Ya know, when I download a wallpaper, I change it from a .jpg to a .bmp.  I get a better wallpaper.  Thats my opinion.  Its impossible to know what a dream will do unless theres an accomponing video with the screenshot.  Not many do.  Like Night Train said, from a static screenshot, its impossible to know what the animation will do or look like.

I agree that drive by Comments only fluff the skinners ego, and do not offer a true representation of the skins merits. I typically offer comments on items I have downloaded, Tho I have occasionally offered a comment on just looks alone. But not many. Usually in these cases its following a suite and commenting on the elements I cant or dont use Example ( I dont use Maxthon, but if a suite im downloading has a matching skin for it).. I will offer a "looks good" comment there.

"Looks good" offers that my comment is based purely on visual speculation, and not a evaluation of the skins functionality/usability.

I do not "rate" without Downloading and testing.
 

I think WOM Possibly is more driving toward those who more often than not, offer Comments with no basis other than the thumb. Those who seem to be either Comment whoring for stats or some other agenda (perhaps padding a pal's skin comments).

I  have seen a few times ,comments on skins that  get "OMGWTFBBQPUDDING" type of hype comments, while having no downloads at the time of the comments were posted. This astounds me and makes me suspicious/curious of how they got so enamored with this particular skin (considering it has not a single download). While someone pointed out that yes some times skins can be had else where then commented on here, it is not always the case.

good point ..... but itz always a master skin ...   

i did mention animations and so forth had to be pretty much set aside, but that in the case of static images there are different rules applied, except for a case such as dreams where you can sit there and watch the animation, or download and watch it just as a movie even though you can’t set it as your background.

windowblinds though is really something i have to say i'm tired of hearing of; between it and wallpapers it's nearly the only thing people generally even think to take into consideration as far as libraries are concerned. i know it's wincustomize, i know it's stardock, but my library list shows 53 categories and i can't fathom how everything has to come back to only 1 or 2 of them.

we even have a smileys category, you’re telling me i can look at the smileys and say they’re good/bad unless i download them, build a site, create a forum on it, then setup the smileys to function into the text of the threads and try each one out, or put each one into msn messenger or something? how can you not tell such a thing from just the preview, even if you can't tell if you'd want to use the smileys over another different set, how can you not tell the quality and appeal of them alone?

we have a graphics category too, why would i need to download them, open them in photoshop and put some lens flares and outer glows on them to know if it's a good graphic, rather than a good file. bad files afterall get rejected, no?

either you can tell the gist of these things from the previews, or you should be able to, that is the function of the preview, to let you know what you’ll BE downloading. the preview exists so you can tell if you want it, so you can tell if it is quality or not, and skins get denied their approval when nothing is wrong with the skin itself but it has a bad preview image.

and even as far as compression on a jpg goes, if it's compressed it's more than likely the author made it compressed of their own accord. most of the wallpapers ARE jpgs, and even stock art so very often comes in jpg format, so rare banding issues and people file format preferences aside i don't think there's much of an issue to be considered, and most people don't have eyes trained enough to notice such small details anyway, you can even point out artifacting to a slew of people that will still never notice it. i think it's "misguided" to believe i'm critiquing people on the quality of their previews rather than the quality of the content.

it's not even ratings we're talking about in theory, it is the comments in particular, but comments, ratings and downloads are all closely tied in among themselves. i simply exercise my right to look at something beautiful and call it beautiful or look at something and say it reminds me of a gas stations restroom.

what is a preview anyway? a screenshot? an exact image of the item itself? what's a comment other than a verbal rating? do i care if they know “i” think it's nice, or do i simply care to say it? i don't see why a person can't say what their judgment is when they've already deemed it to be one thing or the other before ever hitting the download button in the first place.

how does downloading anything make a person more qualified to give an accurate assessment of something’s worth? any random tom dick and harry become a knowledgable expert or what they’re critiquing because they clicked a red button? how is a person that downloads something and says "oh wow cool" going to have a comment that holds more worth than someone who is actually evaluating the skin, regardless of the fact it's from a full sized, high quality, identical to what the other person is seeing preview image? i'm not making blind judgment, i'm looking right at the skin in question, and in the manner that it's intended to be seen, the preview is the skin/icon/wall/dock/app/widget.

