[John Vasco]

I presume the 'BIG Black Hole' you talk about is all the photos that are won on e-bay and you expect will never see the light of day again. As has been stated before, tough - that's life. Some people gather photos and do nothing at all with them. That's a shame, but we all have to live with it.

Also, it's not a monopolistic situation - sudek (I presume that's who you are referring to) does not win every auction. In fact sudek does not bid on every auction. There are very many photos that are won by other people - christal109 for example. And sudek didn't win the photo of 3U+AA on e-bay recently. That went for big money, but sudek was outbid. But hey, I just have this feeling you'll see it again, if you buy books, that is...

I'm not playing Mr. Nice Guy, I'm just telling it like it is. Just make your own arrangements to contact sudek. That's what many others have done, isn't it?

Don't quite know what you mean with this phrase, perhaps you could clarify for me: "...Of course, I understand if one can take easily advantage of a monopolistic situation..."

And this one as well: "...one is not very much tempted to share openly the available ressources..." I get the impression you do not know the amount of 'networking' that goes on between researchers and authors. But I may be wrong.

I look forward with interest to your further reply.