Bare with me ...
I've lost two friends swept away in a mudslide Tuesday. Gone!!!, people I've known for over 20 years. Good people who have left husbands, children, friends and relatives grieving. A beautiful place (Montecito, CA) up to 3, 4, and 8 feet of mud and boulders the size of cars. A month of wildfires followed by two days of heavy rain and my home of 35 years looks like a war zone. But we are amongst the one percent, you know, the rich, so not a tremendous amount of sympathy. Compassion from great folks yes, sympathy from the masses, not so much. All you have to do is read some of the comment sections in the news and you'll witness true a-holes at their finest. But people died here, a lot of people died and a lot more are missing. You state that "it will never happen to you, it's always the other guy", well we're the other guy this time. It's tragic and sad beyond anything that I could type here. One reason I'm actually typing here and not trying to help dig out humans from mud is because most of us who tried to volunteer to help were turned away. Can't blame the folks doing the heavy lifting (rescue people), they don't want to have to rescue us as well. It's a sh*t show at the most extreme here. I've opened up my house to anyone who needs help.
So what is this CRAP business you ask? Well I'll tell you.
Several years ago I started to collect old photos off the internet because it was a hobby I enjoyed along with the history regarding the photos. I love the old airplanes. I saved thousands of photos of everything airplane wise you could imagine. Right click and save stuff. Then I started to educate myself as to what was legal, legit and honorable about the right click save thing. I started to notice that the big bad www was nothing more than the wild, wild west. Everything seemed ripe for the click and save and not only that but there were/are copies of copies of copies of just about every photo I saved with extreme difficulties of properly tracking down the REAL copyright or asking the proper source for permission to copy, save and re-post on a forum such as this one.
To be perfectly clear. This was/is a hobby ONLY and one of my personal ways to help not lose this history and remember the vets. No more, no less. I've never, ever looked, nor do I ever want pats on the back for anything I have ever done on this site, another modeling site and for the vets. Have I done a lot for the vets, you bet I have but no one, and I mean NO ONE, owes me anything. I do what I do because I choose to do it and I'm grateful and honored to do it.
Like I stated I have been collecting these old photos for years now and it has become a form of therapy for me as well. I've actually moved up from the right click and saving business to purchasing photos, photo albums and having vets and their families contact me to see if I have an interest in purchasing or simply taking possession of their vets photos. These folks simply do not want the fire to go out as much as I do. I'm convinced I have perhaps one of the rarest and largest collections of old aircraft photos out there. I don't sell photos or ask for permission fees and every inch of my over 1,800,000 photos are free for anyone to use as long as it's for something respectful and honorable. I take NO CREDIT for any of them and I give credit when and where possible. I don't have all the answers and I'm sure I have many photos that belong to others that I simple have no clue belong to them. I've always stated clearly that if someone is offended by a photo I post that belongs to them, simply CONTACT ME ANYTIME, no discussion, no questioning, just tell me to get rid of the photo in question and IT"S GONE ...
So what am I rambling about?
I've made it quite clear over the years what my intentions have always been with these old photos as I stated a bit above. What's certain? I have always had, and have nothing but GOOD INTENTIONS ONLY, but one thing I will never put up with is being bad mouthed, insulted, called a thief, or whatever else some smart*ss comes up with that's untrue. I know how these forums work and I've educated myself how to handle garbage from Trolls and, for the most part, how easy it is to get pissed over some idiots keyboard nonsense.
CRAP which means "Central Repository for Aviation Photos" was a flickr site that had nothing but great intentions of a one-stop location for thousands upon thousands of photos collected either by harvesting long ago or by my purchases of recent. This flickr site was designed and organized into folders of all types of great categories and was free to be used as a source for everyone who had an interest in these old photos. The modelers loved it, the warbird restorers loved it, the historians loved it, the vets and their kin loved it and the common folk such as myself loved it. I receive countless requests either here via PM's or by emails from folks all over the world asking for assistance and I do my best to try to help with a very large disclaimer that I'm no expert in any way, but I'm always glad to try to help.
These internet forums are wonderful and garbage at the same time. Great folks usually outnumber the a-holes, but unfortunately for me it only takes a couple to ruin it. I'm not going anywhere as I've tried that several times only to be asked (more like convinced) to stick around for the good of the vets and those who know how to appreciate the efforts.
I've deleted the CRAP flickr database because I've had it with trying to hold together an honorable and respectful resource and try to defend or explain how I collected old photos that belonged to someone else that I had no idea belonged to them. I respect those who have come to me over the years to state I had photos of theirs by either PM or contacting me via email and nine out of nine times the true owner of the photo(s) were very happy for me to keep them. It's the idiots that feel the need to publicly attempt to chastise me on some plastic modeling forum or even this site a few times that I have zero tolerance for. Be a man, act like a man and contact me in person is all I ever asked and you will be treated with respect and honor. But unfortunately this is impossible for some people so it's simply not worth my time to host anything publicly any longer.
So what does this mean for those of you who really enjoyed CRAP? Sorry but unfortunately CRAP is gone. Contact me privately if you have a specific inquiry and I'll always be happy to help in any way I can. For those of you who feel the need to whine? If you can't find, or unwilling, to reach me personally and your only method is to publicly criticize my efforts on an internet forum, I say produce your proof, back up your claims and find yourself a good lawyer because my lawyers are much more expensive than yours ha!
One last thing.
Lynn Ritger is a long time member of this website and several others. He's easily one of the best contributors, one of the most knowledgeable historically, one of the most generous and fair guys I have ever had the pleasure to call a friend. Lynn took over CRAP from me a while back and helped build it to the level it was. I feel bad for Lynn more so than anyone. He's a good man and a class act and these internet forums are in good shape with guys like Lynn posting on them.
To those who are butt hurt over what CRAP became and couldn't find a way to simply appreciate it for what it was. CRAP is gone and your welcome. Just don't forget to shove your alleged photos you claim to own where your CRAP don't shine.
Now to get back to more important things ...
Bless all those who we lost in our area and prayers to those who are still missing.
_________________ [Thread title is ridiculous btw]
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