What is the idea behind a site link anyways...besides advertising for your other products? I haven't noticed any change in the freestuff with the new approval process. I guess they are supposed to be screening for copyright violations or something... Att I know is they take longer to go up... Evo

er...that should be "All I know..."

Some web providers do not allow direct linking from off-site. That's why we allow links to web pages. We do check for copyright violations, and we have caught some, but an occasional one might slip by. I think whoever approved these files might have thought that the files had been checked previously since it is listed as a repost.

OK, I've stayed out of this one until now. Apart from the prospect of these TEXs being copywrite violations, I have to ask why are these hair textures being offered anyway? It is obvious from the way they are linked to the same page as the artist's product page that it is a method for improving business. I see three reasons for freestuff: 1- outright generosity, like our Japanese friend who give to the community with nothing in return but our praise and thanks. 2- testing the waters, new modelers andtexturers who aren't sure if their work is up to snuff and want to get opinions or check popularity before venturing into the marketplace. 3- advertising, show us what you can do and make a name for yourself. A great (but sad) example is BAT. He has long produced some of the best freebies I have seen until his trust was abused. He is still generously offering items for free for TenTen, but has now ventured into the marketplace. Does anyone doubt the quality of his products? I think not. He has earned a reputation that will serve him well. What I don't get is why hair textures? I don't see any hair textures or hair models in this artist's marketplace offerings. Offering hair textures in this case (and reposting them) doesn't really seem to fall into any of the above categories. Just my 2 cents.

The textures are just bait (IMO) In the same way as shops are offering for instance cheap coffee, and then expect you to buy sugar, wine, milk, cheese ect. while you're there. In other words lure the customer who came for coffee to also buy a lot of other things. Some places coupons work that way. They're not allowed here, so I have no real expirience in that matter, but from what I've heard they work in a similar way. Remember, discounts are never given becourse the shop owner wants to be NICE *). They're given to get you to the store. Personally, I waited a long time before offering anything for sale and in some way I still don't really want to charge for my stuff, but on the other hand they have now given me a chance to get some models that my budget wouln't allow me to get otherwise :o) so.. I live with it G But still the ratio of my free stuff compared to my store is 10:1. I think that's ok :o) *) Some people on Renderosity fall outside this category, they actually DO give away stuff just to be nice. But then again, most merchants here do this as a hobby where you can "afford" to be purely altruistic.

Hmm...copy-right violations, you say? The two views are of a section of Kozaboro's original "wave_darkTX", (Lightened in Photoshop to show detail), beside an oddly similar section from btsculptor's "wave_redTX". Submitted for your consideration, mods.

1. Regarding site links. The people whose files I host use site links to my site. They have a hosted files page where it goes to. Why? Because of my server. Servers take quite a different view on whether those 1000 downloads yesterday came from my site or were linked from off-site. Many servers won't allow file repositories, which is what they would consider that. (Of course, I don't make people look at my store items why they are there. Heck, until yesterday, the store link didn't even go anywhere. lol) 2. Regarding the copyright deal. Yes it looks similar. But can we not flay the guy before we deal with him privately? Remember, we have gone there before with other people and then found out they received permission. (Yes, I agree it is obnoxious. No, I won't support someone who annoys me. lol.) But make sure we have all the facts before this turns into a very ugly copyright argument again.

The issue here is one of someones complete disregard of following an etiquette that everyone else adhers to. Specifically the constant reposting of the same items. No one else does that. Further, a total disregard for public opinion by reposting 2 items in two days. This brought a focus on the freebies, that previously had not occured. There was a public outcry about this about a week ago and btsculptor ignored it. Then he decided to apparently reaggravate the issue by reposting again. So, looking more critically at his free items was brought on by himself. So it appears all these constant reposting of hair textures are the results of about 30 seconds of work using photoshops variation function. RealitysPoison point is a good one, except for the fact, if he had permission it should have been stated that in the readme. I guarantee he will not stop until the admins set up rules disallowing it. Then the next phase will be seeing the same items without the repost verbiage added.

