_I am just sending the same letter to the Renderosity Administrators. This is it: A fair question needs a fair answer from a fair Website. _In the past, I used to ask stupid questions. This time, let's be more serious here, please; I want a clear answer from the Renderosity Adms.: Thanks to the R.R. Adms to answer first, and thanks too to YOU ALL to verify what I am saying here, and maybe explain me or either, helpully...please, comment it. I swear that what I am telling here is true, and I can maintain & affirm it in front of any Court, and anywhere: But all I need here, is a direct & public answer honestly to THESE FACTS: _I was chacking a comment that an artist did after I posted one of my artworks....After a while, I checked his name...then ...other names on the "Members list": _Number of 'Active members':(04/15/2004,2:51 CST (GMT-6) (I changed my computer-Time into one of the USA Times.) _Result 167,935 active members. Okay. _Wanting to do some: "Search by members" I typed a name in the ..."Members Area": _25 artists by page. Okay. 167,935/25 = About 6717 pages...Alright. On these active members, I found & verified: 1)_Members' "Artist Pages" About 3 or 4 on 25 individuals on each page have a personal "Artist Page" _I found that 3/25 = 0.12 and so, 20,152 empty "Artist Pages" up to 4/25 = 0.16 ===>>>> 167,935 x 0.16 = 26870 "Artist Pages" with somethingin them. The rest, let's see, it's about the same: 167,935 - 26870 = 141065 are empty ! This IS the truth about the real number of RR Individuals' "Artists Pages" ! My first question is: What the heck does all of this all means ? 2)"Members' "Gallery Images" 6717 pages of 25 members for each page (Still out of these 167,935 members). 80% of: "Sorry, but no files match your search"...Well...???!!! The percentage is much lower: Only from about 806 up to 41980. Between 0.0047% and 0.24 % of "active members" have a personal filled-up "Artist page" on Renderosity ! _167,935 active Members: The rest of the pages are empty ! _This IS the truth about the real number of RR Individuals' "Artist pages" number out of 167,935 "active members" ! _Same question: What the heck does all of this all means ? 3)_Members' "Gallery Pages": Still 6717 pages of 25 members each page.... = About 2686 have a Gallery page let's say about 0,016% of RR "active members have a "Gallery page" with at least some, or even ONE picture(s) in them. The rest of those "active members'"Gallery Pages" are empty ! _This IS the truth about the real number of RR Individuals' "Gallery Pages" ! Same question: Honestly, what the heck does all of this all means ? 4)"Free Stuff contributions": I get usually between 65% and 70% or of empty pages. (Out of the many hundreds pages that I and some of my friends, amongst whom some real members of RR, that we checked randomly ): _About 30 % have something to propose: lets say: 0,30 x 167,935 = 50380 active members have something on "Free Stuff contributions" _The rest of all those pages (70%) are empty ! with "Sorry, but no files match your search"... _This IS the truth about the real number of RR Individuals' "Free Stuff contributions" ! _Same question: What the heck does all of this all means ? ...and now my real question to the Administrators is: WHAT ARE THE OTHER MEMBERS DOING HERE ???!!! NOTHING ! If we count the merchants, it gives 45 % of realtively really active members, all about "whom" is scaming who? ...If Adms do NOTHING, then everybody is going to know you have there 45 % of scams and other "trojan horses", in case you want to "ban" someone(s),you should rather ban the "right guys", I mean the 55% who do nothing here, and have nothign to do o R.R., these 55% who have nothing under their usernames, "abusernames" or logins ! _Thanks for your attention, AND FOR A CLEAR ANSWER TO THIS ! ...Remember that if you didn't, some, and more & more would ask themselves from on now if no answer: "Has R.R. become some real "mysterious clan" of scamers, spammers or still a realgraphics Fine Arts Website...???!!!". I am sorry, the enquiry can be verified by ALL of us, meaning by you all, and any Administrators don't seem to control, neither handle, nor masterize or fix this very serious problem, that could ruin this site. I am honestly saying what I think. All what I think. ...Maybe these are only some youngsters wanting to getto sexy pix, and hot for chatting"..In this case, they have other sites than artists sites to go for it. Or eithe rthey want todestroy this site. Some hate artists too, you know, like some presidents can hate music...! ...I am very sorry, among other things... for my typing errors and my bad english. Be asssured & cumfortable with the fact that, in no case & whatsoever, "I woudn't want to spoil the party" ! ..Anyway, those are just naive questionments, and I forbid anybody to say that they aren't honestly submitted to all in the clear light! Greetings. _Klaus.

Interesting statistics... but I'm not sure what this all means either. Looking beyond the numbers... there are plausible explanations to some of these seemingly inactive accounts:- Several of these member accounts are actually clone accounts of existing members, but I'm not sure how these numbers can be verified.

• Quite a few members here are not actually contributing "artists" with active galleries, but are art patrons who visit the site to enjoy the many wonderful images here. They would have to subscribe as a member in order to leave comments in the galleries or participate in the forums.
• Several members here do not keep galleries or personal homepages, but they need to have a member account because they purchase from the Renderosity Marketplace on a regular basis.
• Many members have since moved on, or have started new accounts, without disabling or asking that their old accounts get deleted. Nothing wrong with that, except that it does take up some space on the roster of members.
• Quite a few members haven't had the time to visit because of real-life commitments and predicaments. I don't think that it would be fair to penalize a member because they're too busy with day-to-day problems. Do you? :o)

There are many other possible scenarios which might help explain the numbers, but I really don't see why having a "non-active" account can be a bad thing. Renderosity has a pretty clear set of rules as set out in the Terms of Service, and as long as these members abide by these conditions, I don't see a reason why their accounts should be suspended. You do raise some very curious and interesting points with the statistics you posted. And now that you've piqued my personal curiosity, I am wondering what you're point really is. Is there some course of action you are suggesting? What kind of an explanation or rationalization are you looking for? Actually, I'm not sure where this thread is going, but you certainly have my interest. Cheers! M P.S. I moved this over from the Directors Cut Forum as this subject matter is more on the community at large rather than any topic that has anything to do with digital film making, post-production, story boarding, editing techniques, etcetera. Hope you don't mind. :o)

Dear _Klaus, Good question. I appreciate the enormous amount of time you must have spent on working these statistics. What it all means is that "active members" are those that visit the site regularly. They may be purchasing something from the MarketPlace, posting in forums, viewing Galleries, trying out Tutorials, or downloading FreeStuff, etc. We do not require "active members" to customize their Artist page, to make "Free Stuff" contributions, or to upload images to the Galleries. We make these resources available to our community members. But, members are free to choose which resources they wish to use and when. I trust this will help to answer your questions. Best regards, LillianH Renderosity Admin.