Is it means that the people without account can not view or download all the skin categories?

And why the traffic will increase when Windows XP ships?

I am asking because your message is important but not very clear for me

I cannot see how With Windows XP Shipping that it will increase the Vistors to this site. You only need to look at windows XP Skins over the past few months to see what kind of downloads they get. If anything interest in XP skin as such will decrease. As for Window Blinds XP users and new WindowsXP users, a good majority of these people will be people who will have upgraded their OS to XP. So the site traffic in these area's won't have gotten any higher I would have thought.

As for user accounts for the Library..?! sorry another confused customer here... We already have an account you want us all to sign up again for another one ?? is this right ? otherwise we dont see the library ? pfft! well its not that plain to me and like Adni18 wouldn't mind mre information to elaborate on this thread.

your not alone

I agree with the account thing. Good move.

But I don't understand either how WinXP will bring more people to the site. Is there going to be a link from say the "Display Properties" panel that would read "For more Windows themes, visit Wincustomize.com."?
People can already change their skins with Windowblinds, I don't see how that will be different with WindowblindsXP... Cause unless there is a place within Windows that lets people know about WB and/or this site, people will have no clue how to get new themes/skins...

My point was that with Windows XP and Window BLINDS XP, many of the users here already, will in some percentage upgrade to windows XP and use Windowblinds XP anyway. So for downloading themes for XP and making them it is generally business as usual for many of use who plan on upgrading. This doesn't increase traffic. The increase would come from people who have bought windowsXP and know about Wincustomize.com and also know about the release of Windowblinds XP. Unless there is a good advertising link for things like Windowblinds XP and the benefits of using skins, then most people will still be oblivious to these programs, and wont increase traffic. Everyone using WB already knows about the WBXP version. If they upgrade they will, if they get WinXP.

I mean sure there are Three Luna Themes in XP right now. But remember Microsoft plan on launching their own Windows XP Themes site, so more themes will become available on the Shipping of XP itself, through Microsoft. So if people see they can get themes from MS's WinXP theme's site why would many of these people even think about Windowblinds XP ?

Don't get me wrong on this, I am just saying that Windowblinds XP will need the right kind of publicity to gain the kind of Bandwidths your talking of. Well until XP is really here it is just speculation still

We're up to 1600 new accounts today (which is more than all last month).

Cat, all I can say is that the average person has never heard of Windows XP.

wow i think thats a really smart way to even out the traffic ... smart

Cygnus, nothing is changed for us, you, me, and the whole gang here. You have an account since I can read you on this msgboard and see your name at the bottom of your post. Anonymous downloads won't be allowed in peak times, that's all it meens, and that's good, IMO.

Forgboy, Alex, I understand that the average user doesn't know about XP (although they are gettnig to hear about it more and more...), just like very very little people in the computer industry knows what a "skin" is. My point is that I don't think that the average user will learn any more about skinning with WindowsXP.
Take Outlook stationeries for example. Outlook introduced them a while ago, and they are cool. But how many people do you know actually make their own stationeries? Hardly anybody. I personally it will be a similar effect with WindowsXP and skins. Why? For a few reason. First, I believe a very small minority of XP users will ever find out that they CAN actually change their theme (skin); second, of those who will find out that there are 2 other themes they can choose from, another small minority will find out that it is actually possible to get even MORE skins from the Internet. And of those who do find out they can get more skins from the Internet, how many will actually come here? Why should they? How will they find out about this site?

Anyway. I could be wrong. I think there may be an incease indeed, but I actually think the release of DesktopX probably had a bigger effect on this site than the release of XP will. My opinion.

Paxx is correct - nothing changes for any of us. Just when the server is at unusually high activity, if you want to browse the skin sections, you have to be logged on.

If I hadn't made a post, none of the regulars would even know there was a change since to all of us here, the site behaves exactly the same.

But log off, go to a section, and it'll give you a message about needing to logon.

In a few days, things should be back to some semblance normality. The theory was that a significant percentage of users would simply not use the site but we actually ended up with 2600 new accounts yesterday and as I type this, 12:43 am, 160 new ones today (160 in 43 minutes).

We also have a mechanism to track how many users are on the site at a given time. As I type this, there are 201 people currently on the site.

Regarding XP, you could be right Paxx, we'll know soon.

christ, 201 people on at once? How in the hell did this site get so popular so fast? Is the skin traffic distributed semi equally amonst the other sites?

I thought I heard Skinbase tells how many people are currently connected.

Those numbers are staggering!
It makes me appreciate even more the mere existance of this site. Congrads on the popularity of this site admins. I hope it's translating into some increased interest in Stardock's products.

It's possible, but don't forget that these people are tekies, more intrested in customizing their comp than the average user. And didn't you say that they had never heard of WB before? How do we expect the masses to find out about WB's existance? I'm talking about the masses here, who have even never heard about Winzip...
but as Brad said, we'll know soon.