I'm pissed
Saturday, May 18, 2002 by davad70 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Ok, there are quite a few issues that have been on my mind for a while, and some newer ones that really have me irritated.
1. Why is it that lately this site seems to be disregarding the wishes of skinners more and more often? The majority of skinners, as well as many of the wizops/admins who are actually skinners, want to scrap the rating system. Do the wishes and requests of skinners matter to the people who run this site on this issue? Apparently not. I’ve also not come across a skinner who thinks that the libraries should be sorted by the date they were updated, but now they are. It was decided a ways back that the fair thing to do was to sort the libraries by create date. Now with the launch of WC2, we are back to sorting libraries by date of update. Why? Because Frogboy wants it that way. It doesn’t matter that most of the skinners want it another way. Frogboy wants…Frogboy gets.
2. We hear quite a lot about the heavy burden that Wincustomize has placed upon Stardock. We also hear quite a bit about how popular WC has become in the past year. I’m curious as to why this site has become so popular. Personally I think it’s popularity is mostly due to the fact that people can get skins from some of the best skinners in the world here, who give their skins freely. We also hear a lot about the fact that Wc needs to be able to support itself, and not be funded directly by Stardock. Yet it seems that Stardock will always be in control of this site and that it will never truly be a “community site”. So I ask, why shouldn’t Stardock pay for this site? It seems to me that this site is the greatest marketing tool that Stardock has. I would think that people buy Windowblinds and the other programs to be able to use the skins that they see on this site. So with the advent of the subscriber program what benefits do skinners get? Ummm, we get unlimited downloads just as we always have before. BTW, that’s the same benefit that OD (which I am also) users get also. So, the fact that I’ve submitted 15 skins since the first of the year gets me nothing. My contribution is apparently not better than Joe Blow downloader who paid $20. Joe Blow gets the skin browser, “exclusive suites”, etc. I get nothing but the privilege of downloading my skins as much as I want. J
3. Now to the issue that’s really got me pissed off to the degree that I finally am fed up. Anyone remember the GUI Olympics? Anyone remember the prizes that Frogboy stated that Honorable mention winners would receive? Let me refresh your memory. Anyone who picked up an honorable mention will get a free copy of Object Desktop (or a renewal), an Object Desktop sweat shirt, a T-shirt, a LWNinja T-shirt and some other goodies. Those who won multiple honorable mentions will be given additional Object Desktop renewals. posted by Lord Frogboy - 4/2/2002 1:07:58 PM. Well, I won an honorable mention and didn’t receive anything until I contacted them. They just forgot about me. That was no big deal to me, sometimes thing like that happen. So I got an email saying that my OD subscription was renewed and it was. Great right? Well, I waited about 2 weeks to get the other goodies that I had coming. Still didn’t get them, so I write back to ask when I would be getting all the other stuff. Basically I was told that they changed their mind and were not sending out any of the actual physical prizes. I then contacted some other skinners who won honorable mentions to see if they got their prizes. They all got their OD renewals, but no one got any of the other prizes for honorable mention prizes. After emailing Brad back he tells me that I should have gotten those other prizes (yes, I know that), and that he’ll check with the person who sent out the prizes to see whats going on. This is the same person that told me that there weren’t going to be any physical prizes given out for honorable mentions. Sounds very odd to me.
So….am I overreacting, or do I have a right to be a tad pissed?
1. Why is it that lately this site seems to be disregarding the wishes of skinners more and more often? The majority of skinners, as well as many of the wizops/admins who are actually skinners, want to scrap the rating system. Do the wishes and requests of skinners matter to the people who run this site on this issue? Apparently not. I’ve also not come across a skinner who thinks that the libraries should be sorted by the date they were updated, but now they are. It was decided a ways back that the fair thing to do was to sort the libraries by create date. Now with the launch of WC2, we are back to sorting libraries by date of update. Why? Because Frogboy wants it that way. It doesn’t matter that most of the skinners want it another way. Frogboy wants…Frogboy gets.
