Regarding Ports and Permissions

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: OS Customization

Over the past couple of months WinCustomize has had a huge influx of ports, with the majority going to the BootSkin and LogonStudio libraries.  In case you are not familiar with what a port is, it’s basically a skin, image, etc. which was created by one person, and uploaded by another user.  For example, a wallpaper artist might give permission for someone to use their wallpapers as logons, bootskins, etc.

This has been a long standing “controversial” issue, and I’m not about to open that specific discussion again, but there are things people need to keep in mind.

  1. Permissions are needed.  Skins uploaded without permission from the person who created the skin or image are considered rips.  People have been contacting me upset because their skin was rejected because permissions were not included.  There is no exception to this rule, and it applies to everyone.  Permissions also need to be clear and just a link to a site is not accepted. 

  2. Stock images need verification too.  If you are using “stock” images that are free to use, then you need to at least link to the page that explicitly states this. 

  3. Credits need to be given.  Since the skin is based off someone else’s work, they need to be credited in the skin description.

  4. Quality, not quantity.  We have had upwards of 50+ ports uploaded to each of the galleries a day.  Because of this, we have had to put up an un-written rule of a 5 port limit per day.  This many ports delays other skins from being moderated, especially when we have to verify permissions for each.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please direct them to this thread.

Frankief
Reply #1 Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:39 PM

Curious. Do the same rules regarding Credits apply to Screenshots or is it just a courtesy thing

Bebi Bulma
Reply #2 Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:50 PM

Frankief
Curious. Do the same rules regarding Credits apply to Screenshots or is it just a courtesy thing

Courtesy thing, since screenshots aren't uploaded as downloadable useable theme/files. I always include credits so 1) people can see what I'm using and track it down if they want, and 2) in case I forget which pieces I was using in case I want to use them again (which happens when you have 2.2GB of icons).

ZubaZ
Reply #3 Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:50 PM

Frankief
Curious. Do the same rules regarding Credits apply to Screenshots or is it just a courtesy thing
Since you cannot USE a screenshot, it's just a courtesy thing.  The same is actually true for Theme Manager suites (as long as you use the link option, not the bundling one).

Island Dog
Reply #4 Thursday, March 12, 2009 8:25 AM

Yeah, placing links and credits in screenshot uploads is good because it will help people find the skins, and give credit to the artists. 

Frankief
Reply #5 Friday, March 13, 2009 1:16 AM

Thank you all for the info!

Island Dog
Reply #6 Sunday, March 15, 2009 11:50 AM

I should also add, that if there is already a port of a skin in the gallery, another one is not needed of the same exact skin. 

 

HG_Eliminator
Reply #7 Sunday, March 15, 2009 6:14 PM

I should also add, that if there is already a port of a skin in the gallery, another one is not needed of the same exact skin.

 

Dam... HG_Eliminator scraps all 35 DX clocks for Space.....

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