To Share Or Not To Share...

That really is a big question that has been weighing on my mind for years and some recent events have bought it to the forefront. I'm not talking about freebies and such but more so ideas, strategies, tips and tricks. Now being a teacher myself, I think I come to it from a different perspective - it's more natural I guess to share. But in a community, is there an implied obligation of sharing regardless of what is asked? Is the betterment of the community more important than the benefit of the individual? Do individuals not have the right to hold on to their secrets that they've worked hard to develop without being frowned upon?

Anima's Production Diary. Gabe is generously offering some of his strategies on how he creates his awesome sets. In doing so, he gives up some of himself, some of what makes his films 'his' for the betterment of the community. Now in the grand scheme of things for him, these may not be valuable, 'keep it close to the vest' secrets. But what if we were talking about his clothing designs? Now that is something that I'm sure everyone is impressed by and definitely would like a blow-by-blow to know how to replicate. He may choose to share or not. But with something like that, for me, I'm thinking it wouldn't be fair to ask to put him in the position where he might strongly want to say no but feel community 'obligatory' pressure to say yes. And I'm only speaking for myself. Maybe it's because I try to put myself in their shoes and try to empathize the gravity of what I'm asking against what I would like to know. How important is what I want to know, to that person?

I've seen a few posts on YT for instance, not necessarily just for machinima, where a viewer was impressed by something in a video and asks the innoncent question "How did you do that?" Now that 'something' may have been a complex procedure, perfected over weeks or months - that person's pride and joy. They would prefer to not just give it away on a whim - it's a part of themselves that is for them, not the community. So they politely decline to share that information and then the asker posts an irritated reply or nags them again for an answer. And that's what upsets me - when people don't respect the right of a person to refuse. Does anyone have the right to begrudge them that?

I'm not saying not to ask - that's just my personal hangup (which I know I should work on). I would just feel bad imposing on someone and possibly putting them in an uncomfortable position. I'd rather research and struggle to figure it out myself until I truly feel I can't get any further without asking.

But what I am saying is that sharing should be voluntary, not obligatory and people need to respect that. We should all do our part to help the community rise as a whole, yes, but not at someone's expense through pressured compliance.