Why am I so pissed off about this Goldman thing? Because this man has taken the work that someone put their time and effort into, traced it, and sold it at profit without acknowledging the original source. Then, when he's confronted with accusations of thievery, he laughs it off, may or may not call one of the people he stole from a pedophile (there's a discussion of the headers that concludes that at the very least someone with access to the David and Goliath smtp email servers sent it- Goldman is sure one classy dude) and trots out lawyers to try and shut down sites that document his doings. No guilt, no shame, and aside from one offhand bone thrown to Shmorky to try and shut him up, no apology or real explanation.
I do my own work. And whatever it is that I do, be it draw, paint, sculpt, or write, I do it to the very best of my ability. I may never be published, I don't seek out gallery space, and I won't ever be in a book on fine art (or even crap art). But that's not the point. I put everything I've got into my own work. For whatever their reasons, other artists do the same thing. If they're in it for love, for obsession, for money, for fame, or to deal with a part of themselves, it doesn't matter- it's their work, it's their sweat and heart on the page, canvas, pedestal, webpage, whatever. The idea that someone is out there stealing that same hard work that others have done, tracing it, then selling it while claiming it as his own, and trying to cover it up with threats- that makes him a parasite, living off the blood of others, and it makes me insanely angry.