Sorry I am stupid. Here the fact. Ed and Jack to Leave Renderosity Jack D. Kammerer & Ed Arseneault As some of you may know, these past two months have been incrediably busy ones for Ed and myself as we try to find a stability for Renderosity and a future for the Community that we are proud to call our Friends and our Family. For those of you who do not know, Ed and I have been in the process of talking with Zygote, Curious Labs and Edgenet in an effort to grow a more stronger bond with the programs, software and models that we all use. These conversations began taking place a little over three months ago and the deal (which I will get to shortly) would not only help Renderosity to stay open and functioning, but will bring the Community much closer together and provide benefits for the Community, the Venders... all of us. The deal started, as I said, a little over three months ago (around the time that Victoria was released), when Ed and I talked to Zygote about them Merging with Renderosity. In the merger, they would bring their Online Store to Renderosity in the new catalog that Mark, Greg, Ed and I created for the NEW Online Store. This would, thereby, increase traffic not only to their products, but also to the Venders of Renderosity and would also allow us to do MORE specials like we have done with Zygote recently (the Camel and Michael the Millennium Man). THE DEAL: It was Zygote's intention to purchase Renderosity COMPLETELY from Edgenet. The two domain names: Renderosity.com and Poserforum.com, turning the Poserforum.com domain name into a routing page which would route people who type that domain name to make a choice of where they would like to go, either the PFO, Renderosity, Zygote, The Big-I or Curious Labs. The function of Renderosity would remain the same, as would the staff, with a guaranteed monthly income (promised by Zygote) we would finally be able to pay for expenses (the Renderotica Server which also hosts some other Community sites, such as the 3D Comic Collective and a few others) and be able to pay the Administration of Renderosity. Zygote would then be able to help the Community on a more personal level and have more involvement with the Community, by giving more specials, discounts on their products and models AND ALSO by giving discounts for software like Vue, Poser, TrueSpace and other programs that we would also be selling and distributing. In essense, helping Ed and I meet the goals that we set forth for Renderosity since we took it over. THE WAY IT WAS WORKING OUT: Ed and I were invited to come out to Utah, where Zygote is located, and begin to seriously work on our proposal. Ed and I had a great time over there, we got to see how they produce their models, give them thoughts and ideas on how to make them more enjoyable and affordable to the Community and gave each of us enough time to get to know one another and find out if we could work together. Once there, we were informed that Curious Labs was also interested in what we were looking to do with Zygote and wanted to jump on board. We held a telephone conference with Steve Cooper, Larry and one of the other owners that had flown in from Germany (I believe that is where he was from) and we talked about how Zygote, Curious Labs and Renderosity could take the Community to NEW heights. By working with Curious Labs, the New Poser program could tie in DIRECTLY into the Brokered Artist's and Zygote's store, making it possible of users of Poser to purchase Brokered and Zygote items directly from the program, increasing sales for BOTH parties. Also by allowing the Community a discount and a chance to get Poser before anyone else could and also make the plugins necessary to fullfil the Community's desires!! By the time Ed and I headed back to Michigan from Utah, we were very happy with how things were turning out. Finally, we would be able to DO something FOR the Community and the people that work with and for them. We had made arrangements to visit Curious Labs and also get a chance to meet everyone there. BUMPS ALONG THE ROAD: Like any Merger, we had some bumps in the road. On our way out to Utah, Ed's car broke down and we had to leave it in Colorado and rent a car to make the rest of the trip to Utah. On the way back, Ed and I had to rent a U-Haul truck (actually a Penske truck) that had a car carrier and towed Ed's car back from Colorado, back to Michigan, costing us more money than we planned on. I wont even mention the Tornado that chased Ed and I in Nebraska or the cool pictures we took of it (YES we pulled over long enough to take photos of it!). When it came time to fly out to California we had some serious BS to go through. The check for the Brokered store and Merchant Account from Edgenet still had not gotten to us (though they told us they sent on Friday a week before, when in reality it took us a WEEK to get it), so we had no money in the account of our Debit Card, which meant that when we got to ALAMO car rentals at San Jose airport, the card was declined and we were unable to rent a car to drive from San Jose to Santa Cruz to see Curious Labs (I won't even mention about how my left eardrum ruptured on the plane to San Jose). So Ed and I spent a wonderful, fun filled 5 hours in an EMPTY airport wondering how we would be able to get to the meeting, since we couldn't Ed and I, unfortunately, got an early flight and headed back home, then called Curious Labs and told them what had happened and agreed to try again and get together later this month. THE BRICK WALL WAITING FOR US AT THE END OF THE ROAD: The letter of Intent that Zygote sent to Edgenet, promising to purchase Renderosity was deadlined for September 16, 2000 at Midnight. We had to make sure that all the ducks were in a row before the purchase of it could be made. The first trouble began when Edgenet learned that Curious Labs was ALSO interested in Renderosity, the price for the Domain Names went up in price. Since Zygote is a small company (much like mine and Ed's) it made it absolutely NECESSARY that Curious Labs team up with Zygote to purchase the site. NOTE: For those that don't know and care about finacials, though Zygote does make money, Edgenet was asking for $100,000.00 for Renderosity. Zygote's terms and conditions for paying that much was the following... 