Crescent nicely contacted me about the ones I looked at, with Mike's hair especially, there was no doubt from the way the texture was laid out it was a modification of the DAZ original. You know, as one of these was a rework of mine, I normally wouldn't mind something like this done to my own for-sale stuff. May hair is made complicated in the mesh so the textures are simple anyway, they are just stripes. I also normally wouldn't go public on stuff like this, but I think a point had to be made. I think at the very least people that use files like this as a straight lead into a "buy my stuff" page need to be held to the highest standards. Don't get me wrong, I do see any problem with the posting of freestuff intended to get people to your site (I might even have done that myself! ;-) ), just like I said, that kind of stuff must be held to the highest standards, and "borrowing" doesn't cut it. And he never ask me for permission, anyway!

Has anyone ever thought to ask "Why RED hair," and not blonde, brunette, etc?! I see nothing wrong with links to a site. That way folks know "the source," and can add the link to their Favorites or Bookmarks list. By why in the heck does this guy keep on doing this?! How many of us are so irritated that we've already decided to boycott him?!

Then by all means, someone needs to get on that. If he is just modifying tex's without approval, then I retract what I said. Thanks for clarifying that Jim. I just hate to see everyone cry "thief" when there might be things we don't know. But since at least some of them are now copy violations, cry away! ;) Never understood why people "borrow" without asking anyway. When probably at least 75% of the time the author will give you permission. So instead of taking the chance to do it legal, they just rip it off. sigh I just don't understand people sometimes.

I agree with the above posters- let's keep the whole "copyright violation" issue to a minimum until we can tell whether these textures were made with permission or not. Yes, the permission should be in the readme file that comes with the texture, but its non-inclusion is not enough evidence to cry "copyright violation!" The real issue is why the guy keeps reposting the stuff (when it's irrating more and more people), and why the admins haven't done anything to stop it (since it sets a dnagerous precedent that will allow everyone to repost their own stuff, ad infinitum).

Tee-hee, I actually bought one item from BTScluptor. I couldn't figure out why the Millennium Kid's teeth looked dirty. I got out the magnifying glass, and discovered a copyright notice written across the teeth! I notified the guy privately, and he said none of his beta testers ever saw the problem. I said "All you had to do was make the kid smile. Would you like me to be one of your beta testers?!" I received no reply to that comment, but did receive the corrected texture map ASAP.

Well, it is easy for something like that to slip by. Beta testers don't guarantee an absence of flaws. I believe he has a passion for red hair. Nothing wrong with that.
I seriously doubt he's violating copyright laws though. I'm sure he knows better. :)

Well Kendra, apparently he IS indeed violating copyright laws, as Jim Burton recognized one of his own textures, only coloured red. And he said clearly that he had NOT been asked for permission. Therefore a clear copyright violation. "I'm sure he knows better": Well in a way so am I. I am also sure he knows that his eternal repostings pisses off more and more people. Seems to me that he just don't give a flying f*** about wha people think. and that's actually the part that puzzles me. Why would a merchant alienate all his potential customers?!

Ah, I missed that Jim had one that he obviously didn't give permission on. Well, I hope he deals with that because I would still like to think that a merchant would know better.

This is a comparison of Kozoburo's "kozlong_blondetx" texture for his "Koz's Long Hair", and btsculptor's "kozlong_redtx", upper left corner. Below these are portions of the text from each. I must say that I suspect it took me longer to cobble up this pic than it took him to generate the texture; I can see little difference except the tint. The read-me with btsculptor's version claims the copyright, with another admonition to: "Have fun, but remember, this is copyrighted work". Yes, somehow I do think he knows what he's doing. I just don't see why he has to do it so often.

[There was a problem with the URL that crowhat posted, so we had to delete the post. Here's what crowhat posted with the corrected URL:]

There have been developments.The notorious red stuff has been pulled. According to Lyrra:"The downloads were temporarily suspended due to copyright concerns. The matter is being investigated." This has been posted to a previous thread on this subject: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1195024.(Note: that thread has now been locked.)