Let me preface this post by stating that I have read every thread I can find on this subject so if I've missed an obvious one please forgive me.
I am trying to understand what the conflict is about.
I can't help but feel that there is essential piece of information that I am lacking.
Renderosity seems to be saying that they don't want their Free Stuff section to become just a set of links that will take the members to offsite locations. They seem to be further saying that as such they have no quality control ability as to the sites that Renderosity members are taken to or whether the links will be broken or not.
That makes sense to me.
I do not believe that when a member comes to Renderosity to look for a freebie they should be taken off site where they will be hassled to fill out a membership form to another site to acquire the item that they should have been provided when they clicked on the link at Renderosity's Free Stuff section. Such a link could imply that the site in question is somehow affiliated with Renderosity.
When a person clicks on a download link they should be provided with a window that asks them if they want to SAVE or OPEN the file. If Renderosity decides to put an add banner there that's fine too since they are generously providing the download link to the item. When you go to a flee market you pay for the table where you set up your wares. You are not allowed to set up a table with directions to the flea market up the street nor are you allowed to "cyber kidnap" people and take them to the flea market up the street.
Please, and I mean this sincerely; tell me what I'm missing here
There must be some benefit that Free Stuff posters derive from hijacking Renderosity users to other sites.
If you want to recruit new members to your website then do it in the forums.
Renderosity has a links section to the right of the main page. We don't need another off site links page in the Free Stuff section.
As I stated earlier, this seems a rather cut and dried issue to me so I must be missing something.
I consider it unfair that anyone would use the reputation of Renderosity as a great place to find DS and Poser items and info and then in turn for providing free content expect Renderosity to allow it's members to be hijacked.
Provide the items or advertise your items in the forums.
This place has been a 3D goldmine for years and it's a shame if people are now fighting over the gold.

From the dictionary;

**FREE

exempt from external authority, interference, restriction, etc., as a person or one's will, thought, choice, action, etc.; independent; unrestricted.**

FreeStuff items were originally hosted offsite, then suddenly it changed and everything now has to be hosted by Renderosity (which is using Amazon's S3 cloud).

The contention is about there being no choice to host freebie items author's own sites or elsewhere.
I doubt that most of those who expressed a desire to have Renderosity host items were wanting for it to be anything other than a convenient alternative to using their own website or other hosting services (e.g. ShareCG).

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is an online storage web service offered by Amazon Web Services. Amazon S3 provides unlimited storage through a simple web services interface. Amazon launched S3, its first publicly-available web service, in the United States in March 2006[1] and in Europe in November 2007.[2] Since its inception, Amazon has charged end users US$0.15 per gigabyte-month, with additional charges for bandwidth used in sending and receiving data, and a per-request (get or put) charge.[3] As of November 1, 2008, pricing moved to tiers where end users storing more than 50 terabytes receive discounted pricing.

Is that the basis of the conflict?
Is it that Renderosity will derive an economic benefit from storing the files here while the Free Stuff authors have to pay to have redundant files stored at their sites?

Renderosity is more akin to a mall with all those freebie sites being connected to the "hub". Originally, on-site hosting was done but ultimately deemed to expensive so they stop. The freestuff section became links, the only caveat being don't require another registration. That slowly stopped. And that's how it was until the policy changed again.

Freebie providers do use their freebies posted as links in the freestuff section to draw visitors to their sites, maybe they have a community you'd be interested in joining or a store seperate from Rendo (free of some of Rendo's rules, key one being(to me) older slower selling products don't get yanked. This is not new, it's been this way for years. Everyone has benefited, Rendo gets folks in the marketplace, people get exposed to websites they may never have found.

Originally, this was a community with a marketplace. Slowly that's become reversed, now we have a marketplace with some semblance of a community.

Folks aren't fighting over the "gold", the problem is the assay office now seems to think the own the mines - when they don't.

Rendo was getting blamed for something they really had no control over, instead of saying "take it for what it is and, use at your own risk" - they decided to control the freestuff they same way they do the MP. For your average visitor, that's probably a good thing. For the folks providing stuff, they don't like being told "okay, you can give away your gum but it has to be on my counter and, I'm going to use it however I see fit ". Some people object to have their freebies sell other people's products, some don't want their freestuff on the same page as something for sale.

This situation cost us, the community, some fantastic freebies because there seems to be an unwillingness to  compromise. Some of that stuff is still available, some gone unless the creator decides to release it again. This is the biggest disappointment of the whole thing, so many great things and people gone from here. The majority of us(I believe) would be nowhere without the artists who create the content we use to create our images.

The "Use the forum" line doesn't really hold a lot of water, I'd be surprised if 20% of the members here ever even entered the forums on purpose. But, I guarantee 95% click on the free stuff button.

If I'm wrong on any of this, anyone obviously more knowing than me - please correct me. The is just the way I see it.

