I'm tired so this will be on a kinder, gentler note.
I know that Brad is a skinner. I also know that he's done a lot for the skinning community. In the opinion of many, more so than anyone else.
I know all this because although I only started making skins recently, I've been around the "scene"
for quite a while. My user ID here is 188 out of a possible.....300,001? I was also around before the demise of skinz and before custo fell to the dark side.
I've helped people on the newsgroups. On an almost daily basis I answer newbie questions on this message board. I've praised Windowblinds and Stardock on message boards at DA, LOS, skinz, custo, neowin, themexp, and many more. I've also defended Brad on most of those message boards. I say all this to demonstrate that I have no personal axe to grind against him or his company.
I was also a staunch supporter and defender of the GUI Olympics. I know that Brad, T-Man, and others put many hours of work into the contest that they didn't have to. I know that the contest meant a great deal to you Brad, and that you could have spent that time doing other things. Afterall, you're a man with many responsibilities both personal and professional. You could have spent that time with your wife, your kids or your pets. But you didn't because it meant a lot to you right? Maybe you don't realize it, but I have a lot of the same responsibilities as you. I run a business, I have kids, I have a woman that I love, and I have pets (no frogs though) I could have spent the time that I did making the skins I did on any of those things, but I didn't. Why didn't I? Because it was fun and because it was important to me. Because this contest was so important to you, I wrongfully assumed that you would ensure that the promises you made would be kept.
The other issues I raised are important to me also. The issues of ratings and updated skins have been debated time and time again. Every time it comes up a majority of the skinners agree that they think these things should be changed.
Yes, there are ratings at most of the sites that you listed, but there is a fundamental difference in ratings here and at other sites. Here, a poor rating can effectively make your skin invisible to the majority of the users.
It's not very important to me that I get high ratings, but it is important to me that people get to see my work. Call me crazy of you will, but it's important to me. It's important enough to me that it pisses me off when migellito comes into a thread about ratings and says..."i guess i'm curious why some have the impression that people are giving undeservedly low ratings. are there some specific examples? and how do you know?" I hear that and I think....what planet did this guy step off of? An admin has no clue that this sort of thing happens? So we give him the examples that he asked for and then the thread just dies a slow death like they always do when they're about ratings. Now THAT'S showing skinners that you care.
So basically this whole thing boils down to the fact that I care....about people keeping their promises, that I care that people get to see my work, that I care about other skinner's feelings, and that I care about this site in general.
I told you to call me crazy if you like.
