blush Oh dear, I've got a few words as well hehehehe - to be honest to start, I'm not at all sure what's gone on with the 'shareCG freebie incident,' but I did see things in this other perspective tonight, bear with my long windedness please and thank you :-)

Quote - Freestuff is already looking far less cluttered and less of a chore to wade through.

:-) Just wanted to comment on the fact that free stuff is a privelage - It's like getting "free money, vs working..." If you have to work a little harder to get to the stuff you'd deem 'good' and 'worth it," then why can't we have to somewhat work for it? Earn it?

I just imagine, let's play with math here for a sec: Let's say an approximate average of 50 artists create 1 free item in 1 day, and all upload them - All our tastes and styles are going to vary. Let's say as a 'not so avid' free stuff page checker, makes it to the freebie page approx. 1 every 2 weeks.

--> 50 artsists x 1 item / day = 50 items / day times 14 days = 700 items. If it took approximately 2 hours to create, that's nearly a solid 24 of effort put into creating these free items for public use - the artists ask nothing in return.

To me, it feels like works of art in the art gallery buildings: let's say, like a paining, I would rather wander past 20 or 30 portraits that I feel (to my personal taste) aren't as visually pleasing, to get to a few spectacular pieces that really reach out and touch my soul (being, heart, etc "insert enlighted" part of me here etc). Part of it is respect for the artists hard work and providing us a free gift of sorts - asking nothing in return.

Think about one more thing: if we were to continue arguements like "the one solid background pics" etc [which by the way don't always float everyone's boat :-) but it's good to keep in mind if we ever come into a project where we might need that type of texture/etc/it is there, for free use], and how this specific trend of opinionated pieces should have quality / quantity control, we're only going to see ourselves starting a new trend of "asking for items only that suit our tastes." Thus creating the revolutionary "Top Sellers idea, gone free section."

IMHO, might I kindly suggest, a use of the "Top Sellers" system? To start, how long do free items stay in the freebies section? Maybe instead of concentrating on how many are being brought in, but seeing as well (as the MP works), see which items are not being downloaded, but in a realistic time frame.

*Heck, there could even become a "clearance freebie" option, where (I just thought of Mapps :-) groovy duds by the way, I'm a big fan ... no I'm not brown nosey hehe) -- an uploader with amazing quality items could be within the "Top Uploaders" section that for example *won't have items go into a clearance area to get removed from the free area.

• Each piece was carefully crafted where these item deserve a certain amount of respect - maybe a "ranking system" would work. ;-) That way if majority doesn't like the 'said spam uploaded items, or whatever the issue is there," those [spam] items will eventually remove themselves from the freebie section.

Doesn't it work well enough for you guys with your 'top sellers?' To be perfectly honest, I started recently documenting EVERYONE'S user names on the Renderosity web site, so that I can go and visit everyone's store, and I've alphabetically been catching up on "what I've missed." Items have been in sale here longer than I've been a member. And just because something isn't considered "top selling for the moment," doesn't mean it isn't worth looking at, and potentially purchasing.

;-) A bit of hard work, sifting through, visiting and exploring, making new friends, learning new styles ... but to me, it's worth it :-) and I've been scrambling to try to hit up as many stores/galleries/and check out artists as I can in a day, so that I don't miss a chance, just because something "non top selling quality didn't prove worthy in a specific period of time." Clearance is silly in my opinion - when you think about it, established artists/modelers/etc have been around FAR longer than the time it takes to discontinue an item.

:-) But that's just my 2 cents. Oops .... erm ... <;-) I mean, "can anyone break a $20?!" blush hehehehee :-) hugs G'night, all :-) Take care of yourselves before stressing over this kind of stuff ;-) :-)

*hugs*
-Jen Dyck