I think it would reduce confusion [at least]...and certainly help with understanding 'where people are coming from' if the 'average user' could ACTUALLY SEE where a post was 'coming from'.

This WC/JU crossover is good....perfectly good...in theory.....however it's in its execution that it misses a little.

A tiny icon placed on each thread and comment defining the source of the input... would remove any confusion or contention.

'Distinguishing' is NOT 'discrimination', but 'clarification'.

The motivation behind many Blog entries has no specific relevance to the internal WC forums.....only the content may perhaps be of interest to WC-centric skinners, etc.

I think Emily's thread is a bit of a 'case in point'.  Of the 160-odd comments there, sweet bugger-all of them actually pertained to the blog comment....the rest were a piss and moan about one word choice....and a chance for the 'predictables' to take cheap shots at all and sundry.

None of that 'should' have happened...and maybe, just maybe...if the thread source was seen to be a JU blog entry the response might have been different.

As it turned out it was immaturity on the part of some commenters from WC that ran it off the rails so effectively....

Ah...but that IS the point....the interaction CAN be improved.  It is not really necessary just to 'make the best of it', but to actively encourage its development.

Here's a thought.....some people here on Wincustomize's Forums may actually be oblivious to the existence of JU....and a simple 'icon of source' might just prick their curiosity...and subsequently enhance and propagate both communities [if one agrees they are two].

It's well and good to expound the virtues of Stardock's versatility but it need not be a static thing, resistant to change/enhancement.

All that's needed is cogent, lucid 'argument' to affect change....cos one thing is definite....Stardock's management does not suffer from the degenerative myopia that currently afflicts Deviantart's 'leadership'....

That was your point, but it wasn't Zoomba's. You make a good suggestion about the icon distinguishing between the sites, but until something like that is implemented I think we'd all appreciate a little more tolerance from those "elitists" on the site. Do you suggest that without such an icon, comments like "What is this doing here" are warranted? I doubt that you do, and I don't either but comments like that support Zoomba's use of the word "elitist". You point out that some here are oblivious to the existence of JU, but the reverse is also true, so it's pretty darned insulting when such comments show up on someone's personal blog.

Tolerance works both ways. How about someone catering for the near 3,000,000 members here and what they want instead of a couple of people who cross-post? Guess the views of a skinner have no value compared to the views of a blogger

There is one...and virtually ONLY one real. true advantage of the Internet Age...[and no, it's not necessarily 'information superhighway...blah blah']...it's 'immediate'/real access to cultural [and social] diversity.

The net is guaranteed to broaden one's horizons....to enable you to experience a wide variation of cultures and opinions that may be alien to your own, social introverted myopia.

I have people I call 'friends' in countries all over the world.....something highly unlikely to have happened unless I was some globe-trotting socialite.  OK, most of these people share similar interests in skinning as a common denominator...but not all.

This opportunity to diversify social interaction enriches one's existence....but cliquishness stunts social growth....whether through elitism or simple indifference the result is the same...lost opportunity.

Several instances of my net interaction stand out...

1. What was I doing at that instant on '9/11'? ....talking to DavidK, thousands of miles away from me...on ICQ....he mentioned a plane had just hit the towers....

2. I've met 3 fellow Aussies [face to face] through skinning.....people who I would have been oblivious to otherwise.

3. One birthday I got a phone call from someone in Ghana [West coast of Africa] [Risblaque] wishing me a happy birthday.

4. There's a whole bunch of people I can point at and say 'he/she is a mate'.....

OK...so all this sounds quaint and anecdotal....but it's really how the whole 'community' environment should be considered....the community 'backyard' isn't just 'Wincustomize.com....cos if you're kicking your footie and it goes over the fence there's a bloke living in Deviantart...or Skinbase...or JoeUser...or Neowin...that is maybe peeved cos you're tramping over his daisies retrieving yer ball.

Wincustomize.com was set up as a community [skinning] "portal" [was the phrase]....but over the past 5 years Forum interaction hasn't kept pace with the site's expansion...and if anything, walls have gone up here and there [as if to keep the riff-raff out] and the title of 'elitism' is arguably warranted.

The thread 'Blast from the past'.....shows our roots.  We 'came' from skinz.org ..... to a [then] 'better place'.  In real terms Wincustomize is now a stable 'hub' within the skinning scene....most of our 'sister' sites are hard-pressed to maintain even our level of mediocre social 'activity' or [relatively] reliable net presence.

What say we as a bunch of disparate individuals take advantage of this net community's potential for social enrichment and run with it, rather than foster the blinkered thinking of the past.....