I had some questions about ratings myself a few days ago and T-man responded with this:

#25 by Janitor T-Man - 8/19/2003 6:10:25 AM
In order to rate a skin you must have Apprentice Access or UserLevel 4.
In order to view ratings you must have Apprentice Access or UserLevel 3.

There were a couple bugs in the system and they have been corrected.


If you fall in one of those categories, contact an admin so they can fix your account.

Hope this helps...

I think you were lucky.

well hmm that's odd. you would have thought they would have found out by now.

A lot of people had access to everything in the very beginning.  We found out, though, that was a bad idea.  A person could make 15 accounts and use them to rule the ratings.

We then changed to rules to the ones stated above.  However, we also recoded the site, and some of the people who had access didn't get changed to the new rules.  T-Man (the Janitor) is going through the site and cleaning it up so that it is consistent.

He was probably not aware of it earlier because we usually find bugs when somebody complains.  Why would somebody complain when they had access that they shouldn't?

There are many reasons that I have not re-signed up for my yearly subscription and this is one of them. If I cannot rate skins, then they don't deserve my 50 bucks.

LAWerewolf, I've been here a couple years now and until about a month ago I don't remember you posting on the MSGBD or helping someone out. So you must not have been very active hence your citizen status. Some involvement on your part might get you promoted and you will beable to rate. Something to think about.

LAWerewolf,That might be part of the problem. If you read the MSGBD the last month, you would have seen someone complaining about his status. Jafo pointed out that the person changed his name and the powers to be didn't realize that.So it was like he was a new person. Something to think about.

Bearfest and LAwerewolf - "don't throw your teddy in the corner". DO SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT IT. Why not e-mail T-man or karmagirl with your reasons why you should be considered for an up in user status.
Anyone who leaves this site for these sort of reasons is just "cutting off their nose to spite their face". Lets face it this is by far the best site in the world for skinning and is part of the infrastucture that supports the best application for improving the look of your desktop in the WB4 programme. Just look at the stats posted on the news board by Brad.....it says it all. More and more people are finding out that the OD product and all its associated and ancillary programmes are just the best out there. The reason why quite a few people stick with MSS styles and the hack is that it is cheap (actually it costs nothing) but in my humble opinion they are missing out on a great deal by not migrating to OD etc.
Anyway i hope you both and for that matter anyone else who faces the same dilema trys to deal with it positively in a way like i suggest.

The Lion now runs off into the jungle closely persued by T-man and karmagirl who both have guns and want to shoot him for flooding their e-mail in boxes

I am not going anywhere. Never said I was. I am dissapointed that I no longer can rate skins, but thats the way it goes. I never abused or misused the rules of WinCustomize, but the abusers who screw it up for the rest of the users, should be held accountable, and the good people who do not abuse the priveledge should not be taxed. This is my gripe for the week

"don't throw your teddy in the corner". -- That is the best phrase that I've heard in awhile. I do agree that this site is the best and easiest to search for everything desktop on the net. I am disappointed about the ratings, I surely never abused it. Pity really, those bad apples need a slap!

I was under the impression that you had to be a skinner, and contribute in that format, to be allowed to rate. I dont know why I have not subscribed, and have no excuse on why I haven't. Something to look into I suppose. THANKS!

For 2 years and it helps out the site.