ShareCG in trouble

245

Comments

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,591
    edited December 1969

    In regard to people who pay money to put things up for people to use...I do my website is a paid site. The only things I have at share are a couple of things that I didn't have time to make pages for my site so I put them up there .

    I think I better start pestering my daughter to revamp my website...it really needs doing! I will probably still occasionally put things up there. If I'm reading it correctly the subscription is only for those who want to remove the adds...mind you I'm still drinking my first cuppa for the day and I could have missed something...

  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 2,882
    edited December 1969

    Well..

    People downloading probably wouldn't have to pay would they? I took it to mean that those who were using it for hosting would be required to pay...

    which is not unreasonable...

    I will be sad to see ShareCG not stay free, but I can't blame them for trying to find a solution for paying their bills... :down:

    ...things are just changing too much everywhere lately...kinda sad about it, but I don't think they're being "greedy" or anything... $10 a year is more than reasonable... I think they're just trying to stay afloat in a stormy economy....but it's still too sad. :down:

    I'm not sure. It really wasn't very clear on what the $10 accounts would allow.

    If it's paid hosting/add free browsing, then I have even fewer concerns about it. I probably won't keep my few freebies up, because I don't have enough there to justify the expense, but if I had bunches of freebies, I'd be fine with paying $10/year for hosting.

    If it's $10/year for any access (uploads or downloads), that's where it gets fuzzy on if they're really still freebies, even for such a minor cost. And that may cost them more content providers than $10 for hosting.

  • namffuaknamffuak Posts: 4,061
    edited December 1969

    randym77 said:
    I don't think charging people is going to work. $10/year is not a lot, but I don't think the average Poser user will pay it. Never mind the people who create the free stuff, who then have to pay to give it away.

    I understand that ShareCG has to make money, but perhaps their business plan was ill conceived. You can get free storage at so many sites now (Google, 4shared, Skydrive, etc.) that I don't know why anyone would pay to host their freebies at ShareCG.

    Well..

    People downloading probably wouldn't have to pay would they? I took it to mean that those who were using it for hosting would be required to pay...

    which is not unreasonable...

    I will be sad to see ShareCG not stay free, but I can't blame them for trying to find a solution for paying their bills... :down:

    ...things are just changing too much everywhere lately...kinda sad about it, but I don't think they're being "greedy" or anything... $10 a year is more than reasonable... I think they're just trying to stay afloat in a stormy economy....but it's still too sad. :down:

    Actually, as someone who downloads from ShareCG I would be quite willing to pay $10 a year for the storage, indexing, and preview features they supply. I will be first to admit that I NEVER click on banner ads (I never even see them - I run a local proxy server that captures and responds to all requests to known ad sites), so I have no problem with supporting sites by donations.

    Looking at what I've pulled down from ShareCG over the last year that $10 works out to about 20 cents per item.

  • MJ007MJ007 Posts: 1,679
    edited December 1969

    As i stated in the comments, I think charging the users downloading the content a $5.00 annual fee would've been better than charging the content providers.

    -MJ

  • LmWolfSpiritLmWolfSpirit Posts: 239
    edited December 1969

    I, too, don't see $10 a year being an obstacle as I have downloaded a lot of items from ShareCG over the years and would like to see the site continue (becoming ad free is just a bonus, for me).

    If the owner would reinstate the ability to donate through PayPal to freebie contributors, I think some (maybe many) would basically have their subscriptions paid for.

    For the freebie contest, are the weekly free items from DAZ allowed? If so, how does that differ from using a free product from ShareCG as a subscription site? After a week, those items are no longer free, whereas, on ShareCG, they remain free.

    Hopefully, with the restructuring, ShareCG will take a look at fixing their license choices so it will be clearer how items may be used.

    I also like the fact that they plan (if they go the subscription route) to add the chance for vendors to sell their products--especially if they offer a better commission rate than the current well-known sites do. Quality control would be an issue that needs some more looking into and whether or not there would be a return policy. ShareCG is already an well-established site, so placing products there for sale would not be too tough a decision for many people looking to expand their markets.

