I have a tiny suggestion... but first... I admire how you (Sharen & Mike) have been able to give so generously of your high quality models. I'm not a Poser artist at all, so I've never been able to benefit from any freestuff items here. I don't think that you should ever stop giving away some of your models as freebies. That is part of who you guys are as individuals, and it's not quite right to repress that part of your nature. (I still remember how you helped me with my earliest conversion problems from about 2 years ago). However, I do understand how you feel about "killing" the livelihood of other artists. When I first released some massive freebies, I was pretty much accused of doing the same thing. Although I must admit that my motivations were more to challenge the quality of the products in the marketplace. A long time ago I was very disappointed that a handful of merchants were charging exhorbitant prices for poorly crafted products. This, to me, was just not right. I haven't released many more freebies since then because the quality of stuff has jumped up, and the prices have become a lot more reasonable. Overall, anyway... Here's my suggestion... what about partnerships? On my own, I am unable to produce a dominant product that will define a marketplace genre... plus I run the risk of possibly competing with a friend. I simply go into a joint venture where my partner (or partners) brings in added value that increases the total worth of the product. Instead of simply giving something away, and derail other merchants... collaborate and produce a more inexpensive product with twice the quality possible, in half the production time. I am currently working with about five different teams in various stages of completion. Some are pure conversions, others are a mix of props, others take existing models and progressively build them up to more Poser ready products. It has always been my underlying belief that a "community" should be inclusive and serve as a building block for better relationships, and not exclusive... where we have to miss those who have moved on. Just my two cents. Please don't get me wrong... I'm not trying to pontificate from any higher ground... I'm too short to attempt that sort of thing, it's only a suggestion. :o) Cheers! M

Mind Over Matter
"If you don't mind, then it don't matter."