-renapd- opened this issue on Apr 25, 2002 ยท 148 posts
x2000 posted Fri, 26 April 2002 at 2:21 PM
"How do you make everyone happy in asituation like this? All the people- the ones who want to post helpful links, the ones who want to just learn, the merchants- everyone? If someone suddenly told you "okay, it's your call" what would you do?" A fair and intelligent question from Micheleh, so I'll start from there: I'd let people go back to posting ads in the Poser Forum, on the grounds that they activate an "Advertisement" flag, just like the "Nudity" and "Violence" flags already in place. That way anyone who doesn't want to see ads can clearly tell which threads to avoid, and yet anyone who may interested can see them. Any attempt to simply remove mention of commercial products from the regular forum was doomed from the start, especially when it involves Poser, which, to be frank, is pretty much worthless without third-party add-ons. And sticking merchants in some forum ghetto is a mistake that will damage Renderosity far more than all of their competitors combined could ever hope to. An "Advertisement" flag should satisy both sides, and it shouldn't be too hard to put in place. As for the Product Showcase forum, it should be just that: a showcase, a place for people to post a more extended look at their products, as opposed to a merchant concentration camp. Also, it should still be handy for people who are planning to do some shopping and want to take a peak at the newest stuff. If I were a vendor, I'd definitely post an in-depth look at my newest products in the Product Showcase forum. I think it would be a mistake for vendors NOT to post there. But at the same time, I'd want to drop a notice in the Poser Forum for the folks (like me) who don't go to the PS forum but may still whip out the credit card if they stumble across something unusually interesting. So what do you think? One thing I must add (no pun intended), though: the people complaining about ads in the Poser Forum would do well to remember that our vendors are not coincidentally some of our most knowledgeble members, and if their ads do clutter up the forum at times, the knowledge they share with us in answering our questions and even creating tutorials more than makes up for any inconvenience you may feel their ads pose. Renderosity is a valuable resource, but it's in these people that that value lies.