Just my two cents from years of being a member here. Let's see... "Joined 23 Mar 2000" should be worth something, right?

Anyway, the "new" rules seem to be an extension of the existing rules, which are:

1. You CAN NOT create a new thread talking about your own product, in any forum other than the Product Showcase Forum. This is called a "commercial posting".
   The new rules state you can't post a message about your own products in outside stores.

1a) Talking about your own product, even answering someone's question is considered bad form and some of the mods will delete the posting as being "commercial".
As an example, if someone asks "Where can I get a cool X?" and you reply, "Well, I have a X in my store!", a mod may delete it and give you a warning. (This happened to me a few times, even when my answer was to go to my marketplace here at Renderosity. As an aside, I wonder if my "verbal warnings" ever expire or if they're part of my permanent record!)

2. The forums have ALWAYS allowed people to say "Check out this cool X made by someone else". This is not a commercial posting, but a "informing the greater community of a new item that's available" posting.

So, while Stonemason can't announce his new product here at Renderosity (using him as a recent example), it is perfectly within the rules for other people to announce it and even post links to it over at DAZ.

Personally, I think this goes against the spirit of both the "no advertising" rule and the "no links to outside stores" rules, but that's just me. If the rule is "no advertising", then people shouldn't be allowed to post links to product. Although the creator of the product isn't promoting his own item, he's certainly getting attention and advertising... and probably a bunch of new sales.

And if the rule is "no links to outside stores", then ALL links, no matter who posts them should be removed... including links to DAZ and Smith Micro.

The same is true for free items: you can make a freebie and announce your creation in the Freebie Forum. If you post your message in the Poser Forum, someone may complain about the "spam" message you posted.
Yet people are free to post a "look at this cool freebie made by artist X" message without it being considered "spam". Like product announcements, isn't this still advertising?

I've wondered why self-promotion is "bad" advertising, but getting other people to promote your items is acceptable. Again, no matter who creates the message thread, the link to your item is still getting posted in the forums.

VanishingPoint... Advanced 3D Modeling Solutions