it will lessen the likelihood of getting viruses, etc.

I thought every free stuff uploaded went through screening before actualy approval and going live.. ?!

.. in general:

As a communication manager you are never 'just' the messenger .. If a business message is brought you have to stay included working with the feedback .. Not just drop a message and stay quiet .. But keep on leading the discussion with and for the clients .. Specially when it starts getting hot a communication manager needs to keep communicating till all cools down .. Hot or not it's part of the job ..

Yeah, viruses have been such a huge problem I've never even heard about it.

Laurie

Guys - my main goal is to bring back the SENSE of community Well, this does the polar opposite. We keep saying this and you don't listen. One of the major reasons being that we can no longer help people find add-ons or freebies that they are looking for on the forums. And claiming that we can just give instructions does NOT cut it, because sometimes, the downloads cannot be found on a search engine, and some of us don't use Facebook, have blogs, etc.
Do you not understand how INCREDIBLY self-destructive this rule is? Right now, Rendo is the ONLY commercial Poser site who is banning offsite links. Your competition does not do this. It doesn't matter if Rendo or any other site did this in the past-- remember what happened to America Online, whose business failed because they refused to adapt to the competition, which offered increasingly better deals. Allowing off-site links in the past has ZERO to do with why Rendo is struggling. Renderosity is struggling because of the following things, which sadly are mostly out of your control (unless TPtB listen to you, sadly)

--Horrible site design to this day, site is slow to load even with a fast internet connection-- something that not everyone has to this day.

--Paltry sales which do not come anywhere close to matching those of competing sites (people have complained about this countless times) One of the keys to a successful business is looking at your competition, and trying to match it. Daz, RDNA, and Hivewire are all out competing you in deals.

--Prime is a shadow of its former self due to the new policy of no longer giving vendors 100% royalties for prime product purchases. The result is that non-backlog Prime products cost more than they used to, some as much as 10 dollars. Platinum Club is now several times better than Prime-- in the past, some people considered Prime to be as good or superior to Platinum Club.

These ones below are immutable because they are in the past. Any claims from you, me, or anyone else that these are unfair is completely irrelevant, because the fact is that they hurt consumer confidence and drove Freebie makers away-- whether they are being fair or not to do so does not change this fact.

--Loss of consumer confidence due to the credit hacking incident and failure of the staff to believe the customers.

--Loss of consumer confidence due to 2-3 years of disastrous site redesigns.

--The ridiculous gallery rules that rolled out during the last site redesign. This drove some of the freebie makers away. While the policy was changed a couple weeks later, the damage was already done.

--Took a long time for all of the previous gallery features to return-- some were only brought back a few weeks ago.

OK well reading the feedback from staff, it seems like i've only one option left, since this is to save us from viruses, then it looks like i have to cancel my internet, inform my online university I'm quitting because Renderosity is scared I get a virus.

Got the gist of this yet "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU GO ON THE INTERNET, MESSENGER, WEB PAGE ETC, WE RUN THE RISK OF A VIRUS ON OUR PC'S EVERY DAY"

I'm sorry but i'm taking a sabbatical from stupidity, sheesh Common sense has died

Hugs

Piper

I do fail to see how isolation will make this community closer. It would be different if we had no place else to go. But we do and many will leave. The thing is as Maylasse said, we leave to get something, and then we come back, but we don't always come back alone. As we are introduced to new sites and communities, we make new acquaintances and either invite them back or point them in this direction for help or products. But now, if we never see the links, we won't go there and meet those people.

I saw a claim that other sites are doing this too. The main forums I frequent have a forum just for linking to offsite freebies. There have been mods in the past that have said this forum was for that.

As for viruses, I have no more guarantee that the freebies I download here are any safer than at viruses-r-us (forgive me if that's a real site it's meant to be tongue in cheek). I see nothing when I download or upload a product that indicates it's been scanned by antivirus software. So I have to assume it's not. Most people know to scan stuff when they download it. If you're worried about liability, put a warning at the top of the forum stating you are not liable for things downloaded from other sites right under where it says "Forum news, updates, events, and other items of interest to members. Also may be used to post notices or questions to the forum team.."

