Here's the deal... I wanted a freebie here...I had to register for Renderosity to have access to the freebies...I go to freebies - click to download a freeby - it takes me to yet ANOTHER freaking site where I have to - again - register to get access to the very same freebie.OK,OK,I'LL PLAY ALONG... I Register - THEN - it says - "A confirmation code has been sent to your email address that will activate your account..." WELLLLL...I go to my box - and lo and behold - NO REGISTRATION CODE! So- I go back- and register again thinking "Ok - I entered the wrong email address." BAM! I can't re-register because it says "Sorry - but somebody else has just registered with that email address." It's not just freebies either - sometimes you go to BUY something through R'Osity - and still it takes you to another site where you have to register again,also-sometimes unsuccessfully. ISN'T THERE A ^&()-##@&ING RULE AGAINST THIS BULLS() HERE IN THE UPLOAD RULES HERE???!!! WHO NEEDS THIS AGGRAVATION - EVEN IF IT IS FREE - IT'S NOT EVEN WORTH IT TO TRY!!! F#$$%^ THIS CRAPOLA!!! Sincerely with love, hugs, and warm fuzzy cuddles and kisses...your Uncle Mugsey...

"...sometimes you go to BUY something through R'Osity - and still it takes you to another site where you have to register again,also-sometimes unsuccessfully." When have you been taken to another site as you wanted to purchase something from Rosity? The only other site I am taken too is PayPal since this is my prefered payment method, besides that I do not have to go to other sites.

(Mugsey sighs - knowing that his new beloved friend seems to have missed the germain point to all of Mugsey's cheap soap box preachy tirate)... Oh beloved friend - you notice the paint chipping off the fence but your eyes are missing the house beyond it (bad philosophical horse pucky-sorry). This happens commonly on other sites - and sometimes on this one,but not too often - my POINT...is that I have to be invited to dance in an endless concentric circle in Dante's Inferno - JUST to get a free toy in the proverbial Cracker Jack box.You can say "Well - beggers can't be choosers", but information - having the capacity to create profit - is a marketable commodity, and I'm being asked to pay TWICE! It's like a bad practical joke ("Ever went "SNIPE HUNTING?"")

Went to download a freebie shown here at renderosity, and then taken to other website. Written "If I continue to have people leeching the downloads - I will discontinue the free download section.", What ever that meant. So had to sign up to download. I told myself forget it. A waste of my time and renderosity's freebie space. Wondering "why"

Message edited on: 04/07/2005 07:54

I am a free product contributor - and will always BE a free product contributor,so - no one on THE LORD GOD'S CREATED EARTH can ever in their wildest delusionary psycho trip accuse me of LEECHING anything because I give AND take - tit for tat and qwid pro quo, one hand washes the other and everybody gets a good lathering,but I digress... YES Robo - I have walked a mile in your moccasins kemosabe.I can relate...

I think you guys are misunderstanding the term "leechhing" :) - When people are talking about downloads, or webspace, leeching is the act of taking that link and posting it somewhere's else where it's not supposed to be ( usually on a personal website ) so that others may download it. For instance, if I found a freebie that I liked and thought was really cool, and I wanted to share it with people that went to my website, say www.mywebsite.com, and I just took the link and posted it to my website without permission...that's leeching. Sharing isn't a bad thing - but hosting costs money, and if people that I'm not intending to share with are stealing my bandwidth and costing me money without my permission, I'm going to be pretty peeved. Just because I give something away for free doesn't mean that it's not costing me anything. Just my two cents :) And just because someone wants you to sign up to get one of their free items, that's not such a bad thing to ask. So they want a little growth? Maybe they'll feel you'll find something of interest there? Maybe they hope you'll come back? Maybe they don't have a lot of bandwidth, and the whole reason they want you to have to register is to weed out all those people that download everything; maybe they want those who really want their freebie to have it the most. What it really boils down to is the fact that these authors are going out of their way to host these things, probably costing them money to begin with, and it's free. If you want it, sign up. If not, move on.

