If the Star Wars films were not released in any form then I would agree with the idea of fan preservations hurting the chances of a release, but the Despecialized Editions (amongst others) actually take sales, however minimal that number may be, away from the official releases of the Special Editions and especially any future release that does not include the OUT. I don’t think that sites such as this would do anything but prove the demand for the OT. Most people, or at least all that I’ve seen, have not claimed that they will not buy a release of the OUT because of Harmy’s work. They think of it as a way to watch the Star Wars Trilogy until an official blu ray is released. I would imagine they’d use a legitimate release of the OUT as a diplomatic way of shutting down popular fan projects.
I view it the same way. I dont watch Harmys or anyone elses projects here with the intent of it being so i dont have to own the official release, past or present. Its until we are given the official release we all desire so much. Now obviously many fan projects come from the minds of the creators and thus will never have an official, but i’ll just keep this topic to preservation. And as i said id like to think that growing attraction this site gives people and as you said people turning to fan edits rather than the official release will result in an official OUT release in the future.