What a sad surprise to start the day.I am so sorry to see so many of our wonderful resource sites falling by the wayside. The latest in a string of casualties, today's note on Ronknight's and Cal's, due to the greed of the so-called "servers" who basically just serve themselves. There are always the predators around who feed on the small prey. They just want to get in and get rich, no matter whom they hurt or damage.

Yep, that's the liberal economics, I guess. You don't survive in the Jungle if you don't eat someone everyday. Artists that don't sell or make money out of commercials on their site will have a harder and harder time in the future... Compiler

Actually there are still good free hosts around. The one I like most right now is Lycos/Tripod's scandinavian sites in Sweden and Denmark. They give you 50Mb free and UNLIMITED bandwidth. And with only a small banner at the top, even a banner that collapses and dissapears after a few seconds. Those sites are not limited to scandinavians, but of course it makes navigation easier if you can actually understand what it says on the various login pages ;o) Adresses are: http://www.tripod.spray.se (swedish) and http://www.tripod.jubii.dk/ (danish) It wouldn't surprice me if this service was available in other languages as well. Tripod.com has ok space but limited bandwidth though. Unfortunately Babelfish does not translate from danish or swedish :o( but I guess SOME could use this anyway?

I had to be on the other side of this, but the people who provide space on servers need to make a living too (they usually have to eat, families to provide for, etc). I have no use for bandwith thieves, warez dealers, hackers, spammers, and the like who have caused a lot of sites to close. Let's not pretend that everything is free on the Internet. More and more, as the economy goes in the dumper, we're going to see increased charges for what we used to assume were free services. It is too bad that the artists with less funds couldn't combine their limited resources to be able to afford additional server space and more reliable file storage. But don't blame it all on the providers who can increasingly not afford to give away what is costing them money to maintain. There's always two sides...it isn't always "us" against "them." Artists will continue to need business acumen to survive in these lean and mean times. Wish they could focus on the creative side of things exclusively, but I just don't see that happening unless the economy makes a sharp, upward turn.

Ooops...I'm speaking in reference to U.S. resources only, of course. I happen to be living in the middle of a statewide budget crunch so economics and the cost of living is weighing heavily on my mind.

Bring it back to the other side of the perspective. How many newbies can afford to pay someone for "professional quality" tutorials to help them learn a complex program like Poser, especially if the newbies aren't sure if or when they'd ever be able to earn money with their talents. Let's also look at web site hosts who want customers who will rarely use their web sites, because they make more profit than they would on a high-traffic web site. For that matter, how many of the "pay" Poser sites really make a profit? Or do they just limp along, hoping to at least pay for the bandwidth, and a few characters to help them make their goodies?

It's not just a matter of "tough times". In any kind of times, there ain't no free lunch. A resource that can be claimed by anybody with no cost, will ALWAYS be monopolized by thieves. The only way to make bandwidth (or paper, or oil, or farmland, etc.....) available to those who will use it constructively is to impose some kind of limits or rules. The internet has now reached the point where such rules are clearly needed. There are two basic ways to impose such rules: 1. The totalitarian way, which gives the stuff to the "right" people. (Royalist version: people of noble blood. Fascist version: people of the right race. Socialist version: people of the right political orthodoxy.) 2. The capitalist way, which sets prices based on supply and demand. In this setup, you don't have to be the "right kind"; you just have to pony up some money. Those who want the free condition to continue without any money changing hands are inevitably, whether they mean it or not, encouraging the totalitarian way. There just isn't a third alternative. The amount of money involved is -remarkably- small, considering what you get. Is there any other way to reach a world full of people with similar interests? Can you monopolize one channel of satellite TV, 24 hours a day, for $2.00 per month? No, that would cost $200 million per month.

"In this setup, you don't have to be the "right kind" Of course, you have to be the right kind. The right kind here is just those who have the money. All these societies you describe are basically the same : there is one ruling class based on whatever conditions you mentioned above (or others, like being of the right religion for instance), most of it maintains itself by exploiting those who are not from this class, a few fall in the low levels, a few climb the social ladder. Capitalism is no better than the others (of course, it doesn't build Goulags and concentration camps, but people protecting their copyrights and who "just wanted to make a living" let millions of human beings die of AIDS in Africa wheras they could have been saved). Ah well, this is off topic. Just couldn't restrain myself, this was so... Oh, well, never mind. Just to tell that I have a provider who lets me have access to 100 Mb free, no bandwidth limit. It's based in France, and you have to be a member to get this room, but I can host some files for people needing room. I agree with Dyalin : it would be great if artists could form a sort of organisation to defend their interest, to share ressoureces, to make their voices heard, or may be to get better at making money. Because, in the end, ockham is completely right : "there ain't no free lunch"... Compiler PS : no personal attack there, ockham. I just disagree with the particular point you raised, but I respect your POV and I don't claim to be "right", just to voice what I feel.

LOL- compiler- wow- go sick em boy :) kick ass and take names :)

Sorry geoegress, my english is not good enough to understand what you mean here. It sounds like you think I've crossed a line ? OK sorry for that then. I'll run for cover ...

Compiler, geoegress was actually praising you for having the courage to voice your opinion.

yup :)

(poking his head out) : oh ? (brushing the dust from his clothes) Well... Thank you geoegress then. ;-) Compiler