“As far as communication goes I only really engage in interactions here at Renderosity, for whatever that's worth... at the other sites I go by a different user name in any case.”

Ditto, though I was fairly active in the ‘Rotca forums for a few months at the height.*

‘Suicide notes’ is an interesting take, probably accurate in some regards. People want a last chance to air whatever grievances they felt haven’t been heard. They also likely get more love on departure than during their tenure. Some are happy to see the ‘weak’ culled, but I’m glad admin has started to cut back on some of the evolutionary pressure that may cause people to leave. It’s not the ice age anymore.

“Also, there seems to be less power user commentary here than there used to be... or maybe this is my* imagination?”

Hmm, I misread that as less power users. Depends on what you mean by power user commentary – tech talk, art talk …

“I think too that the digital information age and the ready availability of this subject matter in it's myriad forms has normalized it to the extent that it no longer has the potency or mystique that it once did* …”

Indeed. I feel sorry for today’s adolescents who will never know the illicit thrill of a stolen glance at a copy of Playboy yielded, or the giddy appeal of Amazonian tribeswomen in National Geographic; heck even the legendary Sears catalog was fun. I have to think that the easy exposure to explicit, and in particular, increasingly misogynistic material is not the best thing for the adolescent brain. Actually, I think I’d rather have them playing with Lali and her bits than going online.*

“Apologizing to DireLilith for grinching her thread* …”

Seems to have been abandoned – squatter’s rights ÷)

On the lack of character variation, if a feature’s not used, people may see no need for it or they may be intimidated either by the interface or the function or disappointed with the results. Maybe they are so into the bodies and the clothes that the faces are an afterthought or they’re happy with the various character packs. Could be not feeling competent to create anything good (e.g. I don’t know anything about anatomy, where would I begin changing things and I’d probably create something weird looking, leave it to the professionals.). A better faceroom with support for the DAZ figures might change things, or something like the police identi-kit for creating faces – spinning dials isn’t going to hack it for everyone. Maybe also the perspective thing. I see people always complaining about various defects in the figures that I can’t see. Ditto the ‘I can always tell Vickie from the way her septum is .010 degrees off center.’ Part of it my be lacking a trained eye, not looking at that many gallery images, or different visual priorities. If I see an image, my 1st reaction probably isn’t going to be ‘OMG, WTF, the shadows are wrong, call a cop!’ So maybe the annoying sameness isn’t seen or at least not being perceived in the same way by some. I agree, it’s something you’d think people would take more into account but it is what it is for why ever it is.*

*Going admittedly on very vague memories of what little Crepax, Druuna etc. I saw years ago, I think you might have trouble convincing many (at least among  Americans) that it is art and not pornography, though the distinction is perhaps too subjective to be of any legitimate usefulness other than to prosecutors. I think a lot of people are going to go more on the degree of explicitness and the type of themes being portrayed than on execution or esthetics. The medium may play some role, i.e. a comic may get more slack than a film but OTOH, ‘comics’ evoke children in the minds of many and may be doubly damned. 

It may be heretical but I think attempts at classifying art as good/bad erotic/pornographic, art/not art etc. are ultimately unhelpful. We are always going to make those personal judgments but to the extent that they get promoted, it may only serve to reinforce the notion that some art is illegitimate or should even be suppressed – not the intent, but perhaps the effect. Maybe that strikes at a pillar of criticism, but I’ve always been skeptical of critics judging what I can judge for myself, other than using a like minded person as a recommender.

primorge, your imagination is breathtaking to say the least. Didn't see all of the images but love the colors on some like Eve. The biologicals are a bit too much for me but you could have made a killing on album covers back in the 60s-70s I'd think.  

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken