Forum: Poser - OFFICIAL


Subject: Is it okay to ask about Poser Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales?

gagnonrich opened this issue on Nov 26, 2008 · 62 posts


gagnonrich posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 3:51 PM

With the new TOS, I don't even know if it's okay to ask whether there will be any big sales by Poser vendors in different markets. It would be nice to know what's out there because I don't have the time to participate in every single Poser forum.

I suppose I can understand the need for restrictions to minimize competition with the Renderosity Marketplace. At some point, if we cannot share good news about sales that excite us, there will eventually be a tendency to find a forum with less restrictions.

My visual indexes of Poser content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon


JenX posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 4:24 PM

Advertising sales, whether offsite or on, isn't allowed in the Poser forum.  

Also, it's NOT new.  Advertising's been against the rules in the Poser forum for years.

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


Khai posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 4:33 PM

*"However, to ease your mind, there are exceptions to the rule.  For instance, if someone were to ask "Does anyone know where I can get a pirate ship"? as a question in the forum, feel free to point them in the direction of pirate ships, both free and for sale. 

While you can't outright advertise them, and we shouldn't have allowed it in the first place, you CAN link to products, both free or for sale, should the need to answer a question arise. 

....?


JenX posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 4:39 PM

Khai, he's not asking "Hey, can anyone tell me where I can get a polar bear?"  He's asking if he can list what sites are having black friday sales.  Apples and oranges. 

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


Khai posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 4:43 PM

sorry.. still confused.

he's asking can he ask about them... your saying no advertising... but you've already said we can ask about things.......?

could you clarify what then is the correct way here?

we can ask about idividual items, but a post saying 'hey! **** got a sale!' is not kosher?


JenX posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 4:50 PM

You can ask about individual items, tutorials, techniques, scripts, or any other Poser related thing that may be available for free or for sale.  Asking about sales at a store does not mean you can post advertisements about the sales.  If you want more clarification, you won't get it on the forums.  Please contact admin@renderosity.com 

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


Khai posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 4:52 PM

thank you for clarifying that.


geoegress posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:13 PM

good god- your shooting yourself in the foot in this thread Jen!


markschum posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:16 PM

Its NOT SEPTEMBER !!!


JenX posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:33 PM

I don't see how I'm shooting myself in the foot.  This is nothing new.  A question was asked.  If you don't like my answer, I've told you where to go to seek what you're looking for, with no promises of getting the answer you want.  I don't run this site, and I really don't appreciate getting crap for it on an almost weekly basis.  Starting an attack on me is not going to get rules changed.  I've pointed admin to this thread in case you all have other questions that need to be answered.  As of this post, I bow out of this thread. 

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


Khai posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:44 PM

eh? I wasn't attacking anyone. I wanted things clarified!

if thats an attack, I'm sorry...but that's you seeing things that are not there and nothing to do with  me.


pakled posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:50 PM

here we go again. I'm kinda limiting myself to pointing out freebies...here..;)

Hey, their site, their rules...I'm just here for the cookies...;)

I wish I'd said that.. The Staircase Wit

anahl nathrak uth vas betude doth yel dyenvey..;)


JenX posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:52 PM

I wasn't referring to your post, Khai.  However, it does seem that you need an unusual amount of clarification on things that are rehashed over and over.  It does tend to feel like you're really trying to goad me sometimes, which is why I tend to be short, which I see as too often.  I'd like it if everything didn't have to be so literal.  Simple rules are most often better.

That said, this IS my last post for a while.  Not only have I been sitting here for a while and drinking Coke, but it's almost dinner time :P   

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


Khai posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 5:53 PM

well thats your problem not mine.  I am doing NOTHING of the sort (as in goading you etc) sorry if you think that but as I said thats your problem with seeing things in my posts that are not there.


estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:01 PM

 pakled - sorry to say, but they don't even allow you to point out offsite freebies anymore.  (unless it's an answer to someone's question ie no announcing of offsite things)
love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


StaceyG posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:26 PM

If anyone else has questions/concerns about a guideline that has been in place for years, please contact admin@renderosity.com


Acadia posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:34 PM

Quote - here we go again. I'm kinda limiting myself to pointing out freebies...here..;)

Hey, their site, their rules...I'm just here for the cookies...;)

Yep. I know the feeling.

Join the site in my signature so that you can keep up on sales and freebies. Lots of good stuff being announced through there daily.

What I'm going to miss are the collaboration of links threads for holidays such as Halloween and Christmas giveaways.

Not being able to talk about freebies here sucks big time.  But if they want to isolate themselves into oblivion, that's their business.  But it seems to me from a marketing standpoint that the goal would be to attract more people to the site and forums, so that those same people will shop here, instead of driving people away.  But it's not my bottom line that's being affected, so not sure why I even care.

 

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



Khai posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:37 PM

I know I've given up caring. now asking a question is 'an attack'.

I'll just read the posts in future. it's safer and that way I can't get into trouble for things I'm not doing.


estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:45 PM

 Hi there StaceyG,

well the guideline as I gather states  no commercial posts in the poser forum.  the interpretation is the thing that lots of people seem confused about.  ie people think it is okay to say "hey there's a sale here" or "hey there's free stuff here".  People do not know that that is considered commercial posting especially the people posting who  aren't the vendors.

It is still okay to discuss what is okay or not to post in the poser forums isn't it?

Although it is very clear to you it is not all that clear to other people.

Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


JenX posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:52 PM

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showforum.php?forum_id=12473

Um, you can post links to offsite freestuff.  Most freestuff is offsite, since we don't host any of it.  (you can pay for locker space, giving you some space and bandwidth, but with the way freestuff always goes, your bandwidth flies in a hurry).  We have a forum for freestuff, and, since it's inception, we have allowed "Hey, here's a heads up about my freebie, learn more at this thread" and a link to the thread in the freebie forum posts.   

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 7:57 PM

 ooh that is good news.  looks like an interesting forum actually.  thanks jenx
love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


StaceyG posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 8:04 PM

I'm going to discuss this with the entire admin team again with the concerns brought up by the Poser members.

What  everyone needs to understand is we haven't changed any guidelines about this in a very long time. The only thing recently to happen is the guideline is being enforced more consistently since we have a large enough poser staff to stay on top of it.  The problem is the whole forum gets over run by postings advertising products/sales/promotions offsite and that is not at all fair to our Renderosity vendors who aren't allowed to do this either. They have a forum/gallery here to advertise their Renderosity stores and they use it to do just that.  We made the decision to make the Showcase forum/gallery to be Renderosity vendors only due to business reasons so then the you have members who started using this forum to advertise and promote all these things offsite so heavy it was ridiculous. That hurts it for everyone .
If I was a vendor here, I would be beyond upset about it personally.

I will bring this up next week in our admin meeting and get back to you all here as soon as I can.

Please be patient


estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 8:20 PM

 okay - could u please mention to them that the product showdcase forum (under present guidelines) only allows merchants (not non-vendors like me and the guy who recently posted about the stonemason product there) to post.
ie there's nowhere for non-vendors to say "hey  - there's a great new M4 body morph set at daz" for example.  well as far as i can see.
love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


StaceyG posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 8:27 PM

Right there is not and that was a business decision and best for Renderosity vendors but I will bring this to the table for more discussion.


estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 8:33 PM

 say for example that there is a great texture set for M4 here at rendero but the customer doesn't like the look of M4 even though the texture is great.  he might like the body morph at daz and then come back to rendero to buy the texture to match.
or a piece of furniture at rendero - useless on it's own, might look great in a daz house.
i don't think you can just say the customer only has a limited no of dollars to spend on 3d stuff.  remember - we are all addicts and one 3d object needs another etc

love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


Lzy724 posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 8:52 PM

It seems to me that most people here are looking for this kind of "community support".  Wouldnt it just be easier to create a forum for that kind of stuff?  I spend tons of money here, that isnt going to change, I love the vendors I buy from, and even though at times I think the forums and the attitude of some of the members suck, Im not going to stop coming here, or buying here for any reason.  Cant we find some kind of middle ground here??




estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 11:07 PM

 StaceyG said she would talk to admin.  So lets wait and see what they say.
Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


estherau posted Wed, 26 November 2008 at 11:07 PM

 actually at daz i think, you can flag a post as commercial, and people who don't want to see those posts can actually have a setting so the posts don't show up when they view the forums.
Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


Paloth posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 12:19 AM

There aren't really that many markets selling Poser  products worth buying, so it shouldn't be too difficult to vist the sites and see what specials are offered. 

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368


estherau posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 1:16 AM

uh uh.  a sale for only a couple of days can be easily missed.
love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


Paloth posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 1:38 AM

uh uh. a sale for only a couple of days can be easily missed.

Yes, but anyone concerned enough to start a thread asking if he can ask about 'Black Friday' discounts should be vigilant enough to check the relevant markets himself. 

For the rest, if you snooze, you lose, but what you don't know can't hurt you. 

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368


JVRenderer posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 3:27 AM

Now that we're waiting for the outcome of the admins decision...Howbout that Jewish Pirate Ship.?  Where's it?





Software: Daz Studio 4.15,  Photoshop CC, Zbrush 2022, Blender 3.3, Silo 2.3, Filter Forge 4. Marvelous Designer 7

Hardware: self built Intel Core i7 8086K, 64GB RAM,  RTX 3090 .

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estherau posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 4:28 AM

 If you snooze you lose?  that's not a very nice attitude.  What happened to "hey have you seen the latest freebie baking set at daz?"  I find these posts very helpful.
That's like saying, well if you have a question about poser, just try reading the entire manual first before asking.
I and a lot of others find sale notifications very useful.  KNowledge is power.  Not everyone has all day to check every website. some of us have families or work or just lots of rendering to do.  Anything that helps speed posering up is helfpul afterall.
Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


Paloth posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 4:58 AM

*If you snooze you lose? that's not a very nice attitude. 
**
*That's not an attitude. It's the reality, now that announcements are against the rules.

Anyone who can't take a few minutes to check the other markets probably doesn't have the time for Renderosity either.*

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368


estherau posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 5:04 AM

 Hey I sometimes spot sales that other people here are happy to find out about and vice versa.  
Anyway it may not always be against the rules.  Rules can be changed if enough people are unhappy about things and of course if it doesn't end up costing anything to renderosity.
I have enough time for renderosity and daz but not necessarily every poser store out there.
well I will miss these posts - that is for sure.
Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


scanmead posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 5:43 AM

Not trying to be a smart-mouth or antagonize anyone, but should I be scouting out other sites to find the usual Christmas freebie announcements that various sites normally post this time of year? A lot of the sites being in languages I don't understand, the links are essential in finding these.


JenX posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 5:49 AM

Quote - Not trying to be a smart-mouth or antagonize anyone, but should I be scouting out other sites to find the usual Christmas freebie announcements that various sites normally post this time of year? A lot of the sites being in languages I don't understand, the links are essential in finding these.

As always, that's completely up to you.  However, if you check the Freestuff forum, you may find the same threads here at Renderosity.  (link available in this forum header)

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


SAMS3D posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 5:52 AM

My suggestion, if you know you want something, you could IM the vendor and ask them if it will be on sale?  Many do that to me....I tell them.  Unfortunatley, you may just have to take the time to look and ask the vendor.  Sharen


estherau posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 5:56 AM

 we won't find the sales that way though.

I just worked out why this may be much more important to some than others.  If you just use poser to make a still one off render of something, you might think, hmmm what to  I have in my runtime.  Ah a chair, and a street scene and a whatever.

