SeanMartin posted at 5:45PM Fri, 26 February 2016 - #4257367

Just my 0.02...

When the site went through a re-design, I hated the new look. I mean, really, really hated it — and said so in the forums, quite pointedly. So did a lot of other folks, and eventually Rosity got the message and cleaned up the front page where it's actually a helluva lot better looking. So yes, folks, they do listen.

As pointed out above, this rule has been in place officially since August, but seems to me it was in place unofficially for a lot longer than that, wit Rosity pretty much turning a blind eye in most cases even though they preferred you really not do it. Apparently enough things happened that they had to turn it into a site rule seven months go. So it's not like this was any kind of surprise thrown out there at the last minute.

Yes, people want to use formats other than zip, but the problem is that most browsers will open zips automatically while things like rars and 7s require an outside utility. Zip is neat and clean and works, so what's the problem?

Now... the big one. Two issue here: (1) Honestly, I dont see a problem with linking to an offsite tutorial.... unless it's going to a site with adult material on it. I know, I know... "the beauty of the female form as celebrated throughout time!" blah blah blah. Dont care, folks. If you're taking me to a site with adult material, and you dont warn me in advance of that, that's a lousy thing to do, period, end of story. (2) If you're running an offsite store at that link, then yes Rosity has the right to deny you that link — you're getting a free platform here and then turn around and exploit it for personal gain elsewhere? That's like going to a bar, having a great time with your friends, and then telling everyone you have beer for sale in your car parked outside. Not cool, period, end of story.

The Prime issue? OK, let's just think about this for a moment. Right now, at this very moment, you have almost three thousand people on this site, a massive gallery that gets filled with new stuff at an alarming rate every minute, and an equally huge store operation. All of this requires some pretty expensive hardware that actually keeps going up in price if you want to stay on top of things... not to mention the no-doubt increased costs in net security to keep this place as virus free as possible. I'm sorry, how do you propose Rosity pay for all this? They're not going to charge a membership fee, so what are your proposals?

The virus issue... someone up in the thread wrote "We are on the internet a lot and should know how to protect ourselves" — well, see, the operative word is "should". A lot of people dont. Now imagine the uproar if someone puts in a link that goes to a site that has malware on it. You think folks arent going to blame Rosity for that? Dream on, folks. Of course they are: "You should have told us! You should have known!" That's happened before, so can you really blame them for wanting to err on the side of caution?

I may have my issues with this place on occasion, but by and large this is a pretty amazing place. The very fact that it exists at all with as minimal a staff as it has is nothing short of a freaking miracle... and you guys are upset because they're trying to do things that ensure the place hangs around for a while longer? Maybe I"m missing a few things here, but I seriously feel the outrage here is somewhat misguided.

Again, just my 0.02. Do with it what you will.

Maybe I can help with 0.01 one of the issues here on this thread SeanMartin We have tutorials from members/affiliates here on site but it would be impossible to cover all aspects of operation considering the multitude of software dealt with on this site. Renderosity have made the rule they don't want links to competing marketplaces so if the tutorial is sitting proud in the center of a 3D marketplace or a website/blog etc then obviously there would be an issue.

**Links to known, safe, established websites are not being banned. If you want to link to a tutorial on YouTube, Vimeo or Lynda.com, info/install guides pages on Smith Micro or DAZ, and links of that nature are accepted. ** If you have a blog and want to share your tutorial then pick the link up from the host ie YouTube etc and that would be fine. Since the majority of videos are hosted by the majors and streamed to your blog I don't think anything has changed with the tutorials as far as being made available.

I don't think Renderosity ever intended to have a rule where anyone was expected to miss out on the valuable resource of learning their craft.

I understand the confusion as I have worked my way through these threads and can see a tweak or two is possibly required. Knowing that everyone who has taken exception to these changes is following these threads and I hope this clears up the matter regarding tutorials. If any member is still unsure please contact me and I will go through it with you

- Johnny G

"Try animation to get things moving"

lpr001@renderosity.com