Well Nimbin, I'll make you happy, as a Master Skinner I was subsidizing my Social Security with my Master Skins sales, but at this point, I'm tired of getting beat up for selling my skins, so, I'm calling it quits, I was working on a new Master Skin, but I'm not sure if I'll upload it now, it's really disheartening, to me, I can't help it there are not enough people who are interested in skinning, so that there'd be more free ones for all to choose from. With that said, I'll just find something else to subsidize my Social Security, it just isn't worth it, or fun anymore, so, this is me saying goodbye, and I'll decide what to do with my Master skins, more than likely, I'll just have them deleted, but I'll decide at a later time, I wish I could say it was fun, but I can't.
When there are responses such as this to the repetitive threads critical of the current state of skinning in general and/or Object Desktop in particular it's no wonder the activity is in a state of ennui.
When those who do are met with criticism from those who 'want' it's no wonder people just say 'enough is enough' and cease.
Being critical of something is almost always detrimental, no matter how 'constructive' you'd like to claim it to be.
I'm not so much 'saddened' by people giving up as annoyed that the actions of others leads to it.
Yes, once upon a time there were a heck of a lot of people skinning, and around a dozen sites catering for them all.
That was then, this is now.
Skinning used to be [relatively] easy...heck, even I was doing it, but no thanks to Microsoft it got quite a bit harder....particularly with this forced-beta process which is the current OS [10], quite happy to break things at every revision - and Joe Public still thinks it's the same OS that was released years ago.
It isn't.
One thing that has NOT changed, however is the general perception that skins [for whatever] SHOULD be free.
Just ask Treetog and Alexandrie what reception they got when they were the 'first' to go commercial a decade and a half [plus] ago.
That bit hasn't changed....and likely never will.