    Meanwhile, while they did not say anything about it, I highly doubt that they will make the subscription a retroactive requirement for people who already have products hosted there.

    My nickel...

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    I, too, don't see $10 a year being an obstacle as I have downloaded a lot of items from ShareCG over the years and would like to see the site continue (becoming ad free is just a bonus, for me).

    If the owner would reinstate the ability to donate through PayPal to freebie contributors, I think some (maybe many) would basically have their subscriptions paid for.

    For the freebie contest, are the weekly free items from DAZ allowed? If so, how does that differ from using a free product from ShareCG as a subscription site? After a week, those items are no longer free, whereas, on ShareCG, they remain free.

    Hopefully, with the restructuring, ShareCG will take a look at fixing their license choices so it will be clearer how items may be used.

    I also like the fact that they plan (if they go the subscription route) to add the chance for vendors to sell their products--especially if they offer a better commission rate than the current well-known sites do. Quality control would be an issue that needs some more looking into and whether or not there would be a return policy. ShareCG is already an well-established site, so placing products there for sale would not be too tough a decision for many people looking to expand their markets.

    Meanwhile, while they did not say anything about it, I highly doubt that they will make the subscription a retroactive requirement for people who already have products hosted there.

    My nickel...

    That is explained in our rules. The Freebie Challenge is an official DAZ 3D challenge, and yes Daz 3D freebies are allowed, But only for the month in which they were released.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,800
    edited December 1969

    I am just thinking of all the cool models etc that will disappear when their creators decide they do not want to start to pay for having them there.
    unless it is for new stuff uploaded only.
    I can live with paying a peppercorn fee as suggested for downloading.
    I still think having a store for vendors and maybe a fee for enabling the paypal donation option (not on the donations, just for having it, not a big fee either) is a better option.

  • SlimerJSpudSlimerJSpud Posts: 1,453
    edited December 1969

    LmWolfSpirit's post raised another question. Cho clarified the rule on the Daz freebies. What if ALL of ShareCG is ruled "paid for" as a result of having to pay a subscription to download? Even if they require a subscription, I think we should still be able to use appropriately licensed items from ShareCG as freebies in contests. What say ye?

    Personally, I think $9.99/year is a bargain considering how much I've downloaded from there. :coolsmile: I have uploaded a few items too. I think it's also true that people who create and upload are downloading other people's freebies as well. A lot of the 3d sites that host freebies require you to register, and that's not a problem for me. It's a problem remembering where they all are...

  • LmWolfSpiritLmWolfSpirit Posts: 239
    edited December 1969

    As I have not read the Freebie Contest rules (cannot find them), if the fact that an item came from a subscription site precluded it from being used, then Platinum Members would be excluded from the use of ANY DAZ freebies. There were a lot of freebies available to new subscribers years ago (including the MFDs and expansions) along with a more extensive freebie section of older items. Platinum Members would also be restricted from using any of the free LE packs still available. So I do not see how a subscription could be a deciding factor on whether or not something is free.

  • SlimerJSpudSlimerJSpud Posts: 1,453
    edited December 1969

    As I have not read the Freebie Contest rules (cannot find them), if the fact that an item came from a subscription site precluded it from being used, then Platinum Members would be excluded from the use of ANY DAZ freebies. There were a lot of freebies available to new subscribers years ago (including the MFDs and expansions) along with a more extensive freebie section of older items. Platinum Members would also be restricted from using any of the free LE packs still available. So I do not see how a subscription could be a deciding factor on whether or not something is free.

    PC membership only gets you deep discounts on items you pay for, and a special forum area. AFAIK, the weekly freebie and the old freebie archive (RIP) could be accessed by PC members just like anybody else. It's about the "anybody else" part. If anybody can download a freebie without paying specifically for that item, I think it should count as free, even if the site needs a donation to stay afloat.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    I am just thinking of all the cool models etc that will disappear when their creators decide they do not want to start to pay for having them there.

    Just think of all the 'cool stuff' that will disappear if Dave decides it's just not worth it anymore and closes down the whole site.

    Re-reading the letter, for about the sixth time...

    It looks like the subscription will be to remove the ads for subscribers. There was nothing said about current services stopping.

