IceEmpress posted at 1:41PM Tue, 01 March 2016 - #4258235

Wow. In the other thread, LPR and Wheatpenny insist that it's okay to link to trusted external sites so long as they are not freebies or 3D marketplaces...

Which other thread?

The Open Letter thread and I can't remember the other one.

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.

1. 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...)

That's hilarious as usual Pete. Woops... back to sticking my nose in the air. I like Kobolds more than Goblins incidentally. Spriggans are pretty cool too..

EldritchCellar posted at 10:07AM Wed, 02 March 2016 - #4258541

That's hilarious as usual Pete. Woops... back to sticking my nose in the air. I like Kobolds more than Goblins incidentally. Spriggans are pretty cool too..

I hope there's still somebody at Renderosity with a sense of humour... ;o)

I think the evil goblins running amok within the bowels of Renderosity are at the bottom of most peoples 'Like' list, but my favourite creature at the moment is this guy...

TheDireMightyFiend.jpg .... I tried uploading the image again you'll find it at the bottom right of this post - I'm laughing so much I'm in tears! About the number of times I've had to edit this post, and it's still not right, and the edit will timeout before I can fix it...

...I think you know him? I used to have a leatherbound copy of the book this picture's from, and I recently found the whole thing on Project Gutenberg (yes, the picture is public domain). I'm absolutely 100% sure that Project Gutenberg will fall into the category of 'trusted websites' so I'm including the link below

Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race, by Maud Isabel Ebbutt

I think you'll appreciate the short passages of his story that are given in a more metrical (as in poetic) style? _"This the dire mighty fiend, he who in darkness dwelt, Suffered with hatred fierce, that every day and night, He heard the festal shouts, loud in the lofty hall..." _ - just the rhythym of that has always brought me out in goosebumps!

**(err...what's happened to in-line images?)

(and yet again the forum software totally 's up the formatting of my post)** (why does 'quoted' text appear more prominently than the actual text of the post? This is totally... actually words fail me )

Funny, that whole Beowulf discussion at DNA made me look further into depictions of tragic Grendel. Never ran across that one. Thanks for the link. Also love all that archaic monster art... northern renaissance, woodcuts, engravings etc.

Dictionnaire_Infernal

Hang on a mo'... are you're trying to turn this into a conversation about art ?! ;o)

I'm sure I've seen some of those 'pictures of demons' before, when I was a kid. Freaked me out! There was also a black and white print of a wolf/werewolf, completely different style, that scared the life out of me and gave me nightmares for years. Probably from an old book of fairytales or mythology. May have been Fenrir...

Found it via google > wikipedia, Odin and Fenris. <-- I'm assuming that links to Wikipedia are okay?

Still sends a shiver up my spine !

(Just checked the ToS again, and there's no prohibition on "stuff that'll give kids nightmares"!)

Steering this thread back on-topic, sort of...

It was only after reading IceEmpress' 20th Feb post in LaurieA's "For those interested..." thread...

...that the word 'product' in Hope's 18th Feb "New Direction With Freestuff Area" post...

...struck me as odd.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm really hoping that it was just a poor choice of word by Hope, rather than a Freudian slip. But "New direction" along with "so members can download and use your products" plus IceEmpress' observation might steer one's thoughts along the wrong path?

Can somebody from Renderosity staff categorically state that "it is NOT Renderosity's intention to ONLY allow vendor-created freebies in the FreeStuff section" ?

. . . .

I also noticed that Adam Thwaites' 2009 "Renderosity FreeStuff - Allow External Hosting Petition" has been locked some time over the past two months or so (i.e. since 25th Dec 2015). I don't think I'd ever noticed it before (I don't usually look at this forum) and I have to say that...

"I support this petition."

. . . .

I can accept that some of the reasons for concern about off-site links may have valid bases, but a blanket ban is not the solution.

I (rather my alter ego with the money) voted with my wallet a few years back and stopped spending money here (I never spent much, so it wouldn't have had any real impact).

If it wasn't for the fact that there are still a few helpful and friendly in various forums I would have abandoned the Renderosity forums altogether.

I still post pictures in my gallery here because there are a few people who seem to share my somewhat askew view of things.

But as far as Renderosity FreeStuff is concerned I've finally decided that it's time to vote with my feet by removing my freebies.

Please remember that it is the vendors, buyers, and staff who make the store.

But it is the contributors (i.e. anybody who interacts with the non-commercial parts of the site, the forums, galleries and freestuff, including mods, admins, and coordinators) many of whom, but by no means all, may be vendors, buyers and/or staff who make the community.

Please Renderosity: When you're in a hole stop digging !

Ot. That Fenris image is pretty cool, I've never seen it until now. Which kind of surprises me since I've loved Northern myth and folklore since I was a kid. Here's an image that I have strong recollections of from childhood; Siegfried slaying the Dragon...

I've started a new "Pictures That Got Deeply Etched Into Your Subconcious As A Kid ?" thread in The Dead End Zone at RDNA for continuing with the interesting stuff

(obviously no link to that but it's on the RDNA website > Community > Forums > The Dead End Zone ... right down at the bottom)

I can confirm* that in the "Description" field of a FreeStuff upload it is now NOT permitted to include a non-clickable URL to an associated DAZ thread, NOR is it permitted to include a non-clickable URL to an an alternative download at ShareCG.

