One thing folks may not be considering is, those who paid for the items may have made it possible for the person to create such items in the first place. If the creator has to buy Poser, and other materials, in order to create the things that the rest of you use, then he has to come up with the money somehow to obtain what he needs, and dedicate time away from other, perhaps more lucrative pursuits.

Think of it like a "site donation" -- as if you got the items "free", but you also made a "donation" to the creator to encourage him to continue with his work, and to cover some of his costs.

I release a lot of free software myself (most of it not related to Poser or 3D work), and I know that it costs me time and money to do so. I do not ask anyone to donate anything to compensate me in any way, and I don't expect it. I just like writing software, and figure that if it's useful to me, it may be useful to someone else so why not give it away. But that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong when people do actually give someone money for something of value. Sometimes, it's a good thing to nuture what you want and need.