Who, beside you and cargame (who is clearly trolling), is saying they are not happy? Get off your high horse and quit making a big deal out of nothing.
Personally, you have it backwards. New physics mean new setups, people who then build those setups want to hold them (at least on the league side). Most will share, the same it has always been, but when something new comes out everyone swarms on it and hides what they have. It's always been that way, on any sim.
In the end, whether it be skins or setups, both shouldn't be open for others to use. They both include a team or an individual's hard work, and if they choose to keep it private, then we should respect that.
I'd take what we have over the open policy that is being suggested. Obviously I'd like for some change in encryption or something to prevent hackers for however long until they produce something again. Reading Scawen's comments it shows that is probably not going to happen, or won't at least give us any benefit. Therefore, people suddenly want everyone's setup folders to be open to all. I don't see how anyone sees that as a solution.
For the Setupfield bit, I always enjoyed loading it up back in 06/07, grabbing setups and hoping they work for me. I remember being in the TBO servers and if track changed I'd hop on there and try to find the most competitive one for the next track. While I could download the hotlap sets and get within a half a second or so of WRs, it still wouldn't be enough. It was rare someone would post their WR setup, more likely they posted a setup that was actually really good and just suited someone else better.
See, this is where we will differ. This discussion was already on the iRacing forum and the same type of people emerged (not putting you in this group). Personally, I've seen plenty of people willing to share setups who do leagues, but they don't send exactly what they race. Instead they send something that is a bit more of a base setup. Something that the individual can adjust to their preference. I don't see the issue with that. Should we expect people to willingly share their skins as well? I hope not.
But to me the ego comes from people who believe they will be much better with others' setups, or that everyone having their setup still won't allow for others to beat that individual. Both types of people have been in this thread.
I'm using "arcade" to describe how some people want individual's setups to be public. Whether we have a choice or not, that is something I'd expect from an arcade or simcade game. If it is a racing simulator, then you should be simulated real racing, where the access to everyone's setups aren't exactly possible.
Setupfield doesn't affect hotlapping or league racing in the slightest, unless someone was posting their WR setups. Some of the setups could be competitive, but those people posted their setups on their own, which isn't an issue anyone has.
Some people get fun from the increase in competition, some don't.
If you want equal opportunities, then ask for fixed setup server ability. Mandatory setup sharing wouldn't give equal opportunities at all, just irritate people who actually put in time to build setups for their team in order to race in leagues.
If people want their ego-fix, they can join a public server that has a fixed setup. They can race with others with "equal opportunities". You know, the people that have the same PC and rig as you, the same wheel rotation, the same h-shifter and clutch use, and obviously car setup.
I believe cargame was using the term "competition" to describe the league environment. For public racing, sure be as arcade as you want with it and be able to freely share setups. But that same mentality should not be in league racing, or in hotlap mode, where the term competition means a bit more.