the concern on what needs downloaded in order to make an assessment is a case by case basis. is it animated or something? then i need to see the animation or whatever to comment on that feature or make to rate the skin as a whole. but as far as comments go, i can look at a skin and say it's beautiful; if i downloaded it i could also say the animation is great, but i don't need to see the animation in a start menu that so many of us don't even use in order to validate the 2 cents i gave on something not concerning the animation. i can view the thing, see how it looks, know that it would look the same way on mine, and come to a pretty simple conclusion as to whether or not i like it, and whether or not i think it was well done. it's not as though i run around windowblinds saying "the animation is superb and it works great" when i have no knowledge of these things, i assess what i see, and ratings aside i am justified when commenting on whatever image is before my eyes.

but that's windowblinds, that's dx most of the time, but wallpapers... icons... i can look at an icon preview and know/say that it looks like you carved out a picture from a newspaper ad with a dull knife using shaggy carpet as a cutting board, converted it to a digital file by taking a picture of it with the camera on your phone, then saved it as 48 color gif, then re-saved it as a low quality jpg, then finally put 4 photoshop filters and drew a god awful looking orb on top of it before finally "saving" it as either a png or and ico file, and tell that it's complete crap without having to waste wincustomize's bandwidth downloading the pos. and if the icon was somehow high quality instead of the horse crap we are presented with, the fault is more accounted to the authors stupidity than my mistrust that they won't actually be that stupid, or the trust that the mods will make them use something pertinent to the file they're uploading.

i can look at a car and say it looks cool, elegant, fancy, nice, great, beautiful, or even that it looks like crap, or a box with wheels without having to take a 2 mile test drive or even so much as sitting inside it. i can say a woman is attractive without her having to take off her clothes first. i can look at a skin and tell you what i think of it without putting it on my computer.

and, i do.

Here's my comment:I'm beginning to think it's not worth the effort.The skins are supposed to be evaluated and rated,not the comments or the people leaving them.Who is setting the standards as to what constitutes an "acceptable" comment? This started out as a rational thread,I'm not sure where it's going.  

I used to be in the top 10 on skin comments.  I average about 5 a month.  I comment only on those that I feel are outstanding compared to the others in that category.  I guess from reading the comments on this thread, I should splatter all skins with a comment just to make the author happy.  Can't do that, don't want to spend the time and it would be hard for me to say...great skin/very good or whatever when I don't believe it.  So I guess I'll stick to my average of 5 a month.

That's the main reason I always include one, but since it's 300x180 you can only get a general idea as to what the dream looks like. There is no substitue for loading it on your machine and seeing how it looks full screen.

I think I just discovered what prompted this post. Flyby comments in order to maintian a placehold as a top commenter is sad. Just flippin sad.

He's a phony WOM.   

LOL just realized that? I thought he was #2....

I thought this issue was resolved with that individual about 2-3 years ago.

I'd didn't even know such a category existed.If that's the cause,why not get rid of it?Does anyone care who leaves the most comments?


I was slow as a child,and old age isn't speeding things up any.

You were slow as a kid?? Not as slow as I was, I'll bet... was a fortnight late at birth, didn't walk 'til I was 4 and couldn't start Grade 1 'til I was 9 cos I didn't graduate kindy 'til then.... and when I got old enough to chase girls, I had to start out the week before to have any hope of catching one.

So in my old age... I have NO hope.

I rarely if ever leave comments on the skin sites. I feel the comments are most often just vacant "attaboys" or attacks on the skinner his/herself and rarely have any constructive information within them.


This is one of the reasons I began the articles I write. I felt the skins needed some personal feedback, and some reasons why I felt their skins were useful,beautiful, or had some issues(though most of the ones I show I have little issue with , occasionally I find one that looks great but doesn't like my computer or something, or viceversa)

The only thing I could catch now is a cold.
Back on topic:I try to rate everything I dl but I don't comment often.If it makes some sort of impression on me I think it's worth the time to thank the person and/or tell them what you liked(or not) about it.After all,they spent their time creating and uploading it.

Honest feedback should be a good thing."Nice job","Looks good",etc,may be well-meant,but won't provide any usable feedback.For me this is mainly WB's and DX,but a really striking ,well-done wall or icons is also worth a comment.I suck at art so it's all good.

I also think 5 gold stars should get an extra star after so many downloads,or get some other special recognition.This could be applied to the thumb,so all users would see it was top rated and dl'd at a glance.

P.S. I don't rate anything lower than a 3.Why,you may ask? That's my cut-off level.If I personally rate it that low or I can't use it after dl,it gets deleted and forgotten.I give it a fair evaluation based on my limited knowledge,but I'm no critic. That's just the way I am,and I'm too old(and stubborn) to change now.