Let me preface this with two statements, before I get onto my main point.
1.) I'm a n00b, been here less than a month
2.) I don't sell or resell anything, free or otherwise.
In My opinion there are 2 different mind sets here
1.) Newbies - are selling, anything they can, to make a linden. It's easy to do. While it will take months for them to learn to script anything usefull or to find how to etablish their own creations, selling is quick and easy. It is selling boot legs in sense, but this isn't the real world, so it's not crime, and they don't feel it's wrong.
2.) Oldies - are insulted that what they have payed their dues to earn/learn and possibly in their eyes are scoffed at by, in their oppinion, lazy leechers who haven't payed their dues that are profiting from copying their work. Oldies feel it's wrong to profit from what was meant to be given freely.
This, to me at least, closely resembles the music industry and File-sharing . Music industry and artists want complete controll over their works. Consumers just want the product and Bootlegers just profit from trafficing in it. Pirating music and movies online is easy to do, and no one who does it loses sleep over it. The record and music companies who make more money now than ever cry they are losing millions, but people who like what the download often go out and buy the actual product anyways. The product does get into the hands of some people who wouldn't have it otherwise, but it does actually drive sales as new people are exposed to it. Incidently artists like Eminem who have embraced thrive, and artists like Metallica who cry foul to anyone who listen have fallen out of favor with their fanbase. While this doesn't directly parrallel the situation in Second life I do believe it has simila reprecutions. Wether they payed 0$ or 10$, the amount is immaterial, they have your product. They have it and your genius is reflected in the fact that your profile is slapped onto everything you made, both parties should be happy. Wether or not they payed too much for something is entirely their responsibility.
Some of us are old enough to remember when Cabbage Patch Kids or Power Rangers were all the rage. People sold them for whatever they could get for them, quite often at 300% markup. If you bought it from them, you payed for the convenience of getting something you wanted then, without hunting it down elsewhere.
The online community in general thinks NOTHING of copying data. Music, Movies, Games, and books are traded daily online. The creations and money in this game are merely data.
Trading creations/data for money/data is something is just an extension of this behavior.
While you or I may not condone it, it's part of the current internet culture as a whole.
While I sympathise with the artists/creators of SL items anything you have to "let go" of aything you create and then release into the wilds. In this thread I have heard people complain about the "false sense of entitlement" Greedy n00bs have, while that may in fact be partially responsible, it may also be a "false sense of entitlement" the creators have that is the more prevalent problem. You can not control the destiny of something once it leaves your control. There are going to be those who are less skilled than you that may profit from a copy of your work. Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If everyone could create any item they wanted there wouldn't be a need for any items. If eveyone was self sufficient the economy would collapse.
This is not the real world this is a game world. I think some people have imprinted real world values into his enjoyment and gameplay. While I myslef have moral and social considerations while I play, I don't have the absurd belief that others should conform to my standards of play.
Second Life is thepretty much the "come here and do whatever you want game." Some talented people come here to build and create things, while others want to come here and make a buck, wether it be real or linden. There is no right or wrong way to play this game outside of the guidelines you cook up in your own head.
True Ingame Story: I bought a hoverboard for $50 Linden. I like my hoverboard. Two days later I got the same hoverboard out of a freebies box that some generous citizens had put together. While I wish I still had my 50 lindens, the concept that either Creator of the item or the person who sold me one where somehow responsible for their loss never entered my mind. I bought the first hoverboard I saw. I thought $50 Linden was a reasonable price. I thought about shopping around and decided, due to impatience, against it. I am responsible for my actions. I bear no malice to tho who sold it to me. I'll even still buy from the same vendor if I think the price is right. However, I learned my lesson about shopping around first.
"Let the Buyer Beware"