To renew or not to renew... that is the question! WC Subcription, is it worth it?

from WinCustomize Forums
I'm not sure, what do you think?

SDC was nice enough to remind me that my WC Subscription is up in 29 days.... Wow what a quick two years, time flies when you are having fun. Well do I break out the credit card and send Frogboy another $20 dollars? This is a tough one. Well let's take a look at what you get for your money.

1) Wincustomize Browser - Well this thing is almost dead, SDC does it all now. Put it out of it's misery please... The tray app is a neat idea but I got enough stuff in my tray as it is and XP keeps hiding it all anyway... -)

2) Premium suites - Well two were offered for subscribers. You can judge for yourself how "premium" they really are. I found them to be less than satisfactory. I have seen some "premium" suites on other sites and drooled, you know which ones....

3) 5,000 Free text Impressions - Umm, is it me or is this thing the Phoenix. Keeps dying and rising from the ashes. I can't for the life of me imagine how I would use a text banner, but I tried it out about a year ago. I haven't heard anything about it since, but the website is still up if you want to have a look. Someone use this please...

http://www.textbanners.net/

4) Extra Wincustomize Features - OK this one really has me confused. Were any of these things ever implemented / offered? Journals, Auto Notifications, Post tracking (maybe?), personal domain. It's been TWO YEARS, if you are not going to offer this stuff just update the subscription page, come on.

5) Other Goodies - This one is my favorite! Why this is not part of Number 4 above I'm not sure because only skincast is mentioned. Isn't Skincast part of Windowblinds?

6) Unlimited downloads - Hey this is a big one. But if you buy Stardock software or get promoted here this is automatic. I just checked my profile and I am slightly over the 5MB limit for free users. So far I have downloaded 1.4GB worth of skins. That's a lot of skins.

Well you might think there is no way I would renew my subscription. Why should I.... Why would I... where is the payoff? I really hope that Wincustomize will address this as a lot of the longtime users will need to make this decision fairly soon.

Well I got the card out, the money is coming. I think that helping WC out for the price of a couple of pizzas is well worth it for another two years. Irregardless of everything else I like this place and want to do my part to make sure it can be here tomorrow. I hope you make the same choice....
10,458 views 22 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well I got the card out, the money is coming. I think that helping WC out for the price of a couple of pizzas is well worth it for another two years. Irregardless of everything else I like this place and want to do my part to make sure it can be here tomorrow. I hope you make the same choice....
That's what I did....it's all about supporting 'our' site....anything else one 'may or may not get' is irrelevant....
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ditto to Kith's last comment and Jafo's reply. After all this is 'our' site and for about 0.83 cents a month I think is well worth helping out
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm not sure if I'll renew my subscription or not. It is ultimately about supporting the site, but it would be nice if the promised features were made good on after two years. I agree with Bill, if you're not going to give us those things you said, stop using it to entice subscribers. Just tell people what the money will go towards...bandwidth. Stop promising things that you're obviously not going to give them.

Whether I continue to support this site monetarily or not, I'll continue to support the people that have made Windowblinds what it has become...the skinners. I've bought almost every premium skin ever offered by Pixtudio, Skinplant, and Essorant, and will continue to do so.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What #1 and #2 said.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
HUM

/me ponders



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Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have already renewed yesterday

I'm very satisfied with this site.





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Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am with Jafo there (I even renewed my subscription before time to support the new servers with the subscription drive), but I still can imagine that some people are not very satisfied with things been promised and things been given to subscribers.


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Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I renewed yesterday as well. Gee, amazing how everybody's subscription ran out at once...

But I don't mind IMHO, the site deserves my support.

One problem how do I get rid of the friggin' nag popup whenever I log on?
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I can't put it any better than David did so I'll simply toss my name in the hat and say that I too feel the suites were sub-par. I've bought almost every skin suite that has been released but I honestly think that at least one of them should have been offered to the subscribers. If there are no plans to fulfill the offers just them, I'll pay the $20 for the unlimited bandwidth alone, but many of the newer members who may have signed up for one or more of the *extras* will probably be pretty put off by the lack of follow through on those offers.

Black Cat 77, just use a popup blocker like the one in the Yahoo Companion toolbar or the Google toolbar. I haven't seen a popup in so long I'm starting to forget how annoying they are!!
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Funny I was just talking to someone about this.
When my subscription is up I will renew it, as well as continuing to buy the occasional goodie from the WinCust store and continue to purchase essorant, Pixstudio, etc suites. Problem is I'm not sure how many people would continue renewing regardless, I think folks might want something "extra" for their $20.

I haven't seen the subscriber offerings updated in as long as I can remember. Those premium suites..umm...well I don't want to be rude (especially considering my vast library posted here) so I will leave it at that. ) I do like the tray but XP kindly keeps hiding it from me.

