This thread is intended for the purpose of explaining our methods to all new members here at GFXDomain.
First of all, as you may already know, our forum is based on the following rule: 95% of the links are public, 5% are secret. Public links are of things already circulating around the web, things we consider useful and of great value to our members, whereas secret links are of exclusive content available only here in our forum, although not for all but for the trusted ones only. How come, you say? Isn’t the web suppose to be all about sharing? Well, yes and no.
We at GFXDomain think that globalization of information has its huge advantages… but also some great risks. Easy to get information, like everything in life, is always received by ungrateful hands. That’s why things that may require some time, effort and trouble to come by we of course take good care of, it’s only human nature. Therefore, we expect those things to be valued and treasured by those privileged enough to get them from us.
GFXDomain wants to be the most versatile, fresh and dynamic forum out there, and to do so our work is threefold:
● releasing
● exchanging
● selling
Our ultimate goal is to provide and serve to those artists that support us and help us grow strong. We here at GFXDomain are all artists after all, and so we think like artists, not selfish cold hearted programmers. But we can not be loose-handed and vulgarize the hard work of others (even if this does sound like a double standard, since we of course steal stuff to release it for free). We rather be smart about how we make sure that our content ends up in the hands of those who really need it.
We also have, of course, a vital interest: me must pay for our server costs, so naturally we need the money in order to survive. Our sources of income are two:
● downloads
● donations
As you all may know, each and every download means for us a little amount of money from the host company: of course, more downloads mean more money, roughly 20-25 dollars for every 1000 downloads. Not a big deal as you can clearly see, unless the process becomes of a massive scale, which has its own risks obviously (SOPA & ACTA). Megaupload was closed by the FBI, and now the other major hosts are dropping their incentive programs because of the legal issues. So, it’s not easy.
Donations are risky for us but, as long as some precautions are taken (and we do take them), it is the easiest way for us to maintain our site. Again, it’s not easy.
Members Categorys
So, if we share something, whether it’s a crack, a package, a tutorial, and we don’t take trust into consideration, we run the risk of having those exclusive goods leaked into the other forums, and this would mean:
● no credit for our efforts, which means no donations (that’s why credit is so important!)
● no more income from the host server where we upload our stuff.
Again, the double standard: are we making money with someone else’s work? Aren’t we stealing all this stuff from their creators after all? Well, the answer is pretty obvious: we need the resources to provide our members with exclusive releases. It’s all about sharing of course, but sharing wisely.
Having a closed system protects our content, and also protects the developers in some way: their work is not spread all over the web and it’s kept in the hands of real artists. This is exactly what bothers some of the other websites, and this is also why they feel the need to steal all our releases. These are the trolls, to whom we declare war.
After one year of life and daily activity we were able to come up with a White List of helpful good-hearted people. These people have earned our trust, and we give back to them by giving them access to all of our content.
Content visible to registered users Only ! Click here to Register !
On the other hand, we have indentified some disloyal members: yes, this is the black list.
There’s a third category: new people coming to the forum, people that didn’t know about us until they’ve heard about our exclusive stuff. People we don’t know. This is what we call the Grey List, and it’s up to them to become whitelisted or not. These lines are for them: it’s up to you guys! Do not get angry if we make you wait days or weeks for the links. Uncertainty is preventing us from disclosing our links right away. We’re just being careful.
Help us clear the way.
