No offense intended, but I think some people are interpreting this change and the reasons behind it the wrong way.

I believe this isn't about 'punishing' people, its about informing them. From the copyright issues that I've read about posted here in the forums, it seemed like many of them were due to ignorance... not outright law breaking.

There are quite a few very generous people who offer hosting for freestuff items, such as Poserosity and Big-I. I'm hoping to offer hosting services myself, once I have my server set up completely. With all of the places out there, I think its extremely helpful to have a database that directs people to the freebies they're interested in, whether or not they're hosted directly. I don't see this new process ruining the R'osity Freestuff section in the least, because it is not causing any damage to members (just a minor inconvenience perhaps), and its helping to prevent problems that can cost people thousands of dollars in lost sales.

I'm not a merchant yet myself, but I know I would be very upset if I found that my products were being freely distributed when I had put a lot of time and effort into making them. Consider putting yourself in the merchants' position before pointing fingers and placing the blame.

-Molly