1.) That Ed and I continue to fully run Renderosity with our staff (to which we made sure that we would not be "micromanaged") 2.) That they have full ownership of the software that Renderosity was run on. 3.) That they have BOTH domain names: Poserforum.com and Renderosity.com 4.) That they own the full Membership Database. During a discussion early this week, while Ed and I expressed to Zygote that we were upset that Edgenet was still charging too much for the Domain Names, Zygote informed us that that money also INCLUDED the Membership Database that Ed and I had built up since we took over Renderosity!! It seems, Edgenet failed to mention to Zygote that in a clause of our contract that was signed between Edgenet and Dark Soul Images, and I will qoute right from the contract, that: 6. Intellectual Property This AGREEMENT does not grant DSI any rights in connection with any trademarks or service marks of EdgeNet. Likewise, this agreement does not grant either party any rights to the intellectual property of the other, including the copyrights of BONDWARE Further more: 7. Remuneration In consideration of the use of the BONDWARE software to administer and manage the Renderosity Website, the goodwill built by EdgeNet, and the established customer base, (then breaks down the finacials..) So in other words, Edgenet was trying to sell to Zygote MORE than their "established customer base" (which is 3,992 members, everyone that signed up with Renderosity before November 4, 1999) and therefore trying to sell to Zygote, for part of that $100,000.00, mine and Ed's "intellectual property". Not cool! So immediately I called Edgenet and said that it was wrong for them to be selling something that wasn't theirs and for all intents and purposes was mine and Ed's, and that Ed and I should be able to either get a portion of the $100,000.00 or could get part ownership of the domain names for a site that we helped to build back up. This was not acceptiable to Edgenet and they rejected any offers that we made in trying to work something out, so the deal with Zygote and Curious Labs is off... OR IS IT?: Mine and Ed's goal has always been for the Community, to offer the best service to the Community possible. It has been our goal to make Renderosity into a place where people could feel at home, be a large family (though we have troubles from time to time), a place without restriction where people can speak their minds openly and a place where Ed and I don't abuse our Community, but have worked hard to preserve it. This is no longer possible with Renderosity. Mine and Ed's contract is up for re-negotiation on November 4, 2000 and Edgenet has clearly stated that Ed and I will NO LONGER be running Renderosity. That Edgenet will find a couple of people to try and do what Ed and I have done, keep it all for themselves and once again try and sell it to Zygote and Curious Labs, or anyone interested in purchasing the Members Database and their E-mail (something Ed and I tried HARD to be sure wouldn't happen). Currently, Ed and I are locked out of the Database, we can't e-mail the members of Renderosity to inform them of what is going on. Edgenet is breaking our contract with them and will be locking Ed and me out of Renderosity. A REAL LEGAL MESS!! They are going to CENSOR anything that we will try and tell the Community, so here we are, powerless and the Community COMPLETELY in Edgenet's control!! Willow and Grey were right about them, they weren't right about Ed and I, but it would seem they were 100% right about Edgenet. It doesn't make what they said and did right to Ed and I, but I am man enough to admitt when someone is right and I was wrong. SO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN: Ed and I are not done serving the Community. Because of the lack of service that we have been receiving because of no programmer available to work on Renderosity, Renderotica or UnitedComics, Ed and I had been working with Greg and Mark from BECamations/A1hostco in creating a faster software package that worked like BONDWARE (the program that Renderosity uses), but would be faster and bug free, also with our own programmers we could fix any bugs or expand the ability of the software without a problem. It was our desire that once the sale of Renderosity was made, that we would plug in this software, deleting Edgenet's and continue to provide the SAME service, or BETTER service, that everyone has come to expect from Ed and I. Now, it seems, that, unfortunately, Ed and I may end up doing what Willow and Grey did a year ago (almost to this date, I might note) and ask the members of Renderosity to put their trust in Ed and I and move to the new site. We have continued our talks with Zygote even though the deal with Edgenet has fallen through and we are talking about them taking over the new forum that Ed and I will be finished building at the end of this month and we will be able to offer the same support that we had HOPED to offer to the Community, but this time saving Zygote $100,000.00 I don't know if this would be helpful to the Community, or if it might just be better if Ed and I quit our work with the Community and just leave the members at Renderosity, leave the Community with Edgenet and save the Community from undergoing a major move and confussion again. The last thing that I want to do is hurt the Community in ANY WAY, and so this message is either a SHOULD WE KEEP WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY AT A NEW FORUM or JUST LEAVE AND LET THE COMMUNITY STAY WHERE THEY ARE? We don't know. We are hurt that it has come to this. I hate seeing a company that only cares about money and not about the Community get full control of the Community. And if the Community thinks that they should stick with Edgenet, who has benefited from mine and Ed's work, then I guess that is okay too. As long as the Community is taken care of, that's all that matters to us, that is all that ever mattered to us. So perhaps, us leaving the Community is best. All Ed and I wanted was a chance to say our piece to you, since they locked us out of the database, we have no way of letting anyone else know what has happened and if you wish to send to this your friends, other community members, on your own website or to anyone else who may be interested in this information, you may do so. I guess we are asking if Ed and I should continue, and if so, will we have your support. Sincerely, Jack and Ed. PS: the Opinion thingie-ma-bop on Renderotica doesn't work, so please post comments in the ADULT GALLERY SECTION... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------