Fortunately for me...and unlike some skinners...I'm not really fussed about my download numbers....it'd be sad if I was, considering you can usually count them on the hands of one arm...

But, I've always preferred comments/ratings from fellow LiteSTEP themers than from Joe Public.

Davad...you may think there's a lot of work in a WB skin...to get a paltry comment, but when it's a LS theme that has been literally years in refinement/development.....it really rankles...
Just the time it takes to write a clear, precise step.rc... or, in the case of the LS 'theme' I'm using at the moment...to draw 1,507 bitmaps of varying sizes, adding up to 95,836,139 bytes.....and then maybe have someone say 'this sux0rs'....well, you get the idea...

/me nominates crae for admin

one mad idea deserves another

davad70, as for "less popular" skins, variaty is good

Jafo - but when it's a LS theme that has been literally years in refinement/development.....it really rankles...

*eeek*
talk about a labour of love.

i am begining to think all comments and ratings can be divided into 3 sections:

1) by people who really understand what they are looking at, and the work that went into it.

2) complimentry ones by innocents

3) pointless / rude comments by people who dont know what went into it

so if we can have an option, so you can specify which sections you want to see...

Well, I'm not a skinner, I'm just a typical user, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I never really liked rating skins, especially when it's anonymous. I've never rated a skin nor will I ever do so (well I might have to counterbalance some moron's blatant meanness of rating a 1 to a perfectly good skin. But there's no contextual information encapsulated in just a number.

As for comments, I don't know what rating you have to be to able to add comments, but again this is tricky. On the one hand, you want some semi-informed interaction. But I really cringe when I read comments that say "That's lame", or "dude, your not trying hard enough", or "sucks". They either are mean-spirited or simply lack of understanding what the skinner was attempting to acheive and have a narrow extremely subjective view of what constitutes a good skin.

So what are the choices: limit the ability to people to comment/rate until they've hung around long enough to "mature" with the community (sounds elitist)? Let anyone comment, who say just joined the community and signed up for a subscription (and take the good with the bad)?

I don't think subscribers should get to rate skins. It diminishes the validity of the ratings. On the other hand, the people subscribing are supporting the site just like skinners. I just don't think a subscription is quite enough to get a free "rate skins" card. I also see poeple confusing comments with ratings.

What I mean is that I don't think subscribers should automatically get to rate skins. If they earned their promotion in some other way that's different.

Just out of interest, how many subscribers are there?

Well I guess I opened up a can of worms with this thread. That was not my intent. I was just seeking clairification on what I read. You know what they say, don't believe everything that you read.

Now I have a couple of questions.

1. How come when I try to use the skin browser and enter a question or comment I get -99 ?

2. When do I get the ability to rate?

Testing.

Testing again.

W.O.M - You passed! With flying colors I might add.

WiseOldMan - When do I get the ability to rate?

from the about info, you have to be promoted to Journeymen or above before you can rate skins.

however, i beleive this is out of date, and it is actually Apprentice or above.

as for how you get promoted, this is by act of admin

feline, it seems that actually, from the moment you buy a WC subscription, you therefore buy with it the ability to rate skins. But T-Man mentionned above that everything hasn't been completely coded yet.
I wasn't aware of this before this thread. But it seems it's the way it is.

Man, I should learn to read things.
Yes, indeed, according to the Windcustomize Subscription Info page, anybody who buys any Stardock product or a Wincustomize subscription gets the ability to rate:

Level 3: Object Desktop / Stardock customer / Elite User. These are users who have either purchased Object Desktop or some other Stardock product (Stardock is WinCustomize's sponser), or has Apprentice access or higher due to contributing to the site in other forms (making skins, being an active contributor to the message boards, etc.). These users get all the benefits of a registered user plus the ability to rate skins and can download an unlimited amount of content.

Anyway, it doesn't matter to me as I don't care about ratings one way or another. Just seems to me funny that the argument of those that were in favor of ratings was that ratings, as opposed to download counts, were done by fellow skinners therefore were more meaningful. Funny.

Wow, according to the regulations I'm 1337!

(and paxxy has a point as usual)

paxx, you are not the only one who should have read that more carefully

/me wonders if i am being brain washed by paxx

i find myself agreeing with you on this one paxx. it really is quite funny, in a silly sort of way.

I enjoy these message boards as much as the skins!