If i don't download something it would'nt come in my mind to rate it or comment on it.
Unless (i admit have done it sometimes) from the screenshot i see something that need a comment (Like an error, or something else the uploader need to know), but generaly i'll downloaded it when i get more time.
Why write "this is awesome" or "thanks this is wonderful" when you don't even tested it?....
That's keep amazing me....
And i won't talk about rated it. If your professor at school gave you a Note/Rate without reading your work, you'd take it really wrong i think. Rating is the same thing

Yeah can't really give much of an honest opinion of something without even downloading it.

But at the same time what the mods may view as someone rating or downloading without trying may not always be the case either.

I know I recently commented and rated some of Chadamus' uploads here on Wincustomize without downloading them. But that is because I have already downloaded them over at DA.

I also comment on things over at Maxstyles without downloading them because I already got them from here.

Even if you've already gotten it somewhere else it's still nice to leave comments other places you see it so that other people who may go to only one of those sites still see those opinions on it.

Good Point, zakai. But i guess WOM talked about skins really new even by people really new on skinning. Don't forget some of us are also on all this sites
For myself, i'm on WC, DA, skinning.net, skinartistry, Skinbase, Maxstyles, CrystalXP,... to talk only about these ones.
But anyhow that's a good point in some case.
ArileenDesign notes to himself to login sometimes

I do agree but more i am shocked how one can do this. But
1..It may be possible that someone downloaded that w/o signing in and if he liked he signs in to say thanks.
It may be helpful if only registered users can download but it can decrease traffic.
2.. Last time such dispute ön karma points. We were devoid of our score. Dont take post comment button away.
3..I dont mind any comments i get. Not all comments r untrue. Y should we see only negatives y not positives.
4.. Comments encourage skinners. And downloads too.
5.. Such is the case with every skin... ie each can get a vague comment.
6.. i do agree there shud be no false comments.
But i m against withdrawing it.

Well, I think tihs can be looked at in 2 different ways. For example, I am a Vista Ultimate User so I definetely cant use lets say Logon Studio for XP but I can see and I can see if I like it or not by what it looks like. So if I like what I see why shouldnt I comment on it, or anybody comment on it? But on the other hand, I wouldnt leave any criticism as I cant fully evaluate it and that would go for anything else that I cannot fully evaluate, but I dont think its a good idea to suggest that its stupid or a waste of time to comment on work that obviously a memeber put a lot of work into. IF you are a Vista user or XP user that makes no difference. If you like what you see you should comment, just not evaluate. As for ratings,I would say pretty much the same thing except that if I cant apply it, then I wont rate it. Anyways to sum this all up I see absolutely nothing wrong with anhybody saying nice work to a fellow member and I am pretty sure that they dont look at it as a joke....

Let me try and digest this butch....Your saying that people like to see the same person driving by and saying nice job/very nice/ and so on, on most of the uploads, by the same person?  Doesn't that lessen the comment?  Cheapen it in some way?  Like make it meaningless?  I don't know.  I would think that if a person was to comment on others works they can use real meaningful wording.  Verying the comment more than just 2-3 caqtch phrases.  I don't know.  Maybe not.  Maybe people are so desperate to have their stuff liked they don't care what is said as long as its good.  I don't know, guess I shouldn't think for the masses. 

I think if you your just looking at the screenshot of something most will say (looks good) but I agree, how can you say great job on something unless you've used it. The only time that this could possibly make sense is in the screenshot gallery where a download is not required to see the work done. I am way past my allowed mb for downloading unless I sign in  

Hi WOM...I understand what you are saying but on the other hand what possible harm is there in saying a few words to someone if you like their work? Knowing that not everybody here are skinners or artists perhaps some might feel uncomfortable to get into technical aspects of the work, for example, expecting technical imput from a non-skinner would be absolutely irrational. But do we want to prohibit the non skinners from having the rights to comment? That would fall into "If you dont use it, dont abuse it" category which absolutely makes no sense. I believe that and maybe I am wrong, that everybody should be able to express themselves in any way that they can, if it be with the phrase I like it Nice work, or if it be complex technical input. Abuse yes, there will be, but I think we are better to tolerate a little abuse then to infringe on other peoples rights...

I see no point in negative comments or all,unless it won't work or has a bug. If I don't like it, I just move on,there's plenty to choose from.However,commenting on something you can't use but really like may get the skinner to make a version that you can.I've dropped a hint or two myself. I don't think there should be a ratings drop-down until download has at least been activated. Download.com is full of one star ratings/negative remarks by people who have never seen the software they are rating. How does that work? Btw, DX themes I tested I rated without dl'ing from here,I hope that is allowed. My 2 cents.

Well I have stumble into that situation/problem myself today.. I comment on someone work before I download it since I like the screen shot provided and I know that he did a good job on it. Anyway when I proceed to click on the download button...it just went to the error page..try it several time still the same... Since I saw that this piece of artwork still new and no one else has comment it .. I just let it be, thinking to comeback and download it later. So maybe..just maybe what you saw WOW is that ... it happen to me and it might happened to anyone else..

double post sorry..and sorry WOW should me WOM (

...Made me laugh.  You have more than 1 mod that are not skinners.  Myself included.  Following your rational, I guess I should critique anything or I guess rate anything either.  And I guess the others also?  Hum.

I can see walls/logons/bootskins and screenshots probably don't need to be downloaded for the drive by...looks great.  But I would say the rest should be.  Because a WB looks good in the screenshot, doesn't mean it will look good on your screen.  And I'am not talking about working.  Ive been disapointed many times because it looked so good in the presentation but looked like crap once downloaded.  But if people are happy with BS, who am I to say they shouldn't get it.

I know I'm one who probably reuses phrases in comments. But I'm a person of few words most of the time and I only leave those comments on things I actually like. Some authors I only use some of what they make others I like almost everything I've seen by them. Other things I know I've seen and liked the work the author had done but am aware that I personally wouldn't use it. In that case I will leave a comment but not download it. That would mainly apply to things like bootskins, logons, and wallpapers though.


I can see where if someone is commenting on almost every single thing uploaded by every member of the site it would seem quite insincere. At the same time just because someone leaves a comment on everything by one author doesn't mean it is just because it is from that particular author. Maybe they just really like everything that person has put out.

If what you mean is that you think he was trying to say that you shouldn't tell people something is good even when it isn't, I'd agree that you shouldn't.

I would rather see honest opinions of my work then to have someone tell me how great it is even though it's not true.

It's really all a matter of the exact situation[s] being referred to in the original post.

But whether people use 2 words or go into an in depth description of every detail why they like a skin shouldn't matter as long as they are leaving the comment out of honest opinion and not just to inflate someones ego.