However I am trying to make a comic and have the whole novel and a couple of sequels already, so I need to find all the particular things for putting in the scene eg like an airline intererior (of which there was a great one at a different website just recently for example).  It really is a whole different kettle of fish when you want to make a scene that has to have certain things in it than if you just want to make a more random sort of pic where you can just take or leave certain features in a scene.

Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


urbanarmitage posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 6:01 AM

Quote - For the rest, if you snooze, you lose, but what you don't know can't hurt you.

... and that is a prime example of the NON-community attitude that everybody is concerned will prevail based on the enforcement of this policy.

UA

 


estherau posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 6:08 AM

 It does seem kind of rough I have to agree.
We all use poser in different ways, and the way I use it, I find various announcements very useful.
Love esther

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


scanmead posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 7:40 AM

Now I'm even more confused. Can, say a French site, post links to their holiday giveaways in the Free Stuff forum or not? As hard as I'm trying to not question authority or tread on any toes, I get the feeling that questions are not welcome. hmm... maybe I'm not, either.


JenX posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 7:42 AM

Quote - Now I'm even more confused. Can, say a French site, post links to their holiday giveaways in the Free Stuff forum or not? As hard as I'm trying to not question authority or tread on any toes, I get the feeling that questions are not welcome. hmm... maybe I'm not, either.

There's no reason they shouldn't, and I don't know why being French should come into play.  There's a ginormous thread in the freestuff forum about Japanese freebies.  If you're posting your holiday or advent style freebies, I say the more the merrier.  That being said, you may want to clarify with the freestuff forum staff.

Sitemail | Freestuff | Craftythings | Youtube|

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.


estherau posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 7:53 AM

These are the interpretation of the current rules at present as I understand them:-

you can post announcements of free stuff (even if this is a link to another website) in the free stuff forums. (But not in the poser forum)

You can post announcements of sales in the product showcase forum - only if you are the merchant.

You cannot post announcements about offsite sales or products anywhere in renderosity if you're not a vendor.

You can answer a question with an appropriate offsite link in the poser forum if someone in the poserforum asks.

Hope this info is helpful to everyone.
Love esther

PS This means that if stonemason makes a really nice thingy at a certain website, and you are totally blown away by how awsome it is, you may not link to it.
I am not sure if you are allowed to say "I saw this awsome thing at daz" without posting a link, but I think this too is against the rules as I understand them.

MY ONLINE COMIC IS NOW LIVE

I aim to update it about once a month.  Oh, and it's free!


Paloth posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 8:41 AM

.*.. and that is a prime example of the NON-community attitude that everybody is concerned will prevail based on the enforcement of this policy. *

Glad I finnally met the spokesman for "everyone." I just wish everyone made sense. 

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368


Miss Nancy posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 11:21 AM

well, anyway, good news, esther!  i daresay they're gonna re-examine this policy,
as (for now at least) they're only enforcing it in the poser forum.  they're still allowing
ads for daz items to be posted in the carrara forum, which is o.k. with me, but selective
enforcement is, in effect, non-enforcement IMVHO. I still stand by my original scheme
whereby they institute a pay-per-click deal with these other sites.  said scheme allowed
google to crush microsoft and yahoo re: search engines, so there must be something to it.



gagnonrich posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 1:27 PM

The problem with the product showcase is that it's the equivalent of watching the Home Shopping Network. It's wall-to-wall advertising.

The problem with the freebie forum is that it's mostly a repeat of what's in freestuff. When I have more free time, I'd rather visit Faeriewylde''s gifts forum to look for other freebies.

That's why I don't visit those two forums.

