SnowSultan. Sometimes we cant say what we think here, so we say what we think elsewhere, because we only have the time or inclination to say, I call bulls**t. Sometimes we have a little more time. I happen to have a little time right now. It isnt the site; it is the site-as-oxymoron. It is the good bad place. It is the art business. It is the encouragement of learning only certain things. It is the community of support, where members cheat each other. It is the rules on free thought and expression. It allows some of the most anxiety causing elements to run wild, but wont allow natural order to stop them. Generally speaking, this is because the minimization of hypocrisy, passive-aggressive baiting and professional backstabbing (infringement) is accomplished in the online world by flaming it into oblivion allowing those with good intentions to fight fire with the fire of embarrassment and shame. But, thats a Catch-22: Visible flame wars may run off potential marketplace customers. Therefore, the obvious and apparently inexpensive solution may actually be unaffordable. Dont think the Evil Entities at PoserPros and other sites have good intentions? Think again. What would be the odds of the recent increase in infringement taking place if C&D still existed and Legume were still here? As a potential infringer, which would you rather avoid? Would you choose unfulfilled threats of being forced to pay back the customers and/or the infringed merchant, or would you prefer to watch a lengthy discussion on your ethics between Legume, Demosthenes, Ironbear, Questor, Spinner, Cyberstretch and PJF? The very same individuals who practice the arts of hypocrisy and baiting here are terrified of those nyms, because whether we want to admit it or not, they are the merchants of fairness. Yet, this is the second Catch-22: Their strong sense of justice causes them to speak out when the store itself does something that appears to be inequitable to the merchants and/or gallery artists. This leads to the third Catch-22. Renderosity is not a democracy. But, its also not a socialist utopia. The members here should be adult enough to understand that it is a business and sometimes decisions must be made to promote profitability. This isnt often expressed clearly, but it wouldnt matter if it were, because eliminating the flame warriors reduces the overall intelligence quotient of the site. It shrinks the number of people best equipped to understand the complexities involved and possibly explain them in a lucid manner. When was the last time you saw a good flame posted by a stupid person? In fact, running off those such as Legume equates to protecting the community by removing the protectors and in their stead, issuing oxymoronic decrees edicts that on the surface do not make sense, because they oppose the initial attraction to this site, yet fit snugly into the perpetuation of the marketplace addiction. It is bait and switch marketing at the business model level. I dont know that its intentional, but sadly, the Catch-22s may make it imperative. This is a fact: I never saw as much discussion about the various kinds of art; what goes into making art; what should be considered art as I did when Legume was posting in the gallery. Today, we see mundane and ridiculous discourse along the lines of, Lightwave and Maya are used to make art. Poser isnt. Quickly followed by, please dont argue. Lets love everybody and make a rule about it. For the record, Id like to postulate that conversations such as these are too idiotic to constitute argument. Yes, Evil Entities bring intellectual baggage. But, they also bring intellectual stimulation. You do not have to agree with them to appreciate them. Lightwave and Maya do not carry this sites financial burden and they never will. Some problems are better solved with Evil Entities than they are with total and complete submission to the Catch-22s.