I remember someone making a stink because a skinner used a highlight technique that another skinner used. A little extreme on the pickiness but in actuality, that highlight was intellectual property. A lawyer could make a case of it.
- What lawyer in his right mind would bother making any case about that, I just don't see it happening. A highlight technique is just that, a highlight technique. If I throw a football in the exact same way as Dan Marino or kick a soccer ball the same way as Pele, it's using their technique, are they going to sue me for it? That's a bit of a stretch in all of these cases. If people make a stink, it's usually because they're stinky themselves - and I can be guilty of that too.
The more you skin, the harder it is to be fresh. I think alot of beginners (certainly myself included) get skinners block and force skins just to get something done. Here's a tip... If you have to put the color of your skin as part of the name (blue wall, red and white, black Vista, etc) you lost my interest already.
Great, and you can choose not to download it.
Obviously XP users like their Vista skins or there wouldn't be 1000 of them out there. I don't hold that against them. Am I going to make a Vista skin and sell it just because it is the most popular thing? Not me and most likely, no other Master will because we skin because we have a passion for skinning. Eventually someones passion for money will overtake their passion for skinning and post such a skin but the Masters that I know would never do it.
Isn't VStyler's executive skin a vista type skin with wood grain effect? VS definitely has a passion for skinning as far as I can tell. Even if he collaborated with Stardock on that skin, he is a part of it. On top of that he created this vista type skin and made it available free to the skinning community even though it's a master quality skin. Aren't we allowed to have more than one passion in life? A passion for financial security, great relationships, the freedom to express ourselves using our given skill sets & abilities, the freedom to do what we want among many other passions?
With the introduction of the Master Skin program, I feel it is more important than ever to protect each other's rights, including intellectual rights. This is not hard to do if everyone pays attention and speaks up regardless of the recoil they may suffer in return. We have download whores and they should be tarred and feathered. Skinning for downloads disrespects everything we all do.
Seriously dude, you have a control issue. We should just nuke everyone who doesn't jive with your view of the world! "Download whores" - do you hear yourself speak? They are only downloads, they have no value other than indicating how many times a skin has been downloaded. Is that all we do, skin for downloads? We can't just assume we skin because we like to skin and we like to share what we've done with others?! Tarred, feathered, neutered (neutered?! ...what am I, a cat or a dog?) Quick fix for the skinning for download#'s argument.... remove the download numbers from plain view, if you need to keep it, you can view only your download#'s, no one elses. I could handle that, can you? Would that solve the download whore argument? Maybe you don't realize it but that is a really harsh label you're putting on people. The word "whore" generally isn't a positive one.
The sad thing is that the person skinning for downloads will eventually feel that energy come back to them in only negative ways. A year from now, your work will still be a rushed looking piece of something, your downloads will be 0, and most importantly, you will have less self esteem. You are not kidding any of us that pay attention. We have been around and know the tricks. If you update a screenshot and push a skin off the updated list, you should be shot, or at least neutered.
The only negative energy that I have felt recently is from you unfortunately, and I say that it's unfortunate because you have the incredible title of "master" class skinner associated with your user account and you should represent this site and the skinning community in a more responsible manner than you currently do. I don't have any self esteem issues, and I would hope that my self-esteem is drastically effected by my skinning ability either - no one's self-esteem should be affected by that. A person's self-esteem is a reflection of the kind of person you are, it isn't based on your skinning abilities. If you feel the need to tear other people down, it could be a reflection of self-esteem issues you currently have.
I apologize if I offended anybody but noone is standing up calling for me to quit skinning. I was right and I have my first GUIO skin about half done. I had to speak up and I had to do it publicly. That skin is a disgrace to everything skinning.
You apologize but then you finish off by saying you were right. What are you apologizing for then? If you were right, you don't need to apologize - that would be logical in my point of view. I don't think anyone wants you to quit skinning, I certainly don't. There is room in my world for someone like you, it's unfortunate but I believe there isn't room in your world for skinners like myself & butch. If I could ask you to quit doing something it would be to stop bashing other skinners publicly and using hurtful comments, but I can't control you so you can continue doing this, in your point of view I'm sure you think it's a positive thing like public executions.
The whole system is out of order becuase people look for ways to cheat the system in order to stand out. Where there is no talent, there is shennanigans. My advice is simple and applys to everyone. (cause I am hungover and can't come close to saying it as eloquintly as Fuzzy).YOUR WORK CAN BE BETTER!
The whole system is functioning and has functioned for quite some time, I don't think that it's all out of order. Seriously, how is anyone cheating the system? Why do you focus so much on these download#'s? Should we just remove all of the non-quality skins and only allow high quality skinners to submit work to the site? Would that fix the system? Limit selection and only allow certain skins to be downloaded? If the desire to have talent is not enough when you don't have talent, should we just quit? Your advice is not simple and doesn't apply to everyone, everyone has a choice as to what advice they want to listen to and use. Reading your post, I seriously believe that you were hung over and possible still feeling the effects of your over-indulgence.
Truth be told, we can't change anyone directly. You can talk to them till your blue in the face, you can reason, use logic, have people support your point of view but you can't change anyone's mind that way and you can't change how they do things either. To change other people you have to first change yourself. It's the same thing in any relationship or friendship, be the best person you can be and this will hopefully draw out the best in other people. But don't preach change if you're not willing to show that you can do the same. It's the hardest lesson to learn.... and the easiest one.