And protecting us from spamming? How will this help? spammers don't care about the rules. As others have said they can create them as fast as you can take them down. I was in the chat when the troll was there. He was creating new identities faster than you could ban the old ones. I get that there are only so many of you all working to help us and can't be everywhere at once. I don't think this is the solution because you can't be everywhere at once to enforce it.

It's the Users own responsibility to keep his/her machine safe not Renderosity's that is what AV's Firewalls and Malware apps are for plus the experience of the User theirselves in dealing with Online nastiness, I trust myself to take care of these things way more than Renderosity or any other site so That reason doesn't hold water.

As far as advertising Freebies on FaceBook, Twitter or Google believe it or not there are many of us that will not go near those places for any reason, I do Art I go to Art Sites I don't play the Social Media BS Game, I do the Digital Art game.

I was a Moderator here for quite a while and Quit when I saw the Social Media "Revolution" coming full speed at Renderosity and it started with the "Cheerleader" type of thing and the Idea that as Staff we need to get with the Social Media mindset, That is just not going to happen not for me. There is nothing wrong with being Pumped about what you're doing and wanting others to be Pumped too but it can't or at least shouldn't be forced on others like the FaceBook, Google thing is, they are not the end all be all of Digital Art they are the Bane of it IMO. Renderosity has to face the fact they are not the ONLY Art site nor the Best, they are one of many and when one Dumps on us we will go elsewhere. I totally agree linking to other sites Marketplaces for content especially content available here is a bad thing but Freebies take nothing from nobody. It just seems to me things are getting a bit too proprietary here, other Sites exist and everyone knows it and basically being told not to acknowledge them isn't going to make them Go Away.

Hello all -

Please do not shoot me, I have come here to give my opinion about a few things.

I have been here for a total of 7 years now and yes, I was gone for about a year for some reasons and then came back.

This has always been and will always be my love and home.

I would like to say that Hope did explain why there would not be anymore off site linking, through the entire site as well as the Freebie area.

We all are really trying to make some changes to the site in the Community as well as the Marketplace and promote RENDEROSITY as best as we can and keep as many members here at Renderosity rather than send them to another site which is why we changed the offsite linking. It was this way before I took a break.

I am also unsure why vendors put their Freebies at other places as we do not limit the amount of Freebies one can post daily so I would think/Hope they would put all of them here for our members to get use of them.

I am very sorry if you all do not agree with the direction we are trying to move in and while I can understand why some of you feel the way you do, I wish you wouldn't attack someone's character.

Ladyelf, Hope did not delete anyone's comments so please, do not assume because there are 5 others here at Renderosity who may have done so.

I am here to listen as always, I just ask you all to please not judge so harshly and assume things are a certain way as things are not always as they seem.

The "silly little contests" as someone put are her trying to get some participation up in the Community and I am happy she keeps trying

I care about all of you and while I know change can be hard sometimes, please give it a shot.

Thank you to all of you who contribute and have a wonderful day!

BTW, just a request, but could anyone here who decides to pull their freebies please give us an 8 hour courtesy forewarning first so that we have a chance to DL them before they're gone? This request does not apply to those whose downloads redirect to ShareCG, though.

Kristi, I did not assume anything. I simply asked her where they were. I'm sure she knew. Please do not presume that I was assuming. I have been around the block here long enough to know that when things like this happen more then one person starts to get involved. I am not without admin experience myself nor am I without knowledge of what it takes to build a site and maintain happiness for it's membership.

I know what my choices are then. I always liked you Kristi, and i know ya have to tow the company line, but I'm not putting my freebies here and if I can't even share them here, there's nothing for me here since that's what I do...make freebies. And just so you guys know for sure, it's not just the ban on freebie links...it's everything together. I'm just tired of it all and I don't even like the place anymore, even tho it used to be a whole lot of fun once.

Laurie

The other reason I agree is because my 17 year old son downloads freebies from here and has gotten a virus on his system from a link one day...not good at all.

Well, that explains it. I was actually wondering if there was an incident. I am sorry that this happened to him, but it should not dictate Renderosity's direction. These things happen. Most if not every other 3D Poser site has a disclaimer that you enter an external link at your own risk. There are free antivirus programs (esp. Malwarebites) which can prevent most of these cases. Make sure he remembers to reactivate them after playing or downloading games (some free game software is prevented from running by antivirus software) There are free browser security add-ons, as well, at the Google Chrome Apps place and Mozilla add-ons site. You can also use a firewall, though it's a pain in the butt and has a learning curve.