2. We hear quite a lot about the heavy burden that Wincustomize has placed upon Stardock. We also hear quite a bit about how popular WC has become in the past year. I’m curious as to why this site has become so popular. Personally I think it’s popularity is mostly due to the fact that people can get skins from some of the best skinners in the world here, who give their skins freely. We also hear a lot about the fact that Wc needs to be able to support itself, and not be funded directly by Stardock. Yet it seems that Stardock will always be in control of this site and that it will never truly be a “community site”. So I ask, why shouldn’t Stardock pay for this site? It seems to me that this site is the greatest marketing tool that Stardock has. I would think that people buy Windowblinds and the other programs to be able to use the skins that they see on this site. So with the advent of the subscriber program what benefits do skinners get? Ummm, we get unlimited downloads just as we always have before. BTW, that’s the same benefit that OD (which I am also) users get also. So, the fact that I’ve submitted 15 skins since the first of the year gets me nothing. My contribution is apparently not better than Joe Blow downloader who paid $20. Joe Blow gets the skin browser, “exclusive suites”, etc. I get nothing but the privilege of downloading my skins as much as I want. J
3. Now to the issue that’s really got me pissed off to the degree that I finally am fed up. Anyone remember the GUI Olympics? Anyone remember the prizes that Frogboy stated that Honorable mention winners would receive? Let me refresh your memory. Anyone who picked up an honorable mention will get a free copy of Object Desktop (or a renewal), an Object Desktop sweat shirt, a T-shirt, a LWNinja T-shirt and some other goodies. Those who won multiple honorable mentions will be given additional Object Desktop renewals. posted by Lord Frogboy - 4/2/2002 1:07:58 PM. Well, I won an honorable mention and didn’t receive anything until I contacted them. They just forgot about me. That was no big deal to me, sometimes thing like that happen. So I got an email saying that my OD subscription was renewed and it was. Great right? Well, I waited about 2 weeks to get the other goodies that I had coming. Still didn’t get them, so I write back to ask when I would be getting all the other stuff. Basically I was told that they changed their mind and were not sending out any of the actual physical prizes. I then contacted some other skinners who won honorable mentions to see if they got their prizes. They all got their OD renewals, but no one got any of the other prizes for honorable mention prizes. After emailing Brad back he tells me that I should have gotten those other prizes (yes, I know that), and that he’ll check with the person who sent out the prizes to see whats going on. This is the same person that told me that there weren’t going to be any physical prizes given out for honorable mentions. Sounds very odd to me.
So….am I overreacting, or do I have a right to be a tad pissed?
 |
|
Page 3 of 9 | |
|
|---|
DavidK
Reply #42 Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:04 AM
Reply #42 Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:04 AM
I just read this entire thread. Frankly I'm amazed.
The GUI Olympics: I don't remember it saying that someone that got an honorable mention would get ALL the prizes. I thought there would be an OD subscription, or a shirt etc. The year of OD was by far the most valuable and that's the one they decided to give out. I got one and I was grateful. Never occurred to me I should get anything else. I was real grateful for the $50 I won too and I was extremely happy to know that Chaz also got $50 for my effort. The only thing about the contest that wasn't fun and I wasn't grateful for was the complaining and posturing that was so rampant before the contest got started. The consortium and Shoggot thoroughly depressed me. I almost quit this community because of all that stuff, I was so disappointed in several people I used to respect. Not to mention, totally disgusted by some other people that I have never respected... I understand Brad's feelings about the contest completely, no one involved in organizing, running or paying for the contest deserved any of the shit that was thrown at them.
Updated skins: I disagree that Sputnik should not be in the top ten. It's been rebuilt with WinXP enhancements and it's there because that many people are downloading it. I downloaded it – I'm really happy it's been upgraded and obviously a lot of other people are too. We now have a checkbox on the skin updates to update the posting date. It's meant to be used only in a case where the skin is dramatically changed (such as adding the XP stuff). If you don't check that box the skin doesn't go to the front anymore. Seemed like a good solution to me... I don't see what more we could do...
Wincustomize: An unbelievable amount of work goes into this site. It costs a fortune to keep online. The volunteers that work here do so because they love this place and the people and they want to help. The admins that are involved in the coding work outrageous hours on making it better and keeping it updated. The $20 you can voluntarily spend to help with the expense should be because you want Wincustomize to stay around. The browser and other stuff is a nice bonus for your help. Why is this confusing? Why does it seem devious to some of you? It's less than almost every other skin site is charging for their voluntary contributions.
