Forum: Community Center


Subject: Look before you leap.

PJF opened this issue on Sep 17, 2000 ยท 6 posts


PJF posted Sun, 17 September 2000 at 8:19 PM

With so many active members seemingly chomping at the bit to dump this site and follow Jack and Ed off toward the land of the righteous moral high ground, I was amused to note this paragraph from their statement posted at Renderotica: "So immediately I called Edgenet and said that it was wrong for them to be selling something that wasn't theirs and for all intents and purposes was mine and Ed's, and that Ed and I should be able to either get a portion of the $100,000.00 or could get part ownership of the domain names for a site that we helped to build back up." From this it would seem that Jack and Ed, or as we should more accurately regard them; Dark Soul Images:Internet Media inc., were quite happy for the membership database to be sold on to a third party so long as they received a suitable cut of the proceeds. It was simply a matter of dollars and cents. Perhaps those accusing EdgeNet of uniquely 'greedy' and 'capitalistic' behaviour might want to consider this before they decide what is in their best interests. This is simply a matter of two internet companies disputing the ownership of an online membership database to which they both have access. One company owned and hosted the domain name(s) and ran the servers and software for this site, the other company ran the day-to-day administration of the site. To this end, there was a commercial contract between the two companies, and the settlement of any legal dispute between the two will be resolved via the details of that contract. Despite individual or collective perceptions that Renderosity is a community, it is, in fact, a commercial enterprise; run directly and indirectly for profit by all parties concerned. It is a house of cards that has been waiting to collapse for some time. I really can have no sympathy for either side in this, both are evidently motivated by profit. In my view, the interests of Poser users will be best met elsewhere entirely. Given that a large section of the Poser user base has become a hot commercial property, it is my sincere hope that the membership database and domain name 'Poserforum.com' will end up in the hands of Curious Labs, the owners of the Poser program. They can then set up an online forum for users of their program, and all those users will know upfront that the forum is owned by a company who's interests lie in maximising the value of the program they are using. There will be no doubts, misunderstandings or suspicions about anyone's motivations, and everyone's motivations will be mutually beneficial. If the whole notion ends up getting back to its Poser basics, this upheaval will be very much worth it. Whatever happens, it's going to be very amusing to watch.