Quote - Who cares if you "posed" it - if it's not your creation, the pose is original, but the image is largely made of plagiarism - plagiarized mesh, plagiarized rigging, plagiarized materials, etc.

There's no refuting that. The question is does composing the scene (choosing costumes, posing, lighting, and camera, etc.), i.e. being a virtual producer/director of the photo shoot qualify you as a CG artist. I say it doesn't. It qualifies you as a producer/director. CG artist is not the producer or director - he is the guy who makes the assets from nothing.

Isn't that exactly the point the guys on CGS sniff at?