Thanks for pointing out the edit me folder, Marcus - unfortunately it doesn't seem to get too much attention; I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out. Designconnected.com is a good site as you described it, karamouza, primarily for items of interior design.
Looking at other sites where unsolicited content is posted, like youtube, failblog and others, I can understand perhaps why there is not a place for comments; things can get pretty out of hand and offensive unless the site has a massive budget for oversight and moderation (or doesn't care about offensive responses).
I just wish there was a way to contact SketchUp artists who specialize in different types of objects - aircraft or firearms or automobiles - and suggest a particular aircraft, firearm or automobile rather than the 201st example of the M1 Abrhams, HK MP5, or Lamborghini Murciélago...

I certainly understand your being leery of my intentions, but that's one of the reasons I posted the question here, to prevent a violation (on my part) of whatever protocols or etiquette that may be in place. I have been a 3d guy for nearly 2 decades now, during which time I have served as an accredited 3d animation/modeling instructor - I appreciate your concerns.

So the idea of setting up challenges is right out, but is there anywhere to post requests? There seems to be a fair number of people displaying models at 3d warehouse who might be interested to know what objects people are interested in seeing made, if only out of competitive spirit. I never anticipated that such a community would spring up, or one that would grow so exponentially, where people would produce models of, well, everything, for little more than the praise of their peers.

The complexity of SU models is limited by the 10 mb size constraint, which makes only the simplest object (a bolt or rivet perhaps) really suitable for commericial use - aside from which, I'm not even sure what that means any more. I've been contributing models to the community for 15 years or more with little in the way of material compensation - even when I've been lucky enough to be paid for modeling something, I've usually released it for free some years later. Why bother trying to sell it when, really, you can find a mesh of most everything for free somewhere on the web - I'm surprised that there's still a market for low poly models, it seems to be there to catch the unwary until they discover what is actually available. Did you notice the 1964 Thunderbirds on the street scenes in The Incredibles? An inside joke to be sure, but also an illustration of my point...I think.

Basically, it's not for business use, but more for curiousity. I'd say also personal use, but that's not really the case when I come to think of it, because looking at the gigabytes of models on my HD that will only ever be viewed and/or admired, it would be hard to say that they are actually used...except maybe to inspire me to model something better.

I'm just puzzled that there aren't forums at 3D Warehouse itself for this sort of thing, and this site was the closest I could find when I Googled the subject. There's a rough analogy to parts of youtube where people produce mashup music videos using videogame or anime footage - copyright infringments aside - they are doing it for fun rather than money, but are also learning editing and associated skills along the way, which may enable them to earn money doing such things in the future. In the meantime there threads for requests and suggestions of music and video combinations, - well, it's pretty rough as analogies go.

Can only SketchUp admins start competitions? There's certain objects I'd like to see made (or made well) but there doesn't seem to be a place to request such. Is it something where we find someone on warehouse who is good at modeling whatever we are interested in and request it to them directly?

Thanks,

CWR