I am now putting money in some other vendor's pocket instead of a vendor here at Renderosity.

So? See my previous post about the competition. TPtB of this site (I am referring not to the admins of the forum, but the webmasters) need to clean up their act and make the Renderosity Marketplace competitive again. That way, this will result in more people uploading freebies and participating in the community, here, which brings customers and site traffic from those who do neither of those things. Right now people are spending at other stores because they offer more-- better deals, and NOW, a far better community, which allows people to post links to off-site freebies and tutorials. I suspect that perhaps a feeling of helplessness over the PtB's decisions for the site and marketplace might be causing you guys to try and fix it in the only way you can, but these efforts are making things worse.

I am also unsure why vendors put their Freebies at other places as we do not limit the amount of Freebies one can post daily so I would think/Hope they would put all of them here for our members to get use of them.

Some people don't like the fact that you have a "must be Winzipped" rule. ShareCG allows rars, 7z's, and non-compressed downloads. That is just one reason.
And I can't remember, but doesn't Rendo have an upload size limit. thus forcing people with large files to split them into multiple downloads? I can't recall for certain, but that would be reason number 2.
Number three is that some people have personal websites that include their downloads as well as a blog and/or tutorials, which they may want to direct traffic to. Number four is that some people use Sharefile, Dropfile, etc. to upload their links. This saves them the time of uploading their freebies to multiple sites such as their blog, someone else's freebie site, the Daz Forums, and Renderosity, for example. Number five is that some people have a personal marketplace website E.g. Pretty3D's Artraiders, and may want to direct traffic to it. This is almost entirely a thing of the distant past, of course, since it is no longer lucrative to do this, so people almost never do, anymore.

QUOTE Say there is a Freebie I like so I click on it, it take me to Daz or another store, I then go one step further and start looking in the Marketplace for something else to go with what I downloaded. I find a nice product that is $15.00 so I buy it.

This would be valid if most of the things sold or given for free here were not dependant on products from other companies...like Daz 3D. If they are here buying your content they already know about Daz 3D. The majority of content here is for Victoria 4 and up. None of these products were produced or released by Renderosity , and without them this marketplace would have little to nothing in it. Original models are not your bread and butter , Add-ons are. Cutting out the places who create the bases which people make add-ons for and sell here or give for free is not a wise move.

@4255921 .. exactly ..!!

Just a quick point about the store ...I have been a return customer here for 13 years and a vendor for some of that. The store in itself has seen a huge drop in the quality of products offered here and I have not found myself getting render rewards for ages , because there is a LOT of stuff but there is not a LOT of good stuff. I buy from a choice few vendors here and most of them I must admit have begun selling elsewhere as well. Quality is important , Quantity is only a plus if the products you offer are indeed quality products. Promo standards and overall quality control seem to be slipping , instead of cutting links to other stores or free things for fear of losing sales I would suggest stepping up your own content and providing well priced Quality merchandise that isn't drowned out by a sea of sub-par products. In the long run , it is this problem and not offsite links that is costing you the business you desire. I shop elsewhere because I get more quality for my money at other sites and I return to them because they are consistent in quality I have come to know and expect as a customer.

P3D you are one of the Vendors here who's quality I support and enjoy !

Since I am one of the persons involved in testing and screening the items that get posted to Freestuff and why I feel this new policy is actually to our benefit let me say this. Even thou one comment is that we are doing this is because of virus well that is not the only reason. In other post else where on the site there have been complaints by members of items being posted to the Freestuff area with links to offsite locations that promote porn and one contributor to Freestuff his offsite link leads to a site with questionable and very suggestive child images that I am sure would make 99% of our members head turn. Many of these accounts have been warned or removed. The new policy will greatly help prevent this as well. I am not sure why this has angered so many since other sites have more Draconian rules. I still feel we have the most user friendly TOS than most sites if not I would not be contributing my free time to help out in the forums here. So please consider that the changes being made are not to discourage you from contributing but make you feel like we are trying to look out for your best interest as well.

It's not just the freebies. That's just the last straw for a lot of people.

I am not sure why this has angered so many since other sites have more Draconian rules.

