OK, I'm probably going to get myself in trouble here, but I'm posting my PM to Hope after she contacted me. This was all meant as POSITIVE advice and an explanation of what is going on that is angering so many members and why they are leaving and how it HOPEfully could be fixed... This was all said in kindness and I have NOTHING against Hope as a person...

Hope,

Please re-read what I wrote. I never accused you of punishing us or saying we've done wrong. And I did say you were a people person and even suggested you could be a great motivational speaker or write a self-help book! Please read below. I know it's tough for you with all this negativity coming towards you but obviously you are not handling it in a way that makes people feel better in this PARTICULAR community. I bet you'd be great doing some corporate leadership weekend event, but this is a group of artists who have been around for a long time and became emotionally attached to this site, made friends here and one person said she met her husband through here! Some are home-bound or disabled and this is their LIFE. The vendors work very hard, and for some, it is their sole source of income, and many customers have invested several thousand dollars here, as I have. We saw what happened at DAZ when they stopped supporting Poser and a huge amount left and swear they will never shop there again, even to buy RDNA products that are now there because they hate DAZ so much. This is an opportunity to kiss and make up to the disenfranchised Poser users and make this their home again. The vendors and customers are the bread and butter here and without them, you have nothing.

I do think you are a people person and are probably not used to such a negative reception. And it's not about knowing us as individual people, but seeing what the complaints are, figuring out WHY everyone is so upset and reporting that to the higher ups and warning them that this site is sinking like the Titanic unless something is done. You could be a liaison to the higher ups to get things back to where they were and if you did that, the community would LOVE you, send you flowers and chocolates! I think you are in a position to help things. I have nothing against you and people's only objection to you is that you tend to white-wash things, saying everything's OK with smiley faces when clearly it's not. If you just said "I understand all of your complaints and I am bringing them to the higher-ups and hoping that we can change things to bring back the Renderosity that you all love. I will try my hardest to see what I can do to help." They would applaud you! How simple is that?

Anyway, I'm pasting my original post at the bottom, which I believe was a very positive view of you and how you could help things instead igniting more fires. None of the animosity from anyone is actually directed at you, but more frustration with your lack of making an attempt to help the situation, acting like it will magically go away and Disney bluebirds will be flying around chirping as smiley emoticons bloom out of flowers... They just don't think you get their complaints, which you probably don't, just because you are new here and haven't been around the Renderosity world for long--and, of course, this is not your fault. But if you really listen to the complaints and anger and see what's behind it, you could fix it. I really believe you could.

I know this has probably been tough on you, but I also think it's in your power to make it better before the whole site is forced to close down when everyone leaves. Many are already signing up at new smaller sites which could potentially steal all of Renderosity's customers AND vendors. You may want to advise the higher ups how critical this is, this is historical in the history of Renderosity. There has never been a mass exodus like this but there is still time to fix it...

I wish you luck in your difficult job and I'm posting below my original post about you.

All the best,

Alicia

ART BY ALICIA HOLLINGER

www.AliciaHollinger.com
FACEBOOK: Alicia's Page TWITTER: @AliciaHollinger INSTAGRAM: @AliciaHollinger