A site with 4.5 million members-20 of those with a very long streak of NO PPE's. 4 or 5 of those 20 make up the majority of the last 100 walls posted publicly.

You do the math-what are the odds that with 4.5 million members, 20 people represent good uploads and the other 4,999,999 people just suck at art? And what are the odds that 4 mods can judge the tastes of 4.5 million peoples insight on whats "good" and what aint??

And why have there been no responses from the site moderators about one of their own verbally abusing a member? Stating something about how you think the moderation is faulty shouldn't result in name calling from a site rep. Period.

My personal gallery is full of walls that did not make it into the gallery. Some delete them as failures, I choose to leave them and they do get downloads. You should not come here as a Newby and start throwing around insults and accusations. Could it be that we are teaching an old Dog new tricks for the fourth time?

Seeing as you have been a member for all of 3 hours........

Where are your stats for how many works those infamous 4 or 5 had rejected when they first started?  Some people actually do improve over time and keep on improving. I have had quite a few rejected...even after I started being promoted. It is not a statement that says 'Your art sucks."  It's based on usability...is it too busy..is that eye seering white blinding light in the center to distracting....will it obscure the icons....is the perspective off...is the lighting misrepresented....and so on and so on ...many many things go into deciding whether it should or shouldn't go into the gallery.

There are plenty of sites...good sites with great folks..that will allow anything to be posted in their gallery. And that is what works for them and their members. The one thing I took from all of my rejections was that I needed to examine what I was posting further. I had a wall rejected numerous times over 'perspective' (the mods WERE kind enough to explain it to me when I asked) and I redid it until it was right. It may not have been perfect..but even I could see the improvement.  That is why I named this thread/icon 'Personal Page Elite'. Because this site does NOT allow anything and everything to get through. They helped make me better. You get shot down here, you are getting shot down by some of the best...BUT ALSO some of the most helpful people around the web.

DA is fine. The comments are nice. But rarely does anyone critique your work. Because they want to be kind. I post there, because I have this goofy idea that some of my stuff is art, but all in all I would rather be rejected here than blindly accepted there.

Because they don't rush to judgment anymore than they do when modding the work submitted. And as someone who has signed up just to question stuff, you would appear NOT to have been around long enough to understand, it would be nice if you showed some patience and got to know the folks here a little better. You might actaully find out they are helpful, they care, and no one is trying to persecute anybody.

Addressed. Guess you missed it.

The answer is simple. They follow principles in how they moderate. See the excerpt below from the Wallpaper section of the Upload Guidelines:

Note that "rejection" and "sent to personal page" are not equal terms. Rejection means "not posted anywhere."

WinCustomize has a moderated wallpaper gallery.  That means all submissions, with the exception of Journeyman and above, are placed in moderation and selected submissions will be made available in the public gallery.  If a wallpaper is not accepted into the public gallery, it will be placed on your personal site on WinCustomize.  Rejections will only occur if the piece violates any of the said rules such as ripping, copyrights, etc.

Our guidelines for judging wallpapers on aesthetic grounds are difficult to be specific about. The prime directive for wallpapers is that they must WORK as a wallpaper, in other words the design should be an effective desktop background, which includes: The background is not too busy and icons are easy to see against it, Colors are not too bright to be distracting, and colors work well together. There are many subjective design related preferences we all have and some objective qualifications as well, such as the quality of the rendering and the resolution size offered. And then there is the composition, the subject matter, the overall balance of the design, etc.

Probably the best way to decide what we like to see in a wallpaper would be to browse through the section and look at what has been accepted. We recommend to everyone submitting wallpapers to try to only send a piece after living with it on their own desktop for a while first. Put as much work and critical evaluation into the piece as you can before sending it to us.

A few examples of what will never get through moderation:

• Britney Spears or other celebrity wallpapers (see note about copyright above)
• Bryce art, unless the result is so astonishing that one could never tell it was done in Bryce.
• Dolphins, palm trees, metal spheres or other over-used elements
• XP-related walls, unless really innovative/original.
• Copyrighted photos/images
• Confused composition...e.g....3D artwork with conflicting light-sources belying the form.
• A ground-swell of negativity from a significant number of admins.