Uh, no, they do not. Daz for instance allows (unless they since changed that) offsite links to pornographic sites so long as a NSFW warning is given, Hivewire, Daz, and RDNA all allow links to external sites with and without marketplaces so long as the MP page is not linked to directly. Links to external site tutorials are also allowed-- the prohibition of linking to offsite tutorials is going to be a major killer of this forum and this site. The suggestion of giving instructions to a link is ludicrous because some freebies are hosted on dropbox and skydrive, which cannot be found via Google/Bing/etc, while others are only available through the Internet Wayback Machine.

**Say there is a Freebie I like so I click on it, it take me to Daz or another store, I then go one step further and start looking in the Marketplace for something else to go with what I downloaded. I find a nice product that is $15.00 so I buy it.

I am now putting money in some other vendor's pocket instead of a vendor here at Renderosity.**

I don't think anyone doubt that you at Renderosity want to do what you think is best for the site and that you are friendly people etc. What people are complaining about is the rules you want to apply, because they are so absurd that they make no sense. Its seems like you are trying a strategy that if you can create a dome around Renderosity then the members will be unable to see whats going on, on the outside. Like people wont go to these other sites regardless of whether you link to them or not? Like the knowledge of these places will magically disappear when you remove the links to them. Im sorry, but for one that have worked with computers my whole life and have a degree in advanced computer science and media science its like you are completely out of touch with how people use the internet. How on earth will you justify that, upsetting most of your community for something that is most likely not even close to having any positive effect on your income, and most likely it will have the exact opposite effect as i have already pointed out.

What do you expect will happen when people stop posting freebies here and instead post them on Daz3d? How much time do you think it will take for people looking for freebies to skip Renderosity all together and just go straight to one of the other site? Then you wont even have a chance of getting those 15$. Im honestly shocked, I have seen poor online marketing strategies and even been forced to apply some my self, but those doesn't even come close to what you are about to do here and i would be extremely surprised if you have a webmaster or online marketing advisor that he/she would agreed with this strategy as being good. I mean you gain absolutely nothing out of this, except your own believe that all of Renderosity members see the site as if its some sort of big happy family. Its an illusion,

And as someone already stated you can not let personal or a very few incidents with people getting a virus dictate your whole linking strategy, there are companies making a living out of getting rid of virus, please leave that to them. Besides that, you still allow people to link to none competitive sites, so what if people get a virus from one of those? Ain't you responsable for those as well or do you have some "special" technology so you know that the virus threat is somehow only isolated to the freebies section? If that's the case you should develope virus protection instead, because im pretty sure you have a very unique knowledge then, that none of the other companies will be able to replicate. I hope you see how out of touch this sounds and that you argument for why this will increase the protection for your members are completely from another world.

@ Lobo3433 .. then isn't it for the testers to actualy test first where the link is going and decline those freebies and not approve in the first place .. instead of totally ban all external links ..?!

Just to add my own opinion,

FIrstly I really wonder what 3Darena said that everyone so clearly agreed with? That later seems to have been removed by someone quite mysteriously.

I can not reasonably see any positive outcomes for either the community or Renderosity's business goals in this change to the freebies policy.

I removed my freebies here a number of months ago when the direction began heading to being more of a donation of free content to Renderosity to be used sheerly for Renderosity's own benefit only. eg Renderosity ad revenue, site traffic generation, and general market flow through.

This additional change basically solidifies a system where you will only see freebies from Vendors here. As any shared reward in the freebie has been completely nullified. I make the freebie "GIVE" it to Renderosity. They enjoy the reward while the actual creator receives very little unless they are a vendor here. The freebies forum here will also become rather irrelevant to the greater community as many other sites provide freebie forums that do allow linking to Rendo freebies and in fact any legal freebie around the web. The change would restrict the Freebie forum here to a keyhole view of the Freebie content available as a whole on the net (Only onsite freebies).

I still don't understand how a site that sells content that depends on other external 3rd party content can believe building walls around their own site it is in their own best interest. Go on buy that G3F little black dress that requires A a 3rd party software Application that requires registration at a 3rd party site. B Also requires a 3rd party figure that needs to be downloaded from a 3rd party store front. But we hope you will only spend here in the future. People will choose in this industry to spend their hard earned money on any product in any store that they want for their creative pursuits. It's impossible to pin them down unless you have a closed market such is in 3D Game consoles.

