The poser forum is becomeing flooded with freebie site links, and it's become spam. I already get email telling me I;m fat, need breast implants, a penis implant, to take the blue pill, and that I win gift certs for beer, etc. I like the poser forum for well, errr to talk about the program, not where the latest freebie is. Can't we just throw those in Product Showcase.

I hope not! I like the freebie alerts, if they were in the product showcase I would never see them, because I never go there.

I think there should be a FreeBee showcase galery.... Or at least and that i like even more an Poser/other freebee genre in the image upload section And why not show a freebee here there is NO otherplace to talk about it. Chris

I second lesbentley. I appreciate the generosity of others but I never go to the product showcase since I don't so beta testing. I definitely do not consider these postings to be spam and definitely not on the same level as the types of e-mail listed above. Would it help if the subject line has "Freebie Alert" so you wouldn't have to read it unless you were interested?

Product showcase forum is for things on which people try to earn money. Freebie links are posted by people who want to show what they have found for Poser and want to share it with others. Noone earns money on posting a freebie link so it is very incorrect to compare it to spam. I have created my Runtime this way when I was a beginner in Poser. It is really hard to search internet for free stuff when you are new to all this or want to save money. I am very grateful for the ones who posted the links in here or on many other sites because I would be completely unable to find the items on my own. kitty5

my vote would be to leave the freebie links here, since I'd miss 'em otherwise. it's up to them if they want to leave the promos here, but since nobody's forcing me to click on those threads, they don't bother me. I think you'll find that the promos tend to show up on week-ends, when the mods may be allowed to take the day off. at least I hope they don't make the mods work 24/7 - that would be a real bummer IMVHO.

I agree with Lesbentley... part of the community is about people saying, 'hey, I found this great site, look what it has to offer!' While I admit, some of Acadia's posts could perhaps be sent out in digest form ('here's the sites I found today', kinda thing), she has uncovered some fantastic pieces that I hadn't even realised existed. I never go over to Product Showcase, so moving these over to that forum would be counter-productive to me - I'd have to wade through a second forum just to find these nuggets out. jonthecelt

Actually this is interesting. The whole reason for Product Showcase was to reduce the commecial spam flooding the forum. I actually like this idea. We know people are spamming the forum and finding workarounds. Perhaps rename Product Showcase to "Content Showcase. This would give merchants more traffic there. This forum really shoyld be about software and less of the "where can I find" and promotional stuff.

How about adding a link in the Poser Forum header. Its already got Featured Freebie artist/provider, and Special Notices. I checked and I had 99 active threads of which only 10 were related to poser or questions regarding use of poser. The rest were "Where can I find a free..", "look at this link" (for a poser store), "Latest freebie.." (lead to store front), "Interesting link.." (had to register to read link). It's getting really wacky.

Maybe it is a good idea to prohibit Off Topic threads too then? there are preatty many of them recently. It is community, not a Poser class room only forum. kitty5

I prefer to find everything Poser-related in one forum. It's not that difficult to scan the subject lines to determine which threads I want to read. Also I can open up a new thread in a new window using my context menu, something I can't do if I'm having to hassle with those drop down menu's. I don't like having to open up a bunch of forums. Frankly I didn't even mind when new products were announced in this forum. Once again, it's easy to scan through the thread titles.

Perhaps we should just stop making freebies alltogether since it apparently bother some people to even know about them?

lets go the whole hog. 1 forum for poser. 1 for asking about texturing. 1 for rigging, 1 for modeling, 1 for rendering and rendersetups, 1 for how do I make big tits on vicky..... it's getting stupid. it's fine how it is now.. the links ain't hurting anyone are they? hmm? and it's been the same for years ppl.... so if it ain't broken.. anyway.. in 3 days time, we're having a shiney new forum.....