    In fact, ShareCG has been running in the red and only kept alive and supported by re-directing funds from our other properties. But, just chugging along without being able to provide timely new innovations to our audience is not a solution for either us or for you.

    We are considering changing the ShareCG business model from banner ads to a subscription model. I am proposing that members subscribe at just $9.99 a year for a banner free ShareCG that will have the resources to add services that will make the site a better place to visit and that will bring the community closer together. We have a number of projects planned and ready to go that will:.

    As to disallowing 'freebies' from ShareCG...should the Freebie contest also disallow all freebies hosted on other sites that also charge a subscription for a higher level of service (ad-free, faster downloads, etc) or are hosted on paid servers?


  • LmWolfSpiritLmWolfSpirit Posts: 239
    edited December 1969

    PC membership only gets you deep discounts on items you pay for, and a special forum area. AFAIK, the weekly freebie and the old freebie archive (RIP) could be accessed by PC members just like anybody else. It's about the "anybody else" part. If anybody can download a freebie without paying specifically for that item, I think it should count as free, even if the site needs a donation to stay afloat.

    Thank you so much for clarifying that for me! I finally found the rules. The only rule that I see that might be considered applicable is the one regarding items being available to all users. However, I would suggest that the freebies at ShareCG would be available to all users. They would just need to make the choice whether or not a $10/year subscription is worth it to them along with access to so many other items. The item itself is still free.

  • Velvet GoblinVelvet Goblin Posts: 532
    edited December 1969

    MJ007 said:
    As i stated in the comments, I think charging the users downloading the content a $5.00 annual fee would've been better than charging the content providers.

    -MJ

    Agree. Downloaders should pay.

    The usefulness of ShareCG isn't that it hosts the content. Google will do that for free. But will people find your stuff? If you're a well known vendor, sure. But what if you're just cutting your teeth with freebies and trying to get a following? You can make all the Google sites you want, but not very many people will find you. ShareCG makes it easy to search for all sorts of content all on one site.

    But it's unreasonable to charge the content providers.

    Even if it were $1 a year for every downloader, that would be better than charging the content creators. Surely they outnumber the downloaders at least 10 to 1.

    Who could argue reasonably about $1 a year?

  • TLTJadeTLTJade Posts: 55
    edited December 1969

    Zev0 said:
    For the amount of awesome stuff I have collected in a year just from that site is well worth more than 9.99. I will gladly pay.

    Same

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited September 2012

    Considering 'uploaders' also tend to 'download' I really don't think splitting hairs over that is worth the additional paperwork.

    As a freeware uploader there, I have no problems with the idea of paying $10 a year for to have a nice banner free [oh man did some of those mess up the browsers] website to share my work from. Yes I can use other websites and do; but they don't have the nice promo displays, nor the audience.

    There has been a suggestion for a few free teasers that don't require membership in order to download.

    As many of the content providers have been and are people seeking employment and hoping for paypal donations to make it worth their while, again I don't see the minimal annual membership fee being a barrier. It should be even better for them, allowing sales instead of everything being a free share. Some providers are notorious for having files that require hours of work to fix before use; others are almost if not always just fine as they are. Presumably it would still be in vendors' best interests to provide some free items to show people how good their work is. A pay-per-scale might be a good idea too. Some do now in a way. Free for personal use; pay a donation of 'x' for commercial use.

    And yes, those copyright licenses need attention. All the really old items in there have the default 'all rights reserved' which obviously is not what was intended by the uploaders who have long since [as far as I can tell] deserted their items. I don't know if they'll be gone - or if everything is transferred over ... so would highly recommend 'if there's something there you wanted later, get it now!'

    I don't have a problem with, whatever the rules are, an exception being made for freeware from sharecg.com being allowed in the contests here. The $10 is 'peanuts' esp given the great quality of many of the freeware items.

    Anyway, it's a make it or break it situation ... so I vote for let's help make it! Even if you never buy an item again there ... can think of it as a thank you for all the goodies you got before.

