My very first purchase here was in March of 2003. I joined the site in July of 2002.

I've ridden the waves of multiple changes for over a decade. Almost fifteen years, actually. I've done it for the MOST part without lodging major complaints. For the most part. There's been a few times where I had enough and spoke up, and of course, was immediately ridiculed, insulted, and jeered at, or just ignored and blown off completely. I don't like to lose my temper, and I don't like to holler and yell. I don't think either of those things does anyone any good, and they are just not constructive ways to get a point across.

A few years ago, when the upper echelon of Renderosity decided to follow Daz's oh so wonderful example of "but we're a BUSINESS!! so take what we're handing out or go away!", well......... I went away. I deleted my ENTIRE gallery, ALL of my freebies (ten years worth at the time), and I moved my whole gallery over to DeviantArt, and I kept my freebie posts to Daz's Freepozitory, and eventually ShareCG.

I did continue to purchase here, albeit at a MUCH lower rate than I once did. I buy the things I need, and I don't buy the things I have no need for.

I saw the Prime membership as Rendo's attempt to keep pace with Daz and it's PC. Unfortunately, for some of us, it was a joke right from the start. At $100 in one lump sum, for an entire year, it was quite frankly not worth it to me, nor was it affordable. Nor did I see much in the way of actual benefits to me, since I am not the type to try and "keep up with the Jones" and buy the latest/greatest/newest/whatever product that's coming out. (This can be seen if you look at my renders; I still use M3, V3, M4, V4, and Genesis 1 figures and their items, I use many items that date all the way back to the reign of the P4 female and V2/M2.)

So, therefore... the Prime was pointless for me. And still is. I am thusly, NOT a Prime member, nor will I ever likely be. I do have a PC membership on Daz because there are a lot of props and environment and other such resources that I find useful. However, lately, with the encrypted-only releases, I'm beginning to doubt how much longer I will maintain that membership either.

In all the changes across the many forums, many sites.. some places disappearing (Remember PoserPros or 3DCommune anyone?) for the most part I have tried to just ride the wave, adjust to it, and continue to move forward with what I'm here to do. I like making content. MOST of my content is made and distributed as freebies. I enjoy making art, even though my art is usually ignored by the gallery-at-large because I don't post pinups or do T&A shots. I do story illustrations. Big difference, and when people are looking for skin, they won't bother looking at story images.

Anyway.

I very recently came back to the site as an artist and freebie maker. I DO upload my freebies to the free content area here, but only because I have no choice. Because I have so many years worth of content, I vastly PREFER to attach a link to my main website IN ADDITION TO THE FILE when I upload a freebie. Why? Because MOST of my freebies are not even on this website any longer ,due to the actions of the Renderosity Business Echelon at the Top. However, that said, I have the same policy in just about any place I post my content. If the place allows a direct upload, or prefers it, I will do it and attach a link to MY website.

I do not sell at MY website. Yeah, there's a small market section, which is no longer even valid. I have emptied out and closed my small store on Content Paradise some time ago, so those links are dead and I need to update my website to reflect that. However, that said... the main reason I attach MY website link to my content posts, is so that folks can find the REST of my content, and maybe they might find something else that is useful to them on the site.

Now, when Rendo first decided to ban these links, I stopped bothering to even post my freebies on the forums here. After all, no links allowed. And then when Rendo went to the Daz attitude of "to heck with you all, we're a BUSINESS and we want MONEY," I ended up wiping out my gallery and my freebie section on this site.

Now, last summer I think it was? I tentatively came back as both an artist and a freebie maker.

I'm wondering if I made a bad decision there. I'm actually considering wiping out both the gallery and the freebies one more time. Rest assured, if I do this a second time, it will be the LAST time, because I will NEVER bother to upload either content or gallery images ever again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And at the moment, I'm starting to think this just fell into the "Fool me twice" category.

Banning ALL outside links is unproductive to a community environment, which the upper echelon of Renderosity CLAIMS is so gosh darned important to them. Banning ALL outside links actually hampers a community environment, whose purpose is to SHARE information. How the heck are you supposed to share information without links? Someone explain that to me, mmkay? Because to my eyes, it's simply not possible.

Now.. I don't NORMALLY bother to post in discussions such as these. Frankly, they're pointless. We can, as members, rail on all we want. The fact of the matter is that the mods themselves are not the problem, and I am NOT angry with the mods. The other fact of the matter is, that no matter what we say or how many times we say it, or how many of us say it, the upper echelon of the BUSINESS MANAGERS at this site are going to do whatever the hell they feel like, because they DO NOT CARE about the community at large. I do believe the MODS care. I do. But they are being hamstringed by draconian rules and behavior and the money-first, profits-first attitudes of the business managers at this site.

Mods... I could never do your job. I don't envy you your jobs. I would not have the patience for it, and would probably get myself fired for telling off the business managers. I have a bad habit of refusing to do something that I vehemently disagree with. So... props to you for continuing to wade through the piles of horse puckey to do your jobs, because I would never be able to make myself do that.

Now. All of that said. The direction Renderosity is going concerns me. It concerns a lot of folks. I got my start here and at 3DCommune. I've been at this a long time. I don't for even a minute think that anything I or anyone else on these forums has to say is even being READ by the folks at the top, let alone LISTENED to. I know better by now. It doesn't matter how much spin the mods or the admins place on these policies, that's all it is - spin and PR campaigns aimed at trying to herd the membership like sheep into their pens. It's meant to make us kowtow and behave and stop questioning why. They (the business managers at the TOP of the site) dont' care about a dang thing other than how many pennies go into their coffers at the end of each day. Period.

Despite all of this, the community here has limped along. It's NOTHING compared to what it was when I first came here. I won't comment on the banning of the vendor because I have no idea what happened or what was said to cause it.

I am sick to death of corporate and business attitudes. I remember when this hobby was first and foremost about sharing with each other. Heck the whole reason I started to MAKE freebies was to give something back to the hobby that I had benefitted so much from in the first place! Now, with the whole no links thing? You are crippling my ability to give back!

All I will say here, is that at this point, I've found my home at HiveWire, and I will be selling content ONLY through them, but I do still come here on a regular basis to read and sometimes buy a little content from the vendors I love. I still love this place. I would like to continue adding freebies to this place, and my art, and being on the forums to read what gets posted, even if I don't msyelf make a lot of my own posts. At the moment, that is looking doubtful here.

I really wish the greed of business managers would stop destroying places I love.

That's all I say. I won't post again, so don't anyone worry about it. I just had to get that out.

Thanks.