There's always a fine line between allowing the community to post about special sales and cool freebies they find versus disrupting the normal flow of conversations. There's also a fine line between moderation and over-moderation. Nobody wants to see this forum become overwhelmed by commercial posts. At the same time, there ought to be some room for forum members to talk about cool sales, freebies, and products in the forum. I couldn't say how much is too much. It's sort of like OT posts. I've seen forums overrun by posters that forgot what the subject of the forum was about and ruin the forum. OT topics are, to some degree allowed or tolerated in this forum. There are no absolute rules being applied to OT posts. If they start getting out of control, moderation becomes necessary. Maybe the same sort of fuzzy logic ought to be applied to posts about sales or freebies. The preference is to have hard and fast rules so that there is no question about what is allowed. That's not always possible.

This is a community forum for Poser. Poser is not a standalone product and relies on outside content, not provided by the program, to be fully useful. It's an awkward choice to not allow discussions of such content in the forum. Take that away and this becomes a tech support forum. Open up a Poser tech support forum and don't allow any tech issues to be posted here and this is going to be a fairly empty forum.

I don't want this forum to be overcrowded by commercial posts or freebie posts, but I like knowing about great sales and cool freebie finds. Right now, Poser users can buy Wardrobe Wizard for $30 (half price) because a store is offering a Black Friday 50% off coupon for an entire order. That store has never had that good a sale before, so it's news that ought to be allowed here. I wouldn't want to see constant posts about DAZ sales because there isn't a time when they don't have some kind of sale. Even with DAZ, every now and then they have a sale that's a lot better than their regular sales. I'd like to know about those because they tend to be very short duration sales.

I wish I could offer hard and fast rules about what ought to apply, but I can't. I've had to make those types of decisions in forums I moderate or used to moderate. I've found that I have to be unfair when I moderate a group because I apply a lighter hand moderating some community members than I do others. Some community members are better than others and I'm more liberal with productive members than I am with others that tend to be a little disruptive. I want to encourage and keep productive members. If such members have an off day where they make a questionable post, I'm more likely to leave their post than if it comes from a member that is a moderate nuisance. If a nuisance poster posts a similar message, I'll probably delete it. if the nuisance poster gets upset from moderation and leaves, I don't care. I don't like removing members who aren't outright violating rules, but there are some people with naturally abrasive personalities that I'm always on the borderline to delete. I will delete somebody whose first post is an ad or an attack on another member. There's no reason to be patient with everybody. I've found out the hard way that coddling an abrasive member only emboldens that person and allows that person to be overly disruptive in the group. I won't ever be a completely fair moderator. There isn't any reason to be completely fair. It's not entirely fair to ban a person with a personality disorder that they cannot always control. It's also not fair to allow a forum to be constantly disrupted by such people.

I'm becoming worried that moderation here is starting to hit a point where posts, that would be of benefit to the Poser community, are no longer allowed in the Poser forum. Things are getting bad when it's not appropriate to have a thread here about Christmas freebies. I understand that it's allowed in the freebie forum, but I rarely visit that forum. I like the one at Faeriewylde better. With the internet, it doesn't take me any more work to go to that freebie forum than it does to visit the one here. At the moment, the Poser forum here is the only one I visit daily. My preference is to find everything I want to read in this one forum. If the rules prevent me finding the information I want to see in this forum and I have to click elsewhere at Renderosity for that information, there's no guarantee I'll go to there. In most cases, I probably will go to another site. I can only speak for myself and my web surfing habits.

It's really important for the moderators here to pay attention to what members, like Acadia, are saying. Acadia is the kind of helpful person that any Poser community would be glad to have. It's not a good thing that she's getting frustrated with rules she doesn't like and going elsewhere to participate in another community that is more to her liking.

While I don't want this forum to be overly cluttered with ads and freebie notices, I'm not sure that I want it to just be a technical support forum. Being kept informed on what good content is out there, and the best prices and places to find them, is every bit as important as the technical aspects of Poser. It is impossible to do the best Poser artwork without being knowledgeable in both.