Ratings: We discuss this a lot. There are several ideas to try to make everyone happy with it that may or may not be coded into the site relatively soon. we're still debating a few different parts of it. Ratings will always leave someone unhappy. Someone will always get lower ratings than they think they deserve and actually care about it. You can email an admin anytime to have a rating changed if you think it's lower than you deserve. The best solution though is to not care what the ratings say. At deskmod, my Windowblinds skins are the lowest rated skins on the site. Dead last. My newest skins are rated so low they're several pages back even though one of them has more downloads than almost all of the skins rated above it. I removed one of my wallpapers from there because it was not only rated dead last but it had some very rude comments too. Aside form that one wallpaper though, I don't care. And Davad - none of your stuff is rated below the filter here and I don't think it ever has been. The filter is adjustable anyway, just go in your profile and change it.
epilogue: sorry this is so long... I just keep finding myself feeling like I want to take everyone out for a drink and meet them personally. I think we forget that people work hard at all of the skin sites. Nothing and nobody is perfect but the effort that is spent is a labor of love. This isn't an industry, it's a group of people sharing their work and their ideas on websites made possible by people with enough means and dedication to provide them.
The GUI Olympics: I don't remember it saying that someone that got an honorable mention would get ALL the prizes. I thought there would be an OD subscription, or a shirt etc. The year of OD was by far the most valuable and that's the one they decided to give out. I got one and I was grateful. Never occurred to me I should get anything else. I was real grateful for the $50 I won too and I was extremely happy to know that Chaz also got $50 for my effort. The only thing about the contest that wasn't fun and I wasn't grateful for was the complaining and posturing that was so rampant before the contest got started. The consortium and Shoggot thoroughly depressed me. I almost quit this community because of all that stuff, I was so disappointed in several people I used to respect. Not to mention, totally disgusted by some other people that I have never respected... I understand Brad's feelings about the contest completely, no one involved in organizing, running or paying for the contest deserved any of the shit that was thrown at them.
Updated skins: I disagree that Sputnik should not be in the top ten. It's been rebuilt with WinXP enhancements and it's there because that many people are downloading it. I downloaded it – I'm really happy it's been upgraded and obviously a lot of other people are too. We now have a checkbox on the skin updates to update the posting date. It's meant to be used only in a case where the skin is dramatically changed (such as adding the XP stuff). If you don't check that box the skin doesn't go to the front anymore. Seemed like a good solution to me... I don't see what more we could do...
Wincustomize: An unbelievable amount of work goes into this site. It costs a fortune to keep online. The volunteers that work here do so because they love this place and the people and they want to help. The admins that are involved in the coding work outrageous hours on making it better and keeping it updated. The $20 you can voluntarily spend to help with the expense should be because you want Wincustomize to stay around. The browser and other stuff is a nice bonus for your help. Why is this confusing? Why does it seem devious to some of you? It's less than almost every other skin site is charging for their voluntary contributions.
Ratings: We discuss this a lot. There are several ideas to try to make everyone happy with it that may or may not be coded into the site relatively soon. we're still debating a few different parts of it. Ratings will always leave someone unhappy. Someone will always get lower ratings than they think they deserve and actually care about it. You can email an admin anytime to have a rating changed if you think it's lower than you deserve. The best solution though is to not care what the ratings say. At deskmod, my Windowblinds skins are the lowest rated skins on the site. Dead last. My newest skins are rated so low they're several pages back even though one of them has more downloads than almost all of the skins rated above it. I removed one of my wallpapers from there because it was not only rated dead last but it had some very rude comments too. Aside form that one wallpaper though, I don't care. And Davad - none of your stuff is rated below the filter here and I don't think it ever has been. The filter is adjustable anyway, just go in your profile and change it.
epilogue: sorry this is so long... I just keep finding myself feeling like I want to take everyone out for a drink and meet them personally. I think we forget that people work hard at all of the skin sites. Nothing and nobody is perfect but the effort that is spent is a labor of love. This isn't an industry, it's a group of people sharing their work and their ideas on websites made possible by people with enough means and dedication to provide them.
hobnobber37
Reply #43 Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:25 AM
Reply #43 Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:25 AM
Frogboy: I'm sure that you have tried to give the GUI Olympics your very best efforts.... You should have learned a lot by it. I watched it from the beginning, and saw a lot of grief coming your way.
