I've rarely learned anything looking at someone else's shader that I'd want to keep. (I have learned a lot about what doesn't work that way.) So if I was going to build a new shader for a 3rd party something (which I do all the time) I'd pretty much not be interested in seeing what's there already. All I want is the maps. If you were to have me participate in such a discussion, showing me what's there already would be pretty much a waste of time, so no need to be concerned about violating intellectual property rights.

The biggest problem to collaborative shader discussion, as far as me participating, would be that I'm unlikely to have whatever item you've got in mind. Of course, working with freebies would be no problem, or you could buy the item for me or get the vendor to give it to me, and then I'd shader it up.

Most of the time that I'm fixing something, I use a shader I've got in my collection and tweak it. And almost all that is in my collection is something I've already given away in a thread or on my site.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)