I know this thread is aimed at Forum progression, but just a few notes in regards to points 1 and 2 that have been raised in the OP about the market place and content development.

Vendors need to be vary wary about building content development strategies based on niche demand or the preferences of vocal minorities.

A fundamental misconception is that vendors are turning their backs on the market. In reality, most vendors are moving with the majority demand of the market and have access, beyond only personal preference, to actual data of what does sell in the marketplace. And this will always influence their content creation efforts despite any strings of nostalgia they may have. Vendors will for the most part create what they generally like to use or want themselves for whichever platform or figure they prefer or find best to work with. Which will be influenced by their experience in the market place. A sci-fi specialist is never going to swap to creating cutesy clothing for K4 regardless of the pressures or the supposed perceived gains in doing so. A broader market is generally best created with new or diversified vendors and not expecting existing ones to change to fit a particular demand. Something I have suggested before is that if you truly believe a particular type product will sell. Why not approach a vendor and offer a commision for the item and then you can sell it yourself in the market? If your right you could be sitting on a gold mine as a middle man. Though if the vendors inclination is correct, you're potentially going to lose money if the predicted demand isn't actually there. Or maybe consider venturing into content creation vending yourself to fill the market void.

One major impact on the current market segment is fragmentation of Software version and actual figure base to build on. Lots of choice isn't always a good thing in a narrow market sector, especially on the base level of things. This can lead to a products thats market is the % of a % of a % of the actual full market segment. Low target market size equates to higher risk for developers. Keeping all of those percentages as large as possible is the key to making a products with the broadest possible reach and viability for actual returns, with the lowest associated risk. Not many truly know the actual % values of each different part of the market, but sales performance is generally the best indicator and most vendors will have access to that data which will likely be used as their primary litmus test.

Unfortunately to all outward appearance the market has moved on for some consumers, moving them from being mainstream consumers with plenty of supply and demand to being niche consumers with low demand and in turn low supply. Niche consumer can always expect less content and more expensive price tags on new content in the long term and really shouldn't expect the greater market to change to suit themselves. As it's really just natural progression of market. I suspect this may be too big a dose of reality for some out there... and all in all it is just my opinion, another opinion among many.

Another aspect that has made renderosity a great place to broker. Is the freedom of content creators to create whatever they want for whichever genre, figure or platform they chose to. In effect, to me, that is what the basis of creativity is, freedom of expression and direction. The majority of vendors generally lean more towards being artists rather than capitalists, but on the other side of the coin there's not much fun in being a starving artist. When I started here I was brokering to the niche end of the market. But Renderosity never pressured me in anyway to change what I was doing to better fit the broader market segment as they seen it. Which let me develop in my own direction and interest which was something I valued highly and wouldn't like to see changed.

Sure make suggestions of what your own individual preference is, but also realise that it is a very small piece of a greater whole that will influence a content creators actual decisions as to what they will create and vend.

And sadly not all that glitters is gold...