Sorry Hankers, that was just an expression of what I thought some of the mods were saying, it wasn't a direct quote and I apologise that it came across like that....sorry Snowman, I misquoted you sir, I am terribly sorry for that, all I was trying to say is, is that is the impression I get from some of the mods responses, not just in this post but in other posts from the past....but as I say that is just my opinion of what soem of them think, sorry if it came across as if I was quoting someone....sorry.............I am ending my part in this discussion as I don't want to be labelled a stirrer or troublemaker, I love this site, I love the whole community, and I am sorry that I have caused such a ruckus over a simple question, really I am........Snowman I am sorry if I have caused you any grief over this, Hankers, sorry for misquoting, everyone else I am sorry I even asked this question in the first place, I did not, really did not mean this post to go the way it went, if it has left a shadow on this community, then I really am sorry....thats it......the Thug

Imho the SS gallery is a waste of the moderators time. A forum section for screenshots would be way better.

Well I guess us little screen shooters should be grateful that opinion however humble or narrow-minded as they may appear, doesn't determine these decisions then huh?

Tell you what though.  Off the top of my head and without mentioning any names, I can give you at least 12 Non-skinning Shooters, who can shoot circles around anybody including Skinners.

And I do agree to some extent that some people just change their walls and blinds, then post nine shots in a row.  To me that's damn near spam, it's abuse and I don't like it either.

But there are a few shooters that take great care and pride in presenting the best of the best, sometimes displayed even beyond the original skinner's expectations.

I've heard Skinners say, how in the hell did you do that several times.

So to say that Screen Shots is as easy as hitting the PRT SCR button, yes it is, but not to the ones who take their time to build a great presentation.

Now, go and get 12 heavy big time Skinners and I'll go get my 12 shooters, and let's shoot it out to see who comes out on top!

We'll just see if screen shooting ain't an artform.

IMHO the Screenshot gallery is a necessity. It's the best way to showcase what can been done with the available customization products. I'm not aware of any plans to eliminate the gallery.

The only moderating that's done is to be sure that wallpapers are adaquately covered to protect copyright and for overly risque content. I imagine most mods don't like to have to rate them.

The main complaints (not from just mods) is that they accrue download counts and "compete" with the "real" skins. Also, they used to show up in the "New Uploads" section and could take over the space from real skins. That part has been fixed.

Dumb question --- what does IMHO mean?

In my honest opinion

I think it means, In My Humble Opinion, right? 

K10, didn't see your answer before I posted.  "In my honest opinion" works well

That's the way I use it.

The screenshots aren't going anywhere....they are a necessary tool when dealing with GUIs and skinning....always have been.

They are formally moderated because now and then some silly person will try to upload images which are unacceptable here....and while we're at it we can protect wall artists' works when the desktops are too blank and leave the wallpaper easily accessible.

Moderators apply ratings for the sole purpose of making the upload visible [an upload with a '0' rating [none] will not show up in a gallery].

Typically if a screenshot shows something refreshingly new/unique it may attract a higher rating than the average....but that's about it.

Ooops....

Thanks k10w3 and NrseBiker and Lantec for the answer!

Another question, this one for Jafo -

I don't quite understand why this is done, because usually the link is given to the artists wallpaper in the shot. Couldn't it get ripped then? Sorry, just trying to understand.

karmat....

A link to the wall dies as and when the artist removes the wall...so the link is still within the effective control of the artist.

However...if someone other than the artist uploads a n unencumbered wall image within a screenshot it can only be directly removed by a site admin/mod or by the screenshot uploader ...which excludes the wall owner from the equation....in other words his wall is thus distributed without his control, albeit with a little 'extraction' work [which is often overly simple and thus unacceptable]...

BUMP! 

Jafo, thanks for the explanation, I would never have thought of that. I'll keep it in mind when I do shots in the future since I tend to do sort of simple desktops. 

Ratings are not currently working correctly.  The rating system as we know it is going away with the new WC anyways.

Ratings... we don't need no steenkin' ratings...

A "thank you/thumbs up" button would be great. And then a way to display who clicked it.

It would reduce clutter in the comments, I find all the "thanks for this, looking great" comments distracting. The comments should be used for more constructive feedback.

I think structure is great, mick as are your proposals...but having gotten aquainted with the crowd here, it'd be like trying to herd cats.