You all have to admit that there has indeed been freebie spam. You cannot pretend not to have noticed it. :)

I, for one, STRONGLY disagree with this! The Product forum is for more than just Poser products and shouldn't be used as another Poser Forum. On this site there is already, this forum for General Poser discussions, a catagory that I feel covers freebies. If you want to talk about the program there already is a Poser Technical forum and a Poser Python forum. If you want to cut down on bandwith start moving all technical discussions the the appropriate forum and all python discussions to teh forum set up for that. Actually ist only fair to move those discussions as rapidly as "commercials" are moved to the Product showcase. mike

erm No. it's freebies. calling it spam is actually ungrateful to those making freebies. shall we just round up the freebie makers and kick them a few times for daring to tell the rest of us about the freestuff? ye gods. we should be GRATEFUL for the freestuff, not whining and complaining. its true what ppl have been saying. ppl will complain about freebies. for shame....

I don't see how freebies can ever be spam

Well.. Except... of course...

...my can of spam...

byAnton, if you are talking about Acadia's threads I'd like to tell you that even I (a Poserite with a degree in tutorials and freebies searching) have found something new and interesting for me :) kitty5

lol. So dramatic. Weren't Contests already moved out of this forum for the saame reason? I personally don't care. I just don't see the difference between 20 posts about a product and 20 posts about freebies on sites with products. I think it is more about those abusing the loopholes.

Well ACadia is a posting force unto herself. But no I wasn't refering to her. :) I do think the question Machine Claw raised is interesting regardless. Only Rendo makes the decisions so it doesn't matter what we say anyway. Does make for an interesting topic.

nope. contests where moved cos of legal reasons... (state laws where Rendo is based - not because of complaints about them being in this forum)

I get it. Next time I decide to make for free stuff that will cost me time AND money (site maintenance and the like cost, you know?) I will secure myself by NOT posting the link to it here or anywhere else. People are psychic, they will get my brainwaves if they want to get my freebies. Oh, wait, what if someone who doesn't want to know about this will get my brainwaves? It will be spam too! what to do? what to do? ... :) I am joking :) Michal 4blueyes

it's obivous ;) we have to stop making freebies and charge for everything. ... this post cost you $5 to read. please make payment to...

Why would you not post the link?

cos the link ain't wanted. (point of the thread ya know)

"Why would you not post the link?" because there are banners for my products in RMP on the pages with freebies? And it can be looked at as "abusing the loopholes" and hidden advertising? Michal 4blueyes

lol khai, It's obvious ;) We have to make the post seem like it is about not making freebies or posting them to get everyone upset and outraged. ... this post cost you common sense.

naw atm I'm frantically trying to fix my system, so I'm a little distracted. (strange stutters, unable to save anything in Firefox, mouse freezes, taking 2 minutes to hide a layer in Photoshop (as in clicking the layer did nothing for 2 minutes.. same thing in other programs etc)) so you'll have to excuse my common sense, it's frantically running virus checks, Spyware checks and hardware checks...

Been getting spam lately to, although Norton is able to single them out. Today, got an email regarding "Viagra" and other stuff.

oO

110% agree with Bobasaur (post #11) Hyper deviding subjects and content also devides the energy and vibrancy of what is now jokeingly called 'communtity'. In the vain hope that other software will expand and fill in the gaps. That Poser will be less of a force on this site. NOT going to happen. Nuttin but a glorified look-up table. And to the admins. When you devided the community functions, eliminated OT subjects, removed faries and harmless nudity. YOU were listening to the Conservative Right. Look how well THAT turned out for the nation.

I just knew someone would jump in here with the Ungrateful song. Hey, it's nice that you freebie providers give away stuff. But your most important motivation should be the satisfaction of giving.... with no strings attached. It's been years since I've found any freebies worth collecting.. But I know what it's like when people get started and can't afford to buy things. I don't see anything wrong with announcements about Freebies. I don't see this as spam. I'm not a F**king Ungrateful Bastard. But I won't kiss your feet either.

