Compare it to skinz in its current incarnation. Or is that because Shog is the antichrist?

#1 reason is the admins.

Feel free to disagree but since I make a living on this sort of thing, I hope my opinion counts for something.

Why? Because a skin site's success ultimately boils down to a few key things:

1) Getting skin authors to upload their materials to your site
2) Getting software developers to link and point to your site
3) Creating a friendly environment so that all other things being equal, people will want to return to your site instead of another's.

Site traffic is not divided equally. The traffic difference between say deviantART and Customize is massive. And so is the activity level.

As for skinz, yea, it's in the same boat as customize. You want to see a good example of a success story because of a good admin is LotsOfSkins. Chaz's good attitude and good treatement of his users and skinners has made his site successful. LotsOfSKins gets more skin submission and more activity than Customize or Skinz.org. And Chaz doesn't have the advantage of a long running domain name or corporate backing. So there's quite a bit of proof right there.

Hi mig
and no I said that cuz Brad said "If their goal is to destroy the site"

cuz custo may not get destroyed in the end, it just will always have a certain crowd of ppl such as the porn sites "remain up and have a certain amount of popularity and long standing" no matter what
(though custo and porn have no connection to me in my example I only use that example cuz Brad said it was "The Slum of the community" but I don't think it is at all)

I think custo is fine and has it's own idenity (Jafo help my spellin sucks how you spell idenity that word don't look right?) hehe

and well I guess I would have a right mig if someone said they would kill themselves on the net I would jump in (I have actually on DA) but I meant that I don't like to judge ppl when I know I'm not perfect

always ppl passing judgement on each other and then turning around and doing their own stuff that is "inappropriate" (got that word right from crae up there Jafo if it's wrong blame him!) hehe

just that calling another site a "slum" in itself could sound inappropriate (jussss my opinion)
you can call it whatever you want! hehe
that site still has it's own right whether we like it or not right? ppl have said bad stuff about this site too and it does not change a thing in the end

different strokes for different folks...

moral relativism is one of the reasons why our society has become so uncivilized. in a world where no behavior is 'wrong' then there is no right. it's the easy way out.

hmmm well I dunno what their goals are really...
to me when I say "fine" I mean by the fact that they are actually "there" in existence on the net live??? hehe
and when it's not good it's down dead?

maybe their goal is to have 10 ppl hang out there and use the site as irc or icq who knows? obviously they cannot handle it doing too good cuz they always have a commercial screen image when too many ppl hit the site and traffic is high right?

not everyones goals are the same, (you have high goals Brad) I think they just want a site up and to have some fun and chit chat and stuff like that...

JayG there definetly is right and wrong behavior I agree w/ you, but ppl just won't get very far trying to shove their personal morals and thinking on other ppl on the "Net" and again like crae said way up there:

"Wrong" and "inappropriate" are subjective and depend on your context. To them it may be okay, to you it may not.

If right & wrong were defined the "same way" for everyone on this earth it would be easy and we'd be at peace and probably very bored not sure.... hehe

http://www.customize.org/forum/1750

Custo lost my respect long ago when the admins started attacking my work for no real reason. They have certainly failed as a skinning site, and the attitude of the admins is apalling. I'd actually be ashamed to be known for running such a poorly mangaged and badly constructed site anyway. It's a shame really, as for a while there it was one of the few sites I visited daily. Now I only drop by every so often to glance at the wreckage as I pass by.

I feel the same as Grayhaze. It's like, why do they go out of their way to be nasty?

I'm not sure I can articulate my feelings here but I'll give it a try...

Skinning and customizing how your computer looks and works is something that guarantees at some point you're going to crash. Even without skinning involved, just using a lot of beta software will do the same thing. It's not uncommon to encounter some incompatibility that you need to either work around or find a fix for. I've never had any respect for people that bash software because they couldn't get it to work right. Usually it's more a case of them being deficient than the program, or a bit of both. One of the things I really liked about the "skinning community" years ago was that these were people that could tweak their way out of almost any problem, work with the developers to improve the programs and push the 'art' of skinning forward at the same time. Nobody was afraid of software ruining their system because they were pursuing something that was new and required some effort to do (and obviously they were a lot more skilled at configuring their machines) . As far as the stability of skinning programs, Windowblinds has improved so much over the last three years I've been using it I'm dazzled. In fact I haven't had any problems at all with it for about two years. There are several skinnable apps I don't use because I don't have the time anymore to make them work for me. But it would never occur to me to bash a program publicly because I haven't invested the effort to make it work on my system. If I run across a poorly written app that I don't like for any reason, I just don't use it, don't make skins for it but I also don't bash the developers that wrote it.

I haven't seen any skinners bashing Stardock's programs with one exception. The guy from TGSoft's website bashed Windowblinds mercilessly (and falsely) while disguising himself with phony identities. When exposed publicly as a spamming troll, others kept up the rhetoric for them because Stylexp was "free" which made it better. When TGSoft then announced they were charging the same amount as WB it became better because it was "faster". Fact is, it isn't even a program, and it doesn't "do" anything unless you have XP and want a new border on the windows. Then it lets you stick an unauthorized window border where the authorized one goes. So what, I could do that without Stylexp. And I don't like supporting Microsoft's "one copy/one machine" activation code crap. I have no respect for anyone that tries to tell the hungry (for skins) hordes of new people discovering skinning that the way to go is BUY XP and BUY a bullshit reghack for $20.

Finally, an admin of a skinning website going to another site to bash a developer's program (come on, lets face it, WB is currently THE windows skinning software) in a news article about a new release is such a farce, such a bottom feeder classless act that it deserves to be highlighted publicly. rkenshin and miriku are desperate for followers, desperate for attention (and traffic to their site) so being assholes is the best they can come up with to get what they want. The solution is simple, ignore them, don't post a response when they're doing a stupid dance for coins. And then maybe they'll try something different when the only people around are the ones that jumped onto their ship of fools. Because those people, being so weak-willed and gullible, won't have custo's admins' respect either. But they'll be the only friends they have....

craeonics can't say anything anymore, 'cos Jafo nicked the bottom line

Oh heck, Crae.....here's a line for you then...

--------------------------------------------------------

Use that one...

It was about how administrators can torpedo their own sites by alienating the people who make sites successful.

And by success I mean the common usage of the word success as opposed to the warm fuzzy usage where success can be re-defined as being anything. (Maybe the homeless guy is a success because he WANTS to be homeless! )

Hum... I on't think teenagers behavior can be excused per say, but it can be understood. Eveybody's been a teen before.
Most teen have extreme opinions and extreme values. Teens like to have a "cause" to fight for. Of course, they are rude, that's because they feel very strongly about their "cause".
I had a cause to when I was a kid, and I even went to jail for it.
Custo admins' "cause" is freeware and fight against commercial ware.
That does not make them evil. They believe in what they believe and fight for it. They are still kids and don't understand the concept of "moderation" and "diplomacy" yet. But they will grow up, as we all did.

I am not a rebelous teenager anymore, so I have no interest in the site. So I just don't go there anymore. But I understand what growing up is. If you don't want to be part of it, just don't go on their site.

http://www.customize.org/forum/1756