Ah.... Ivy's open letter.

One last try at explaining why I personally think it is a PITA uploading FreeStuff here, just in case anyone with any clout at Renderosity is paying any attention.

Uploading freebies at ShareCG is a pleasure. It's simple, it's straightforward. I can upload several promo images. The amount of text allowed in the description is usually sufficient (there have been a couple of cases when I've had to cut it down to fit). When I report a problem they usually fix it within a day or so (Admittedly I have a feature request from a long time ago that they haven't accepted, but every few months I remind them. One out of god knows how many - I'll let that go).

Uploading freebies here at Renderosity... where to begin?
I think, way back when, it used to be simple and straightforward. Unlike ShareCG you could only upload one promo image - but that never used to be a problem. It's a huge PITA for me now. Unlike ShareCG the character limit on the description was far too short - but that never used to be a problem. It's a huge PITA for me now. Why are those two things such a problem now when they weren't a problem back then? I'll let you think about that for a while. Here's a clue - what's changed?

While that little conundrum is churning in the back of your minds, here's what I usually do when I release a freebie nowadays:

1. Upload it at ShareCG.
2. Start a thread in the DAZ Freepozitory, adding a download link to the ShareCG page.
3. Add a link from the ShareCG page to the thread in the DAZ forums.
4. Check the ShareCG page and DAZ thread to make sure everything ties together. Up till now it's usually fun.
5. Add a link to the OP in the DAZ thread saying that I'll be uploading to Renderosity Freestuff soon, and I'll post the link when it's done
6. Go to the "Upload Freestuff" page at Renderosity.

• check that I have a promo image that meets Renderosity's requirements. If it doesn't I usually just stretch the image - that's a quality promo for you!
• create a special Renderosity thumbnail: I shrink my original promo (maintaining aspect ratio) to fit into the bizarre Rendo thumbnail spec, give it a transparent background, expand it to meet the precise size required and save it as a PNG.
• I cut-and-paste the description from ShareCG into the details. I don't think it tells me whether or not the description's too long at this point?
• I fill in all the other details, including a usually completely irrelevant but compulsory "Theme", and often an irrelevant (because none of the available choices apply) but compulsory "Section"
• I scroll back up through the page to double-check everything.
• I remember the cardinal rule "Thou must not click the 'Upload FreeStuff' button at the top of the page because that is for uploading a new freestuff button, and will wipe out everything you've just entered with no chance to get it back. Thou must use the 'Upload Item' button at the bottom of the page which has been scrolled off the screen."

7a) With luck I'm then taken to the main FreeStuff homepage, which is Renderosity code for "your freestuff item has been successfully uploaded".Iirc it doesn't actually say that anywhere on the page I'm taken to though .

• I go to my own FreeStuff page and hopefully see a little green banner saying "your freestuff item has been successfully uploaded" or some such. Plus a blue banner saying you currently have items pending (i.e. the item just uploaded is now awaiting approval)

7b) More often than not though the upload fails because the description is too long. Rather than try to cut the description down to fit I now simply add the URLs of the ShareCG page and DAZ thread instead.

8. Some time the next day my item gets approved and appears on the New FreeStuff page. Add a link from the DAZ thread.

Here's what I used to do:

1. Upload it at ShareCG.
2. Upload it at Renderosity
3. Start a thread in the DAZ Freepozitory, adding a download link to the ShareCG page.
4. Start a thread in the Renderosity FreeStuff forum, adding a download link to the ShareCG page.
5. Add crosslinks between the DAZ and Renderosity threads
6. When the Renderosity upload is approved add links to it from the DAZ and Renderosity threads.

Spotted the difference? Posting to the Renderosity forums has become a total PITA over the past few years. Even now, even after all the forum bug reports I've made via the Community Center forum, I hate posting here at Renderosity. It seems that almost every post I make ends up being incorrectly formatted. I haven't bothered creating any new Renderosity FreeStuff threads for a long time. You probably haven't removed any of the meticulously setup cross-posted links from my Renderosity FreeStuff thread to your competitor DAZ3D yet, because you probably haven't bothered looking that far back. Remove them if you want - your reasons for doing so would be totally spurious and invalid. And that may be the final straw for me - maybe I will throw my rattle and toys out of my pram after all

On the other hand you could try using a bit of common sense - I'm sure a few people on staff here at Renderosity still have some of that...

(and yes, yet again, as expected, the formatting of this post as all up the creek and I have 10 minutes to fix it all...)

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The 3Dcheapskate* occasionally posts sensible stuff. Usually by accident.
And it usually uses Poser 11, with units set to inches. Except when it's using Poser 6 or PP2014, or when its units are set to PNU.

*also available in ShareCG, DAZ, and HiveWire3D flavours (the DeviantArt and CGBytes flavour have been discontinued).