Quote from adp_ : "A business site shouldn't look for the best solution at all, but for the best solution solving the actual problem. From a business point of view. To mutch is wasting money, to less is dangerous for the whole business."

Fair enough, but if you make it so people have to register to download, what happens to your business?  Sure, the folks that are already here and know sharecg won't mind much.  But the folks just coming in who don't know anything about sharecg might mind a great deal.  Everything that makes it more difficult for them to download increases there annoyance level and decreases the likelyhood that they will come back and browse your site.

So what makes more sense from a business perspective?  Well, I'm sure you'll agree that casino's make money hand over fist.  Ever had a blackjack dealer demand to see 4 forms of id and have you fill out a bunch of paperwork before he'd let you in the game?

Nope.. why?  Because a casino, a business that knows a lot about security, knows that the way to do it is to put the emphasis for security on the administration side, not the client side.  If you ask for 14 forms of ID and a blood sample from everyone and compare that to a database of DNA samples from known cheats and you'll never get have to worry about getting cheated at blackjack again - of course your casino will close down shorly thereafter because all your players will simply go to a friendlier casino instead.

Now granted, Sharecg has a slightly different business model, but the principle is the same - if they want revenue from ads they need to keep the site friendly and inviting.  Hard to do when you expect people to fill out forms and jump through hoops before they are allowed to do anything.

On a site where your planning on participating in the message bases or being active on the board it makes sense to sign up for an account.  But if your just the average joe off the street who wound up here by clicking on a download link from another site (which I'd venture to say is how most of the current client base found Sharecg to begin with), it gets pretty irritating when you wind up at a brand new site with the promise of a free download, only to be told that first you need to sit down and fill out a bunch of forms.

My response?  Why?  Why should I give out a bunch of information just to download one prop file I could probably make myself?   I think you'll find a lot of other people feel the same way, that if Sharecg had not have been as easy and friendly to the downloaders they never would have stuck around long enough to find out what all it had to offer.

A guy I used t work for had what he called the "30 second" rule.  He worked a lot in sales, even started his own company.  He could sell ice to Eskimo's and have them begging him to bring a refridgerator with him on his next trip up so they'd have someplace to store them.   He used to tell me, "Look, when it comes to getting people's attention or interest you've got 30 seconds, and not one second more.  In 30 seconds time you need to form some sort of connection, something that attracts there interest.  If you haven't done that in the first 30 seconds the rest of the time you spend trying to sell them is wasted, they never started listening to you in the first place".

So honestly if sharecg wants to continue to have revenue to share I think that first 30 seconds is the key.  If they can continue to attract downloaders because the site is easy to use and friendly to the downloader they'll do well.  If they lose to many in that first 30 seconds then the site fails, and there will be no revenue to share.