Hello,

I just followed a link from "Free stuff", for "Bella for Sara v2" and I got a page that does not give me access to the free item straight away. I need to register first!

As this practice has been used before, I wish to emphasis that I do mean to comment on the good people that put "Bella for Sara v2" online alone.

I just feel uneasy that this kind of "register first" business is expanding.

How do you feel about this? Would it be acceptable to add to the rules that free items also should be available to people without registering?

My opinion? I don't like it. When I follow a link that requires me to register, I just cancel out no matter how much I want the item. About adding it to the rules, I don't know. Maybe at least they should put "Site Link - Requires Registration" into the Notes thing.

I guess it depends on how badly you want that free item. If you can live without it then just dont bother lol.

If its a shop and i think i might shop there later, i dont mind so much. but if its a personal website, I won't do it.

well well- isn't this the pot calling the kettle black. Why should any other site be ANY DIFFERENT then right here where you are posting at rendervisions, where you are REQUIRED to register!!!

They should at least say in the notes and requirements that you have to register for the thing. With this item they didnt. Having to register means that you have another site to remember that you are a member of and to remember the password and so on so it isnt so good. I can see how the sites want to get as many new members as they can do but some of the people registering for free items wont be real members, anyway (I mean that they will just register to get the freestuff and maybe not go back to the site again).

It used to be that freebies that required registration weren't allowed in Freestuff. They changed it, though. And I'm fine with that. Most people use it as a way to ration bandwidth. You know how it is - put something up, and everyone and his sister downloads it, whether they're really going to use it or not. If you have to register, then only the people who really want it will download it.

I have no problem registering. If someone has taken the trouble to not only make the free offerings (models or textures, either takes time to create) but also to set up a website and host where they are paying for the bandwidth (and a website takes time to design, build and administer)... then for me to let them know that I've dropped by and admired their stuff seems a small price. Carolly

My Opinion,
If a site requires registration to d/l items then so be it.
I agree haukdottir in that reliable hosting and posting of freebies does cost money and time for very little, if any, thanks, however it is a good feeling to give something back to the community instead of just taking all the time.
I don't have a problem registering and usually it it has lead to a lot better Poser/Art exprience as when Registering with Renderosity.
Richard

Just create a junk email accnt to give em. Let em waste the time to send spam to that email accnt. Besides that yes your right, it should be in the tos that items in the free section have to be directly available upon clicking the download button.

Message edited on: 08/02/2004 06:36

I've been to a site that required you to register just to view their stuff! I never returned and I doubt they lasted long. Haven't they ever heard of "advertiseing"?

I agree with Jackson, usually if I come to a free link that requires to register I just cancel out. (I don't know if it's laziness or not wanting to give out my information to too many people) But I think a lot of people are like that and site owners that ask people to register should realize that they lose a certain percentage of people that way.

Attached Link: http://www.mailinator.com

I have registered with several sites because I wanted a "free" item. I don't mind. There are usually a lot more advantages that the sites offer for registered members. I, myself, have gotten some unannounced yummy "freebies" just because I was registered. I'm fine with that. It's usually worth it.

Yes, but, as i said earlier "They should at least say in the notes and requirements that you have to register for the thing."

But I think a lot of people are like that and site owners that ask people to register should realize that they lose a certain percentage of people that way.

Not only do they realize it - often, that is the very reason they ask you to register.

In the old days, there was lots of free or cheap webhosting with unlimited bandwidth. No more. And Poser files are big. Hosting a popular Poser item can be very expensive. A lot of web hosters charge you big bucks if you go over the limit, or lock your site so no can visit until the next day, or week, or month. (One month, I ended up shelling out $150 in extra bandwidth charges.)

However, it seems only polite to mark items "site link" or "registration required" in the comments or on the thumbnail. That would save our time and their bandwidth.

I can't see the point of registration for small personal sites. I usually link my recent free items to my sites home or free 3d page. This gives me the flexibility to 'suspend' items that may lead to excess bandwidth charges.

I'm not bothered by required registration. People generally have reasons for that, including prevention of certain kinds of bandwidth hammering. I require registration on my site, and I have a posted privacy policy so people know I'm not going to do anything nasty with their email address. If they still don't want to register, they're welcome to go somewhere else. bonni

I think most of the time, the registration is there to help from getting hammered by bandwidth useage. A few however apparantly generate mail lists to sell. I came to this conclusion after I registered at one site, some time ago, and suddenly started getting a ton of spam. Okay, perhaps a coincidence. So, I grabbed a freebie email account, registered again under it, and bam, got more spam. For this reason, I am a bit more cautious now as to where I register.

This gives me the flexibility to 'suspend' items that may lead to excess bandwidth charges.

Personally, I find that more annoying than having to register. There are some items that are never really available, because when you click on them, you constantly get a "sorry, over bandwidth" page. At least with registration required items, you can get them if really want them.

As for spam...I've never really noticed a problem with Poser sites. But I have a separate "public" e-mail address I usually use fpr suspect sites, just in case.

Also I don't think dowloaders realise how much bandwidth is used. It came as a shock to me when I put my first few freebies up as my 5GB bandwidth was exceeded in 2 weeks. I now a have a 2nd host as well with 20GB bandwidth limit which between the two hosts seems to work out ok.

wasn't going to comment on this thread, but post 10 got to me. It seemed slightly rude. Probably wasn't meant that way, but it read like it. Odd Ditty Foundry Gimmies are freebies. No strings attached. No registration required. However, all ODF freebies can be had by either scrolling a bit down the page to read about what you are getting and clicking a large graphic, or by adding them to your cart. When they are added to the cart, they have to be approved. As one of the folks that does the approval, I can tell you that if the info isn't valid, I won't approve it. We operate under a constant risk of having to do this with all of our freebies, and the ODF Magic freebie is probably the best example of why. That announcment was made in the middle of my night. There were fewer than 700 people online at the time it was posted. 24 hours later, over a gig of bandwidth had been used. And 33 approvals. The approved ones use a different bandwidth meter as they come from a different server than the simple show up and grab it one does. If the show up and grab it stuff exceeds our monthly allowance (which is budgeted), we must suspend them. It's not that we don't want to offer them without any sort of catch (we do -- all of us love freebies as much as anyone else, lol), it's that there are some serious realities here to consider. The free magic pack is 13MB in size. It's got a lot of cool stuff in it. But 100 people downloading is 1300MB -- and our budget, which includes additional bandwidth over what we pay for already, is for 5GB total. And that's strictly for free stuff. I say all this because the purpose of registration is very much to slow down the bandwidth usage. I hated having to register yet again at yet another site, and trying to remember all that and so forth and so on. I also used to complain about it. Then I put up my first freebie. That was three years ago. wasn't even very good. My site, at the time, was shut down in three days by the bandwidth usage. That site was one which my regular customers went to to see the progress on their products and check on updates and send me information. That one freebie cost me pretty much a month's income. Which is not a whine or a complain -- it's simply a note. If you want good freebies and you want to be able to get them when you need them, you should register when it's asked. As for why the "registration" note isn't required, it's because when it was required, a whole bunch of people got togehter and screamed about how annoying that requirement was. SO they changed it. ;) And, lastly, why in heck are we even whining about this? For crying out loud, this stuff is free. someone, out the goodness of their heart, is giving stuff away. And there is a LOT of Good free stuff. Tons more than back in the day. Are we that ungrateful that we have to look this gift horse in the mouth?

ynsaen: i dont understand your explination. are you saying that registerd users get the download from an un-restricted bandwith server?

Another thing about message ten, None of the sites I am registered with have sent me any spam ( they might send information about their site but I don`t count that as being spam ) and I am registered with quite a few sites.

no. When you add the freebies to a cart, they are pulled from a different server from the regular freebies becuase of the way the store software works. It's not unrestricted, but the bandwidth allowance is handled differently because it's also used by the team for development and design work (and we eat up the bulk of that bandwidth ourselves, lol). What I'm saying is that if you don't add it to a cart and just click the gimmie button, you get the file from a different server. It's the same zip, just two different location. An unrestricted bandwidth server would be nice, lol...

but if everybody registered and used the cart, wouldnt you run into the same probelms on a diffrent server? only now you would have everybodies e-mail address :P

No, actually. Because the cart system does require that you register, and since, as this thread notes, lots of people won't do that, we would have fewer downloads. If everyone did register for the download as well, we'd likely have a similar problem -- but during the period when we did require registration for downloads, we had a LOT fewer of them. I believe that the unfettered access tends to make folks just download it 'cause it's there. While I'm an archiver (that is, I get files for the purpose of archiving them), there are also folks who just download 'cause it's there. As for email addresses, well, I wrote the privacy policy for ODF. The only thing ODF can use an email addy for is the ODF newsletter (which, strangely, we don't have as yet) and contacting you regarding your order. But then, I hate spam, and I've had my identity stolen before, so I'm just a tad paranoid about personal information use, lol.

The spam thing is why sites should have a privacy policy and you should read it. Valid email addresses are theoretically valuable, yes, but the notion that absolutely everyone -- including known and active members of a community such as this one -- are going to spam you or sell your address to spammers is kind of paranoid. I hate spam with a holy purple passion and have invested a lot of time and energy into dealing with it, reporting it, and othewise making spammers' lives more difficult, and I'm very cautious about this sort of thing, but honestly, I would never hesitate to give informaiton to the website of someone who is known and established in the community. I just think they have better things to do with their time and energy than gather your email addresses for nefarious purposes. bonni

Hi,

This discussion has learned me quite a lot.

First, I absolutely do not agree to give a fake e-mail address. Either register with a valid address or don't.

I think that asking for registration is acceptable when announcing the registration up-front, clearly explain why and how the information is going to be used. In that way, it is easier to make up your mind whether or not to register.

One other thing, I am wording this carefull ... I see some people use the argument that because it is free , we should not discuss this. I think that it is useful to discuss it and speak or minds in a forum like this so we can all come to a better understanding. BTW, For the free stuff I am very grateful!

I too am eternally grateful for the freestuff available here and elsewhere. I thought I would give a valid alternative to the fake-email address thing. I use what I call a 'spam address' for anything that requires my registration. It's perfectly valid and I continually check it (albeit with a lower frequency then my regular email). It has no filters on it and continually fills with junk which I skim and delete every week or so. I use this email when dealing on the net in just the situations we are all talking about here, and only give my 'real' one to friends and family. Just my two cents. Jack

I don't object to anyone who wants to use registration to control bandwidth, as long as they don't use your email improperly. As someone mentioned earlier, the problem is that as more sites begin to do this, users are forced to deal with an ever growing collection of usernames and passwords. You can use the same ones everywhere but obviously, that's a bad habit to get into from a security standpoint. Microsoft had the right idea with Passport, but a lot of people have various objections to using it. It would be great if there were a centralized authorization system for Poser sites. Perhaps Renderosity could start something like this and charge site owners a small fee join.

I do the same with passwords as I do with e-mail. I have a "public" username and password, that I use to get access to sites that require registration, whether news sites, Poser sites, mailing lists, or whatever. I don't bother to change my public password regularly, as I do my others. If the public password is breached, it may be annoying, but they won't get any money or any personal information.