Impossible Journey Up the Masters Level.

at least for me :(

from WinCustomize Forums
I have been submitting my work here since 2001…and after 400K plus download…I feel my journey to the top is getting more and more impossible. Well I know a lot of you skinner out there is doing this and sharing your work just for the fun of it…but for me… I got to have a target… And my target is I want to be at the Masters level so that I can get something back for the work I’ve put in.

But recently…I compare stats between mine with some old and new skinners…what I saw were a bit confusing. I saw few fellow skinners at the rank of Journeyman who have only half D/load count comparing mine and some Master Apprentice who only have less then 100K d/load count.

If skinners are judge on how the skinners get involve with the community than surely I’ll loose out since, I am not very good in English and coming from totally different background from most of people around here.. It’s a bit difficult to get involve.

And now we have Vista… even worst. As money is and will always be very-very tight for me. I cant afford to upgrade my PIII 800MHz PC ( don’t laugh .yup it still working and still capable producing good stuff) to anything near Vista requirement soon. I feel that I am totally out of the race. While the rest of your guys charging with your superfast computers and producing in-trend skins, I am still will producing those old looking stuff.

So I am kinda like at the junction here… should I just press on, get better and carry on doing this… or just turn around and get the grip on reality… & slowly fade away..

Hmmm… any ideas?
87,802 views 59 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

basj,  I certainly hope that you can meet your goal.  Remember though, what defines the higher ranks:

  • Journeymen
    A handful of "super-citizens" will be at this class. These are people who are significant contributors to the community. The honorific "Sir" or "Lady" is appended to the front of their name. If you're a journeyman, then you are one biggest contributors to WinCustomize.com. The difference between a Journeyman and an Apprentice is that a Journeyman is contributing significantly to WinCustomize in particular as well as the skinning community in general. A Journeymen's skin is automatically made available upon uploading. It does not have to go through moderation first. As a result, only the most trusted users will become Journeymen because of this power.  They also have the ability to post news items to the front page of WinCustomize.com
     

Masters
These are the "elders" of the skinning community. People who have been around for awhile. Only a few people will be at this class. To be a Master, not only must the user be a significant contributor to the community, but instrumental to the day to day life of WinCustomize. A Master can do everything a Journeyman can do plus they can nominate and vote on users to be promoted. The honorific "Master" is placed in front of their name A master has to think of WinCustomize as their home skin website.  

Master users will also be able to sell their work through the WinCustomize store.

It's more than just submitting skins and getting them downloaded.  It's about helping out as much as you can the other people around here.  Try hanging out in the forums and helping out the newer skinners.  Write some tutorials on how you do what you do.

Sometimes it's not about what you do, it's who sees you doing it.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Write some tutorials on how you do what you do.


Might I suggest doing some in your native language? I have seen some in other languages and they must be helpful to those whose English may not be good enough to follow a tutorial in English.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If those are the reguirements then it looks like I'm not going to get to Master or even Journeyman. That's not too encouraging   and I thought I was getting somewhere.   It's not going to make me stop skinning but it does give me a different outlook on the titles.   
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thank you Sir Zubaz and Master Po'
For Zubaz...yup I agree and I wish I could hang out more on the forum..well actually I do read most of the forum post daily...just that...I cant really get involve...honestly I did tried..but..maybe people dont really get what I am trying to say... language barrier..

For Po'Smedley... Where should I upload those tutorial? here?
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For what it's worth, most of the people who get promotions here were surprised by them.  It certainly wasn't my goal.  Do wnat you can, do your best.  That's the best reward to yourself.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Give it more time. For some people, it take longer and for others it doesn't. Don't give up now!
All that hard work will be for nothing.
5 years ago, I was in the same boat as you. I was on an "old HP", that was on it's last legs, but I stuck it out, kept skinning and helped out any way I could.
It took me 5 years to become a Master and I know other people did it in way less time.

You should do like this one guy is doing (name withheld on purpose). He said about the same thing you did and was told "To be a Master, not only must the user be a significant contributor to the community, but instrumental to the day to day life of WinCustomize", and he's taking it seriously. 9 out of every 10 pages I go to, this person leaves a comment or "tries" (I use the word loosely) to help people out. Thier one main goal is to sell skins. This person will probably be a Master in 6 months. They will probably show up here any second and leave a comment, if they already haven't, while I'm typing this.

Keep up the good fight....

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
hmm..I'll try...thanks Sir Zubas.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
opss..miss that one..thanks...Master Z71 ... I never realise I am still in the middle of a fight since 2001
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Figure of speech....but you knew that, right?
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
what I saw were a bit confusing. I saw few fellow skinners at the rank of Journeyman who have only half D/load count comparing mine and some Master Apprentice who only have less then 100K d/load count.


I agree basj, I have seen some confusing ones also. I have seen someone at journeyman with just over 50K downloads and forum and article ranking in the 1700s and 1200s. Only skinning for one app not several as you do and has only been submitting skins for about 8 months nowhere near the almost 7 years you have been submitting skins.(that would be from Citizen to Journeyman in 8 months, huh?) There is no way IMO the person I am referring to should be a journeyman while you are still only Master Apprentice.
Lately I have seen some that seem a little fast tracked, going from Citizen to Master Apprentice and Journeyman in less than a year, it was a good 1 1/2 years for me to go from Apprentice to Master Apprentice.
IMO basj should be a Journeyman just based on how long he has been here.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For Z71..yes I knew it

For Cavan1, Now..I am not posting this to get promoted to Journeyman but I do thank you for what you are saying. And I am not trying to hurt anybody who already up there...surely who ever promoted them to that stage must have a good reason to do so and not promoting me and anyone else...also have their own good reason... just that it is confusing to see ppl can zoom thru...those level faster then the rest.

But, we can argue all nite long.. about how the promotion system goes. Maybe the thing is we need to be doing "the right thing" at "the right time" to get "the right ppl" to notice it . So what else can we do other then keep on skinning until we win the "fight" or die trying..
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For Po'Smedley... Where should I upload those tutorial? here?


Yes, Sir.
Upload them in the Articles section under 'Tutorials', I believe. if you go to the front page, under your name in the upper right hand corner you will see Submit article right below Submit to gallery.

I feel the same about having a goal. And it's not so much for the title and what comes with it, but the sense of accomplishment, which I get the feeling, that is what you are striving for.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For Po' Smedley...thank you Sir for pointing that out..I will try putting something on.. just that.. I wonder if there is much demand on my native language tutorial for skinning.

Totally agree on your second statement... accomplishment...not just for myself.... but for my wife and kids... since I been doing this for a long time... they asked me... what do we as a family get out of it? Sure you get 400K download...big deal....but what is there for us? ..
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hey Basj,

Couple of things..

Firstly, dont let the speed of your operating system or your OS limitation stifle your dreams or goals, No amount of processing power can make up for originality or innovation. It may take you a bit longer but you can create equally good and "In-Trend" skins on a slower PC, I know this, ive been working on pieces of crap for years. Xp will be around for a long time to come so dont stress too much on Vista. I have a PC now that can easily run it and I haven't even loaded it to take a look yet.

What I pride myself on in my skinning is that I WILL NOT GIVE UP and I will not settle for less than the very best I am capable of in every single image I create.

If you adopt a similar approach maybe it will help you too.

Also, dont get hung up on download counts..It'll just drive you crazy.. there really is no rhyme or reason to them. I pay them no attention. Its like a movie star reading the tabloids.

I like your work so far and with enough committment and hard work anything is possible..

I say KEEP ON SKINNING !!   
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I wonder if there is much demand on my native language tutorial for skinning.


I honestly don't know, but you could do one in both English and your native language.

If you want someone to check the English version, I'd be happy to. I'm guessing your English may be better than mine and English is my language. lol.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thank you vStyler
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm guessing your English may be better than mine and English is my language. lol.


  

Basj.. if you have MSN messenger.. add me at the address on my page.   
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I wonder if there is much demand on my native language tutorial for skinning.


Hard to tell.

But look at it this way...

I don't recall seeing any comments by you, looking for tutorials in your native language. Could it be, you just accepted tutorials would be in English and decided to just 'deal with it'? There's probable lots of folks with lots of other languages doing just that.

I think more tutorials in more languages would be a good thing.


Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think more tutorials in more languages would be a good thing.


i agree with this Bichur
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
for Po' Smedley : I dont think I am better then you in English. I really bad in spelling.

for vStyler : okay I'll add you..

for Sir Bichur. The thing is for tutorial sake and IMO tutorial is more easily consume if it is done in english since almost all the tool use to make it (the software and method to do it) come in english. And as far as my country is concern we usually teach or learn about computer software in English. Anyway I am not saying that I am not going to try to make it. Maybe making it in both, the english and native language, as Po's suggested would be the way to do it.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
okay I'll add you..


Good

Honestly, If your going to make some kind of tutorial I would make it in english and if theres a great demand for other lang. then do a translation.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
for Po' Smedley : I dont think I am better then you in English. I really bad in spelling


lol I would give Jafo a brain hemorrhage if it weren't for the spell check in Firefox.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You need stats? Here are some:

Sitehits: 270k, Rank 54.
Article Points: 44k, Rank 67.
Skin Comments Given: 1135, Rank 44.
Total Dls: 850k, Rank 34.
Years on WC as member: 5.
Years around WC: 7.
Title: Master Apprenctice.

Worry not man.

Eventually you'll find out that titles don't mean anything actually, nor do rules & regulations apply for everyone here.

It's the members interaction that counts. That's why i left.
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Just keep doing your best.  Good things come to those that wait.

Its a combination of everything, not just 1 thing.

Your 400k is nice but I've seen people that didn't make Master until they had over 2 million.

 

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For Po' :

For Cyberworld : And you left? Maybe you need to do some windowblinds skin to go with those real cool walls and Logon?

For WOM : yup keep on fighting ..