Good points..Good points...In the spirit of diplomacy,sure,I can see the whole hosting thing. But-when you click on a link that DOES "NOT" SAY "SITE LINK" or "REGISTRATION REQUIRED" - you get peeved a little, because your expecting to get your SH**& and go - not get the run around treatment. If I go to your site for a free download - you don't have to have me to freaking register in order to get me to either buy your pay stuff - or donate to your hosting expenses.It's NOT necessary!!! You can have your freebies up on your site and advertise your pay stuff to - without fishing for email addys to inundate boxes with spam or to sell email addies to other companies - that again - inundate boxes with SPAMOLA!!! Thanks kids - I call that little ditty a SLAM DUNK BABY!!!

wowww............I'm sorry it upset you so badly...the same thing has happened to me, but I didn't get so freaked out over it...just figured, oh well, guess I wont get this freebie but so what, there are so many others....and I just moved on...I sincerely hope your day gets better from here!! :D

btw, I've never had a problem with getting spammed due to signing up at anyone's site to get a freebie...maybe I've just been lucky though....but I've downloaded a lotttttttt of freebies ;P

Message edited on: 04/07/2005 08:34

I'm kinda freaked out about it - sure...but I understand how you might be puzzled as to why I am so freaked out about it - it's kinda like when I get puzzled over why some folks irrationally get ticked off when somebody uses too many capitol letters on the internet - that too at first glance seems a tad bit "toys in the attic". I hope my CENTURY gets better - heck - I don't know, maybe it's male menopause, or a midlife crisis, or the fact that I was strictly bottle fed as an infant - and thus - I have a deep seated persecution complex.Who knows - maybe I'll win the lottery and find a girlfriend who ISN'T a psycho hose beast or a demented circus freak - then I'll feel much better, and maybe attain inner "one-ness"...

"But-when you click on a link that DOES "NOT" SAY "SITE LINK" or "REGISTRATION REQUIRED" - you get peeved a little, because your expecting to get your SH**& and go - not get the run around treatment." Maybe it's just me, but if I upload a freebie, even if I were to have it on an outside site that required registration, I don't add that to the title. The title is the name for the object, and that's it for me. I will, however, add "Offsite registration" to the "Notes and Requirements" section though. Seems like it fits there better than in the tittle. "You can have your freebies up on your site and advertise your pay stuff to - without fishing for email addys to inundate boxes with spam or to sell email addies to other companies - that again - inundate boxes with SPAMOLA!!!" I'm sure there are exceptions (there always are) but it seems to me with the recent crack down on spam and it being illegal and all to mass send, Poser authors have better things to do than to send spam out to the 700 or so people they have registered at their site. From what I understand, you have to go through quite a bit to make yourself somewhat untraceable if you're going to be mass spaming. That's a lot to go through, with a pretty big risk to yourself. I believe it's safe to say that you won't be getting much spam from registering at the average hobbyist's website. "If I go to your site for a free download - you don't have to have me to freaking register in order to get me to either buy your pay stuff - or donate to your hosting expenses.It's NOT necessary!!!" For some author's, it's just easier on them. It depends on the setup they have. If they're using a pre-built CMS ( content management system ), then they may not have a setting to allow downloads without registration. Or they may want to have the ability to send out an e-mail to all those who downloaded their freebie to let them know they've updated it. Just because you have to register at a website doesn't mean they're instantly wanting you to buy something. Another huge factor with registering to download is that it stops leeching. If you have to register at a website, it's probably using a CMS or some homebrew php code that only allows downloads to those that are registered. If you're not a member, you don't get it. That means others can't link to it, because it will take them right back to the site it came from and tell them that they're not a member. Not everyone can afford bandwidth to host a 5 meg freebie for Renderosity and every other website some Joe decides to link it to. Like I said, just because I give something away for free doesn't mean that It's free for me. If I take the time to make something for the community, and if I so wish it, I see no problem with making those who want it register for it. I'm not going to open myself up to bandwidth theft. Thanks kids - I call that little ditty....Reality.

