"This is about making the merchants forum as much a place of trust and honesty as possible as well as providing benefits and features to the merchants without providing an advantage to our competition." Well, the way it was handled doesn't show a level of trust. Our opinions were asked for and when all but a very small handful of merchants expressed their disagreement with the policy (even when it didn't directly affect them) we were told "too bad, it's been done already". What was the point of asking for feedback then? Where is the trust there?

"We will be keeping the forum." And treating some merchants differently than others. It's not good business practice. I guess the point is moot since the main people it affects have pulled their products out of the store. In the long run, how is this good for Renderosity? Word of mouth can do serious damage to a business. I won't speculate on the motivations behind these changes because, quite honestly, I just can not fathom it. This makes me really wary. I'm not sure when I'm going to be ready to spend my money here again. I can name a couple merchants here that I will never buy a product from again due to their own behavior in this entire mess. It also makes me wary of placing items in this store in the future.

Heya Clint, I know about the flyer. My suggestion is to just get rid of the merchant forum completely. If the Powers that Be want our feedback before implementing policy then can have us fill out a poll. It would be the simplest solution and then NOBODY is left out of that forum and nothing that doesn't need to be seen is seen. You know what I mean? Everyone would be treated equally. That's all anybody wanted to begin with.

But they do not have access to the forum where policy announcements and such are made. They do not have the same voice as the other merchants do in regards to things that affect their sales equally. No, they are being told now that they can contact ClintH (who probably doesn't have enough to do, huh?) and he can keep them up to date on policy changes - most likely AFTER they have taken effect. By then, it's really too late to offer your input. Though, I'm sure the excuse is "They're competing brokers so their input would only harm Renderosity". It's a bunch of bull and you know it. My suggestion would be to just get rid of the merchant's forum altogether. Renderosity has shown that it does not need nor want merchant feedback even when they ASK for it. Just start a newsletter to inform merchants of changes and then NOBODY is being discriminated against and we can all get back to business.

"Where do merchant's rights and customer's rights come into this? This is about Competing Brokers accessing a private marketplace discussion forum." Gee, JeffH, I don't know. Maybe because we are talking about Competing Brokers who are ALSO merchants here? "You" (the general Renderosity "you" not JeffH in particular) are fine with taking your share of their money but not fine with giving them the same rights as every other merchant. Talk about discriminatory business practices. The entire thing was handled very badly. How can wanting your products to do well in this marketplace be harmful to Renderosity? If anything, they'd want the store to be successful because then THEY make money too.

Kevin, It should go both ways and, unfortunately, it hasn't.

Argh! You are Evil. Yes, Evil with a capital E.

Yay! Somebody that knew the song that is now stuck in my head. ::grumbles:: I hate having songs stuck in my head...

Why do I have the sudden urge to start singing old Culture Club songs?

bshafer, I think it's all a matter of perspective... and since none of us can hear tone or inflection we have to draw our own conclusions of what was meant. Though, i have to admit, when someone says they hope Karma comes back on them - it's not usually a "friendly" wish.

Erg, I must be more tired than I thought. "At least two of the merchants who asked in this forum because they were locked out of the merchant forum." Should read "At least two of the merchants who asked in this forum for their stores to be closed did so because they were locked out of the merchant forum."

I think each merchant has to decide for themselves what is best for them in the long run. While I agree with part of what you say D, I don't agree with everything. At least two of the merchants who asked in this forum because they were locked out of the merchant forum. They were locked out of the merchant forum because they run or own sites that broker other merchants (many of whom sell here as well). I'm sorry but that's just plain silly. These people have made Renderosity money. Renderosity was very happy to take their cut of the sales but they did not think it was alright to allow these merchants the same access to resources as everyone else. And now when this new policy is being questioned, answers are not being given. In fact, legitimate questions are being ignored and those who disagree are accused of not having Renderosity's best interests at heart. I can also say without a doubt that at least one in particular has not done what was implied (publically bashing Renderosity and/or divulging secrets on their message boards) and has never had anything but the communities best interests at heart. Besides, if these people wanted to hurt Renderosity would it not hurt THEM in return? Tell me what hurts the community more - treating all merchants equally, regardless of any outside affiliations or singling out a very select few with discriminatory policy? I can tell you what my answer is.

Amen Quagnon!

Mercenary tactics will not get this so-called community very far. The member was told by an admin to remove his gallery himself and then banned before he was able to. They should remove his copyrighted materials as requested. It's as simple as that. As for you Tutone, you are WAY out of line. It also sounds like you're talking out of your rearend and really have no idea what you are talking about. Entropics request for the removal of his store and gallery came AFTER he was banned for copying information from the merchant's forum and then subsequently reinstated, he was then banned again after requesting his things be removed from the site. At least if you are going to have diarreah of the mouth, know what you are talking about.

Thanks guys, I found it. There was a directory name with an ampersand in the title. If I had done a forum search before posting this, I would have found the solution. Appreciate the help.