It's interesting that this is coming up again. Long ago, there was a "New Products" forum here at Renderosity, that allowed any member of the community to post links to products on ANY site. That forum provided VALUE to the community and encouraged lots of people to hang out here and even buy some stuff. Frequently the product on the other site required or at least complemented something in Renderosity's huge store resulting in a sale for both Renderosity and the other site. Then advertising competing sites was banned and the forum was renamed "Marketplace" or something like that, and only contained announcements about new products in the Renderosity store. Pointless. If I wanted to see what's new in the store, I'd go to the actual store (crazy, I know). That's when I gave up on the forums, though I continued buying from the store. I didn't really come back to lurking around the forums until after all the recent changes to the site and Prime membership. I've stopped buying anything, but enjoy watching a good train wreck.

It seems that Renderosity is getting desperate to turn things around, but everything you do is simply reinforcing previous missteps and adding new ones. I mourn for the future of what was once my favorite 3D site. Coupled with DAZ's foolish foray into DRM and exclusion of Poser users by most vendors, this hobby is dying fast for me.

As for the "censorship", consider that passionate complaints are a sign of a healthy community. It means the members care enough to tell you what you are doing wrong so you can serve them better and ultimately make more money, keep your jobs, etc. If the complaints stop, it isn't because everything is OK, it's because no one cares anymore. If the complaints are censored, you will simply drive away your most passionate supporters, the ones who care enough about your business to spend their time trying to help you fix problems you may not be aware of. Embrace the gift of complainers. They will help you grow your business.

As a public speaker, I always explicitly solicit negative feedback from attendees. Comments like "great job" or "loved it" won't help me grow and improve. I'm far more grateful to the guy who tells me, "Your explanation of X confused me..." or "I couldn't hear you in the back row..." because I now have something to work on to better my skills as a presenter. You should do the same with site members.