Yeah, I move on. Make my own.

Actually I don't worry about the site itself spamming, more the worry that the info gets sold to other folks. Why do you need all of the info if you are just giving away a free item? Also a lot of the free web sites like to kick cookies down to you which can be annoying. If I have to register I typically will pass on the free item, rarely do I sign up. As far as leeching goes, I see that some sites are sending you to another area that you have to hit a download button from, which generally discourages leeching since they have to work at it. Marque

Ok- then why is that when I register to some of these sites - magically I have so many loving - kind - and wonderful folks out there in TV land suddenly become so interested in the size of my D***() that they send me sign posts pointing toward the latest developements in personal male enhancement? In theory Nalif - your position is solid, but Murphy cares nothing about theory... Yes- I am grumpy today.My apologies... I would write my personal memoirs here to illustrate my background to provide you with some insight as to why I find myself in my "dark place" today - but I don't have the room and writer's cramp is painful - so - nevermind. Pay no heed to my "boo hoo hoo - I'm a dove with a wittle bwoken wing" routine - a guess I need a good swift kick in the pants,granted - but I'm sure that all of you have had your whiny moments too - so people in glass houses should not drive bulldozers...

Everyone gets those messages. There from "web spiders". They are programs that go around and search the net for e-mails. All they need to do is find some text that even looks like an e-mail, and they add it to their list. Add your e-mail to a post - a web spider might find it. Send an e-mail (depending on what e-mail you use. If you use a public service without protection), your e-mail might be found by a web spider. Do anything with your e-mail, and it might be found by a web spider.

As for "kicking cookies" down to you - Yes, if you register at a website, that will almost always require a cookie. Sometimes it just saves your login, sometimes it's tied into the security of the site. Most aren't bad, but I do understand why some people are wary of cookies. And to the remark about needing all the info - It all goes back to the CMS. What you're seeing is a website that's probably just cut and pasted from code that's already been built. I know my website is. It's easier, more efficient, and safer. I don't want to read book upon book on HTML, PHP, Java, and then learn how to combine all those to make a secure website. The majority of the internet is all "copy and paste" work. I'll take a prebuild CMS over making my own any day, as long as it's customizable enough. And most of them are now-a-days. In my oppinion, the only info you need to download a freebie is your e-mail address. Make up the rest for all I care. I don't need to know your name, unless you're making a purchase. If your just here for the free item, make up a name.

And as for users selling e-mail addersses....I'm sure it happens. How often, I donno. Seems like it would be kinda low, though. I've never even heard of a website that would be willing to purchase a list of e-mails from a nobody that just runs a hobbyist site, though :) - From what I hear, they target the larger companies.

Message edited on: 04/07/2005 09:33

Nalif...sweet Nalif...My beloved friend...my God smile upon you,bless you abundantly, and station his angels to watch over you,for your child like innocence is deeply moving...but I must clue you in on a few facts my friend... There are THOUSANDS of sites out there soliciting email lists - and promising commissions for email referrals. You can find them out there offering things like $0.25 up to $10.00 PER email addy referred to them - or secured email addresses in bulk in which you get paid only after you've collected "n" number of email addys. They also have HTML and Java code that they offer - say in exchange for free web space - that you post in the body part of your web pages - that COLLECTS email addresses that are garnered via a direct email button or "download switch".

spamming does happen - and sometimes it's NOT the website managers fault - it's the hosting service.

Ahh. Well, can't say I've done a lot of research into the "how to spam" field. That HTML and Java code, though - those are the web spiders I spoke of. Didn't know it would be easy for just any average person to send in e-mails. The bulk of what I said still stands though. "spamming does happen - and sometimes it's NOT the website managers fault - it's the hosting service." True that.