    There will be a way [shown in the demo website] for linking to your other webpages, videos, whatever. So even for those with their own websites, next to free advertizing! Don't know how many visitors each vendor here has on their own webpages; but sharecg.com had LOTS. [sometimes too many but hay]

    Post edited by patience55 on
  • atticanneatticanne Posts: 3,009
    edited December 1969

    What is the connection between SCG and Rendo? Many times, clicking on an item in Rendo takes me to SCG to sign in and download.

  • pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,537
    edited December 1969

    AtticAnne said:
    What is the connection between SCG and Rendo? Many times, clicking on an item in Rendo takes me to SCG to sign in and download.

    Not really any relation at all. Individual artists often manage their shares through ShareCG and then post them to Daz or Rendo.

  • randym77randym77 Posts: 272
    edited December 1969

    AtticAnne said:
    What is the connection between SCG and Rendo? Many times, clicking on an item in Rendo takes me to SCG to sign in and download.

    I don't think there's any connection. Just that Renderosity is where a lot of Poser users hang out, so people like to have their freebies there. But Rosity couldn't host all the freebies, so freebies there often link to other sites. Plus, when ShareCG started, they offered to pay people who made free stuff, so there was incentive to put it at ShareCG rather than at other sites.

  • DisparateDreamerDisparateDreamer Posts: 2,491
    edited December 1969

    it's getting harder and harder to find a place to store freebies where p eople will find them. Yeah you can use other random places but its hard to find the freebies.

    I'm already still depressed about what happened to megaupload (totally unrelated to the problem now with ShareCG). I paid for a megaupload storage where I stored my freebies and wips, and lost all of it. I had recently started uploading to ShareCG too and was about to share some halloween freebies.

    I'm not a huge freebie maker, and it would really stink to pay $10 to download. paying $10 to download--- it depends. ShareCG def needs a better way to search for commercial free items.

    I'd be sad to see ShareCG be a pay-for site. By definition I think that makes it no longer free. :( Isn't there another way? Like paying for more benefits?
    Sponsor a creator? Kickstarter even???? I'd sponser for sure.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    Where, in anything that was published by Dave Heller, did it say that 'uploaders' were going to pay?

    It said a $10/yr subscription would give you ad free access to the site.

    That sounds like anybody/everybody can pay to get that...whether they up or down. It doesn't matter.

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    mjc1016 said:
    Where, in anything that was published by Dave Heller, did it say that 'uploaders' were going to pay?

    It said a $10/yr subscription would give you ad free access to the site.

    That sounds like anybody/everybody can pay to get that...whether they up or down. It doesn't matter.

    Think they're just commenting on paying for the subscription service. There's no extra fees for uploading or downloading thereafter.

  • DanaTADanaTA Posts: 13,086
    edited December 1969

    LmWolfSpirit's post raised another question. Cho clarified the rule on the Daz freebies. What if ALL of ShareCG is ruled "paid for" as a result of having to pay a subscription to download? Even if they require a subscription, I think we should still be able to use appropriately licensed items from ShareCG as freebies in contests. What say ye?


    Then they'd have to allow items from PoserWorld. You pay a subscription fee there, and can download as much as you want during your subscribed period (month, year, etc.) They're not really free, you're paying to get them, no matter how low that payment actually works out to when spread over all the downloads. It's a difficult question for those who run the Freebie Challenge (which only recently, some time last year, became an officially DAZ3D sanctioned and supported event).


    Dana

  • DanaTADanaTA Posts: 13,086
    edited December 1969

    mjc1016 said:

    As to disallowing 'freebies' from ShareCG...should the Freebie contest also disallow all freebies hosted on other sites that also charge a subscription for a higher level of service (ad-free, faster downloads, etc) or are hosted on paid servers?



    The higher level of service doesn't matter. What matters is if anybody can download it without paying. That's what makes a freebie. Having to register is not the same as having to subscribe to a payment plan, by the way. If I can go to a site and download something, legally, for free, then it's a freebie. If I have to pay to be able to download it, then it's not a freebie. I think that is the most basic understanding of the word free...do you pay for it? If so, then it's not free.


    Dana

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,312
    edited December 1969

    If there are concerns over the freebie challenge why not see if Daz couldnt host free stuff and have a free section more like renderosities?

