If you gamers think skinning is BS then you should stop using the smiles. They were created by a....SKINNER.

Not me! I eat what I can while it's still warm and leave the rest for the other animals.

I'd like to see a statistic of how big Stardock's customization focus is compared to the gaming aspect. Since it's been said elsewhere that the customization portion is much bigger, but the gamers seem to think otherwise. An official number on this would be enlightening. (example: 80% customization, 20% gaming, etc)

All I said was that I didn't understand what all the hoopla was about and that *in my opinion* it's merely cosmetic. You act as if I killed your grandmother. 

However the smilies *were* in fact discussed and I believe at the time I liked them to Hannah Montana. Actually I still stand by that characterization.

What's with the new smilies?

Customization could be 80%, 90% or 99.9% of Stardock's business but I don't see how that makes people interested in such things better customers or warrant the attitude of superiority.

As far as being a "gamer" I have mentioned that I own precisely two games other than Solitaire, Minesweeper and whatever else came with the OS, but I guess that puts me in the "gamer" box. Fine, so be it. It matters little to me.

For the many users out there Kryo, that is fine and understandable. But when a Stardockian is showing that behaviour it is a far more worrying thing.

Comments about games and skinning is not the point, there is obviously a market for each and there will be folks who care adn those that don't. What the true issue is, and what this thread was about, is that the two camps, just because they happen to both be part of the SD family are not apt at getting along.

Wincustomize has been around for a while, so it has becaome obvious that many users/devs from WC feel that everyone, as you point out Kryo, should be aware of WC. Ok, i actually see some sense in that, WC users feel we have come into their domain, they would be reading this from wincustomize.com i assume, so they believe we have come to their site.

Much like the debate that raged some months ago with the influx of OT threads into GC2. The blending of sites mixes users with very different tastes that have joined their respective sites and are now being thrust together.

Mumble and i for instance joined GC2.com as we play the game and choose to be part of the community that goes with that. That is my one and only reason for going to GC2.com. I don't expect to find an online auction there, thats a different site. I don't expect to find user uploaded video's, again a different site. It is why it is so frustrating to find Religious/Political/JU/WC/Impulse topics on a game site. (ok i'll grant Impulse as much as it bothers me)

Had GC2 the fan base of WC and vis versa, would not the WC users be complaining that they have come to their skinning site to be part of the WC community yet find themselves bombarded by Abundant all stratagies and talk of Carriers and Governers.

Stardock may as well abandon the GC2 forum. I'm serious, why bother with the upkeep of yet another site when it's just rolled into the SD network anyway. That could be said for any one of the SD sites that don't have the traffic of Impulse/WC...Ju?

Our (GC2) threads get obscured by topics not associated with the purpose of the site, like this thread for example. I still fail to see how that helps the greater community. I have nothing ill toward skinners/bloggers. I just have a different taste and wish to be part of a community that reflects that.

Why can't GC2 be that community, it used to. The arguement can be made for any part of the SD network.

Drill'n Boss & Bebi.

You make my point further more for me. One persons opinons of his outlook of skinning does not mean gamers see skinning as BS. I love WB, i am a gamer. I can't skin but i sure use them, i just don't need to discuss the many aspects of it. As i  am sure you guys have played a game before in your lives but felt no need to join a community based on that game.

Bebi, you say gamers seem to think otherwise about skinning being bigger than gaming. Where was that written? I know i granted that WC is bigger than GC2. The argument was never about who is bigger or better but you guys seem to want to prove my point and follow Jafo with his defensive attitude.

Guys..and Gals...It matters not who is the greater slice of the SD pie. It has been proven here that the many slices do not see eye to eye and have little in common with each other.

Why we must share forums is beyond me...

Countering the statement/opinion/whatever that skinning is about vanity is hardly an attitude of superiority....other than the impression given by that comment that skinning is somehow 'trivial' and beneath a gamer.

The gamers' GalCiv as well as the skinners' Windowblinds are BOTH the products of artisans at Stardock, both valued equally.

I don't give a toss whose side of a fence one likes to prance around on....you slight skinners/skinnables and you slight the likes of Neil Banfield....you slight games and it's Cari Elf.

I'm equally happy to jump to the defense of either/all.....but I'm not going to bother explaining myself repetitiously to the deliberately obtuse.

When someone asks the question 'what is it about skinning'? expect an answer.

When someone verbalises profound indifference...well good for him.

When someone suggests skinning is for the character-flawed then expect a rebuttal.

************************

Re the Op....yes. it's a 'blog'.....though it seems to have been hijacked.

It ain't likely to change re the forum interlinking....simply because Stardock itself is multi-faceted so, too will be the forum topics/interest...

You guys still seem to miss the point. tha fact that you guys are so quick to jump on the defensive when an opinion was given and to attack the gaming side is, IMHO, an attitude of superiority.

