Digital Art Zone

merged several threads on this topic into one.

chohole - 10 June 2012 04:15 PM

It was announced on the forum, in both threads that were posted about th New Website. THe Original one, and the later one, when the site change approached.

It should have been announced outside of the forum in the email newsletter.  A sentence or two would have easily sufficed.  It should also have been posted on the site itself (free.daz3d.com).  Burying it in the forum was not sufficient notice.

THe free archive was not an important part of the site, imost of the stuff in there is very old, some of it has installer issues.  It was hardly something they are going to make a big announcement about, It was included as part of the announcent threads about the WebSite changes, as were all the projected changes and how it would affect people.

It was nearly discarded with the last site change, but they did relent that time.


THere are certainly far more important things to be dealt with than a small, out of date freebie archive.

chohole - 10 June 2012 04:39 PM

It was hardly something they are going to make a big announcement about

No one is asking for a big annoucement.  Just an annoucement where most people will actually see it which is not on the forum.  Seriously a single line in the last couple of newletters would have been a hell of a lot better than nothing at all.

It was included as part of the announcent threads about the WebSite changes

As I pointed out earlier many if not most customers don’t read the forum especially not unless they have a problem that can’t be solved otherwise, as with the now defunct free website.  The fact that I am not the only one inquiring about this after the fact proves my point.

It was nearly discarded with the last site change, but they did relent that time.

Which proves that someone at Daz made the right decision then.  They should try for an encore.

THere are certainly far more important things to be dealt with than a small, out of date freebie archive.

Given that it would take no virtually effort to dump the exact same pages and files back onto a webserver and point it at a subdirectory or subdomain of the main DAZ site, it is ridiculous of you to act like this would be some herculean task.  It’s not.  Throw up the same files as before, and it’s done in less than an hour.

If Daz doesn’t want to host the files any more, the least it could do is give them to someone else in the community or to a site like sharecg to host.

NBToo - 10 June 2012 05:52 PM

THere are certainly far more important things to be dealt with than a small, out of date freebie archive.

Given that it would take no virtually effort to dump the exact same pages and files back onto a webserver and point it at a subdirectory or subdomain of the main DAZ site, it is ridiculous of you to act like this would be some herculean task.  It’s not.  Throw up the same files as before, and it’s done in less than an hour.

If Daz doesn’t want to host the files any more, the least it could do is give them to someone else in the community or to a site like sharecg to host.

I did not suggest it was a herculean task, merely pointing out that it is not a big priority at the moment, with much more important issues to be worked through.

And as to your last point, you have to consider all the various PA’s whose intellectual property these files are. Just because they were available from a freebie archive it doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t own the copyright.

THe Freebie archive hasn’t been forgotten, and if something can be doen, then eventually it will be done, It is, as I keep saying, a matter of priorities.

chohole - 11 June 2012 04:34 AM

And as to your last point, you have to consider all the various PA’s whose intellectual property these files are. Just because they were available from a freebie archive it doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t own the copyright.

Just because someone owns the copyright doesn’t mean that the files couldn’t continue to be distributed for free.  DAZ obviously had permission to redistribute those files, and its interest to do so could be transferred to another party.  In addition no copyright holder is going to complain about the distribution of the files in the free archive, and even if they did the DMCA protects file hosters from copyright violations on this type in any case.  Ergo hosting the free archive elsewhere would not be a legal problem.

THe Freebie archive hasn’t been forgotten

Sure, it hasn’t been forgotten by users like me and others in this thread.  However, given the lack of response from DAZ on this issue and the fact that the site is offline, it certainly looks like DAZ has forgotten and abandoned the archive.

if something can be done

It’s not a question of “if.”  Something can certainly be done to bring back the site.  Just repost the old files.  It’s simply a question of will, i.e. choice.

It is, as I keep saying, a matter of priorities.

While it may not be a high priority to you or DAZ, it is also not a difficult task which makes its absence inexcusable.  The free archive wasn’t formally integrated into the old website so it doesn’t need to be formally integrated into the new site either.  The old web files are fine as-is.  They just need to be accessible again.  Google and Bing will take care of people being able to find it.

If you wish to argue the toss, please do so with the people holding the coin rather than the forum team. Chohole has said what we know and can infer, she isn’t in a position to ensure or hasten the return of the freebies, and nor am I.

Richard Haseltine - 11 June 2012 05:35 AM

If you wish to argue the toss, please do so with the people holding the coin rather than the forum team.

I’d do so if they would show up.

You burying this thread so that they can’t easily see it doesn’t help in the matter.

Speaking of which why doesn’t this thread appear at the top of the queue for the forum when I post in it?

Because at the moment that is the way the forum is working. Threads are ordered by the date they were posted, with newest at the top, Posting to a thread is not bumping it to the top of the forum at present.

This is a known issue, and Daz3D is aware of it.

It is on that “TO DO” list I was talking about earlier.