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

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

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. 

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...

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..

...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.

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.

As with most things in life. If you haven't experienced, tasted, seen, fealt, heard, etc.. whatever it is your critiqing, your opinion is shit.

I agree with you NT 100%. I do not rate anything I have not downloaded. I do not comment on any WB, Rainy, or Widget that I have not downloaded and tried out. Occasionally, though, I will comment on a blind that is a Vista blind that looks really nice in the preview, and hint about a possible XP version.

+1 and ditto for comments




... I realize the likelihood of this getting implemented is practically nil, but it's nice to dream   

All fine and dandy butch, but what about those drive by's and rating slam's without commenting... hmmmmmmmm. Ya ever know anyone that does that? hmmmmmmm?
It's crap and I for one would like to see what Wizard has proposed and as pictoratus has quoted.

And it would still add to the download count.