking in the relevant thread - or even read through the relevant threads - to see if the issue they are having has already been addressed.

There are tons of threads and posts here, with 2 consequences :

  1. the newcomer can easily be lost without knowing where to start searching. I’m not a pure newcomer here, but still I often feel lost in the forum.
  2. the newcomer can even think that the answer to his problem is indeed already somewhere in the threads, and won’t dare asking again

You probably knows where is every bit of the content of this forum, because you have been here for years.

And anyway, not everybody can read/write english easily…

You’re right - there are many, many threads on the Despecialized Editions within this site (along with other project and topic of conversation too).

Which is why there are there are Index Threads pinned at the top of most sections of the site listing the more relevant threads for projects and/or conversation of interest etc - including a section for the Despecialized Editions in the Index Thread of the Star Wars Preservation section - to help members find relevant information.

In the ‘General Assistance’ section, there is an easy to find thread with useful information on the Depecialized Edits too, titled 'Some info & help for Harmy’s Despecialized Editions of the Original Trilogy….

Also, in the ‘Help’ section pinned at the top of the site, there is also information on how/where to find the more relevant threads for the Despecialized Editions.
 

A little patience, some thought, and willingness to find and follow the guide (or Solkap’s guide - and others too) has resulted in thousands of people obtaining the Despecialized Editions over the years. Many of whom don’t speak English, or possess IT skills, or fancy/expensive equipment etc.

And for people who did struggle to acquire them… HanDuet, Harmy, Solkap, .Val, NJVC, and many, many others of the community here have kindly and generously helped people out over the years to acquire them, answer questions, come up with solutions or alternatives etc.

It isn’t a perfect system - but it’s the best we can do, and has worked for many people, over many years.

As once Jay said (I think), we could put a pinned thread with ‘Despecialized Editions - Info In Here’ on every part of this site - and we’d still get people making new threads asking where the Despecialized Editions are, how to get them, why isn’t it easier to get them, etc.
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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screams in the void said:

so this douche freely admits he bought Harmy’s edits and then has the balls to post a link to this site…wow…just…wow…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaKodxJud-Q

Yeah I see what you mean but something tells me he didn’t really know that it wasn’t okay to buy these. He thinks that since he has the blu Ray cuts, than it’s okay to buy them. I’m sure if he found out that it wasn’t okay, he’d probably apologize. He seems like a genuine fan

(Previously Pickle2503)

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^ Going on that video I think he did know it was not okay to buy them mate…

The guy somehow glossed over and omitted the part of ‘Fan Edits must never be bought or sold’ on his video (around 7 mins in) - despite talking about what was on screen in detail before that particular line of text.

He also linked to the site - so he is very much aware that fan edits and preservations etc must never be bought and sold - and also likely aware that Harmy even made a video on the very subject, here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrwKZHv4OS0
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

Author
Time

oojason said:

^ Going on that video I think he did know it was not okay to buy them mate…

The guy somehow glossed over and omitted the part of ‘Fan Edits must never be bought or sold’ on his video (around 7 mins in) - despite talking about what was on screen in detail before that particular line of text.

He also linked to the site - so he is very much aware that fan edits and preservations etc must never be bought and sold - and also likely aware that Harmy even made a video on the very subject, here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrwKZHv4OS0
 

Yeah you’re probably right, maybe I just want to see the good in Star Wars fans all the time haha

(Previously Pickle2503)

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 (Edited)

I guess stores that buy and sell used discs need to scrutinize what people bring in more carefully. The lack of a UPC price code on the back cover ought to have been a red flag, even if they are unfamiliar with fan edits.

Carrying bootleg product used to be a big deal with the feds. A local video store here back in the 80’s got in a bit of hot water because they had a bootleg tape of Rocky Horror for rent. Whether they knew it was a bootleg I have no idea. I read about another one somewhere that got shut down because they bootlegged their own legit product to have more copies to rent of popular titles.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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Time
 (Edited)

For a good while there seemed to be little-to-no listings up on ebay featuring the various projects freely available on here and on similar other sites…

Yet it seems they’re back and doing brisk business - though may have grown a little slack given their addresses are on the ebay listings.

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

Author
Time

Reported them. Hopefully we can nip this in the bud before it grows out of control like before.