easy skinhit, brother...remember those of us still setting our goal at receiving 2 stars at some point in the future

[minor hijack]

Glad you came back Ken ...you already know how much I like your work. I've always rated it positively.

[/minor hijack]

It is 4 stars for the wall section only. I believe this is the only section that requires a 4 star rating to be visible to the general public. I imagine this is because the wall files are large and because they do not relate to a product that Stardock sells, in other words, they are not considered really "skins".

maybe there should be a 'premier gallery' for walls rated 4 and above......and a 'standard gallery' for the rest that can still be viewed by all so the public have a choice if they just want to view the top walls.

That would be a really good idea if it were feasible plan for Stardock. For the frequent visitor that checks out the wall section often, there might be only a few 4 star walls since the previous day. A separate gallery for walls under 4 stars would be a great idea. They would have a choice to look at that Gallery or not.

But , if this happened then everyone would need to understand that once your in the
'standard' gallery - there you stay. So either you would get an initial rating and thats it - or if you get up to 4 stars, you still stay in that gallery as it would be impossible to keep track of moving walls from gallery to gallery.

ok...back to the subject-are wallpapers the only category that this rating method is applied too? if so IMO this is ridiculous! If it goes thru moderation, it should be viewable by the Public...I feel strongly about this b/c i'm getting two stars lately which is just under the cutoff and sent to my personal page! Whats the freaking point?

Yes, due to the sheer volume of wallpapers we receive versus other submissions, and the subjective nature of them versus items like WindowBlinds skins, icon packs etc, we have to take a different approach to moderating walls.  A skin can be evaluated on technical merit (i.e. does it run and skin the major parts of the OS?)  There is also a guaranteed minimum amount of work required to other skinning items, so seeing a flood of IconPacks from a person that are just scribbles is very unlikely.  We receive MANY wallpapers that are nothing more than photographs with a lense flare effect and maybe some weird texture applied over it.  It's not enough to enforce copyright, pornography , file type and required resolution rules to wallpaper submissions, we have to apply subjective evaluation to them.

If we did not do this, our wallpaper gallery would turn into the gallery over at DA, which others here have described.

The point is that it's an alternative to rejecting the submission out-right, as had been done to a majority of submitted wallpapers as recently as this summer.  It's allowing more content to the site while still attempting to keep the main gallery browsable.  Would you prefer your work to be exiled instead of placed to the personal page only?  Most disliked rejection far more than being placed on their personal page only.

I just want to make a side note about personal galleries.  Remember that subscribers who have their own personal site here have their own url for their site. 

For instance mine is http://islanddog.wincustomize.com.

Now mine is being directed to the new site, but the basics are there.  People can view my gallery, view my articles, and even view my personal photo album.  If you travel to as many "outside" communities as I do, you notice that people always refer people over to their page at DA.  You can do the same with your personal site here at Wincustomize. 

Look at my signatures on Neowin for example, I point it to my page here at Wincustomize.  I get a lot of referrals, and a lot of views just from putting my site url in my signature.  If you have something on your personal site you want someone to see, then spread the word about your site and that will bring more people to your personal site, and Wincustomize as a whole.

  

I would vote for 2 seperate wallpaper libraries, but make it 3 1/2 stars (7 under the old system). But now what happens to those wall that get rated up or down? Do we move them from 1 library to the other? That could turn into a nightmare. If there is 2 libraries, the walls would have to stay in the library it was put into regardless of how the popular rating went.

But now what happens to those wall that get rated up or down? Do we move them from 1 library to the other? That could turn into a nightmare. If there is 2 libraries, the walls would have to stay in the library it was put into regardless of how the popular rating went.

Is it really true that it would be a nightmare? Walls are already selectable for viewing by rating, etc. Could not the placement in which ever library be a programmed function of rating rather than a manual relocation situation?

Secondly, I think the conversation of the difference between a good wall and good art and that the two are not necessarily the same is only tangential to the issue. Certainly we can all agree that wallpaper is an important part of any desktop customization. IMHO, skinning is itself an art form and requires a great deal of artistic talent to be successful. I think it was Fuzzy that pointed out that wallpaper is often the first thing that an individual will try to "customize" as they begin to discover the world of GUI customization. I remember proudly sharing my first screenshot with this community (too long ago to discuus ). A cool wall was a key part of that.

But back to the issue. I agree that moderation is required and that moderators should vote to start the ball rolling after the TOS requirements are met. But after that initial weeding out, it would seem best that all walls remain visible to the public and move in and or out of the galleries as discussed above. I also agree with WOM's suggestion of the 3 1/2 star requirement but with the caveat that it was a programmable function to have a wall move within the library group as the ratings fluctuate.

We need to continually strive to provide a home for the "next" generation of customizers by getting them involved, learning and growing with their skills. Let the downloads numbers tell them how are are doing.

Can't use download counts to tell you anything. One can use a bot to download as many as you want. We get a 100+ walls a week.

The rating has dropped back down to a 4...but the downloads are at 119 and counting, which surprised the hell out of me, since it's in my personal gallery.

At Da it's at 115 dl's and at SA it's at 5.