A set of rules was posted at its inception. These rules should NEVER be changed.
You changed rules even before the contest started.. They were changed again DURING the contest and then was closed abruptly BEFORE the contest officially ended. The contestants had to wait patiently while the judging was finalized for the last few categories.....You even changed the number of HM positions and if I recall, no prises were to be awarded them BEFORE the contest began....
It's no wonder you caught a lot of flak.... You should take your lumps when they are due and don't pass it off on the skinner as being a whiner..... As a businessman you should have known better.
A set of rules was posted at its inception. These rules should NEVER be changed.
You changed rules even before the contest started.. They were changed again DURING the contest and then was closed abruptly BEFORE the contest officially ended. The contestants had to wait patiently while the judging was finalized for the last few categories.....You even changed the number of HM positions and if I recall, no prises were to be awarded them BEFORE the contest began....
It's no wonder you caught a lot of flak.... You should take your lumps when they are due and don't pass it off on the skinner as being a whiner..... As a businessman you should have known better.
pjpowell
Reply #44 Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:29 AM
Reply #44 Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:29 AM
Brad: Just have to say one tiny thing.
The reason ratings are not liked is that they are used as a way of limiting what skins visitors can see on the site. I may be wrong but I don't thing other skin sites do this. I can see the rationale behind this but when people abuse the ratings system (as some unfortunately do) it causes ill feeling. If the ratings were tied to comments (so a comment has to be made if a rating is given) they would be more helpful and less likely to be abused.
David: To answer your last question. Yes I think it was an overreaction to post in the messageboard so soon after emailing and receiving a response saying Brad would look into it. None of us have the facts as to why things weren't sent out and Brad was not given any real time to find out. Also I think it was a bad decision to lump all these things together in one message as it makes the answers get confused.
The problem with conducting things like this in public is that all too soon it gets blown out of all proportion and everyone ends up angry.
I can certainly see Brads point of view concerning the GUI olympics. From the start there has been ill feeling towards Stardock regarding it. Some people are too suspicious and others just wanted to stir up trouble. Just when you think it's done and dusted another reason to bash Stardock because of the competition arises. It's a shame but when money/prizes enter the picture it can have a way of putting peoples noses out of joint.
Let's remember why we started skinning in the first place people. We didn't see a skin and say 'Wow! that looks cool. I've got to learn to do that so I can make some money!'. We most probably said 'Wow! That looks cool. I wish I could do something like that.' Skinning is about the feeling you get when designing, creating and then finally posting a skin. It's the excitement of waiting to see what other people think of your skin and feeling you have accomplished something when you get to the 1000th download. These are the feelings I want to have when involved in the skinning world.
Oops! That was longer than I had planned. I'll go back and sit quietly for a few more months.
pjpowell goes to sit in the corner.
The reason ratings are not liked is that they are used as a way of limiting what skins visitors can see on the site. I may be wrong but I don't thing other skin sites do this. I can see the rationale behind this but when people abuse the ratings system (as some unfortunately do) it causes ill feeling. If the ratings were tied to comments (so a comment has to be made if a rating is given) they would be more helpful and less likely to be abused.
David: To answer your last question. Yes I think it was an overreaction to post in the messageboard so soon after emailing and receiving a response saying Brad would look into it. None of us have the facts as to why things weren't sent out and Brad was not given any real time to find out. Also I think it was a bad decision to lump all these things together in one message as it makes the answers get confused.
The problem with conducting things like this in public is that all too soon it gets blown out of all proportion and everyone ends up angry.
I can certainly see Brads point of view concerning the GUI olympics. From the start there has been ill feeling towards Stardock regarding it. Some people are too suspicious and others just wanted to stir up trouble. Just when you think it's done and dusted another reason to bash Stardock because of the competition arises. It's a shame but when money/prizes enter the picture it can have a way of putting peoples noses out of joint.
