whoops.  there went another post.  i really am not getting along with this js editor.

first i want to say, acadia, i'm so very sorry about your friend's daughter.  it seems like such things shouldn't or don't happen in this day and age.  good friends of mine lost their daughter just one day before she was due to be born, about a year and a half ago.  they never did find out what went wrong.  it's a terrible thing to have to make a life after losing a child, and my utmost sympathies go out to your friend for what she's going through and to you for what you will undoubtedly have to see her through.

second, i want to say i was disagreeing with you as an individual, not a moderator.  from your first post, i considered you speaking for yourself, though not out of step with your moderator compatriots.  i haven't seen anything inconsistent in your opinion.  i still see you as the nice, helpful and kind person you've always been.  i disagree with you, and while i do personally feel your statements have insulted my work as part of a collective recipient of your statements, frankly, i don't think that makes you a jerk or a bad person in anyway.  even one's best friend will occasionally say something one finds hurtful or rude, even if that person doesn't mean to.   i know for a fact i have opinions some would find insulting.  that said, i don't believe i have misinterpreted or misunderstood your statements.

if i might paraphrase, it seems like you're saying, "as a whole, the old thumbnails have been tasteless and unprofessional, making the site look like a 3rd rate porn site."  as mitchman pointed out, you can't separate thumbs from the rest of our work.  more than that, several of us are saying that the previous thumbnails accurately represented the works they led to.  so in effect, your statement applies not only to the collective work that is our thumbnails, but the collective works they lead to.    and as someone who will have to cut images out of their gallery to fit the new standard, or post thumbnails i feel are unprofessional and tasteless, i'm rather insulted by the implication that the only reason to post nude thumbs is to advertise t&a.  and just because you didn't single me out, doesn't mean your statement is any less insulting than, for instance, cgsociety members who make general statements about poser work.

also frankly, that was not how i viewed the galleries here.  in fact, i've felt that less about here than poserpros.  which again, is the  only site i came across with the same policy.  and yeah, i think viewing the galleries like that is disrespectful to renderosity artists as a whole, and somewhat distressing in someone who is now a moderator.  on top of that, your statement that all other places except for sites like rend****ica had the same policy either shows you didn't check (which would be preferable) or that you just lump every site that doesn't have the same rule into a single category (which would show a certain prejudice and circular logic).  that said, i personally would have found it a lot less offensive if the statements being put forth both by you and your team were much less absolute and stopped using such insulting terms.  because it's pretty obvious to me that you're all voicing an opinion, and one that runs counter to any notion of objective professionalism in design, illustration, fine art or advertising that i know of (and i've yet to find a common notion of "tasteful").  you want the galleries to have a certain "look" no matter what a viewer's preferences, and one that frankly isn't necessarily professional so much as particular to a certain audience.

is there some influence you're not telling us about?  because "professional" and "tasteful" keep recurring as if they're from a missive, and plain old viewers can just toggle off nudes.  is rendo having a problem with advertisers?  and if so, are they advertisers within or external to the creative community?  because i could definitely see the nudity as unprofessional to someone in non-creative field.  inside it, and frankly, it's not the breasts and buttocks.  craft, talent and the nature of the content determine professionalism.  if this site looks unprofessional in comparison to cgsociety, or other professional illustration or design communities, it's because we're not (in general).

and these are the images on each of those sites with torso close-ups.  the difference is execution, not content.

design chapel 1
design chapel 2
dave mckean  (thumb is just smaller version)
howard schatz 1  (thumb is just a smaller version)
howard schatz 2
blaugallery 1
blaugallery 2
blaugallery 3
eric fischl (thumb is just a smaller version)

imho, debating content after this is really splitting hairs.