Welcome to ShareCG –  We’re sure you’re going to enjoy your time here and have written this short site guide to make your visits even more memorable.  We start off with an overview and then show you each of the site’s pages pointing out the features and valuable tips you can take advantage of as you surf ShareCG’s pages.   You can read and download the User’s Guide here.

On behalf of our small team, ShareCG would like to wish you and your family a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!  I would also like to take a minute to bring you up to date on the Subscription model, and the future direction of ShareCG.com.

Our initial idea that we institute a subscription model to eliminate banner ads was well received by those members who have been uploading to the site.  However, for the majority of site members who have not contributed to the site, the reaction was mixed to poor. After evaluating this disparity we realized that not only would this solution be unfair to site contributors, but it wouldn’t generate the revenue needed to make the site enhancements that are needed to deliver a better experience to all ShareCG members in 2013.

In parallel to this evaluation we began moving forward with a business model on another of our sites (Mechspot.com) that will not have banner ads but derives its income with tightly regulated corporate participation in the community, with restrictions and stringent rules.  Among these rules is that there will be no advertising messaging from any member on this site. Companies will be allowed to upload material that teaches visitors about their product and how to use it, and can also announce and describe their new software and hardware products.  But, again, they will not be allowed to do any “retail” advertising on the site.

Mechspot.com is built on the same platform and has the same infrastructure as ShareCG, and all enhancements made to Mechspot.com are easily transferable to ShareCG.   Over the past two months we have focused on building this model which will launch on January 28th, and after it launches we will evaluate this model to ensure that it will work for ShareCG, and if so, we will institute it on ShareCG.
One of the first enhancements was our recent release ofa Grouping capability that allows members to consolidate disparate uploads for appearance on ‘one’ View page.  For example, with Grouping you can present a Video Tutorial that shows how to use a specific software tool while also showing the resultant model, work of art, etc. that was produced using this tool.   You could also use it to show a series of lessons allowing users to traverse up to 9 lessons on what appears to be one page.  (You can watch a video explaining Grouping here:  http://www.sharecg.com/v/65711/gallery/3/Video-Tutorial/ShareCGs-Grouping-Feature-Explained

A basic social network to allow you to make Friends (or not) is being added to the site in March, and collaborative social interaction which revolves around the Grouping feature is being added in Q2.  This will allow members to present collaborative projects from all project members.

We are now also building a new home page that will feature the best (highest rated, most viewed and positively commented) uploads to the homepage; a Shout Out! Moderated Blog that will allow any member to present his or her views; editorial that will address all member’s work and projects, new ideas and trends, new product releases, forum topics, free trial software downloads, News, Jobs, and much more, all designed to give all members a stronger voice and higher recognition.

These are just some highlights of things to come in 2013 and the bottom line, and what we want to see, is a free site with no ads and no corporate ‘retail advertising’  that supports an interactive and collaborative social community to enhance your experience and that of all site visitors.

We have a lot of challenges to overcome before our vision is achieved, and I really appreciate your understanding as we do the best we can, with the limited resources we have, to get to a balanced site with no ads that works for everyone.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, we will keep you updated in the Forum and Blog, and we look forward to working with you in the new year to make a better ShareCG a reality.

In the meantime have a Happy New Year and enjoy ShareCG!

The ShareCG Team

I just want to give you an update to my ‘Letter from the Founder’ post regarding the site’s subscription model.

Since we posted and sent email to users we’ve received more than 150 responses, which you can read by going to the site’s blog at http://tinyurl.com/8zfvy5n .  I’ve read every one of them and have been answering those that require an answer. If you were one of those who responded on the blog or sent email, THANK YOU!!

More than 90% of the respondents were up for the subscription model.  The remaining members have concerns that range from whether or not to include a social network, to opening an e-store, and more.

Since we don’t want to alienate anyone I had a meeting with Engineering to see if we could allow users to opt-in to an ad free experience.  We are able to do this, and here’s how the opt-in will work.

1. If you opt-in to the subscription model your presence on the site (all your pages) will appear with no ads regardless of whether or not the visitor is logged in to the site.   Also, when you are logged in, you will experience an entirely ad free site.  Also as a subscriber:
   1.  Your presence on the site will be enhanced with new features as they are released. (The ability to present different types of related media in your View page is the first one you’ll get, as shown in these two examples: http://tinyurl.com/9futa62  – http://tinyurl.com/9td7x83 .  We’re also adding additional reporting functionality that will allow you to know who has downloaded your work.  We’ve got many more enhancements that we’re working on and that you will automatically receive.)
   2. By default you will be included in an upcoming site social network.  But, you will be able to uncheck one box and opt-out of this capability at any time.
   3. You will be authorized to sell your items in an upcoming e-store.

These new site capabilities including the subscription model will take time to engineer and deploy.  Here’s our roadmap:

November 15, 2012 – The site will accept subscriptions.  If you subscribe between November 15^th and December 31, 2012 you will be considered a Charter Member, and as such your annual membership fee will never increase and will always remain at $9.99/Year—forever!  Members who subscribe after December 31, 2012 will be subject to potential increased subscription fees moving forward.

Between November 15 and December 31, 2012 the site will be engineered to offer:

1.  An e-store with the same basic structure as ShareCG that will be a separate, but inter-connected, web site.
2. A social media component that will allow members to communicate with selected friends, share assets, collaborate, instruct, learn and more.  You can opt-out of the social network at any time.

Both of these capabilities will only be available to subscribers.

Between now and November 15^th the site will remain exactly as it is today.  After November 15^th you will have the option of doing nothing and continuing to experience the site as it is now, or subscribing and taking advantage of a better experience for you and your visitors.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your support.  Our job is to make SCG the best for you, so if you have any thoughts or ideas that can help, please let us know!

Enjoy the site!

The ShareCG Team