If I could suggest one subscriber goodie, I'd love love love to have a wincustomize.com webmail address. I have a zillion email accounts available but that one would be the best.

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I too will continue to keep up my subscription here and my ODNT subscription and Stardock. Not to concerned about the unfulfilled goodies either. I enjoy this site and the people who come here....taste like chicken
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I just renewed yesterday for the same reason as y'all - to support the site. I can't say any of the "bonuses" have been of interest but the community certainly is.

Now if WC will only recognize the fact that I paid.



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Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Btw Stockholm Syndicate you can choose to tell Xp which icons you want to constantly show up in the tray. Right click on the taskbar and choose properties. Then next to the icon for Hide inactive icons click the "Customize" button. Then you can choose to Always hide, or always show or hide when inactive a tray icon.
Hope that helps you there.

I looked at the "free" skins that came with my WC subscription and they were nice, but just not up my alley. No big deal there though, but a shame they weren't more mainstreamish.

It was mentioned in the beginning of this thread about just sticking with SDC since it has WC capabilities in it. However what you failed to realize is that the skins/themes section won't work if you don't have a WC subcription. At least that is how I understand it.
I still have several months to go before I need to renew. I think I probably will as I believe in supporting this community. Also it really isn't that high a price to pay to do so, not that I couldn't get a lot of other cool stuff with that amount.



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Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Btw Stockholm Syndicate you can choose to tell Xp which icons you want to constantly show up in the tray. Right click on the taskbar and choose properties. Then next to the icon for Hide inactive icons click the "Customize" button. Then you can choose to Always hide, or always show or hide when inactive a tray icon.Hope that helps you there.


Thanks! I didn't know about that, will try that.

Um I hope this works....

It was mentioned in the beginning of this thread about just sticking with SDC since it has WC capabilities in it. However what you failed to realize is that the skins/themes section won't work if you don't have a WC subcription. At least that is how I understand it.


Didn't even think about that, but you are correct it. You do have to go into SDC and cross-reference your WC subscription to activate that panel. Great point.
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Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
there is no question about renewing for me when the time comes because i want to support the site. however outside of that, i completely agree with the questions raised about the membership incentives

i'll say again- i use, therefore i pay. but what ever did happened to the incentives for the people that don't download 50 megs and make a new account to get 50 more? the scant two skins that were offered - well they are in depth and well made but otherwise arn't anything above the rest of the library. neither are a style i would ever want to use, additionally. i too will be ping the WC browser.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It's nice to hear that people think this site is worth the $20.... you can't say that everywhere! I am surprised there are not more dissenting views, what happened... has this place gone soft !!! Well anyways, $20 bucks is a bargain, free junk or not. I would just like to know if the goodies are coming or not. Frog.... you got a plan on this?
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
#11 by Essencay - 4/16/2004 2:44:31 PM I enjoy this site and the people who come here....taste like chicken


Hey!...I like chicken!...count me in!

But...I have to agree with some of the others about the...incentives?...what incentives!?...You guys got incentives!?...I didn't see no stinkin incentives? (don't promote what ya ain't got...bad business) and the premium skins?...you guys got premium skins!? (They were ok...but I've seen a lot better that weren't even considered premium).

OK...finally finished downloading "all" the stuff I could find on WC...but now my PC laughs at me and starts smokin when I try to turn it on!...whats up with that!?...it keeps telling me I'm out of space & memory?...and what's "tilt"?...never saw that on a PC before!

But it's really more about the people.



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Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'll renew again for the 3rd time this August. Well worth the money...Things just keep getting better all the time. I even noticed that Alloy Bezel WB has a replacement for that darn windows flag! Did I miss something? I didn't hear about that funcionality, just caught it by chance. Seems WebBlinds will soon be something I won't need anymore.

Anyway, I think it's some of the best money I've spent on my PC.

P.S. The premium skin Kryptonite rules! See my screenshot https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=13&SkinID=1830
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
though I was actually looking forward to those "goodies" mentioned, I have to say I would have purchased subscription anyway, and plan to renew when mine expires in two years. ya'll are right, the subscription shows support of the site and the artists who post to the site. I just wish a small part of our subscription went back to the artists too.
of course if you sat down and figured out how many artists there are, and tried to even give them a penny for each subscription, they'd have to up the subscription price to keep the servers up and running.
one of those things that someone needs to come up with a solution for.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My renewal comes up in June. That will only be my second. 3rd renewal, I subscribed right off the bat I thought.Didn't know they started back in 2000.



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Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
non. more than likely not. i will continue renewing my objectdock account because i like the program and i like alot of the skins from the past.. essorant and aleksyandr, crumbut and treetog and of course pixtudio and mike bryant for their attention to detail. however i find so many of the skins lately seem so generic. not so different from style xp really.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Just renewed mine too