Let's remember why we started skinning in the first place people. We didn't see a skin and say 'Wow! that looks cool. I've got to learn to do that so I can make some money!'. We most probably said 'Wow! That looks cool. I wish I could do something like that.' Skinning is about the feeling you get when designing, creating and then finally posting a skin. It's the excitement of waiting to see what other people think of your skin and feeling you have accomplished something when you get to the 1000th download. These are the feelings I want to have when involved in the skinning world.
Oops! That was longer than I had planned. I'll go back and sit quietly for a few more months.
pjpowell goes to sit in the corner.
Ande
Reply #45 Sunday, May 19, 2002 5:58 AM
Reply #45 Sunday, May 19, 2002 5:58 AM
Reading this thread reminds me of the many committees I,ve been on over the years. "you can please some of people some of the time,but not all of the people all of the time". It's an old adage but very true. If you are in the seat what you say goes. If someone does not like the status quo they put it in writing (e-mail} or Volunteer for the job if its available or see if you can assist.
Has any one read the "Wincustomise about" in the Options Section. I thought it was a well written and well meaning mini contsitution, but i don't think it's up to date. The rating system mentioned there seems a good one.
I have to admit I am (sigh) a User so I subscribe to Wincustomise and ODNT to do my bit. After looking at some of the programs I found I was to old to learn new tricks. Lighten up all, life IS too short
Has any one read the "Wincustomise about" in the Options Section. I thought it was a well written and well meaning mini contsitution, but i don't think it's up to date. The rating system mentioned there seems a good one.
I have to admit I am (sigh) a User so I subscribe to Wincustomise and ODNT to do my bit. After looking at some of the programs I found I was to old to learn new tricks. Lighten up all, life IS too short
pjpowell
Reply #46 Sunday, May 19, 2002 7:58 AM
Reply #46 Sunday, May 19, 2002 7:58 AM
I didn't see a mention of how the ratings system works. There is something about rankings but that is a different thing. The only mention I saw was that Journeymen and abobve would be abl;e to rate. This apparently is out of date as I read above that Apprentices can rate too.
adni18
Reply #48 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:09 AM
Reply #48 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:09 AM
I am expressing my sympathy for different reasons to Davad and Frogboy.
I wish we could be a happy family, not always happy
but always family!
TOGETHER WE STAND, DIVITED WE FALL
Hi DavidK,
You said, "The filter is adjustable anyway, just go in your profile and change it"
The visitors can't change it and they are the majority in here!
Hi pjpowell,
You said, "The reason ratings are not liked is that they are used as a way of limiting what skins visitors can see on the site. I may be wrong but I don't thing other skin sites do this. I can see the rationale behind this but when people abuse the ratings system (as some unfortunately do) it causes ill feeling. If the ratings were tied to comments (so a comment has to be made if a rating is given) they would be more helpful and less likely to be abused."
I am 100% with you!
I wish we could be a happy family, not always happy
but always family! TOGETHER WE STAND, DIVITED WE FALL
Hi DavidK,
You said, "The filter is adjustable anyway, just go in your profile and change it"
The visitors can't change it and they are the majority in here!
Hi pjpowell,
You said, "The reason ratings are not liked is that they are used as a way of limiting what skins visitors can see on the site. I may be wrong but I don't thing other skin sites do this. I can see the rationale behind this but when people abuse the ratings system (as some unfortunately do) it causes ill feeling. If the ratings were tied to comments (so a comment has to be made if a rating is given) they would be more helpful and less likely to be abused."
I am 100% with you!
Jafo
Reply #49 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:16 AM
Reply #49 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:16 AM
Just for the record, I agree with everything that DavidK posted.
[Dave...you've been reading my mind again....get your own thoughts]...
I'm not going to get all aggro and uptight here, though....if anyone wants to hear my fair-dinkum opinions of this thread they can email me.... [email protected]
[Dave...you've been reading my mind again....get your own thoughts]...
I'm not going to get all aggro and uptight here, though....if anyone wants to hear my fair-dinkum opinions of this thread they can email me.... [email protected]
adni18
Reply #50 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:26 AM
Reply #50 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:26 AM
Hi Jafo,
DavidK is always reading our minds, I agree with you
DavidK is always reading our minds, I agree with you
starone
Reply #51 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:40 AM
Reply #51 Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:40 AM
I don't recall that there was any mention of an Honorable receiving all prizes in the GUI, only a subscription, a T-shirt, or something else. Even recall reading on the GUI messageboard thread someone stating that they would rather have the renewal subscription. (Too bad the GUI site isn't still up as I think this would be verified.) I've found in my dealings with Stardock and Wincustomize, that they are really a good bunch and have been nothing but true to their word. In passing, I do feel that tying a comment to the rating would be a good thing - no comment - no rating accepted.
Woodbridge
Reply #52 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:23 AM
Reply #52 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:23 AM
For what it’s worth, I'm just a user but I don't take any notice of the rating. If its looks good I'll try it out, if I like it then I'll keep it. I try to comment on skins that I use and like ( I often don't tho 
) - looking at the previous comments is the best way (for a user at least) to 'rate' a skin IMHO.
Since it looks like the world is against Frogboy again, now is a good time to say thank you to him and the rest of the team for everything they have achieved for the skinning community. I thought the GUI Olympics were brilliant - so many great skins come out of it. I think it would be a shame not to continue it.
) - looking at the previous comments is the best way (for a user at least) to 'rate' a skin IMHO.Since it looks like the world is against Frogboy again, now is a good time to say thank you to him and the rest of the team for everything they have achieved for the skinning community. I thought the GUI Olympics were brilliant - so many great skins come out of it. I think it would be a shame not to continue it.
Doreen
Reply #53 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:31 AM
Reply #53 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:31 AM
Yikes! maybe I "should have" started to read this thread yesterday...
Alexandrie
Reply #54 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:41 AM
Doreen! I personally did not read everything, it's taking too much time
Reply #54 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:41 AM
Doreen! I personally did not read everything, it's taking too much time
Doreen
Reply #55 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:52 AM
Reply #55 Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:52 AM
hehe Hello Alex 
(me either I will come back later and try again, but by that time it might take me 3 hours!) hehe
(me either I will come back later and try again, but by that time it might take me 3 hours!) hehe
CRUMBUT
Reply #56 Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:51 AM
Reply #56 Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:51 AM
Since Im not very involved with WC I cant say much about the rating system. But it looks to me like more than a few people dont like it. My oppinion: change it to what the users want (make a poll).
I have been a member of this site since beta stage and a member of this community for friggen years. Let me first say this.. If your a newbie or been around for about a year Please dont knock a skinner for having a complaint. Alot of us have been around so long that we know most of these webmasters and developers by name.
Keep in mind CRUMBUT is everyones freind
so dont take me personal.
Secondly: and I was at this stage a few times myself... Look around guys.. If Davad has a complaint why would he get flamed? I mean has davad ever seemed like the kind to walk in here and rattle cages? Davad is very much like I used to be, Gung Ho skinner, community, contests.. etc hes a helper in this community. he tries hard to promote this stuff. heck he probably talks about this stuff at work! ( I know I used to )
What Im saying here is that davad has never been a confrontational type person in this community. Maybe he has a valid gripe!
Brad please dont take things so personal. You are just in the position that is in the crosshairs when there are issues. Maybe you can deligate a Stardock Customer Liason (middle man or commity) to handle the community dealings?
I can tell ya this and many others can atest to it.. Davad thought long and hard before posting on the messageboard. I know because I talked with him about it. A few others did too. Most of us were for this kind of post. Sometimes things need to be brought out publicly.
I have been a member of this site since beta stage and a member of this community for friggen years. Let me first say this.. If your a newbie or been around for about a year Please dont knock a skinner for having a complaint. Alot of us have been around so long that we know most of these webmasters and developers by name.
Keep in mind CRUMBUT is everyones freind
so dont take me personal.Secondly: and I was at this stage a few times myself... Look around guys.. If Davad has a complaint why would he get flamed? I mean has davad ever seemed like the kind to walk in here and rattle cages? Davad is very much like I used to be, Gung Ho skinner, community, contests.. etc hes a helper in this community. he tries hard to promote this stuff. heck he probably talks about this stuff at work! ( I know I used to
)What Im saying here is that davad has never been a confrontational type person in this community. Maybe he has a valid gripe!