I do understand that all of the admins do want the best for this site, though I do wonder how they assess the impact of some of these changes to the actual community who do pursue 3D art themselves as a hobby and are not just in it for the revenue stream. As it seems a lot of these decisions are made entirely in a vacuum and impacts that immediately present to myself are entirely missed in the justification of the change.

Also there is no liability for Renderosity in the aspect of potential malware exposure from links as the current TOS covers that and has for as long as I can remember.

Excerpt from DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES: --> https://www.renderosity.com/mod/wiki/?policies&terms

RENDEROSITY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; (ii) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE; (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE; (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS; AND (v) ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS ACCESSED AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.

I am so sad to think of what this site has become, that a brilliant post is removed.

OK, I read 3D-Arena's comments, and visited her store earlier in the day. I found it honest and not out of line. Did you seriously ban a respected vendor and delete her store for simply disagreeing with you? Really?

P3D-Art posted at 9:45PM Thu, 18 February 2016 - #4255934

@ Lobo3433 .. then isn't it for the testers to actualy test first where the link is going and decline those freebies and not approve in the first place .. instead of totally ban all external links ..?!

The testers are to make sure the download that are posted to the Renderosity site are with in compliance to the TOS items posted on other sites are not part of our what we are required to do. Please remember we are volunteers and all we are required to do is test that which is uploaded to Renderosity not what is being posted on other sites. But we do come across offsite links to sites that are against our TOS very often when items are just linked to thru forum post. as to my comment about Draconian rules I will say that I have seen and experience other sites where any comment or item that is not exactly with in their TOS not only removed but any negative comment about their site leads to a ban or termination of your account. I do not wish to be the next individual to be bashed or targeted for voicing an opinion that does not fully agree with the masses. And I fully understand your point Faerydae about this is not the only issue it is as you say "the last straw for many" and can empathize with you on that. But truly this policy change is not a hindrance that some feel it is IMHO

But this rule also applies to posting off-site links in Free Stuff, correct? (not the forum, the Freestuff uploads) I could not find it mentioned specifically in any of the threads, but I am assuming (as are many others here) that this is the case since most of your reasons (viruses, offsite marketplaces) apply.

Also, I too want to know if you banned 3D-Arena and removed her store because of her post.

I don't think I can say anything more than what's already been said, so I'll just leave this..

@DestinysGarden & @IceEmpress I didn't see the post, because removal, but I'm assuming you're talking about 3-DArena (as opposed to 3D-Arena as everyone's been typing), and she's still here. Her store is here: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?uid=35702

Or were/are there 2 vendors with the same name?

I would hope Renderosity was not so unprofessional as to ban 3D-Arena and close her store , which has been quite successful here at Renderosity for her opinion in this matter. I will be very , very hard pressed to ever shop , Vendor or do anything else here if that is the case. We are not drones , we are people , people who have minds and opinions and feelings and voices that deserve to be heard. The freebie linking thing was the last straw for many. 3D-Arena's fate may very well be mine.

Well, 3-DArena has had her store closed before for voicing her opinion so maybe she, herself, asked for the post to be removed to prevent that from happening again? I suppose I would agree with her if I had read it as it seems the others I agree with are doing so. Still, it would have been better to be able to see it but if it's her decision to delete I'm ok with it. If she was censored, then it's another story altogether.

Vaskania posted at 11:44PM Thu, 18 February 2016 - #4255968

I don't think I can say anything more than what's already been said, so I'll just leave this..

@DestinysGarden & @IceEmpress I didn't see the post, because removal, but I'm assuming you're talking about 3-DArena (as opposed to 3D-Arena as everyone's been typing), and she's still here. Her store is here: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?uid=35702

Or were/are there 2 vendors with the same name?

Correct you are Vaskania, and I have been typing it wrong. Your direct link works, however, her name does not come up in the Marketplace vendor search. Edit: but I do see her on the list of exclusive vendors, so previous comments were presumptive. Apologies. But the point remains that one should be allowed to respectfully disagree, especially when invited by the opening post.

I can't edit my post, stupid time limit, but it turns out I wasn't all that correct afterall. >.<

Has she been banned? Yes.

Did she remove her original post? No. It was removed and looks like most of those who quoted it have been removed as well.