My visual indexes of Poser content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon


StaceyG posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 7:21 PM

I do understand what you are saying and some of the things you've said are spot on.. Especially about the over run of commercial postings and even more of the freebies that aren't uploaded in our freestuff area.   While being helpful is a good thing sometimes too much of a good thing really begins to hurt the site as a whole.  Its a very very fine line and its a difficult task coming up with a solution that is beneficial for everyone including the business which is what keeps us able to have all the free features and such that we have.

I am going to bring up the points mentioned here and see what we can do but I hope that everyone can understand that regardless there will have to be some type of limit or line to draw...there is going to have to be. Sometimes I feel (this is a personal opinion) that its like the old saying "give an inch and they will take a mile" type of thing. Its unfortunate but an honest opinion.

I appreciate your patience to give us time to discuss this and see where we land.

Regards,
Stacey


donquixote posted Thu, 27 November 2008 at 10:58 PM

I for one am glad to have read this thread.

Frankly, I don't care about who posts, or what -- commercial or off-topic or otherwise. I just don't like that Renderosity doesn't seem (to me) to be quite the friendly and intelligent place it once did.

And though I haven't said much, I suppose I have been privately blaming the moderators for it.

I have been feeling, for a while, that the moderators were being too much of a pain, not just on this topic, but when it comes to OT threads as well -- which I am almost afraid to participate in these days.

In any case, I think I now better understand some of the difficulty, i.e., the fine line, and as such from now on I will make an effort to think twice before I blame the moderators, privately or otherwise.

I do very much hope, though, that something can be done to restore some of the friendliness and intelligence which seem now to be in somewhat shorter supply here than they once were ...


donquixote posted Fri, 28 November 2008 at 3:26 AM

Maybe instead of 'moderators' I should have used the term 'administrators' ...


gagnonrich posted Fri, 28 November 2008 at 1:11 PM

I sort of believe in the old adage, "give an inch and they will take a mile". I don't wholly subscribe to it. It kind of goes back to my feeling that not all posters ought to be moderated the same way. I'll always moderate new posters, or posters who are mostly complainers, more than the best, and most productive, members of a forum. That's sometimes going to result in the complaint, "if he can do it, why can't I do it?" The answer is that the poster, I allowed, earned the right to post more freely. That extra freedom doesn't mean that a "star" member has infinite privileges.

I actually had one forum where one of the members was fairly productive in starting and participating in conversations, but was also mildly combative in discussions. Things hadn't gotten nasty enough that I thought there was any reason to intercede for the longest time. Eventually, this poster started telling other members what they could and couldn't do in the forum. Other members, that I valued far more than this one individual, started commenting on this and I had to publicly rebuke this poster and provide a friendly reminder that I was the forum owner and moderator and was the only one that had both figurative and literal control over the forum. That person didn't care for being told he wasn't in charge and left. That was fine because his participation had shifted over time from useful to being a nuisance.

I wholly understand that I'm only a member here and have no authority other than to suggest things. If I don't like how things are run here, I can always find another Poser community to interact with. I don't think that the situation here has hit that point, but there are a few rocky areas that need to be smoothed over.

Although there are some people that, given an inch, will take the whole mile, most people aren't like that. Most people will be happy with the inch. Not giving people an inch, when all they want is an inch, sets up an unfriendly environment. It's usually not too hard to figure out which are which and apply the appropriate level of moderation when needed. It won't always be fair moderation, but it will be judiciously exercised where needed. Moderating a forum is always tricky because there's a desire to keep everybody reasonably on topic, in a respectful fashion, within a forum while allowing discussions to be open and free. It's hard to find the right balance between the two.

I'm not sure how Renderosity can best balance its business needs versus its community. To some extent, the two needs don't always mesh well. Overall, I don't think that the business side ought to dictate how the community side runs. When a store opens up a community, they have to live with the reality that the community is not always going to agree with what the store wants. If a store doesn't like that, then it ought not create a community forum.

