I honestly do not know how i downloaded so much, i swear that i do not use any other products on this site. That is why it seems so wierd that i have reached my limit. I didnt think it was possible, unless i downloaded every skin like 20 times each, which i havent. If i have downloaded it, it was only once, and i havent actually downloaded much from this site. I actually dont even come here that often. Oh well.

Citizen m4ch1n3g0d don't worry be Happy.
Life is a bowl of cherries.
The world is your owster.
Maybe I could loan you the 20 bucks.
Dang thats a half a carton of sigs.
Hek I could buy a 12 pack.
I could go to a bar and have 3 drinks.
I could fill my gas tank once.
I could loose it in the street.
I could give it to a begger on the side of the rode.
I could eat them on a boat.
I could eat them with a goat.
I don't like green eggs and Ham
I don't like them sam I am.

i was wondering, do top aurthors have a limit too?

I don't Know

m4ch1n3g0d: If you downloaded walls, that can add up I'd think due to size perhaps? Maybe that's part of it?

Lord Osiris: my understanding is that authors move up in user level based on their contributions and at some point get unlimited downloads if they don't otherwise qualify (like registering a Stardock app or a purchasing a WC subscription). I don't know the specifics of that.

I don't think there are many top-authors that don't have an OD and/or a WC subscription or at least purchased one SD product.

I don't know of any that havent

People with a class of "Apprentice" or above have unlimited downloads.
C242: that also applies to wallpaper artists, some of which are not much into skins.

To get promoted to apprentice, you need to get "noticed" by yuor positive contribution to the site, either by uploading your work, by interacting positively in the message board, helping out newbies. etc.

ahhh, whats the cap on pre-Apprentice ?

lPlural....probably a yellow one with a black 'L' on it...

, good one Jafo

m4ch1n3g0d/iwontpay, I'm not going to read this whole thread to see what the whole deal is (only read the first page). I got to your statement of:

"Im a firm believer that software should be free, and along with it its source code. Im anti-corporate, and damn proud. Im poor, im young, i dont have money to pay to download stuff from this site, and if i did have the money, i have better things to do with it like buy books on programming, take some college courses, learn to create what i normally download from this site. I dont do anything for a cash profite and i think its sad that this site wants everyone to pay now. I go to work each day and pay my bills, i dont steal, and i dont expect to be handed anything in life."

Now, I want you to use your brain for something more than keeping your skull from caving in for a moment and answer one thing for me: If you worked for a software development company and it was what paid your bills and put food on the table for your child, how would you feel if some schmuck just said what you did? Somebody has to pay the mega thousands of dollars a month to keep this site up. Somebody has to code the site and maintain it. Somebody has to spend their life developing and improving the software. Some of us work on supporting the products that make these skins work. The site has a download cap because this "evil" corporation has to pay people like me to work here. How would you like it if you were to work all day and not get paid? Think about it a bit. The "corporation" is nothing more than *people* working their butts off to make a living.

**side note: this is a bit over the top from me, but I am getting **really** sick of the "evil corporate" crap. Software is no different than any other commodity- it takes hard work from *people* to make it.........OK, I think I'm done... **

his comments did say it all

I was thinking about something that might help with all this Free crap being applied across the board.

Tokens, not money, but monthly allotments of tokens, apply a set value of tokens to each type of download, and if the number of tokens runs out, your done for the month, if you have any left over they roll over for up to say two months, then split by half on the third month of roll over, to keep from hording...

Then it does not cost any money it is still free, but there is a value because if they spend their tokens to fast, oh well, you can make use of the message board or what have you, but no dwnld...

just an Idea...

Karmagirl, you are right on...I try to tell people things like that and they just don;t get it. Mega-Corporations are just a collection of people trying to pay the bills with a rich guy calling the shots. Small companies like Stardock are the same, only without the rich guy.

They're just PEOPLE, trying to pay the rent, so if you expect value-added service, PAY THEM. Otherwise shut your pie-hole, or use it for it's intended purpose, consuming pie.

Thanks, IPlural and stark23x! I'm glad that other people realize this. Makes me feel a lot better. I have worked here at Stardock a long time, and every now and then I just get burnt out with dealing with the "anti-corporation" people. The "anti-corporation" people seem to not be able to see the "people" aspect of all this. I *work* at Stardock. It is what pays my bills. This isn't done for the fun of it (though, it is fun ) it's my job.

stark23x-"Small companies like Stardock are the same, only without the rich guy"

That is true, except Frogboy keeps setting goals for us so that he can buy new toys. Like, say, his "fundraiser" for a Segway

As I said before. Sure it'd be nice if everything in life was free. But untill then, most of us have to pay the bills.

I understand where you are coming from KarmaGirl, Rock on... beat the trolls with a big ugly troll beating stick everyone has to make a living...

who can I ask to get promoted to apprentice??? I've been in these message boards for about a year now... always helping people with problems, and helping rid the rooms of trolls.... is their anyone to whom I can suggest that maybe it's my time... (that last sentence was hard for some reason, never end a sentence with a preposition) I know how it works... and I want to ask someone that can

What is it with these CEOs and their Segway lust?

They think it will make them look "cool"

Regarding shareware. A typical WindowBlinds skin is about 300K. So 10 skins would be 3 Megs. 100 skins would be 30 megs.

I'd say at 150 skins having been downloaded the user has "tried" the program in question out. It either is something they want to use at that point -- and they should register it. Or they should have determined that it's something that's not worth it and stop using it. That's the whole "concept" behind shareware. Try before you buy.

So I don't see how someone who's downloaded say 50 megabytes of skins and themes can claim they haven't had an adequate chance to "try" the software.

definatly frogboy

Yeah, I hear you Brad. The little problem though is that there aren't just Stardock programs here.

I understand the download cap because bandwidth doesn't come for free, but IMO the Windowblinds shareware argument isn't really valid. Somebody could be only interested in wallpapers, or free products, or some other company's products that they would have purchased, or all of the above. In that case, they are not coming here to "try" Windowblinds.

Again, I'm not saying I don't agree with the download cap - I do - but I just don't think that argument you have is very good.
Just tell people that bandwidth isn't free.

Also, I'm wondering. When a user first signs in, it should tell him right up front that he should be subscribing for $20, but that a trial membership is given to him so he can try out the site. A little bit like the AOL 100 free hours thing.
In other words, not let it think that the site is free. Cause it's really not anymore. 50 megs of download is not a whole lot. It's enough to get an idea of what is here, but not for a regular user (some Desktop X themes are a few Megs).

Right now I command a wage of $32.00/hr.

My latest skin took me 43 hours to complete.

43 x $32.00 = $1,376.00

Add in overhead for computer usage, electricity, etc...say about $20.00.

Therefore my latest skin cost $1,396.00 to make.

It is a 209 kb file.

Take that as an average size (for arguement's sake)...therefore one could download approximately 50 such files for free.

Therefore, 50 x $1,396.00 = $69,800.00

So, at absolutely no cost to you, you were able to download almost $70,000.00 worth of skins.

And, for a mere $10.00 a year, you can continue to download this much and even more...an unlimited amount.

So tell me, how is this a bad deal for anyone?