She did however remove her second post as she posted it just before she received a warning...as soon as she received the warning she took the second post down, but it had already been read and replied to, so there was a bit of a hinky time thing going on, as she really didn't post after the warning but it looked like she did. So there could have been a very possible hasty decision and a 'timing is everything' thing going on.

Is her store going to be down? She is still in the drop down for exclusive vendors but not in the "All vendors" Direct links still work, I have no idea what will happen when the site does their daily update.

Those be the facts, no speculation, no gossip.

@Lobo3433 .. I know testers and such are volunteers but stil it has a responsability that we count on since the testers give it a go of approval if I understand well ..

According to the The testers are to make sure the download that are posted to the Renderosity site are with in compliance to the TOS .. Now again if one of the testers are testing a new upload I assume they have to click on the download link to see if it actualy works .. So when clicking on the link you could be refered as you mentioned to f.e. a porn site .. then it should be one of the tasks as a part of the testing process to let Rendo know and question if it is wise to approve from showcasing or not .. As part of a preventive action to keep Rendo clean ..

Does this makes sense explaining in my wonderful English ..??

LOL This is ridiculous.

I have no comment, a well-respected vendor has been banned. Customers being suggested to delete their accounts and even given help with that. But I would ask powers that be, if they think this has gone a bit too far now? Can we please ALL stop this right now and give it some senses? There's a REASON people are voicing their opinions and the reason is that your crippled community here still CARES for this place and is trying to fight for it and you're shutting them up.

Why is this happening, Renderosity?

Because sales are down, they're in panic mode and think this will make people just stay at Rendo and shop here. It's as if we were born this morning and have no previous knowledge of other Poser/3D stores, forums, galleries, etc.

Judging from my experience I've hardly bought anything from here in the last 3 months because I'm a Poser user still using M4/V4. I don't have to apologize for not liking Daz studio, Genesis, Dawn, Dusk or whatever. So, since there is hardly anything for my figures of choice naturally I will shop elsewhere like RDNA. It's as simple as that. They can't expect to get the same number of sales DAZ is getting with the G3/DS only stuff so now they're in a bind.

KristiS posted at 12:11PM Fri, 19 February 2016 - #4255909

The other reason I agree is because my 17 year old son downloads freebies from here and has gotten a virus on his system from a link one day...not good at all. Now I know a whole lot of you are well aware of what to stay away from however to someone who is just starting out (age does not matter as new to this world is new no matter how old you are) does not know and most of the time finds out the hard way.

If that really happened then I'm sure a respectable company would immediately alert its members, who may well have already followed the link, to the possibility of getting a virus from a link published on their website an advise them to check their system for potential malware.

I don't recall seeing any such public alert here, so to avoid any possibility that someone might mistakenly think this incident was made up to score a cheap point it might be prudent to provied a link to the public warning, so that all here can see the seriousness with which Renderosity takes our online safety.

Because sales are down, they're in panic mode

My impression as well. It's a combination of panic mode because freebies are way down, sales are way down, and the virus scare after the son of one of the admins recently got one from either a forum freebie link or an off-site freestuff link.

You know, it really says something that nearly all of the comments from vendors about this policy on these forums has been overwhelmingly, extremely negative. You would think this would be a hint to TPtB and the admins here. You don't piss off your vendors, not if you want to survive as a business. P3D-Art and 3-DArena are not small time vendors, either, and both Wolfie and SWAM are on Rendo's top vendors list! Kristi, Hope, and all other Rendo admins (And TPtB), this should be the moment of truth for the admins and TPtB. The faster that this is realized and the rule reversed, the less damage you will cause to the site in the long run. Do not wait for 2-3 weeks like you usually do with disastrous decisions like these, because by then it will be too late, just as it was when you removed the destructive gallery limitations initiated during last summer's redesign.

KristiS posted at 12:22PM Fri, 19 February 2016 - #4255909

Hello all -

Please do not shoot me, I have come here to give my opinion about a few things.

I have been here for a total of 7 years now and yes, I was gone for about a year for some reasons and then came back.

This has always been and will always be my love and home.

I would like to say that Hope did explain why there would not be anymore off site linking, through the entire site as well as the Freebie area.

This was NOT just her decision as I did and still do stand by that decision and here is why...

