Zodiaq~... I have spent the past 80 minutes of my life dealing with this for you.

I have read emails, downloaded two WB skins, looked at both, including ALL 120 images in the 'suspect' skin with Powerdesk [quickview], opened half a dozen in PSP6 and compared colour picks as well....and commented many times here likewise.

I made and uploaded a screenshot of both images and linked to it for comment.

It appears that all this is for nothing and you will just leave Wincustomize.com

If that's the case, can I have my 80 minutes back?

kith...yes it's a 'rip' but Alexandrie knows...

Jafo,

As an Administrator I would have thought you to be much more tactful with such a sensitive issue. I am very Sorry about your time. I spent quite a bit of time on my graphics also.

Now this is going to be a Message Board joke...all the Wah wah wah, and Blah, blah, blah.

Please just close this thread, you and I both know where it's going and it will be full of hostility, accusations and other nonsense. None of us here at WC need it.

Zodiaq~....both tact AND common sense is required.

Trust me when I say I have looked at many issues similar to this for many different people over quite a few years [even before Wincustomize.com] and there has been many quite justified complaints of blatant image use/theft which, quite frankly, this one is not.

Were the other skinner to have stated in his WB description that he was inspired by your skin or he even 'took' your images as a basis to work from/with, the resultant work is sufficiently different to be defensible as coincidentally unique.

It's not so much about how 'dissimilar' they are, but about how unlikely it is for them to be SO similar.  There is a distinct difference in those concepts.

As for closing the thread....if it gets 'nasty' for whatever reason the comments will be removed, but we try NOT to remove threads if it can be helped....

I've spent ages taking these images to bits in PSP and my only comment is it's half past midnight and I'm going to bed...

Zodiaq~ : The only reason this became public was because you did not contact an admin about it in the first place. As soon as it hit the messageboard people became curious about which images were the same and who had ripped you. It's the nature of the world. A nice bit of juicy gossip.

My personal opinion (not that you will care) is that you probably both read the same tutorial on doing glassy buttons. There's only so many techniques to do them. Some more complex than others. There are clear differences in his image and yours. His looks like a circle that has had the middle bit stretched. Yours is more squashed. Stretching yours would not get the shape he has got. http://pjpowell.dyndns.org/oddness/glassybuttons.jpg
Also if I apply a solarize filter (same filter to both images) it shows clear differences in colour and even shadowed/hilighted areas.
http://pjpowell.dyndns.org/oddness/solarizedglassybuttons.jpg

Madice...I emailed Jafo privately...he chose to go public, if you had read the entire thread you would have realized that.

Not a smart move to disagree with Jafo

That statement says it all. He is one man, with one opinion.

I wasn't threatening to leave, it's not a threat looking for someone to say please don't go. As I said, "It's a matter of principle"....geezuz, pay attention.

I am paying attention. You have chosen these people. If you want it private then keep it private. You didn't do that. This is the result. Melodrama.

So, another skinner you have chosen, pjpowell, is ignored too. He went to great length examining these buttons. Again you do not respect his opnion.

It may not be clear to you yet, but by going public people will invest time in you. Maybe you find these people incompetent, but you have chosen these people to give a judgement. And like grayhaze points out all these people come to the same conclusion.

Do not do this to yourself, man. You can go back before the end of the thread.

all this over a silly glossy Button! Too Funny

this thread cracks me up... thanks for the laugh guys

You have a very good point Janus, but I used them all before you did
[Message Edited]

I just emailed Jafo cuz now I'm worried my latest skin might be considered a rip. I don't even know what a rip is exactly so that's why I bothered the poor guy but I have and ALWAYS have made all my own graphics from scratch (wish I could add the sniff)...the only thing in this one instance was a similar shape so I'm waiting on Jafo's 'go-head' on the matter. Better safe than sorry.

I can hear someone laughing now..."If 'round' is a shape...if 'square' is a shape' then we're all rippers."

Okay, call me paranoid. hehe