That might be your perception, but its not this businessmans! I've run a P&L since back in the early 70's - I have approximately 40 different subscriptions for a number of computer related items, not including personal ones.

The original question asked what would make me want another subscription? Asking for a positive answer, not if it was desired at all; likely reflecting their intent. I suspect costs are raising after combining two different websites.

$10 here, $10 there, multiple that by a cost here and there - and what you have is acumulating subscrption costs. $10 means something to me, as I measure value. Wincustomize is a nice site filled with creative minds, building skins mostly for fun. I enjoy having skin options; but won't pay for skins while maintaining a subscrption to OD/Windowblinds, the engine that uses those skins.

We'd have to raise the price of subscriptions SUBSTANTIALLY to be able to properly pay Master Skin authors what they'd be owed for all the users downloading their work.  You forget that the artists make money off of each unit out the door, and they get to set their own price.  Every skin we include, we would have to increase the price of a subscription by the amount of money an artist could expect to earn off an individual sale.  You wouldn't be saving anything as an end-user in that scenario.

Instead, we offer a 20% discount to existing WC subscribers.  That's how we can best reward subscribers while remaining fair to Master Skinner artists.

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Morpheus -

I think you're reading too far into last week's poll.  WinCustomize is not aiming to be your source for all news worth knowing.  Heck, we're not even trying to be remotely comprehensive in what we cover.  Most of the news stories posted here are written by me, and I only do a small handful per day anyway.  News on the front-page of WC is just one of the many pieces of the site, and I was just wondering what sorts of coverage would be most appreciated in that space.  WC is a sum of many parts, and I'm working to make each part as entertaining, informative and useful as I can.  If someone looks at the site and sees a part that isn't very good, I want to work on making it better.

News is never going to be a feature of the site that drives subscriptions.  Like you said, there's way too much high-quality news out there that's 100% free.

I'm looking now into new and different ways to enhance the value of the subscription.  There is probably a lot we can be doing to make the subscriber experience better.  This poll is to help us get moving in the right direction.

I appreciate your opinion and view on the necessity of ads on a site.  And believe me when I say I am very careful in considering where an ad is placed, how big it is, and what it does.  I hate sites that flood you with ads and have been working hard to strike the proper balance between providing a good user experience, and bringing in needed income

That's not really fair.  Beyond the visual bits to WC2k7, the core of the site was rewritten.  A site of this size and this complexity requires a lot of time and a good number of very talented coders to develop.  And WinCustomize 2008 has a lot going into it that aren't simply photoshop or CSS tweaks.  It's a pretty complex project already and we've only begun the design meetings (the project plan is a scary-large thing) Subscriptions fund the continued development and maintenance of the site.  Without them, we could have just declared WC2k7 as final victory, and only put minimal effort into keeping it from crashing.  It's stable enough now and everything works like we expect it to.  Everyone wants the site to get better, to expand, to offer more... and that requires funds.

If you don't feel there's suffecient value to a subscription, that's fine.  Beyond providing Master Skins for free (which we can't do, since they're not ours to give away) what would make it a better value to you?

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As a general note to everyone... this poll and this discussion is in no way an indication that we're going to lock the galleries to subscribers only.  There is far more value in keeping this site open to everyone who wanders by, than we could get out of subscriptions if we locked the content away.  What is free today will likely be free tomorrow.  We are looking for NEW stuff to put on the site, items that aren't part of the package today. 

Also, I'm not trying to imply that people should feel they HAVE to subscribe.  I would very much like each and every one of our millions of annual visitors to subscribe... that would make me very happy and make a huge difference for the site, but I'm not trying to say it is expected or required... just hoped for.  I am trying to find out what would make you WANT to subscribe.

I will also add to the ever growing list of those who would like to see a WIP gallery. I do not skin, however I believe that a WIP gallery would not only help skinners but give new people the confidence to take up skinning & submit work to get help on....skins that may never see the light of day otherwise.
We know that making good tutorials is a time consuming project but WIP's is a much simpler, less time consuming but just as effective way for experienced skinners to pass on their knowledge.
At the same time I believe that a WIP Gallery will also allow a peek into the Wincustomize Community that those who only go to the gallery pages to download will ever see. If we can not reach them on the front pages or Forums then maybe we can reach them there.

It's My Secret

Good points Zoomba...

Working on the basis of "the cat's out of the bag" isn't an easy one. I think with this discussion, bringing up a ton of viewpoints, we can rest assured that deciding to keep what is already free, free...is the only way to start in a new direction.

Now....on to what can make a subscription worth while.

MySecret and those that brought up the WIP gallery are ideas worth investigating. Artist based communities that can be accessed thru a subscription, the subtle discounts I've brought up...not just Master Skins, which by the way I do not endorse giving away for free just because of a user's status. People need to remember, that the Master's skins, do not belong to WinCustomize. They are the sole property of those that created them. Want them? Buy them from the way you are supposed to.

Zoomba, reach into what you already know works for a subscription. You're going to have to make the money worth spending. Yeah, I'm sure millions of those that come by every month would surely make ends meet for WC and Stardock..., and as Brad has asked before, what would you like to see be like other companies? Nothing...most don't make you feel as if your money was well spent!!

If I knew, I could be a large part of a community not yet developed, along with discounted goodies...$20/year would not only be worth it, it wouldn't even phase me to spend it.

But...the challenge is this: The competition is tough (deviantArt for example)...how does WC stand out from the crowd?

My take (a bit late)

1) I like the discount on master skins - that is significant as a benefit for being a subscriber. However, in and of itself, it isn't significant enough for me.

2) WC Browser (the program) - I don't use it. There's no real need for me, and the only way to make it really necessary would be to cripple the website (which I'd hate to see happen).

3) Website features - Well, there's not much WC as a website offers that isn't available elsewhere besides the CONTENT. By which I mean - the personal homepage. It is nice if you're a hardcore member of this website, or if you PRODUCE a lot of your own content here. However, just as a photo gallery, etc.... Those things are free on Flickr and many other sites. To try to sell WC subscriptions based on features that are done better elsewhere for free doesn't seem right.

Really what it comes down to for me - as a purchaser of many stardock products - is that I come to WinCustomize for one thing - content to use WITH my purchased stardock products. Without this website, I probably would still be using uxtheme hacks rather than WB.

In light of that, the only real motivation to buy a subscription to THIS site, as opposed to any other, is if it added value to what I come to THIS site for - which is skins.

How can that be done? Well, as on the vote - more premium skins. Perhaps a useful application, something that MIGHT go into Object Desktop but doesn't have to. For example - maybe a replacement for SysStats (which seems to have been abandoned) that works on Vista, and works with all stardock products to create easily user-extensible objects. I for one, know that I have pretty much quit using ObjectDock since it doesn't seem to play nicely with SysStats anymore. Some kind of premium CONTENT related to the content that actually drives users to WC, will be a huge incentive toward purchasing a subscription.

Don't try to compete with sites such as DeviantArt - there's no need. WC is not a tech/art portal, and it shouldn't try to be. It is a portal for CUSTOMISING WINDOWS - or so the name and product list implies. Subscription features should focus on this.

FWIW - I *did* subscribe to WC this year. I'm probably not going to renew the subscription unless there are substantive changes however. I did it merely to support the site, but at some point, I like to get something tangible for my money.

I was lead to believe Wincustomize and Deviant merged or are merging. What I have to wonder if that's true is ... what this merger would cost?; and who's paying?
Personally, I don't see the benefits of those two merging - outside of hardware, software and human assets merging under one P&L; cutting combined operating costs.

That was an April Fool's joke.

I've been here from almost the begining and have subscribed from the start.  What ever is offered as an inducement is fine by me.  The 2 things I would like to see is....1..Speed and ease.....2... Whatever is promised, deliever.

I'm going to be simple about this.. cheaper ... once the exchange rate is kicked in it gets a little much if you aren't in the US.