Say there is a Freebie I like so I click on it, it take me to Daz or another store, I then go one step further and start looking in the Marketplace for something else to go with what I downloaded. I find a nice product that is $15.00 so I buy it.

I am now putting money in some other vendor's pocket instead of a vendor here at Renderosity.

Thanks for clarifying that the latest attempts to shaft the community are not actually for our benefit, as previously claimed, but an attempt (misguided in the opinion of many) to make a few extra dollars for Renderosity. We appreciate your honesty.

yes, this makes me want to reinstate all my freestuff, forgive TPtB and move along, like a sheep to the slaughter, good times.

Hi everyone-

I know that I am the Community Manager, but these decisions aren't just made by me, they're decided by the Renderosity staff as a whole. So, please stop saying it is just me who is enforcing this, it's all of us.

Lastly, personal attacks are NOT okay and you guys didn't see it, but 3-darena's last comment was a personal attack on staff (me) as well as the first one she wrote. There's a difference between "bashing the policy" and "bashing someone's character." For personal attacks, we have no choice but to lock it and send that member a warning.

rrrrrrrrrrrssssssssssssppppptttttttttttttt

hopeandlove posted at 11:12AM Fri, 19 February 2016 - #4256047

Hi everyone- I just wanted to let you know that 3-Arena's store is NOT closed. Here is the link to her store:

https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/vendor/3-darena

"Sorry! We could not locate the vendor in any of our records. " Looks closed to me... (and no, _she _didn't ask for it to get closed...)

Geez Hope.. Your link to 3-DArenas store says>>> "Sorry! We could not locate the vendor in any of our records."

I think the whole bunch of Rendo's admin have lost their minds!! And I'm very glad that I'm no longer a part of this circus.. I closed my shop & deleted my freebies last year..

hopeandlove posted at 5:33PM Fri, 19 February 2016 - #4256047

Hi everyone-

I know that I am the Community Manager, but these decisions aren't just made by me, they're decided by the Renderosity staff as a whole. So, please stop saying it is just me who is enforcing this, it's all of us.

How do you reconcile that with the statement you made on page one, that said:

"Another is, we had instated this policy a little while back, but it was not followed through. And, so, I decided to bring this rule back because it's unfair to link to other sites." (bold formatting added by me)

Can you see how we might have thought it was your decision? It's a bit unfair to blame others for thinking it was your decision, isn't it?

Maybe it would be a good idea to see if their are any staff at Rendo with communications experience to cast an eye over posts first, to make sure these misunderstandings don't occur?

Her link was removed right before I posted it.

And, just to let you all know - since vendors are supposed to represent our community, they're held accountable for a bit more. We have a Vendor code of conduct, and she's broken that, so that's why all of this took place. This wasn't the first time she broke the rules. Thanks, everyone.

Hisui posted at 11:47AM Fri, 19 February 2016 - #4256060

hopeandlove posted at 11:12AM Fri, 19 February 2016 - #4256047

Hi everyone- I just wanted to let you know that 3-Arena's store is NOT closed. Here is the link to her store:

https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/vendor/3-darena

"Sorry! We could not locate the vendor in any of our records. " Looks closed to me... (and no, _she _didn't ask for it to get closed...)

So where's Shawn's store??? She definitely didn't ask for it to be closed. There were no personal attacks. Stating the numerous issues that 99% of this "community" have with our "authority figures" isn't a personal attack, it's fact.

Might want to rethink that last comment Hope. I'm related to her and I know what her previous issues were.

The last time she had her store closed for disagreeing with some aspects of prime. Her concerns on that were exactly what the store later said was the problem. She did so in a private forum back then as her warning yesterday stated she was supposed to do. She was never ever warned that time, nor was she banned they just closed her store without warning for pointing out that if they did prime as planned it was going to be a problem in a few years. She was brought back by previous administration who agreed she should never have had her store closed in the first place. It wasn't a case of previously breaking the rules when the later admin agreed she didn't do so. The only other time she has ever been warned since 2001 was again in a private forum when a vendor was bashing vendors that were not top sellers and she commented that the vendor in question had infringed copyrights in the past. She was banned from the vendor forum for that and closed her own store. She did not attack that vendor and she only pointed out a truth that had been in the copyright forum and did so only because he was attacking other vendors. So to claim she has a history of breaking the rules is actually not fully accurate and being used to distract from the real problem here.