* from experience over the weekend - after deleting all my freestuff I re-uploaded a single item, mainly so that anybody who looks at my freestuff page doesn't just see that "! The user has not uploaded any freestuff items", but can read that my freebies are still at ShareCG.

EricofSD posted at 1:39PM Mon, 07 March 2016 - #4255937

If I recall correctly, DAZ has the same policy. Click on a freebie and it comes from DAZ, not some other site.

The old DAZ Freepozitory (now the "Freebies" forum, fourth down in the right hand column under General) is a forum with the specific purpose of linking to members freebies on other sites.

RDNA's Community Showcase forum is the same - a forum with the specific purpose of linking to members freebies on other sites.

(N.B. It's only PA freebies in the DAZ Store (or "12 Days Of Christmas", etc, type PA freebies) that are hosted on the DAZ site)

I can also confirm that the Daz freestuff forum allows external links. My Missus figure and ShareCG link was just "officially" added to the Free Human Figures database over there. CGbytes also allows linking and has a general user freestuff area, users may attach .zip and various other file types to posts there, attachment file size is about 25 mb. Site admin at CGBytes stated that the freestuff forum there is a "free for all" zone, in that attachments are not evaluated in an official capacity. There is also a QA tested marketplace freebie catagory that members may submit to. So... Renderosity does not allow attachments nor does it allow linking. A severely hobbled user experience when compared to other sites, even the most restrictive ones.

I removed all my freestuff from here a long time ago. Every day I think that was the best move I ever did.

Not only are all the forums broken, the freestuff and marketplace a complete mess now.

All items are thrown on a big pile , no way to seach by app, by figure, by hair, by texture, NOTHING of the good old and end user friendly is left.

No clue where Renderosity is going to end up, but it is going downhill at an alarming speed.

A few years ago, Ioved this place. Now I take a peek, see no changes or improvements, and leave.

You wonder why nobody uploads freebies here any more?

Fix the site forums, fix the freestuff area, and fix the marketplace back to "end user friendly", and the freebies will come back automatically.

This: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2899703

is just another way you are alienating your user base! I am crushed! For YEARS I have had my "Lyne's Creations" freebies linked here... NOTHING for sale, just on my website...and now it's "illegal"... I would never upload my freestuff to create "forced" (ie: people HAVE to be a member and sign in to download) traffic to YOUR website.

Having my freebies PERMANENTLY on my own web site (even after I die!) is a part of ME, my legacy and will remain with my website as long as my person(s) keep my website/legacy alive for me... I've supported Renderosity for a VERY VERY long time and slowly you have been choking our freedoms here down... being so SELF-CENTERED... pretty soon you will remove any gallery image with any MENTION (UN-LINKED name only credit) of another store... and chasing more of us away...

I feel sick... my freebies have been a source of joy....and I've carefully linked the item under a gallery image to MY section here and felt so proud of it...and sent people here, visiting YOUR forum- encouraging, thanking me, CARING ABOUT HOW I'M DOING... showing appreciation...

Well, I'm now THIS close to removing myself COMPLETELY from YOUR ISOLATED WORLD... I've been here since 2002 for heaven's sakes!!! "Live linking" in 95% of the cases to YOUR store items, supporting you... I have a link to YOUR website on my own front page, have had for years!!!! (will remove it today) and seriously consider removing my entire HUGE gallery.

Thanks a lot Rendo, for being so self serving and hard hearted!! I'm angry and I'm hurt!

You'd think that this would be a wakeup call, but if the loss LaurieA, SnarlyGribbly, and 3DCheapskate haven't pulled the upper management's/TPtB's heads out from you-know-where, nothing will.
In the meantime, the forum admins here are busting their backsides, trying to find any way-- ANY possible way to fix a problem that they are utterly helpless to do anything about.

EnglishBob just informed me at my new home, that the threads are NOT gone, BUT are LOCKED- meaning what...they SORT OF allow outside links, but don't allow folks to respond with a thank you, or how are you doing?!?! My thread was filled with comments of caring and kindness for me, and had really helped me just cheer up... but now they removed "me" from the Stickies and locked my thread from any comments... I am just not happy here anymore...so I will still be deleting my gallery... it's been a lot of work for me, as I cared, posting the 'live link credits' with my artwork because it was the RIGHT thing to do... me caring about a site that really does not care about me... just seems unbalanced?

Lyne, I appear to have misled you. Your Renderosity Freestuff thread is here: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2841076 and as far as I can tell it isn't locked.

Your original statement that the rules no longer allow linking to external sites is correct. The rule change is announced here: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2899703 and endlessly debated in this very thread. :)

I count three threads that have been locked because they contain external links, but as I said the links still work. These threads were posted before the rules changed, so in effect their posters have been punished for breaking a rule that wasn't in force at the time.

When you switched off an old-fashioned TV, the picture shrank to a small dot in the centre of the screen. I hope the symbolism of my avatar will not be lost on those who remember the old times. :)