Message edited on: 04/07/2005 09:52

Point taken. - Like I said before - I have been driven nearly insane by "male enhancement" ads being sent to my email box.I have looked for ways to stop this - tried to educate myself on where they come from so that I could report the scummy &*##(@!ers, but what can you do - write another "WAAAAAH WAAAAAH" letter and hope somebody at your ISP puts the coffee down and garners up enough motivation to shake the concrete outta their A@@es and actually DO something.FORGET IT. I wish you had a button on your mouse where you could click on a spam ad with it - and it would irrevicably fry the spammers hard drive - now there's an invention that make somebody so much MOOLAH that they'de make Bill Gates look like the guy sleeping on a cardboard box under the interstate overpass!

Bill Gates, the Billionaire, and still wants his paychecks.

If I were him I'de keep enough for me a nice little house with a massive indoor pool - stick enough away to pay bills and buy groceries - and take the rest and put a few new wings onto St.Judes Children's hospital - and pump a few billion into diabetes research,AIDS research,the make a wish foundation,and maybe build and entire city with free housing for poor folks,LOL.

Hi Mugsey, All the freebies here at R'osity should state in the notes section if registration is required to download them. So if you come across one, please PM me or another mod and let us know the item name or member name, and we'll fix it. I am a bit concerned about you saying that this has happened in the store. This absolutely should not happen. If you can remember a specific example of this, can you let me know, or email store@renderosity.com please? Regarding spam - I have to say that I use my Renderosity.com email account for every site I have to sign up for to download freebies, or at other Poser communities that I want a newsletter for, or whatever. And I check all the freebies for Poser (although MorriganShadow is kindly helping me right now as I am stuck without my lovely 1mb ADSL line) so I sign up at nearly every Poser site out there. As of yet (since last September) I haven't received one piece of spam to this account. So it looks like the Poser sites haven't yet sold their souls subscriber's mail addresses ;-) Hope your day/week gets better, Karen Poser Mod

All my freebies require registration. I'm sure you don't want to know why, so I'll tell you anyway. It's the leeches. No, leeches are -not- Poser users who don't have the time or skill to create content. They -are- the members of this community who are thieves. They post a link to someone else's work and claim it to be their own. Not only do they claim it, they steal bandwidth from me by linking the download from my site. I got sick of paying for somebody else's hosting. Now all the freebies are locked away in a hidden folder only accessible through the CMS. No register, no download. OK, the spam thing. I've gone to great lengths to be sure any passing robot can not get user's e-mail addresses. I've installed black holes in the site, and traps designed to kill passing robots. I'll never sell anybody's address. Plus, my registered members get the occasional hidden freebie. If you want to get tons of spam try owning a large web site. I receive nearly 1000 per day. I don't like being lumped in with spammers or even being indirectly accused of the practice. I have to shell out every month for a special filtering service because of spam. I'm sure not going to contribute to the problem. Did I want to do this? He!! no. It took nearly a month to install and test all this CMS junk and move all my stuff in it. But it was either that or pull all my freebies. Take your pick. Actually, I guess some people have. These people would prefer a Poser world without Nerd3D if they have to type in their e-mail address. Aiko 3 is free. Try and DL her without registering first. Victoria 3 is free... wait registration required ... can't touch this. Free Model of the week at DAZ, Sea Shell Collection... Whoa! Hold it. They want my e-mail address! Forget it. If it's good enough for DAZ, it's good enough for me. P.S. They can't leach my images, either. P.P.S. Karen, how about a new check mark. "Requires Registration" on the freebies and a user preference, so they can hide the "Registration Required" freebies. It could work the same way the nudity flag does. That way I don't have to waste bandwidth on the I'd-never-register-to-get-a-freebie crowd. They'll never see the thumb nail and won't suffer the distraction and anguish of seeing a freebie they can never own. Nerd3D

It's an irritating trend but I can understand the need for it. If anyone were spamming/selling emails, they'd soon be found out and crucified here, where people are not exactly shy about complaining. Just eet up a throw away email on Yahoo or someplace for all of them. Bill Gates has already given more to charity than the total number of NVIATWAS images ever rendered at $1000 a pop :-)

Nerd, that's a great idea. I'll suggest it right away. Fingers crossed it's something that would be easy to implement :o)