Her 2nd post that you take as a personal attack was simply to address your statement of being an authority and your statement about experience over age concerning the fb page you are in charge of. She posted it before she got any warning and that can be shown with the records for the site. she posted and then saw the sitemail icon. read it and deleted the post so as not to go against the warning.

I know that she has stressed and pushed for changes to renderosity that would be positive and offered ideas that were used by the store. She was passionite about this store succeeding but lately she has been frustrated and fed up by the lack of real positive change. I see it with her all the time, her frustration. I talked to her about her choice when she decided to stay exclusive here even though her husband and friends wanted her to go back to daz. I told her to go to daz myself but she wanted this site to get better and felt that if she left she would just be adding to the problem. She emails and calls privately to talk about issues, I have personally heard her on the phone with staff. So that tells me that the truth of your statement is that vendors can never speak about issues in public when ignored in private and by banning her and closing her store you are trying to control other unhappy vendors.

i know she stated this site didn't need a cheerleader but she actually was one. I've seen her try to convince vendors that have left that they should keep trying here she has talked to me about her frustration that good vendors are leaving. I am glad you did this to her!!!! now she will not have to worry about it anymore and she can either retire as she was planing or go where there is no drama.

"Lastly, personal attacks are NOT okay and you guys didn't see it, but 3-darena's last comment was a personal attack on staff (me) as well as the first one she wrote. There's a difference between "bashing the policy" and "bashing someone's character." For personal attacks, we have no choice but to lock it and send that member a warning."

i am not passing judgement one way or another in terms of whether Shawn was personal or not, as i only saw her original post, which to me, did not seem exceptionally personal.

what i DO wish to say is that there IS a difference betwixt personal attacks and attacking someone's behaviour.

i used to work with a girl who was in a position that, at that time, was 'above' mine. she exhibited all sorts of behaviours that i did not like, nor were they what i viewed as professional. we constantly seemed to butt heads because of it, because she was taking it personally, and sought to try to react towards me from a personal position. i finally had to explain to her that it was not her, per se, that i found to be objectionable, but rather her behaviours...

i'm sure you are quite a nice girl, Hope, as you've not shown me otherwise. and you most likely are trying to 'do the right thing', and are a positive person, and your intent is true, etc etc... i'm not sure anyone is actually questioning this bit, to be honest... behaviours are learned things, they are changeable, malleable, transmutable, and thus are not always a complete reflection of a person's core/character; but rather, behaviours are more a reflection of a person in that moment, under suchnsuch circumstances/stimuli... not quite the same thing as character, imo...

your community is a passionate one, oft given over to such passions, strong responses, and at times, might even appear to be bi-polar [heh]... we are a temperamental sort. and because of this written medium, words matter, really really matter [this might be where your journalism bkgrd might come in handy], and the choosing of not only the right word[s], but overall tone matters. and maybe the idea of having someone read over your shoulder seems as if it could possibly viewed as a biting suggestion, it may actually have merit as you try to figure out how to do the job you seem to really wish to do...

you have been invited by several folks to share more about yourself, to tell us more about you, your interests artistically, your experiences, etc., but you've been, as far as i'm aware, unresponsive. if by chance you've no experience with any of the types of artistic endeavours that exist on this site, be it Poser, DS, 2D, etc., i dunno, maybe trying to learn and participate at that level might help you understand us - learn by doing, asking for help if you need it - be ONE of us, in a sense, and not so far removed, or at least appear to be so far removed...

just random thoughts... whatever... sigh...

also, i'd greatly appreciate an answer to my question regarding what tools, methods, whatever you are using to determine what is "best" for US...

thanks.

erm...

i am not passing judgement one way or another in terms of whether Shawn was personal or not, as i only saw her original post, which to me, did not seem exceptionally personal.

yea, that might read a little confusing. apologies. what i mean is that just because i did not see it as not terribly personal, does not mean that my perspective is fact...

I would be MORE THAN happy to chat with ANY of you anytime you'd like! Just contact me and we'll talk.

I appreciate each and everyone of you. And, I thank you for your thoughts, opinion and concerns. My door is always open for anyone to come through and I mean that. But, we've made this decision together - as a team - and I hope you'll understand down the road why it was implemented.

Thanks again everyone! I hope ALL OF YOU have a lovely day.