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,146
    edited December 1969

    mjc1016 said:
    Where, in anything that was published by Dave Heller, did it say that 'uploaders' were going to pay?

    It said a $10/yr subscription would give you ad free access to the site.

    That sounds like anybody/everybody can pay to get that...whether they up or down. It doesn't matter.

    YUP!

    Like I said folks, $10.00 a YEAR isn't going to kill anyone. As a freebie content creator I think it's fair. As a person that downloads from ShareCG often I think it's fair. Esp when Dave mentions that there will be ongoing improvements to the site as a whole. If your concern is a better search then write him and ask for that. I've communicated allot with the man and he's a very very nice person to deal with.

  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Posts: 376
    edited September 2012

    $10 a year? That is really nothing for what you get in return. Heck, we pay almost $8 per month for our PC memberships here and that don't come with much of anything free although it does make shopping here a lot cheaper. So yeah, shut up and take my money already!

    P.S. Perhaps they should think of just advertising it differently. Something like 'Join now for just 84 cents per month!'. :D

    P.P.S. Some people are missing the obvious. ShareCG will remain free so everything will still count as freebies. The free version of the site will have banner ads and what not where as subscribers will enjoy an ad-free experience. Either way, everyone still get freebies. ;)

    Post edited by Harry Dresden on
  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
    edited December 1969

    You'd have to pay for your own site, if you went that route. While it's true there are hsoting sites that will allow you to upload files for others to download they don't provide for niceties like preview images as ShareCG does, so (assuming you want those) they ar not a comparable service.

    Renderosity?

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,879
    edited December 1969

    Mediafire works just fine.

    Host you stuff there and then post in the forums that you made it available. YOu can host images there too so if the forums wont take your promo pic for some odd reason, MF will. Also, Mediafire does not restrict you for download speed or number of downloads at once.

    if you click on my freebies link in my sig you will see what I allows people to see on my account. If you look at the image below, you will see part of what I see.

    Screenshot_-_12-09-27_-_09:23:18_AM.png
    628 x 329 - 42K
  • Mustakettu85Mustakettu85 Posts: 2,933
    edited December 1969

    I've also seen people host their free stuff at deviantArt (Mattymanx, don't you have something up there as well?). I don't know, though, if it's a premium feature - I haven't tried it (yet).

    Sorry if this is highjacking the topic, but this question of mine looks to fit the discussion... As an aspiring freebie maker, I'm wondering right now what people would be most likely to download from (not the way they would find my freebies - I feel I would be able to handle a little self-promotion LOL).

    I was unsure about the whole ShareCG thing from the start because it requires registration to download, and now this.

    I like mediafire, I'm using it to exchange larger files with coworkers, but I've seen people being wary of filesharing sites as these sites appear to be associated with illegal practices.

    dA doesn't seem to impose the registration on downloaders (I remember downloading stuff while being logged out), but I haven't yet found anything about max file sizes, download limits etc.

    Any ideas?

  • DanaTADanaTA Posts: 13,086
    edited December 1969

    $10 a year? That is really nothing for what you get in return. Heck, we pay almost $8 per month for our PC memberships here and that don't come with much of anything free although it does make shopping here a lot cheaper. So yeah, shut up and take my money already!

    P.S. Perhaps they should think of just advertising it differently. Something like 'Join now for just 84 cents per month!'. :D

    P.P.S. Some people are missing the obvious. ShareCG will remain free so everything will still count as freebies. The free version of the site will have banner ads and what not where as subscribers will enjoy an ad-free experience. Either way, everyone still get freebies. ;)


    Harry, while I agree that $10 a year is a drop in the bucket, I have to say that your last statement is wrong.


    Here, have some coffee...it's free. But if you want to drink it from my mug, you have to pay me a little bit. That's not free, is it? And the gist of what he said was that the banner ads were not working, they are not paying. So I don' think he will leave them. I think you pay or you don't get access. Why would he keep those banner ads on the site if they aren't working for him at all? They create extra bandwidth usage. The pages update so slowly because of them. I really don't think he intends to keep them for anyone.


    Dana

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