WOM, I rest my case...

paxx, I rate it on it's own merrits. Who cares if you like it or not, thats for you to say and rate. I can give something a 7 or 8 because it is good and not want it myself for some reason and could give it a 9 or 10 because it is good and I would use it myself.

werewolf doesn't care at all about the ratings.

werewolf just wishes people would leave constructive comments.

I disagree with your last sentence, paxx: I love your Stronghold but I don't use it, yet it's in my appearances list and I would no sooner consider deleting it than I would my other favorites. I periodically go through this list and wean out the ones I can live without, Stronghold is still there (a good skin stands the test of time...). I don't use my own Amberbug, but delete it? Don't like it? I don't think so.

This is a difficult subject. To some ratings are important, if for no other reason that it effects what visitors see, so I try to rate the ones I download. There are some stunning skins which I wind up not using very much because they are not (for my eyes or because I find them distracting) to me for eveyday use. I wouldn't rate them less for that. Similarly there are some more subtle skins that while not flashy or intricate I really enjoy and use frequently. And appreciate more as I use them. Often they are not generally rated as highly because they are not as much of a "wow" upon first glance to look at.

Just because something is not to my every day personal taste I don't downrate it for that. For example, there is some artwork in museums or galleries I may find amazing, but even so I wouldn't hang it (or a replica) in my house.

But every once and a while the subject comes up here and a skinner may say, "how can people rate so high these skins that are tchnically bad, the graphics are put together as they should be, etc." I suppose the skinner took the other skins apart to see and came to those conclusions. I don't know if they're talking out of their hat or really do find things technically wrong with the skin. What I do know is that I am not a skinner and I don't see those things, unless it obviously effects how the skin works on my PC. If the skin works and looks good that's OK for me. But my point is, those comments make me feel as if I shouldn't rate skins at all because I am not a skinner and don't know the technical stuff. Then I think perhaps only skinners should be allowed to rate each others' work and perhaps I shouldn't rate anything at all. (Even if something has been rated low that I think should be higher.)

Some authors complain about not getting rated or not rated as high as others. Some even get into how many downloads there have been compared to others. Others ask primarily for comments to see how the skin plays, are there suggestions for improvement, etc which makes sense to me.

I do think, however, if I were a skinner and put that much effort into it I would be doing it for what I want to do and not to play to the audience for the number of downloads and/or ratings. If I were to be paid for it then that would be important. But when it's not, I wouldn't spend effort putting together something I'm not that interested in simply to post it and play a popularity game with ratings and downloads. If it's about the work, then that is the focus. If it's more about measuring oneself against others' "popularity" well that's another issue IMO.

IPlural...that makes exactly 2 of us

knatzz, there's a big difference between constructive criticism and "hey man, this sucks" I don't really think any author would mind real constructivism.


hmmm, is that a word?

Delicious, why do you bring this subject up every couple weeks for?

Someone that continues to knock on your door in the middle of the night will eventually get you up to answer it.

There has been very indepth/good comments made here and that proves that there is a need and desire for a change. It takes much longer to make a skin and for someone to be able to come in and "dis" it with a low rating is wrong. The rating structure should prevent that from happening and I have seen many comments that could be implimented to prevent that from happening.

Ask not what Wincustomize can do for you but what you can do for them

Delicious, No reason why you can't bring it up again, But there have been longer and more constructive threads about the voting system than this one, and Wincustomise/Stardock have stated there will be no change, period. But no harm in trying i suppose.

knatzz, I must say I wholeheartedly agree with you. Some people just can't take ANY criticism. As if the only reason they skinned was to get flattered. I guess some people need the boost to feel better about themselves.

But rest assured, most of us always welcome a good constructive critique. There is no better way to improve your work.

It's interesting to hear such well thought out arguments regarding the rating sytem, from some people whom the sytem doesn't affect.

As an example only...when is the last time you received some criticism or an "unfair" rating on a skin that you made? A year or so maybe?

So maybe ratings/criticism don't seem like a big deal to you, but some people who are regular submittors fell like there's a problem and grow tired of dealing with it.

Personally, it matters much less to me than it used to. I could complain about average or substandard skins, or the same author over and over being featured here, or Brad featuring his own skins, while mine are rarely ever featured. But I don't fight it any more because it doesn't matter much, and would accomplish nothing. I could complain about unfair ratings like I used to, but I gave up on that also because ratings used to mean a lot to me because they were "peer" ratings. Now there are few of those since the ability to rate people's work became something that could be bought.

I would imagine among all the skinners here, there are many many different reasons why they do it. Some do it for recognition, some for art's sake, some for exposure leading to a possible career and maybe some out of sheer boredom. No one else's motivation is any more valid than the next to me. Regardless of their motivation they still deserve equal treatment.

Actually knatzz I think that's why some skinners don't regard the ratings. They're not particularly helpful. More often I see skinners look forward to people providing helpful comments saying what is that either is particularly remarkable or pleasing or if there are glitches or problems with a skin or if perhaps something might be reworked to a better effect. But that requires more effort on the poster's part. Or in my case, knowledge. If there's a glitch I can't suggest how to fix it. But I've seen some skinners being very helpful to others with their comments and that's really cool when it happens.

I still have a tie-dyed Tee-shirt....got it in '72...