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A comment caught my eye. . . .and a proposal for the benefit of the community

hegramet

Join Date 03/2001

A comment caught my eye. . . .and a proposal for the benefit of the community

I thought this should be in it's own thread. . . In the post http://scripts.wincustomize.com/msgboardid.asp?id=17381 TomCruise says that Stardock won't place the skins for competitor's products on this site. While this is understandable from a purely market perspective, it makes me wonder about the commitment of Stardock to the skinning community. Please don't misunderstand me, I love stardock's products and am a registered OD member, and I know they put out great software. However, the site's mission statement is "The goal of this site is to act as a general skin site to the community." A general skin site would allow the community to be the judge as to what the site should host, or host enough variety to satisfy the whole community. Furthermore, the existence of competition is beneficial to the community, though not to stardock, as it is a driving force for both better products, better service, and better prices. If this site is devoted to the general community, and not stardock, then it would promote competition. I propose that either the mission statement be changed (to remove the pretense of community) or the site be ammended to include the skins of competitor's products.

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apparently my Keyboard choked on "whatever"

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

There is Frogboy and Draginol. If you click on either one, it will say "Brad Wardell". The reason you know I have 2 (not 3) users here is because I've been very open about it.

Anonymous posters are not welcome because we do not know what their motivations are. If you or someone else needs a second account for whatever reason (I have Draginol so that I can visit the site as a non-Admin usually for testing) that's fine as long as you identify who you are.

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Brad, just for fun, click on craeonics's name. As far as I know, none of that info is true. The same goes for a lot of people. Some don't wish to be known as their public selves, and it's their choice.

As for the community discussion, I've made my point known in the other thread: this site, for me, is more like an extended Windowblinds.net than a shrank down skinz.org. But that's just me, and me alone, I don't try to convice anyone, but I am free to perceive what i perceive.

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Paxx most of that info is true cept his name nobody knows craes real name cept me
/evil laughter

(well actually he could have lied to me too) =/

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

The difference is subtle but crucial and not an exact science. We know you, and Dangeruss, and Craeonics and Cygnus, etc. You have years and years invested in your personas/handles, whatever you want to call them.

What you don't want to have happen is to have a message board filled with instant-alias's who have some agenda to push.

I know this is harsh but people who think that this site is bad or unfair or whatever can go to one of the other sites. We just want to have a place that is enjoyable to hang out. And it's hard to do that when you have anonymous users coming in amking trollish comments (like "Tom Cruise" did) in threads.

Those users who feel so passionate on how skin sites should be should use that passion in a constructive way to start their own website and can run it precisely how they think is best. That is much preferable than creating anonymous users to take make off topic responses in an effort to stir things up.

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Frogboy, user TomCruise was created as a joke a few months ago in a thread which I don't even remember what the topic was. But I know somebody else registered NicoleKidman then for the same motive of fooling around in that thread.
Now, that person apparently remembered that he/she had registered that nick and just decided to use it to raise a point without being taxed as a traitor by the rest of this Stardock community. Cause it is a fact, anything that is midly a critic of either this site or - worst even - of Stardock Corporation is automatically answered with flames and thunder by the Stardock fan club, and proclaimed a heretic.
Although I am not TomCruise, I can hardly blame somebody who would wish to use a pseudonym to state his opinion.
Voila.

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there was also a citizen kane if i remember correctly

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

Paxx, if you don't see the problem in an anonymous user trying to turn a question about what the difference between Litestep and WindowBlinds into yet another "let's bash WinCustomize" thread then we really have nothing further to talk about.

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I guess not then, cause this kind of administrative behavior has a name in real life: dictatorship.

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BTW - i have only one account!
I don't see any reason to have more than that!

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Buit whatever suits you Brad.
Tis your site, reign upon it as you wish.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

Whatever Paxx.

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I've been away from the tread for the evening, and read through it. I don't see one thing tho. . . the reason for not changing the mission statement to be accurate. I really don't care about changing anything else, I just want an answer to this question: Why is the mission statement not accurate? And please do not say I should make my own site. . .I am a member of the skinning communtiy, and since you run a community site you could at least acknoledge my requests as valid even if you choose to do differently.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

We don't agree is the problem.

We feel it IS accurate. This site IS a general skin site that has most of the popular programs on it.

Each website "in the community" runs their website as they choose. To my knowledge, there is no elected board of "skin community" people who get to decide for websites what is and isn't a required section.

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hegramet, I tink it is ess-vid who once said that there is no such thing as a skinning community. There are instead a big bunch of communities. There's the Deviantart community, the Lotsofskins community, the Winamp.com community, there used to be the customize.org, the skinz.org and the Deskmod communities. Although I wasn't sharing his opinion back when he said it, I am indeed starting to see the wisdom of it. This is the Stardock/Wincustomize community. A community, not THE community.

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except that you run it for personal profit behind a veneer of community, instead of having more respect for the community than to see it merely as a pool of customers.

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Yes, but one could argue that a community could be a pool of customers. If MacDonald customers decided to have a big party and meet every so often in a huge stadium rented by MacDonald itself, even if there would mainly be MacDonald food sold at those parties, along with non-competing products such as beer and condoms... Could those gatherings be called a community?
Hum... Some people would, some others wouldn't...

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I'm starting to think everyone in here is nuts... All of these arguments over something as simple and insignificant as an "about statement". If you don't like the way this site is administered then don't log-in here. It really is that simple...

You want to discuss a real thread, When is WebBlinds going to come out of Beta......

Bill

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You don't like the way this site is run, just pass it by, Hegramet.

See, It's that easy.

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i'm with you guys (bill & china)

....i think brad does a fantastic job running this site!!!

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

I agree Bill. Seems like there's a PTA meeting squabble that badly needs more people to join in!

I love the "personal profit" part of heg's post. Yea, this site is a gold mine. In fact, everyone reading this who thinks this site is an evil conspiracy should go right now and start a skin site to start raking in the dough.

Yep, every guy who we get to use Litestep we get a commission and same for Beatnik. We're just rolling in it.

Heg, if you don't like this site, there are other sites you can go to. You don't have to subject yourself to our vile evilness. Our ultimate plans of world domination and enslavement can be escaped from. Everyone knows that the first step to world hegemony is to put up a high bandwidth icon/skin/theme website.

Why just yesterday me, John, Jorge, and the LItestep developers were hanging out on Dangeruss's private jet as we were on our way Russ's private island in the black sea. We were patting ourselves on the back on how we managed to, using secret cameras, track the whereasbouts of each user visiting the site and then sell this information to the UN for use in their black helicopter program.

Afterall, what other explaination can there be? Since we must be running this site for "personal" profit and since so many other skin sites have gone down because of how expensive it is, we must have some special SECRET (and of course evil) plan of turning this site into a revenue juggernaut.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1847

Oh, well, if I were now to post comment I'd be dismissed as a member of the 'Stardock Fan Club', and not as an intelligent and sometimes articulate long-time member of the skinning 'non-community'.
So I shall refrain...

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

BTW, my role here is primarily to be a punching bag. Elected for my typing speed. T-man and Alexandrie actually run WinCustomize on a day to day basis.

And debating is something I personally enjoy, it's either this or arguing whether secession from the Union in 1861 was constitutionally lawful or not.

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Hey, I didn't demonize personal profit, I merely said you were dishonest. Paxx - that would be a community, but McDonalds wouldn't be a part of it.

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See I told ya I was being followed and tracked.

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