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Ah, this is much more complicated then. I was under the impression that lowlife modders were changing the grass or something and re-distributing this under their own name, with no credit to the original authors whatsoever.
That's clearly not the case. John (and mantasisg, who I've just learned is part of this mess from this post) are shutting down attempts by seemingly non-nefarious community members to update their aging mods.
I can't imagine being approached with a reasonable update for a long-dead project and saying "absolutely not, get bent", especially since it looks like the updates would have been done for free - but this seems to be what's happening here. Not to mention mantasisg's imploring of those in the conversation to switch to RF2 (advanced physics, blah blah blah, never mind the myriad issues), only for that to backfire not long after.
Qualifier: of course, if the update flat-out sucks, is a stupid idea, goes against the original vision of the track (what if Mosport had a loop-de-loop on the back straight!!?!!??) or they stand to make money off it, I completely agree with a vociferous rejection.
Ultimately, it's the creator's wishes, and it's the right thing to respect their "no" - even if that answer is certainly isolationist, and holds back further evolutions of the track. Though it absolutely stuns me that they were completely blind to this eventuality on an open, constantly evolving modding platform. Very short-sighted - of course this was going to happen, and will happen again if AC2 is a similar platform.
I suppose my position, then, is to roll your eyes, shake your head, respect their wishes, and start a new LiDAR/Laser Scan Goodwood/Mosport/Road America yourself. It's been done before, it can be done again. It sucks that all that work goes to waste, as it would save a tremendous amount of time, but it's their work, and their choice. Sort of a "Christ, that sucks, but that's the way life is in a just world" opinion. Make a better one yourself, don't steal assets, and with yourself in charge, be open to suggestions/edits/updates from the community - whether you are doing it yourself, or it's years down the road and other community modders do it on their own time. Perhaps this will be me someday, as after making a few AI Lines (more to come than just Washington, btw) I've now begun to futz around with the editor myself.
I hope that the tracks are hosted anonymously in the future, as I can't agree with pulling these tracks wholesale from public consumption because of spats with non-nefarious modders who wish to better your work. At least these guys are not Take Two or another megacorp, as if there was DRM on these tracks, they would be gone forever, for everyone. Lol.
My last two cents on this topic.
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