Brad please dont take things so personal. You are just in the position that is in the crosshairs when there are issues. Maybe you can deligate a Stardock Customer Liason (middle man or commity) to handle the community dealings?
I can tell ya this and many others can atest to it.. Davad thought long and hard before posting on the messageboard. I know because I talked with him about it. A few others did too. Most of us were for this kind of post. Sometimes things need to be brought out publicly.
Emily
Reply #57 Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:55 AM
Reply #57 Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:55 AM
So much dysfunction. Remind me not to invite you people to thanksgiving! . Crumbut from what I've read this whole mess started because Brad did deligate the prize sending to a Stardock customer liason.
. Crumbut from what I've read this whole mess started because Brad did deligate the prize sending to a Stardock customer liason.
CRUMBUT
Reply #58 Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:55 AM
Reply #58 Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:55 AM
BTW my account here is still crosslinked somehow... I have many skins that were all transfered over from WB.com and now I have 3 when I click "My skins" at the top of this page... if ya do a search for CRUMBUT you will find many of the others.
CRUMBUT
Reply #59 Sunday, May 19, 2002 12:07 PM
Reply #59 Sunday, May 19, 2002 12:07 PM
My other account >> https://www.wincustomize.com/myskins.asp?AuthorID=146 Thanks Davad for helping me navagate the site hehe 
hehe 
Sylva
Reply #60 Sunday, May 19, 2002 2:37 PM
Reply #60 Sunday, May 19, 2002 2:37 PM
"Remind me not to invite you people to thanksgiving!"
Why not Emily? I doubt you'd find a more interesting family anywhere else *s*
Why not Emily? I doubt you'd find a more interesting family anywhere else *s*
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
|
|
Page 3 of 9 | |
|
|---|
Reply #41 Sunday, May 19, 2002 3:41 AM
I know that Brad is a skinner. I also know that he's done a lot for the skinning community. In the opinion of many, more so than anyone else.
I know all this because although I only started making skins recently, I've been around the "scene"
I've helped people on the newsgroups. On an almost daily basis I answer newbie questions on this message board. I've praised Windowblinds and Stardock on message boards at DA, LOS, skinz, custo, neowin, themexp, and many more. I've also defended Brad on most of those message boards. I say all this to demonstrate that I have no personal axe to grind against him or his company.
I was also a staunch supporter and defender of the GUI Olympics. I know that Brad, T-Man, and others put many hours of work into the contest that they didn't have to. I know that the contest meant a great deal to you Brad, and that you could have spent that time doing other things. Afterall, you're a man with many responsibilities both personal and professional. You could have spent that time with your wife, your kids or your pets. But you didn't because it meant a lot to you right? Maybe you don't realize it, but I have a lot of the same responsibilities as you. I run a business, I have kids, I have a woman that I love, and I have pets (no frogs though) I could have spent the time that I did making the skins I did on any of those things, but I didn't. Why didn't I? Because it was fun and because it was important to me. Because this contest was so important to you, I wrongfully assumed that you would ensure that the promises you made would be kept.
The other issues I raised are important to me also. The issues of ratings and updated skins have been debated time and time again. Every time it comes up a majority of the skinners agree that they think these things should be changed.
Yes, there are ratings at most of the sites that you listed, but there is a fundamental difference in ratings here and at other sites. Here, a poor rating can effectively make your skin invisible to the majority of the users.
It's not very important to me that I get high ratings, but it is important to me that people get to see my work. Call me crazy of you will, but it's important to me. It's important enough to me that it pisses me off when migellito comes into a thread about ratings and says..."i guess i'm curious why some have the impression that people are giving undeservedly low ratings. are there some specific examples? and how do you know?" I hear that and I think....what planet did this guy step off of? An admin has no clue that this sort of thing happens? So we give him the examples that he asked for and then the thread just dies a slow death like they always do when they're about ratings. Now THAT'S showing skinners that you care.
So basically this whole thing boils down to the fact that I care....about people keeping their promises, that I care that people get to see my work, that I care about other skinner's feelings, and that I care about this site in general.
I told you to call me crazy if you like.