I didn't want to get involved in this huge thread, but I'd like to clarify some points:

Quote - My theory is that Renderosity, still smarting from being dissed and dropped by Content Paradise...

Can we please let this rumor die? Do we know for a fact that Renderosity was "dissed and dropped"? Where is the official statement from CP "dissing" Renderosity?
In my opinion (and according to a number of other forum postings), it was Renderosity that left CP. Despite all the theatrics about how "CP is kicking out all its merchants", this is completely untrue. As of April 2008, how many providers have left CP? I believe it's only been Renderosity and RuntimeDNA.

Quote - If someone says "Hey, where can I find barbarian-style weapons?", you can list all the packs you can find in our MP, RDNA, DAZ, CP, and any other little store you can find.  Even if you made it.

Um, this is incorrect. A few years ago, when someone asked a direct question about a product at my marketplace here, my reply was deleted and I was given a "verbal warning" (or would that be a "written warning" since it was in an e-mail?) that I was posting a commercial message. My reply was almost exactly like quote above: a customer asked about how to find something and I said "I have one of those in my marketplace".

Since then, I have been under the impression that merely mentioning your own product (even one for sale here) in a non-marketplace forum will get the message deleted and will result in a warning, suspension or ban.

I think Gareee said it best:

Quote - Example: Do you think my advertising my Deadcorn sets here hurt any rendo vendors at all? There's nothing like that here.

Like Spock, this is a very logical approach. Unfortunately, we're dealing with humans, not Vulcans. And because of that, humans may not care about logical arguments: they see that a message linked to a product on DAZ could possibly, potentially, maybe, sort-of take one visitor away from Renderosity. So, to stop all these hordes of people from leaving, a new policy must create a new policy.

I also agree with redhorse: if someone claims that outside advertising affects the Renderosity merchants in any way, then let's see some proof. Let's see some definitive numbers that show "person X clicked a link, purchased a product at DAZ and resulted in a Z% drop in income for this site and this merchant."
Personally, I don't think this kind of analysis is even possible, given all the factors that affect website traffic and this business in general.

I also don't think we should should be viewing the community as a pie to be sliced up, as in "if you get more money, I get less money".
If I buy V4 at DAZ, does Renderosity lose any money? No because they don't sell V4. So how does a Renderosity merchant lose money? I would think that all the Renderosity merchants who make V4 characters would be very happy that I just bought V4 from a competitor: now that I have the base figure, I'm in the market for their products.

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