My take on the use of the forum - respectively the non use is coming from a professional point of view - as graphic and web designer.

For one there s a challenge in finding the forum in the first place.
On whatever page you look you have a oversaturation with redundant, repetitive and in many cases really misplaced links. While the backbone and technical functionality of Renderosity has improved, design and UI are still way back in the 20th century.
Not counting links on the forum content itself - the viewer is bombarded with (on this page) not 10 or 20 - not 50 or 75 but believe it or not 141 (one hundred and forty one)non distinctive links.
If you would remove 100 of them - I would still talk of an overcrowded interface.

My point is that Renderosity does not encourage users to discover - it buries users in an onslaught of mostly irrelevant links. So - at the end of the day - it is no wonder that the way into the forum isn't being found in a way it should be.

Which leads to an under average design, that does more things wrong, than it does do right.
Lessons learned from 15 years of internet? Nope - can't say the designers did.

Commerce and advertising is important - no doubt about. And I am happy for every penny that R'osity is earning from it. It is problematic however, when it interfers with the usability of the site - or is completely out of context, or even worse - annoying.
It is no secret that one of the major sources of income and the lifeline of Renderosity is the Marketplace, respectively the Poser, Bryce and to a lesser extent the rest of the 3D community - but predominately the marletplace.
But we're in a photographic community and the odds that we will ever take advantage of the marketplace is slim to none. And the one who says that is one who started out in 3D and will post a 3d image tomorrow... But - fact is - the marketing of the marketplace in the photography section is dead weight and a waste of real estate.

Going further in the review is the general layout. Besides utterly unappealing the usability is simply  not attractive. If you view the attached picture you see a screenshot of my screen taking from a standard or slightly larger than standard resolution. The grayed out area is the area, that is essentialy dead space for me as a user - and guess what. I get only 1 post on the screen and that not even completely. It is sad, not only because it's such a waste, but  because it's so easy to fix. An experienced designer /programmer could fix the whole enchilada sitewide in a few hours - and despite others and me having asked for improvements - nothing ever happened.
So the question why things don't work so well seems somewhat funny and reminds me of a joke.
"John is praying to God every night. "Please Lord - let me win the lottery! Just once - and I won't bother you anymore!" That prayer is made every night for 10 years. And then - one night, God has a enough! And he's answering John. "For crying out loud, John! Give me chance! At least buy a lottery ticket!"
With these words I close my litany and leave you to have a look over how attractive and easy you are effectivly making it to really participate.

Cheers
Klaus

Cheers
kjpweb

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments, that take our breath away!"