Since a Poser community relies on freebie and purchased content to create Poser art, restrictions on discussing those things aren't going to be appreciated. Poser users are interested in finding the best prices on the best products and, if the Renderosity marketplace isn't delivering on that, the marketplace is going to lose business. I can appreciate that Renderosity doesn't want to lose business. Is the problem that posters are taking business away from Renderosity or that Renderosity isn't doing more to keep that business?

No matter what anybody thinks about DAZ, it's hard not to give them credit for aggressively marketing their products and constantly trying new things to get customers to buy from their store. All the other Poser stores put together don't approach the effort DAZ puts into selling their content. DAZ's efforts don't simply help in selling more product. Those efforts are drawing away some of the best content creators from other stores that used to exclusively sell through those stores.

I look at Renderosity, and other Poser stores, and they're frankly not doing much to combat the business they're losing. Trying to restrict conversations in the forum isn't the solution. Feel free to delete posts by people marketing their own products. I'm less comfortable being told that I shouldn't share a bargain I find at another site. If other Poser stores have better deals than Renderosity, then Renderosity needs to find a way to provide even better deals. That's easier said than done. It's ultimately where the real solution lies. I might be wrong, but wasn't Renderosity the biggest Poser marketplace a little more than half a dozen years ago? If it wasn't, it was probably commanding a larger share of the market than it currently has.

My visual indexes of Poser content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon


dasquid posted Sat, 29 November 2008 at 2:55 PM

Quote - LOL wall of text that actually makes sense from beginning to end.

Very Well said Gagnonrich.



MikeJ posted Sat, 29 November 2008 at 3:57 PM

Come on people. Who cares? Can't you all find something better to argue about?
Do some Googling or something. Find some free modeling and texturing programs and make your own crap. Start up your own site or something.

Quote -
uh uh.  a sale for only a couple of days can be easily missed.

Yeah? And? Worst case scenario, you save some money.



Paloth posted Sat, 29 November 2008 at 10:35 PM

*Find some free modeling and texturing programs and make your own crap. *

Anyone who has time for this controversy should have ample time to master modeling and texturing. 

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368


donquixote posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 1:11 AM

And anyone who has time to bash everyone else for participating in this thread should have ample time to go off and become a world class brain surgeon ...


Paloth posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 1:28 AM

Yeah, it was pretty brutal to suggest people can make their own stuff.  

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368


donquixote posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 1:47 AM

Whatever.


dasquid posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 1:56 AM

Quote - Yeah, it was pretty brutal to suggest people can make their own stuff.  

Some people have the talent to make their own stuff, and some don't, hell I WANT to learn how to do my own stuff but I just don't have the time (yeah I don't have the time even though I do have the time to post in threads like this that annoy some of you so much.)

Just because some of you guys don't like these threads doesn't mean that some people may want to voice their opinions.
Those of you that don't like these threads can just as easily not waste your time reading or posting in them. It would seem like the sensible thing to do now wouldn't it?



kalon posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 9:19 AM

Quote - Just because some of you guys don't like these threads doesn't mean that some people may want to voice their opinions.
Those of you that don't like these threads can just as easily not waste your time reading or posting in them. It would seem like the sensible thing to do now wouldn't it?

Thank you, Dasquid...

There it is in a nutshell. This reflected belief that any forums contents must always please you... must always be of interest to you... It's so simple, you have choice. If you're not interested, don't look at this thread. Or if you've looked and find it's not to your liking, move on to something of more interest to you...

My understanding is that the rigid enforcement of these rules is the result of people complaining about too much linking to other products. At least, that was cited in earlier discussions. While I can understand concerns from a business aspect-- merchants fearing poser dollars will be spent elsewhere, the other side of the coin is that while I'm posting and reading in these forums I'm subjected to a variety of ads-- many of which (addict that I am) I succumb to. But if the strict enforcement of these rules change things to the extent that I go elsewhere for news, I'm not here to see those ads...

I've been offline since Wednesday, and on returning I see basically the same threads are still on the front page. Used to be a time when if you posted something and it didn't get a response within a few hours, you had to bump it from page 2 or 3 to get it back into the mix.Maybe it's just my perception, but it definitely seems Poser forum participation is down.

