"I'm not quite sure what it means, but somehow I'd like to see a Poser render of the image this invokes." – Heh, heh when in Rome …

"A new generation of people who have grown up online and operate by a somewhat different set of assumptions about the way people communicate through text.."  

I knew mortality had a purpose. It relieves the old from having to suffer the follies of the young for too long.

"In the end, even as our tolerance for each other and for the differences among us improves with every generation, everyone these days, offline and on, seems a little less patient and a little more judgmental about the small things."

A great irony or it just proves that people will find something to argue about. If it ain’t teh gays, it’s teh Genesis – go figure.

"I also don't buy the "temperamental artist" schtick, either. It's an overused expression to excuse childish behaviour from people who'd probably get punched in the face in real life."

Agreed. The "Eccentric" artist/genius etc. gig is a nice one if you can get it. Sometimes the very people who should be intelligent enough to see through the dodge seem most enamored of catering to it. Of course, they also pay big bucks for embalmed cow ‘art’ so I suppose it works out. There are a some extremely talented people who are also genuinely impaired. You can have 10 million drunks, and suicides though, but one Hemingway etc. makes a stereotype.

"When Poser 9 and Genesis were both coming out, there was some talk about "rescuing Poser", with what was probably some hysteria. Others may similarly be concerned that Poser is moving in some undesirable direction …"

That’s the part I find hard to understand. Microsoft has made changes that arguably in some way had a negative effect on me professionally and even personally, but I’ve never felt the level of anger about that I’ve seen expressed here – or are people just acting. Without Poser, I would never have satisfied my any of my 'artistic' itch after my talent topped out in 2nd grade. I’m grateful and even though I’ll put my isolated,  computer dependent, neurotic credentials up against anyone's, the prospect of some change in Poser doesn’t drench me in a cold sweat or make me froth at the mouth. Peg me for insufficient loyalty I guess.

"I wouldn't expect an answer to a Hexagon- or Photoshop related question in the Poser forum, not even if the end result is MEANT for Poser. I'd use the proper forums. I kinda thought that's what they were here for in the first place…"

Seriously? So to find out about making a Poser map in PhotoShop one has to go to the PhotoShop forum? If you want to put a Poser figure in a Vue scene or use a Vue background in Poser, where do you post. Sorry Trekkie that just seems needlessly isolationist and I think it is a part of the problem – dividing people by application rather than uniting them around a common interest. For better or worse, this has always been the most used forum and people who want their questions answered in a timely fashion (or at all) – just as you do – post here. There was a nice little thread the other day about using a Poser environment vs. Vue and Carrara got mentioned as well. I learned some things about all three as, I think did the other folks. I’d hate to lose that kind of experience because Poser users want to lock themselves away in a tower. Let your hair down Rapunzel ÷)

As an example, I just pointed someone looking for seam guides to SnowSultan’s. You all know his work and the contributions he's made to the ‘community. Good thing I looked them up and didn’t just point the person to freestuff. I found out that he pulled his stuff here, and is fairly frank in saying the reason was the negative stuff here because he uses DS. Now I don’t know who said what to who of how any blame should be apportioned, but it sounds like a valuable member lost due to the atmosphere here. Of course he uses DS so who cares, though I was happy to snag his Smacky character for V4 - despite the contamination - Oh hell, because of it :-) 

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