Rejections:

Items rejected are called exiled.  Exiling means the item is being removed from the site for infractions of the sites guidelines

If an item is rejected please refrain from posting questions about as to why in the forums, as generally these types of posts and answers can be embarrassing for all involved. You may PM a Mod and request a reason or help if you did not already receive an email detailing the cause of the rejection.

THANKFULLY not all of the 4.2 [-ish] Million members submit wallpapers for approval.

Probably less than a tenth of 1% may have....over the years.

Prior to the introduction of upload-wall moderation there were approx 700 wallpapers on the site.  Once moderation was deemed appropriate and adopted that 700 was reduced to about 300.

More than half suffered from a range of issues, not the least 'ripping' or copyright violations.

All of this will [of course] be lost on someone who has been a member here for....um....4 and a half hours, so it is reiterated for the benefit of the 'new'.

Moderation of uploads is fundamental to the management/success of Wincustomize as it helps minimize issues of copyright/plagiarism and pornography and other unsavoury submissions [which are COMMON on unregulated sites].

No matter how this site evolves now and into the future there will always be moderation.

I like the wall, Doc. But that is the point...just because you and I like it, doesn't mean the people/person modding it will. All things on this site get judged by someone. It is the way it works.   Talk about a dead horse. I've been watching this thread, and seriously, sometimes it's better than a good drama on the tube. 

Let's all grab some popcorn and a soft drink and watch people make asses of themselves, it can be quite fun. 

And it should be so. Thanks to the mods for the task they complete. They do so, knowing they may not be popular, but it needs doing, I admire you guys for putting up with our crap.

  Agreed.

And those are members who have risen to the rank of journeyman therefore their uploads bypass moderation and post straight to the public wall gallery.

And that is fair because said member has earned the rank, and perks that come with.

Now I don't know for certain that this is true, but it would seem to me that walls uploaded by Journeymen, if the ratings fall low enough, I'd suppose they move to PPO. If they don't, they should.

Honestly? I don't care. You like it? Fine. You don't? Fine.

I'm the only one who's got to like it. Is there room for improvement? Always. If the Mods like it? Fine...if not? Fine. I'll learn, or not. I'm the only one that'll be ok with it or not.

I put it up not for praise, downloads or promotion. Those things happen or not. I only have to be honest with myself.

4.5 million members - 20 people = 4,999,999 people

Must be an accountant for the Mob ....;)

I'd really like to think you're honest with me too, Duc.. Doc.  

I'm gonna put my two cents in. I joined Wincustomize after discovering it by accident. Why? Because I like what I see. I did a couple of walls and a few calendars. Some were pretty good and some not so good. That's reflected in the downloads. It's all a matter of taste. You like it or you don't. As for the Mods...common sense enters here. Their job is not an easy one. It can't be for obvious reasons. WC has middle name and it's called quality. All you have to do is look at some of the work being done here. It speaks for itself. Three hours...four hours or whatever does in no way, shape or form give you the right to say diddly. Come back in a few years when you've matured enough to know the difference. Nuff said!

To whom it may concern,

      I am respectfully requesting a replacement for my PPE award because my original was lost when my old machine grew legs and skipped town. I am an upstanding wannabe skinner who is just getting back into the swing of things. My latest wall at http://www.uvah.wincustomize.com called colors just made it. Do I re-qualify?

                                                                                                                           Respectfully yours,

                                                                                                                                                     uvah...(Ihaven't learned how to do script yet lol)

Uvah, see the link in the OP.  

I'll personalize anything as long as it's legal. Unfortunately, I am on the road and not home til this weekend. Please send TastyKakes and Yuengling Lager.

I'm back amongst the Elite. My PPE against the colors five background.

*secret handshake

Hi everyone i was wondering if there is still room for a freshmen in your occult of personalpageArtist 
I would...I wanted to ask.. to ask if i can join
and

If you can learn the secret handshake, you're as good as in.

im worried that i might do the wrong one  anyway i got 2 trys ok ? 

No kudos for spelling. Zubaz moment. You're in.

*secret handshake*

-sigh-

I really should submit somethign.  Last time I did, I was a Super Wizop and *couldn't get a reall PPE . . just an honarary.

I wonder if an updated "Flaming Aero of Death" would get me a real one? [link]