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Stirring the pot
Published on February 25, 2008 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

One of the most controversial galleries on WinCustomize is, without a doubt, our wallpaper section.  In the past 90% of all work submitted was rejected out-right.  Now, more is let through, but still the vast majority is placed on a user's personal page instead of the main gallery.  This has met with mixed reactions from wallpaper artists and users alike.  Some do not like the relaxed requirements, claiming that it has ruined the quality of the gallery.  Others contend that we're being too restrictive and driving away wallpaper artists to other sites such as DeviantArt, Interfacelift etc.

So I thought this week we'd put it to an actual vote.  Let everyone voice their opinion on how they would like wallpaper moderation to be handled. 

At the moment, moderators look at a wallpaper submission, and decide whether it's personal-page-only, or main gallery material.  The general metric we use is if something would be rated a 5/10 or higher (or 2.5 stars), it's good enough for the main gallery, 4/10 and lower goes to the personal page.  We only reject broken submissions, submissions with bad preview images, or rips.

So, is our new policy to send some items to the personal page, and others to the main gallery a good one?  Is the 5/10 threshold an acceptable limit, or should it be raised or lowered?  Vote on the poll, and share your opinion in the comments below.


Comments (Page 8)
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on Feb 28, 2008
Too funny!!!
on Feb 28, 2008
Topic . . there was a topic?    
on Feb 28, 2008









on Feb 28, 2008
Well, I actually like Fuzzy's original idea about having a gallery where the walls are kept on a temporary basis and only remain longer than a set period of time (week, two weeks) if they achieve a certain number of downloads. After that time, they are moved to the submitter's personal page. I don't think this is the same as the problem that Zoomba suggested would occur in regards to having a ratings-based system, because if you look at the skins that receive large number of downloads, they usually tend to be ones on which there is a broad-based consensus of high quality--at least, I believe this to be the case; it certainly seems to be with galleries like OD and WB.

I don't know how comfortable I am with the idea of the kind of heavy moderation that Zoomba describes as the original wallpaper moderation scheme. My primary reason for this is that wallpapers, almost more than many other skins, seem to be really subjective.

(Yes, I've submitted a total of two walls to the site and both were rated poorly; I respect that and concede they may not be the best or even particularly technically sophisticated, but they were images that I enjoyed creating and having on my system. So this is not about me and my work; I'm not a wallpaper guy because I'm not really much of an artist. However, I've seen walls, even some that come with premium suites that, to me, look terrible and I don't really want on my desktop.)

Am I alone in feeling like wallpaper-judging is much more subjective than many of the other galleries? Based on the poll results, I'm definitely in the minority about disliking intense moderation.
on Feb 28, 2008
Hm..
Wonder why this was PP-only? A glitch?
http://spyderbytegraphx.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=35418&libid=8
on Feb 28, 2008
rejections should be taken as constructive criticism... thus pushing designers to submit better material ... which will in term, help enhance their design skills (sorry for the run on sentence) as it stands now, people dont even try their best because they know that ANY design they come up with will get posted ...
on Feb 28, 2008
rejections should be taken as constructive criticism... thus pushing designers to submit better material .
If walls are classified as art then there may be no good definition of "better"
If they are classifies as good design for having icons on top of with little destraction . . it's a different thing altogether.
on Mar 03, 2008
The general metric we use is if something would be rated a 5/10 or higher (or 2.5 stars), it's good enough for the main gallery, 4/10 and lower goes to the personal page.
I find this statement to be untrue. A recent submission by myself was rated at 2.5 stars and was still put in my personal page only I find the whole wallpaper moderation process mystifying. I'll give an example. Good enough for main gallery: WWW Link Not good enough: WWW Link I'm not in anyway bashing Sk, he's a truly gifted artist , this is just an example. 2of3 runs and hides because he knows he's gonna get some flack for this post
on Mar 03, 2008

Skins submitted by those of Journeyman level and above do not pass through moderation   

Such individuals have earned that right through their overall contribution to the site and skinning in general.

on Mar 03, 2008
Personally, I like your wallpaper. However, a moderator's personal taste is not counted when moderating wallpapers, like/dislike - the door swings both ways   
on Mar 03, 2008
Skins submitted by those of Journeyman level and above do not pass through moderation


2of3 slaps forehead

I actually knew that.....


note to self:

THINK before posting

Thanks for not blasting me!
on Mar 03, 2008
Thanks for not blasting me!


 . . for next time. 
on Mar 03, 2008
Definitely NO to a DA type site!
on Mar 04, 2008

I find the poll fascinating™. History suggests moderators have always received flak for taking a hard line towards wallpaper moderation, which isn't true btw, but here we have the majority saying they want stronger moderation...

WinCustomize once proudly boasted it had the finest collection of wallpapers on the internet. Sadly that hasn't been true for some time. Lets hope a rejuvenation of the wallpaper gallery puts it back where it belongs and gives the wallpaper artist a real chance to showcase their work.

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