Hmm. I recently got some very useful and kind constructive help/criticism from LeCrayon on my FlowerPower cursor and I'm still working on the update (some minor tweaks and adjustments etc.) but should have it finished soon. I also had an older wallpaper up for a while (Sliver) that was suggested I change the eye color to match the wallpaper better and I thought, "Hey! That's a dang good idea!" and so I did and this person was not a skinner either but suggested it in a way that was curteous and polite. And I liked the final results much better and thanked the person!
I certainly
do appreciate and respect criticism from someone especially if they know how to do the work themselves but that's not to say someone that can't do it doesn't have a valuable input or say that counts (just look at the many movie critics who make fairly good assessments even though many have probably never made a good HOME movie to save their lives)!
You can certainly tell the difference in tone from someone who truly wants you to better your work and someone who just wants to nit-pick you apart and move on to their next target but I haven't seen much of that here. I try to make time to go through people's stuff and rate and make comments in between my other life duties but I do generally try to stay on the positive side not because I'm afraid to say something critical but because I'm mostly a cursorXP, Iconpackager and wallpaper user which doesn't make any major changes like WB and some other progs that change a lot more of the OS interface.
I imagine there are people very new to making windowblinds who really might not realize there is a problem with their skin or a critical flaw. I've never attempted to make a windowblind...no way...I'll leave that to the pros!
But I respect people who try in earnest to do something and struggle through the first attempts. I never expect to start out perfect...I always want to believe/hope/PRAY (lol) that my stuff will improve more and more because I KNOW my stuff doesn't come out perfect no matter how hard I work at it as I'm still new to many things and I just have to try and do my best.
I do agree that something with serious operative flaws that can really screw up your system are not good and definitely should be brought to the attention of the skinner! Silent acceptance can be worse...because people might start actually avoiding your work altogether and then you'll be left to wonder why.
As far as thinking it is a new trend that some people only submit their work for praise... I haven't seen that here (but I don't use a lot of the progs in my object desktop suite of goodies so I don't look at everything available here nor would I have the time to scour everything on this site). But why would someone praise something that was no good anyway? If someone set out to make something haphazardly expecting praise I imagine they'd be sorely disappointed since I think as a general rule of thumb...most people won't praise something that messes up their computer or is really horrible to work with or look at. I never ask for people to comment but I always appreciate feedback and helpful suggestions to improve my skills or just a word of encouragement. It CAN be a healthy, calorie-free creative outlet. [He-he] Well, it sure beats eating junk food in front of the TV anyway!
(Okay, so maybe on occasion I eat junk food in front of the puter too...shhhh)!
I do need to get back to real-live sculpting though... They say if ya don't use it ya lose it!
Anyway, I like making stuff because it's challenging and fun and inspires me to learn something new that I probably would have thought I never could have done a year ago. What better reason? And I appreciate the free work people submit here for me to play with and enjoy! I still don't know how adni18 and so many skinners/artists do it!
Gee, I wrote too much.
P.S. Smile