DAMN! lots of posts. Okay 1st off.....I am NOT bashing content creators, or freebie makers, or for sale makers. Re-read my post. It is about posting the links to freebies over and over again. her's a texture, another thread here's another texture, again again again. announcments of sales at sites, which is marketing plain an simple even if not done BY the company or site. OT threads were not supposed to be posted in the Poser Forum, few years now, they were supposed to be in the Community Forum. There is a Forum that currently exists for textures. There is a Poser Technical forum currently. There is currenly a FreeStuff section of the site with a search engine for freebies. It is clear SPAM when a broker who has a site with a store posts about a freebie with a link that does not go to the freebie, but instead goes straight to the store. Again, 2 years ago the "rules" were that the link had to GO to the freebie in question. Sites where you had to register to get to a post, thread, or freebie were told to be noted in the thread. I'm sorry if I've steped on toes with the topic, but there are or WERE guidlines about posting and what was exceptable, and the Poser Forum Moderators were to monitor and move threads. Seems like moderators are title only and it's a free for all in the Poser Forum.

Where did anyone sing an "ungrateful" song? I looked but I couldn't find it? I'm with 4BluEyes.. Let's just hope people are psychic then. Personally I never go to Product Showcase. I browse the What's New in the Marketplace if Iw ant to buy something... But freebies? That's another matter. IMO they don't belong in Product Showcase, and if they were moved there, I probably WOULD resort to either stop making freebies, or hope for people to be psychic.

and I'm really sorry but I just have to say it.

Poser is not about freebies and freestuff.

I read the Poser Forum to read about others that enjoy, need help with and are creating art with a program called poser.

I did not buy Poser to get freebie's. That was a by product of the community.

MachineClaw

"Reject The Refit",
"There is no Freebie Button in Poser",
"There is No Make Art Button in Poser"
and you can quote me on that.

Message edited on: 03/31/2006 14:49

I'm sorry if I've steped on toes with the topic, but there are or WERE guidlines about posting and what was exceptable, and the Poser Forum Moderators were to monitor and move threads. Seems like moderators are title only and it's a free for all in the Poser Forum. Yes, there are rules. We follow them. Rules change. For example, the "No OT posts" rule was relaxed around 2 years ago, at the request of the majority of forum posters. The "Freebie links must to to the page in question" rule is for the Freestuff section. Not for links posted in the forum (which I would guess 95% of the time adhere to this rule anyway.) The "If you need to register then it should say" rule is again for the Freestuff section. Since the vast majority of posts with links to freebies clearly state in the title "new freebie available" or whatnot, I'm not really seeing where the problem lies. Additionally, since not all freebies are submitted by their creators to the Renderosity freestuff, we would tend to view the posts as useful to the community, and not a duplication of information. Sale announcements for other sites we have to look at on a case by case basis. Otherwise we reach the point where we have to move every post that speculates on the future of Poser 7 or talks about new rigging methods for characters in development, into the Showcase forum. If a merchant takes advantage to post several promo pics and "advertorial" text, then it will get moved to showcase. I cannot see us opening a "freebie forum" since we already have the freestuff section. The only sites I see with this type of forum are those which don't have a freestuff section for members to post to. Karen Poser Mod

i like pie... drac

Browsing through forums I usually find only a thread or two for an entire page that attract my attention and are at least somehow useful to me. All the rest I usually ignore :)

MachineClaw, I am sorry to repeat myself but ... not everyone is willing to be happy with the content that Poser comes with. And not everyone can afford buying content in the stores.

And without content - what is Poser? If I had to be limited to Don and Judy and untextured Milfolk I would find myself in a really pitiful situation about my Poser development.

So how Poser can be not about free stuff?

kitty5

"It is clear SPAM when a broker who has a site with a store posts about a freebie with a link that does not go to the freebie, but instead goes straight to the store." I can understand this, although I also understand that some people use "shopping cart" technology to deliver their freebies. From a site construction standpoint that makes sense for them - use one means to make everything available. It's annoying at times (I don't even like doing it at DAZ) but I can live with it. And I don't think at all anyone's bashing freebie makers. I think some people are focused in what they want to read in a forum and want to eliminate things that distract from that. I understand. That's not illegal, immoral, or fattening - there's nothing wrong with it. It's just different from the way I like to do things. I like the variety all conveniently packed into one forum. I never know when something will come up that I never would have thought to look for somewhere else. I like that - it keeps things fresh and exciting. For me. ;-)

I don't see any problem in posting a link to a freebie, but I do think that the said link should be required to take you directly to that freebie. I get sick of ending up at sites where I have to search (sometimes in vain) to find the damn thing I went there for. And I do think that it can sometimes be a ploy to get you into a marketplace surrepticiously (sp?).

