I think the notion that 'if only the great unwashed mass of Poser users would stop rendering that danged old porn' Poser would get the respect it deserves is an illusion. True, the councils of the small and the silly may latch onto that if if it didn't, they'd find something else. The 3D elitist crowd doesn't respect Poser for the same reasons some Porsche owners don't respect Mustangs. Poser is cheap and accessible to the masses. You can enjoy using it practically without opening the manual and most people can become reasonably proficient without the equivalent of a college level course devoted to training. Worst of all in the eyes of the elite, someone with Poser can create something that the average person on the street might compare favorably to one of their "masterpieces." No thoughtful, or for that matter, skilled person is going to judge a tool based on what they see someone else do with it. If they have an open mind, they're going to see beyond the images and realize the potential the tool has to do other things. By the same token, they can see beyond the genre that a particular artist chooses and see talent, even if it isn't being used in a way they prefer. Anyone who can't accomplish these things is so closed off and lacking in imagination that I don't see giving their views much weight anyway.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken