gorman

Just a test in Welcome JoeUser Forums

Hi there!

Reply to Skinning and Desktop Mod get spot light in October 2003 edition of Windows XP Answer magazine (UK) in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Wow, that's the most ridiculous thing I've read in some time DeskMod is definitely not closing for good, which we've tried to make as clear as possible. With that said, it will be some time before it comes back to life. We're focused on ModBlog right now, and we also have some contract jobs going on the side. I'm not going to take a guess as to when DeskMod will return, but it will be once v4 is co

Reply to The not so brave new world of dot-coms. in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Memberships, donations, and merchandise start out doing pretty well and slowly fade. As a result, none of them are really stable ways of funding a site. I've seen quite a few sites try all of these out, and very few actually do well with these programs. Memberships only really work if users want something from the site they can't get for free anywhere else. That's why sites like F'dcompany have done well from memberships, but skin/art sites haven't. As most people know, advertising is pretty muc

Reply to A new golden age for skinning? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Alexa.com, although I've never put much faith into their rankings. You can see my doubt just by looking at the top 500 list, clearly some of the sites listed there aren't as popular as those ranked lower. A good example would be Sonique vs. Winamp. While it's fairly common knowledge the Winamp site gets more traffic than Sonique's, Alexa seems to think otherwise. Nothing against Sonique of course, but I know for a fact Winamp gets more traffic to their site. That said, it is fun to type in vario

Reply to DeskMod v3.1 Launch Date and Details in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Denis Dyack is the man! That's awesome you know him, he clearly runs one of the best game development studios in the world

Reply to My problems with WinStyles (long) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

chichigirl46: I never said they were facts, just my personal opinion. I'm not angry at all, I'm just putting forth various scenarios about how I feel this program could negatively affect things. Firestorm: Good post, although you took some of the things I said the wrong way. I'm not assuming you'll agree that this will ruin everything, I meant that I assume you'll agree that commenting and interacting is the base of the community. Overall, my post was taking a bit too seriously

My problems with WinStyles (long) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Stardock's new product "WinStyles" has recently come to my attention, and I have some major fundamental problems with it. I am posting this in a public forum so that everyone's thoughts and ideas on this are in one centralized location. To sum up my feelings, before I go into detail, let me put it like this: WinStyles acts as a vending machine for all of your work. That sounds harsh, I know. However, think about that for a moment, and I believe you will get my point. By simply creating

DeskMod to Re-Launch! in WinCustomize News JoeUser Forums

DESKMOD RE-LAUNCH PRESS RELEASE - 10/26/2001 ST. LOUIS, MO -- After over a year and a half of operations, on May 28th, 2001, Mod Networks, Inc. announced the closure of their popular desktop customization site DeskMod. After encountering major data loss which resulted in the loss of the site’s entire file archive and struggling to withstand downturn in the advertising market, the site was forced to close. The decision to close the site instead of just re-launching fresh was made after

Reply to The state of the community in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I'm just talking about little arguments like "XP can be skinned without a 3rd party app, no it can't, yes it can", nothing major. Arguments like that should just be dropped, not argued over a thread of 100 posts. -gorman

Reply to The state of the community in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Excellent post shoggot, points very well put. -gorman

The state of the community in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Over the past few days I've heard some remarks and seen some actions taken which have deeply worried me. Over these days I have seen the community which I care so much about damaged greatly due to fighting and anger within it. From this, I have seen emotions pouring out from every side of every disagreement, every message board thread, and in general, every site. I have seen people from both sides of every argument rush to the defense, and in many cases offense, of their argument. In general, I

Reply to RE: Deskmod? ! %$#*@!!!!! whoa! in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I can't confirm nor deny any of this yet, stay tuned ...