It seems strange to me that a site would limit outside linking, when the object is to support a software, sold elsewhere, that is so firmly intertwined with content-- the major components of which are located at yet another site... How many posts have there been by newbies, looking for Victoria in their runtimes?

Thank you StacyG for revisiting this. I've always thought the Renderosity forums were the most informative and the place where you were most likely to get an honest, non-biased opinion from the membership-- or at least variations in opinion.Be a shame to lose that.

kalonart.com


MikeJ posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 10:39 AM

Quote - Just because some of you guys don't like these threads doesn't mean that some people may want to voice their opinions.
Those of you that don't like these threads can just as easily not waste your time reading or posting in them. It would seem like the sensible thing to do now wouldn't it?

Those of you who don't like these types of comments to these types of threads don't have to read them or comment either.
That argument doesn't make any sense. If everyone who ever didn't "like" certain threads or topics threads restrained from commenting in such threads, they would be kind of one-sided, wouldn't they be? Just one massive love-in or whine-fest.

All I was saying is the information is out there. You have the Free Stuff, the MP Showcase (or whatever it's called), the Front Page for major sale announcements, the Newsletter... other sites such as DAZ and their forums and Art Zone, a whole lot of miscellaneous Poser junk sites all over the 'net, and finally the Almighty Google

But noooooo... Poser people want what they want, where, when and how they want it and if even the people who own the site disagree it must be bad and wrong - because, dammit, Poser people DESERVE to get what they want no matter who likes it or not.

The militant vocal faction of the Poserverse seems unique in that respect. Probably because it's made up largely of amateurs, hobbyists, and little kids. Look around at some of the "pro" 3D sites like CG Talk and Autodesk's Area forums - you don't see this kind of crap tolerated.

So why should it be here? Why should RO have to allow something they don't want just because a handful of people think it's wrong?
With the ENORMOUS amount of Poser information "out there" all over the WWW, why is it so unreasonable that a forum dedicated to the discussion of a certain software and techniques therein remain free of all those ad threads?

Wait, I already answered my own question- Poser people want what they want, when they want it, how, where, and when they want it...

Never mind that maybe the site owners and adnins don't like the idea - that's irrelevant.



dasquid posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 11:31 AM

Quote -
The militant vocal faction of the Poserverse seems unique in that respect. Probably because it's made up largely of amateurs, hobbyists, and little kids. Look around at some of the "pro" 3D sites like CG Talk and Autodesk's Area forums - you don't see this kind of crap tolerated.

So why should it be here? Why should RO have to allow something they don't want just because a handful of people think it's wrong?

Oh so now WE are the militant vocal faction? what about the few people who complained about ..." too many ads" when there were never that many to begin with. what the poser community is made up from is irrelevant it is not what is important and getting insulting is about what I should come to expect from someone with their opinion set in stone. This isn't "elitist talk" or "I have more cash than you so Im more important than you" here this is Renderosity. I think everyone here is equal unless you are a mod or admin and I only see a few of those tags in this thread and none of them are making judgements like you are.

If I remember correctly from what the various admins have said about the situation and what brought this insane (in my opinion only) tos change, was people complaining about the commercial and freebie threads in the Poser forum. Oh my god Renderosity admins changed something because a handfull of people complained because they thought it was wrong?

To the Admins: Sorry if this reply here was way over the top  you may delete it if you think it is necessary to keep the thread unlocked or even just to delete whatever you think is  too much. I am just tired of  people acting like the ones who don't think this particular TOS change is such a good idea are a tiny fraction of the population of Renderosity. The only true way to make sure would be to have a poll of some sort but thats all up to you guys.

dasquid



JenX posted Sun, 30 November 2008 at 11:35 AM

I think everyone has said their peace.  If anyone has any further concerns on the topic, please email admin@Renderosity.com 

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