(ok, finally deciding to post this.)

actually, no, it's really not that hard to get banned.  i mean, i don't know any details of communication, but the base issue was pretty easy to step into.  i know i would have made the same mistake in his position, if you consider it a mistake.

and i don't think V4's popularity is due to anything but her support.  certainly not any notion of quality or performance for average users.  if V4 had Miki 1's support, i don't think she'd be anywhere near as popular as Miki was on release.  new figures don't work because there's pretty much no follow-through, and that's assuming they get lots of support on launch.  imho, people have to see new stuff they crave for the a figure at least once a week, and once a day would be better.  they have to want to use the figure, and that means wanting to get content for the figure.  even more importantly, they have to believe there will be more stuff they'll like in the future.  they have to know that when they return to the market place, there will be more stuff they crave, and more to spend money on.

sure perfectionists care about how a figure bends.  but if most people cared about that, there wouldn't have been so many images with V4's craptastic shoulders unaltered before corvas came out with his fix.  people who are perfectionists with textures seem to be happy with the new UV mapping.  but average  texture merchants just tweak merchant resources a little, and don't worry that much about things like stretching or seams because they let the resource handle seams and resolution.  and that's the people selling textures, not using them.  if people really cared about realistic proportions and anatomy, i can't imagine anyone would use V4.  my boyfriend cannot help actually exclaiming and talking about her arms every time i load her.  and even i can tell her back is just awful in default, and very, very few morphs improve it.  if expressions were that important to most users, V4's would be used more than versions before her. her topology is smoother, but how many people take advantage of it by making custom morphs?

the average user likes V4 because she gets all the cool new stuff, and will get all the  cool new stuff until she's replaced.

for a figure to be loved by the masses, people have to see and want it in the galleries. they have to see and want  the stuff for it in the market.  they have to want to feed and clothe that figure, so to speak.  and they have to be able to load and render.  not load and render and achieve perfection.   just load and render make what everyone else is making.

the thing is, if (when?)  DAZ stops supporting Poser, the same people who won't bother switching to a new figure probably won't bother switching to new software.  and people like new stuff, not old.  if lots of merchants, especially those in the top 50 or 100,  make it clear they'll support a specific new figure, they could set a new standard and make lots of money.   or they could just keep supporting the last Vicky to work in Poser, and still make lots of money.  but it's up to developers.  the issue is that it's not up to developers as individuals, but as a large group.  

so this thread is as relevant to merchants (or merchants to be) as they want to make it.  if DAZ does stop supporting Poser, or even significantly undercut their Poser version of V4, then it is an opportunity.  but i think the big issue would be coordination of effort rather than independent choice.