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Well, I'm going to drop out of this thread for now. My points are entirely being missed, and I don't have time to refresh this thread every 5 mins . -gorman

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Last thought before I go to bed. Again, I'm bringing up every point I can so that when the system launches it can be as perfect as possible. As paxx said, WC is basically charging for content. This is fine, however, we have to look at who created the content. The users. This is why I never thought charging for downloads on a skin site would work; mainly because it isn't fair to the users. Unless the users who upload get some sort of a cut, they are kind of getting screwed over. Even wor

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Brad stated on the news comments that the "database" means anyone who has paid. -gorman

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

The only problem I have is that not everyone is here to download Stardock related material. Some users simply don't want to or can't buy ODN, etc. Thus, these members of the community are looked down upon & only can download so much. Basically, as I see it, it takes a lot of the "community" aspect away from the site. Trust me, I understand this might have to be done, and it may very well be the best idea. I think you're missing what I'm saying. WinCustomize itself sells CDs and T-Shirts

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I understand that, but regardless, as more and more people come, even with that limit it will become slower. So my point is, this is a service to the paying customers, and more bandwidth will be needed sooner rather then later even if WinCusto isn't profitable itself. I honestly believe that the sales that come in from WinCusto for ODN, etc. plus the tshirts & such make this site currently profitable. I could be wrong though, but I've played with the numbers, and I don't think I am. -go

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Again though, you mention cds & shirts, but you don't factor in the ODN, etc. sales made due to this site. Also, you need to figure that many people here are customers of yours, and this basically comes as an extra feature to them. If you look at it that way, this site should have all the bandwidth it needs to satisfy your customers. -gorman

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

1) Most companies don't have the resources to have their own skin site. However, I would assume that Hoverdesk & such do make a good # of sales due to people coming to their site from here. I would assume the ODN sales from this site produce a good bit of revenue. 2) Yep, I know that. 3) Only 5%? Are you referring to users who download more then 5mb per month & haven't purchased something from Stardock/WinCusto? I find it hard to believe its that low of a percent. 4) M

Reply to Bye bye WinCustomize in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

From the news post: We will be implementing a 5 megabyte per month limit on those who aren't in the database to help decrease bandwidth use. This needs to be defined a bit better. First off, by database, do you mean registered users on this site, or those who have purchased things from Stardock/WinCusto? Secondly, what if a user wants unlimited (or increased) download ability, but doesn't want to purchase something from Stardock/WinCusto, then what? Can they pay a monthly or yearly

Reply to www.customize.org in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

They are moving their server from one co-location facility to another. I've heard it will be back up again shortly, just a few glitches causing the delay. I've also heard that the site should launch pretty soon after the server goes back up. From what I've seen, the site is done and ready to go up. -gorman

Reply to AVS Presets... in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

The AVS section was incredibly popular at DeskMod. In fact, it was so large, we had to create an AVS section on the new uploads part of the front page. I'm almost surprised that some site dedicated to 'em hasn't popped up yet. Regardless, Mike, you know we want to see your SO SEXY (inside joke, heh) AVS creations! I'd love to see a section here at wincusto for 'em -gorman

Reply to The article on content and backlash in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

T-shirts and other products are definitely good sources of revenue. However, there are a few problems. 1) Chances are your profit margin per shirt isn't all that high, maybe 4 or 5 dollars per shirt. 2) There are only so many people who will buy a shirt. So if you figure you can sell 500 shirts and make 5 dollars a shirt, that is 2500 dollars. For most medium sites that will pay for bandwidth for about 3 or 4 months. That's not bad, but what about when those 4 months are up? On a site like

Reply to Welcome aboard!! in WinCustomize News JoeUser Forums

Congrats everyone! Mike, I know you've never been an admin before, and that you aren't very familiar with the skinning community or skin sites in general ... but I'm sure you'll do a fine job! *cough*

Reply to The article on content and backlash in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I'm not at home right now, so I'll just reply quickly the last post from paxx. -- quote -- If a web site doesn't have the revenues to stay afloat, close it down, as it has always happened, since the last 6 years. ---- Well, here's the problem, can you think of a way for sites to make money other then a revenue model? Exactly, that's the problem; no one has been able to come up with something that actually works besides memberships and merchandise. After looking at so