Look, it isn't spam. Spam is when people are trying to sell you stuff. This is useful information, and I for one appreciate it. It fact, heads-up messages for interesting freebies is one of the main reasons I so frequently peruse this forum.

"And without content - what is Poser? If I had to be limited to Don and Judy and untextured Milfolk I would find myself in a really pitiful situation about my Poser development. So how Poser can be not about free stuff?" Freebie's do not make people better artists, learning and using the software does. By the same token a millionaire who buys content isn't better than someone that uses freebies to do their art. There is an unspoken aire in Poserdom that I'm sure brokers wish they could speak ourtright.....they wish freebies would disapear cause it hurts sales. I'll take it futher, I think freebies have hurt poser because it's not about learning the software anymore it's about getting stuff and pressing a render button. NVIATWAS is a term in Poserdom that used to be a funny, now it's the norm. I'm just finding it much harder to find people that know and answer software related questions to posts and more and more about the latest freebie and site sale. Let the flooding spam continue, seems what the masses want, let them get a freebie cake and render.

ach cheerup will ya. your're acting someone stole your car... your're outvoted thats all.. it happens.

Well I am in total agreement with bringing back naked faeries.

I like freebies even though i don't downlaod them. They are fun to hear about and look at. The do think the Poser forum has gravitated into more of a "where can I find" search mechanism and less about education. I think no matter what rules you end up with people always find ways to abuse it or find loopholes. A good example of this are the "On sale this week at...." posts. With the dozens of newsletters every week I am not sure we really need constant sale announcements in the forum. I just skip post I don't want to read but it is a bit like someone who won't stop ringing your doorbell.

I like to hear about freebies in the poser forum :)

"There is an unspoken aire in Poserdom that I'm sure brokers wish they could speak ourtright.....they wish freebies would disapear cause it hurts sales." I am a merchant. And I don't think this at all. Freebees do many different things. -They allow us to give samples so you the customer can see our skills. -They let us give away some really nice things that may be a bit to poly heavy, or too small quanity to a make good size store product. A problem now with products is to many products by new ppl and not enought freebees. -They let ppl learn how to model and texture BEFORE they become merchants. -They allow you to participate in the Poser Community. All of these make Poser more popular and by extension expand the market.

I kinda giggled that you put BEFORE in caps. :) I hear ya on that one.

"I'm just finding it much harder to find people that know and answer software related questions"

huh. i am new to this forum (and to poser) but a net veteran, and i've been impressed by how quickly people are answering software (and other) questions here! yes, there are a lot of freebie links, but they just require a little scrolling if i am not interested in the freebie in question -- same as any other short thread for which i have no use.

threads with complaints about some aspect of this site, on the other hand, grow to much greater proportions, and require more scrolling. :)

i find the forum setup itself terribly antiquated and cumbersome for finding specific things -- but as i've just read, that will change soon. i don't know exactly what the new forums will look like, but i strongly suspect that they will solve most of the problem you have with "spam" here (aside: i really dislike it when people misuse terms -- spam is unsolicited BULK mail/posts; the freebie posts are neither). because in all the modern board systems, the comments are not linearly appended as they are here, but you have to click on the subject to get to the discussion. much less scrolling, and easier selectivity for what you choose to read. then folks will probably end up complaining about people picking bad subject lines. wry grin.

I also like to hear about freebies (scratch that - I LOVE to hear about freebies), and yes, even about sales, special events/promotions, and news and gossip. Renderosity's Poser forum is my nexus to everything going on in the world of Poser. I hope that doesn't change. :)

Someone stated that the freebies are why we have so many NVIATWAS. Without freebies, I think we would just have a lot of NV without swords floating in front of a grey background :-) At least the freebies provide some clothes for the poor girl--whether they get used or not. I'm also grateful for the "special sale" over at store X messages. Because I get so much Spam e-mail, I have my filters set really tight and sometimes special vendor announcements get lost in among the real spam in my "bulk" folder. There are a lot of one-day-only sale items I would have missed without the heads-up messages in this forum.