You're right, obm890... The model is way too heavy. the reason for this is that in poser 8 for some reason I keep getting these artifacts where it looks like the mesh is showing as little black lines (basically the mesh is showing for some reason), the only solutions I've found to this particular problem is to either subdivide the mesh to an exorbitant degree, raise min shading rate to an unacceptable degree, or disable smoothing entirely. Obviously in an object that I plan on sharing with others having the model be heavy seemed like the lesser of all evils. Maybe you can help me with this problem?

also, otherwise what do you think of the model for someone who has been doing this for basically less than a year?, knowing that you took the time and effort to download so that you may analyze my modest modelling skills... and considering this don't you think it's a little unfair to compare me, a newbie, to someone like stonemason?

see image above? any clues?

And yes, you're right, it started as a single inset control edge... having discovered that the model at a lower resolution was crawling with these bizarre artifacts at rendertime I subdivided.