Editorial.....
Wednesday, December 24, 2003 by Jafo | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Posted on Skinbase....but reposted here to provide food for thought for those who may not go there all that often...
hobnobber...yes, basically all that is correct, though a more accurate estimate of those who contribute via skins, purchases, community input/interaction vs. those who only 'leech' for freebies is very much more than the ratio of 25 to 1....perhaps more in the realm of 2500 to 1....and that's the rub.
When skinning was in its infancy, say 5 years ago, it was all new and thrilling to everyone....now it has grown, not so much with newer apps coming on the scene on a daily basis...that was the 'norm' back in skinz.org [mk.1] days, but now the growth is in general interest/popularity, thanks to Microsoft's added awareness of the concept, with its visual styles, etc.
What you get now is many more 'users' but not a heck of a lot new blood in skinning as skinners as such....certainly not a comparable ratio to the popularity growth.
When once the skinners and their 'community' sites could foot the bill for all, as the majority were like-minded skinners themselves, now it's more a case of 'us and them'...the providers of product vs. the users of the product.
The dynamics have changed. With this change comes commercial pressures on everyone involved.
New specifics require new handling.....people need to cater for the changes with methodology that makes the situation survivable or else viability suffers and the reality of the system falls apart.
Change can be horrid and unpalatable but may just be absolutely necessary and unavoidable.
Anyone involved in the game for long enough can see the writing on the wall....even since the dot-com failings of the likes of eFront that killed the first REAL skinning community we have been striving for sustainability.
Anyone with genuine heart-felt feelings for the skinning community as a whole will realise the necessity to not put heads in the sand and blindly hope life will magically go on as normal, but make a conscious effort to find a sustainable model.
Sure, many will arrive at alternate theories of a working model, but until tried no-one will be sure what actually will succeed or not.
All that can be done is to try our collective best, hence many soul-searching threads on the subject of 'the future of skinning' in one form or another on many/most sites.
Poor old Devart has a massive user-base and being a graphics site demands high bandwidth/server load as does any skinning site at their relative levels.
I remember what the world was like before skinning....[my first foray was with Dos GUI shells - pre Windows...then Win 3x and beyond] and would hate to see the whole skinning world fall apart due to ennui or apathy, hence the hands-on involvement.
Let's all look forward to skinning/GUI modification still being not just 'fun', but sustainable in another 5 years, or 50...
Reply #62 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:47 PM
Reply #63 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:48 PM
| At least Aporkalips |
Thats Mr Aporkalips to you MY son. Always respect the hand that feeds you and will slap the *ish out of ya'
Where did you all dig this crum out of. He is really funny. I think we should keep it as pet

Reply #64 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:50 PM
| intelligent |
Pussycat...Who said you were intelligent?
[Message Edited]
Reply #65 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:51 PM
| Dont worry Kona, they are trying to vote you off the island over in IRC... |
what do you mean? show me. link please?
Reply #66 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:53 PM
Reply #67 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:53 PM
Reply #68 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:53 PM

Reply #69 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:55 PM

Reply #70 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:57 PM
| Kona, I think that was another one of his cheap shots at a 'strong' come back |
At least when the regulars pick on me it is worth reading.
Pinthar: You still failed to give me a link. So what if you are chatting about me?
I care not so why don't you go away and STFU!
Reply #71 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:57 PM
| Pinthar - Pussycat...Who said you were intelligent? |
the only claim i recall making in this thread was that i had been around this community long enough to understand and appreciate Jafo's original post.
intelligence or the lack there of, this is something that is being amply demonstrated without the need for any claims on my part.
| Apocalypse_67 - Where did you all dig this crum out of. He is really funny. I think we should keep it as pet |
just so long as you clean out the cage. after all, you are the one who wants the pet

Reply #72 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:58 PM

Reply #74 Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:00 PM

Reply #75 Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:01 PM
troll.

Reply #76 Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:01 PM
| Apocalypse_67 - On one condition. I get to beat the *ish out of him when he makes a mess. |
Apocalypse_67, official i cannot condone this since i am against cruelty to animals. so, if you can wait until i am looking the other way...
after all, your pet is your responsibility, so far be it from me to interfear.

Reply #78 Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:03 PM
Reply #79 Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:03 PM
@ KonaFeline. I'll make sure you are not looking when I print my Timby on his behind

Reply #80 Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:04 PM
Why do I get the feeling this dingbat is some schmuck from TGTsoft that just popped in to *try* to attack the admins?
ZERO contributions to the library, btw....hmm?
[Message Edited]
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Reply #61 Saturday, December 27, 2003 6:45 PM
so, this is how you carry on an intelligent conversation? some things are just not worthy of comment.