Try it:
Canon
Nikon
There. That wasn't so hard, was it? The list is still here. Pentax hasn't suddenly gone bankrupt. No one's had a heart attack (have they? <g>).
All sarcasm aside, using asterisks between the first and last letters, or whatever, seems really silly and almost juvenile to me. We all know what you're referring to. It doesn't change the content of your posts to not spell them out fully.
We don't do it for Minolta, Leica, or any other brand. Why The Big Two? Do we fear them? Is it out of some sort of respect? Are they seen as God-like - you know, like those religions who can't actually use the word "God", but refer to him/her/it in the 3rd person: "He Who is All-Seeing"?
I'm a former offender, I must admit. When I first joined the list, I thought it was kind of cute. Then, the more I thought about it, it seemed that if Pentax is a player in the game, whether big or not, showing such deference to these guys doesn't make sense.
I guess people can do what they want. I'm just in a curmudgeonly mood this morning. BTW, I said several weeks ago that maybe Shel was the Official List Curmudgeon. I've changed my mind. Now I think it's Graywolf. And, BTW, for me, curmudgeons are loveable (whatever the dictionary definitions mght say). Sort of like Andy Rooney. You can't hate the guy...
cheers, frank
"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
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