Especailly when the comments are coming from someone from SD. Furthermore, i would expect an SD employee who is in a postion of power and respect on the forums to be above petty comments. I'm sure i'd find myself on the short end of a ban if i was to be insulting. Your opinon is not fact, regardless of the forum rank you may wear.

No point arguing about this anymore. You guys are just interested in making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Have at it.....

Where is the "shrugs shoulders and gives up" smilie.

Let me be just a bit blunt here.

There is one word we all need to focus on....community.  I see a lot of "attitude" going around from several sides because they don't like or are necessarily "into" the other.  That really needs to be stop as we are all, as another poster said, at Stardockia. 

The cross-forums aren't going anywhere, it's just not gonna happen.  Are there improvements that need to be made, or changes to make the experience easier for folks....maybe, and I know there are some plans in the works for them.  But regardless, people need to learn to respect one another.  There are specific forums for skinning, there are specific forums for Games, and there are specific forums for Impulse related topics.  Right now this is in the Personal Computing section which stretches across all platofrms because......personal computing is a general topic that applies to all whether it's a PC issue, or just someone looking for advice on hardware or something.

What I was arguing was that people's site of origin should be known so as to provide some basis of context as to their interests, etc.

The second point was that it should be well known what forums are shared among which sites and the relative importance placed on that forum by any particular site.

For example this forum is forums.galciv2.com/forum/1 and it's also forums.wincustomize.com/forum/1. I don't know if there any special meaning in the forum number but to me forum number 1 implies an old, well established forum. However on GalCiv2 the Personal Computing forum appears to be just a minor subforum of the Off Topic forum while on WinCustomize it's a major Category with multiple subforums below it and then on forums.stardock.com the forum doesn't even exist.

From this structure I have to assume that the WC site may very rightly feel that there is some level of proprietary ownership in that it's been "their" forum and now suddenly there are interloper "gamer" posting to threads that have previously been exclusively WC folks or whoever. I suppose I would feel the same way about response by non-GC2 folks in the GalCiv2 Metaverse forum.

The point has been made that forums will be shared. Fine. At this point all that I'm asking is the knowledge of what forums are shared with whom and suggesting that a system similar to the recently set up Forums/Site Issues forums would probably help things a lot. That way you truly have a set of known "global" forums and whenever you post or reply there you know that your audience is the world but also have a known set of "site local" forums where you're free to express yourself with primarily like minded folks.

I think such a system would be less aggravation for all concerned.

While you've made some valid points here, Mumbles, I do find this last part somewhat closed-minded... "people I don't particularly care to talk with in the first place."

I guess what I'm saying is that diversity is how we learn of things outside our own personal spheres... and humanity is as diverse in its thoughts, ideas and goals, etc, as  the insect world is with varied species.  To say that you do not particularly care to converse with people of different interests, thoughts and ideas to your own, to me, defeats the purpose of learning new things and embracing humanity for all its weird, wacky and wonderful differences.  To each his/her own is a good thing, up to a point, but when it excludes conversing with others, their opinions, thoughts and interests, you may just as well become a hermit and go live  in a cave.

As I said before, I am not an avid gamer and have no need for the latest and greatest... nor to log into Galciv or SOASE forums, either, but when some of those threads have crosssed over to Wincustomize, I have read quite a few of them with interest, not for the technicalities or specifics of the games, but to read of others ideas and points of view, etc.  Also, I better understand my wife's passion for PC game playing... and through watching her, I've learned to appreciate the artforms and skills required to create the codes, graphics and sounds that go into modern day games.  To cut a long story short, I've learned something and broadened my horizons a little more through embracing diversity... human differences and similarities.

Personally, I like the idea of having all Stardock's forums under the one umbrella... it provides that diversity of which I speak and thus opens up the world to greater possibilities... not to mention greater communication, something the World is sadly lacking in this day and age, despite the endless technology available to enable/make it easier. 

Yes, it would be better that the origins of threads/posts are easily identifiable... but still, it is not a bad idea.

BTW, Mumbles, while I was amazed at your comment and (therefore) addressed the beginning of mine to you, for the most part I am generalising and addressing the concept of cross threading = diversity/learning to the wider community as a whole, OK.

Basically the people that I don't care to talk to are the people that have already demonstrated to me that they're not going to listen to anything that I have to say and give it the least amount of credence. In this kind of case why would I want to talk to such a person. It appears to me that the only thing they're willing to hear is utter and total agreement to their position. It makes for a very one-sided conversation.

When someone tells you that every opinion you hold is not just an opinion but is an unreasonable opinion to hold while their every opinion is not opinion but fact then there is no chance of any kind of rational discourse. My closed mindedness is only in response to extensive closed mindedness that I've received from both User's and Moderator's of these forums.

Again I want to stress that "All generalizations are false, including this one", but in my personal opinion in general the treatment that I and other GC2er's have recieved from non-GC2 forum goers has not been good and frankly we're tired of being treated like the red-headed orphan.