Seeking enlightenment Mk.I

[nequam]

Hey, OK I'm quite new to the Sims and its concurrent community, so...

I have a random question;
In a vast majority of downloads I have accrued in my short time, I have seen a single site referenced, singled out in exacting words by their creator, that the relevant download never be placed on the exchange.

Why has this one site been singled out with such venom?

[AlbinoBambi]

It's the exchange on the original sims 2 site and it's lame. There are no links to required meshes, people don't give any credit to anyone and inexperienced people download crap because of how lame the exchange is.
So yeah, we hate it. ^^

[Theraven]

agree

and the pictures are really bad too. I've downloaded a few things from there, mostly those things made by maxoidmonkey (whoever that is) but i don't tend to use that stuff a lot. it's not well made, and the files are often not good - or they're missing meshes or other things. it's impossile to find things there, too. so I stick with sites that have reasonable pictures and also an explanation of what I'm really downloading... and downloading takes ages there, too.

[Tenshii~Akari]

A lot of people I have seen on the exchange and BBS act pretty n00bish in all those ways, also.  Let's just say it's almost the equivalent of buying a very well tailored, custom made, and original shirt that the creator took pride in making, only to find out it's been "duplicated" in a third-rate bargain store with every other person putting it on claiming they made it.  That's pretty much it.  :evil4:  Not that it truly stops people from doing it... it's just ridiculous how many times you'll find that on the official site.

[ProvenVenus]

Exchange..? Don't you mean "Sims 2 Black Market"?

Seriously... The problem with the Sims exchange site is that most of the available downloads there are rubbish.
You may have seen some Sims that with CC that come from a Sims site anyway. But, they generally lack the proper credit.. (Not to mention you don't even know WHAT you are downloading, anyway.)
And it's so easy for a N00b Simmer to upload someone else's hard work with a description that reads...
"Hawt gurl... Sign mi GB nd rate 5 stars!!11!1one! I will eat ur childern if u dnt xD"

It's not all bad, however. There may be some very rare nice things on there, but it's often ignored for the other cr*p that overlaps them all.
You can get much more specific and nicer things on a site like TSR, ModtheSims, or here even than the exchange, anyway.
That's how I feel about it, anyway. You do the right searching and you many just find something worthwhile.
Bold quote may /bold quote

[caffeinated.joy]

Part of the problem I've seen too is people will upload stuff they've gotten elsewhere and try to claim it as their own.

[ImpishParody]

The main problem is that it's not effectively moderated. It's too easy for members to simply download something, change the credit and re-upload it as their own work. Many members don't venture out of the exchange because "It's run by EA and Maxis, the stuff has to be safe, right? I don't know what files from other sites will do to my game." so have no idea that what they are actually downloading was not made by some n00b member in the exchange community, but someone who took a lot of time and effort on a different site, only to have their credit removed and somebody else's put in its place.
EA and Maxis generally do not care about this. There is no way to report stolen CC, they'd much rather have all the CC available on their website so they can brag about the huge creativity and skill of the players of the Sims 2. If you'll take a look at the comment on the last showcase they did (many items of which were stolen and not made by the person who uploaded them):

"Thank you to everyone who participated in this showcase. We understand that many submissions contained pieces of custom content that were created by other Simmers. This custom content is greatly appreciated and we thank our Simmers for providing such wonderful creations."

They're not doing anything about the thievery that occurs on their own site, as you can see. They don't care who it was made by, as long as it puts them in a good light.
There is also no way to get your stolen CC removed from the exchange, short of contacting the member and asking them to remove it, which rarely works as I'm sure you've guessed So, many creators fade into the background and get no recognition for the work they've done, simply because selfish newbies take off credit, and EA and Maxis do nothing about it.

Sorry, that's my rant over I hope you understand at least a little better why we hate it now :-P

[nequam]

Thanks Imp, and the others I had just come to clean out my subscriptions and found your post, I am insufferably curious thanks!