Allow me to add this for clarity's sake: While I am  on the side of the content providers, I don't blame Rendo for the policy change - it's an understandable situation. I do blame Rendo for (seemingly) not wanting to work something out with the freebie providers so that everyone can be happy.

Quote - Is that the basis of the conflict?

Nope.

The gripe is that we went from no choice about hosting offsite to no choice about hosting via Renderosity.

The fact that they added interstatial pages with ads is not an issue.

I, being a freebie provider, have no issue with the advertising... what has irked me is that i host my freebies on sharecg... that's where everyone knows to look... and was adding a link here with a pic so that new people could find and access my items... most people coming into Renderosity looking for freebie items are not going to come into the forums looking for freebie downloads... they'll simply click the freebies button and start downloading... case in point... since i stopped being able to direct people to my portfolio i'm not getting any where close to the interest or feed back that i was when i was able to post to the freebies here in the freebies area... and i'm sure i'm not the only one having that issue... we were not "highjacking" anyone... simply posting in different sites to bring more attention to our works... and there-in lies part of the problem...

Also... i want to keep my items in one main hosting area... that way if problems are reported with my items it's easy for me to pull them.. make corrections... and repost... and if i have to store files here, on sharecg, (and every other site i belong to individually) i have to do 3 times the work every time an issue gets reported... because now instead of pulling stuff from one central source... i would have to go to every site i had files stored at and replace them individually... now i don't know about others here... but i belong to many sites... and it would take hours for me to go through them all individually if i had to replace or repost something....

First of all thank you to those who replied to this thread.
So it would seem to me that if there was a forum created here called "Just Released" containing links that could be browsed by members an a window informing the members that the link would be transporting that member off site and that Renderosity is not responsible for off site content then that would suit your needs wouldn't it?
That would give you the choice of uploading your freebies here or advertising them in a place where they are centrally organized. You could also receive postings with feedback from the downloaders. The fact that the forums are searchable would also allow people to find those items if they are looking for them as well as a link to your website.
 I assure you that people looking for freebies will leave no stone unturned to find them.
They will also bookmark your site if they find lots of high quality items there.

*"So it would seem to me that if there was a forum created here called "Just Released" containing links that could be browsed by members"

*Actually this is one of the functions of the Freestuff Forum...anything you have hosted elsewhere, and don't wish to use our service, handy tho it is, you can post here. The downside of that is members have to check the forum as well as the Freestuff DL area...Maybe too much work for folks seeking freestuff..? We implemented the hosting after years of members suggesting we do so, and in general it has been fairly well received with those not wishing to upload to us doing as I suggested above, tho those are few and Brynna, Jumpstartme2, and myself are kept busy with new stuff to approve every day...I rest my case.. ...

@ rsg....your comment ***"**This situation cost us, the community, some fantastic freebies because there seems to be an unwillingness to  compromise. Some of that stuff is still available, some gone unless the creator decides to release it again. This is the biggest disappointment of the whole thing, so many great things and people gone from here. The majority of us(I believe) would be nowhere without the artists who create the content we use to create our images."
*is not accurate...all previous to the change freestuff is "grandfathered" in and is still available, it's just stuff from after the change that must follow the current rules as I understand the rules.
No one was ever asked to 'update their old contributions' to my best knowledge, but if they do update items then they must comply.. ... 

Just a suggestion that might aswage people a bit... maybe if a direct link somewhere on the homepage was provided to the freestuff forum it may make people a little happier... and then also people looking for freestuff would be more readily directed to the forum and it's extensive list of freebies?.. just a thought...

I'm not sure which homepage you are referencing but could see putting one to the Freestuff Forum in the header for the Freestuff area main page..would that help do a think.. ...

Quote - I'm not sure which homepage you are referencing but could see putting one to the Freestuff Forum in the header for the Freestuff area main page..would that help do a think.. ...

I am new to the freestuff forums...honestly I wasn't aware that there was a freestuff forum on Rendersoity, I think a link on the Freestuff Homepage would be a good idea.

That was what i was thinking... either that or a direct link button on the main page when you first come into the rendo site... either one would probably help get more people checking the forum as well as just the freestuff area... and would bring more attention to the wealth of items offered here....... maybe even just a notice on the main page saying "check out the great offeres in our freebies forum... " or something to that extent... with a link on the freebies main page to it... something like that... atleast that way people coming in for freebies would know to search here as well as the actual freebies area....

Sorry for taking so long to respond Bobby, I wasn't watching the thread.
   I was referring to those who "took their toys and went home", I'm aware that no policy changes forced anyone to do anything to older items. I'm sorry for not making that clear.

Quote - Sorry for taking so long to respond Bobby, I wasn't watching the thread.
   I was referring to those who "took their toys and went home", I'm aware that no policy changes forced anyone to do anything to older items. I'm sorry for not making that clear.

N P...I'm not always as clear as I could be either.. ...