I learned then that Renderosity is not about truly helping each other grow as artists or contributing our own "eye" to that of others. Its about back patting. And I'm gonna take issue with that right now. You seem to forget just how frigging big this place is. Seventy thousand members, and it's to the point now where you're lucky if you find less than a thousand online here at once. That's a lot of people. And yeah, there probably are cliques -- in a community this large, that's unavoidable, no matter how much we try to deny it. But it's pretty obvious from the rise and fall of various styles we see. And yeah, there probably is a lot of back-patting that goes on. Again, in a community this large, that's unvoidable. But to whitewash the entire group with such a cynical eye is not only dishonest but utterly unfair. I've been given more help in this place than one man should be entitled to, and I can't thank those people enough. Because of them, I've gone from someone who opened Poser 4 once, took a look, screamed, and shut it down real fast -- to someone who, while not a master by any stretch, is pretty damn good at capturing expression and gesture. It ain't been easy, but thanks to a lot of good people around here, I've gotten a hell of a lot better than I was at the beginning. So don't you dare slam this place as nothing but back-slapping hacks, got it? We all see what we want to see, and if that's how you really see this place, then maybe you oughta consider re-examining the parts of Rsity you hang out in. In this forum, 90% of the time, it's nothing but concern and advice and assistance. Parts of the galleries may be filled with syncophants who have nothing else better to do but fawn over each other, but in here we address the work that has to be done to make something right. Okay... off my soapbox and off to do the laundry.....