That's not in my comfort zone, sorry  

I'd still like to hear some ideas (maybe in a seperate post) on how to attract more female skinners.

I would happily lend *my* efforts to that effort.

My personal opinion is that once you do try to attract one particular segment it is a start down a very slippery slope. The only way is down and it is impossible to turn around and to get back to where you were.

Make sure that all rulls and proceudures that are established for anything are fair and just and without thought as to whom you are looking at. That's all that can be done.

There will always be someone that will feel they were over looked for some reason. That will never change not matter what you do. By the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. To me that shows that the person cares and wants to be part of the community.

I wrote this in another post but, "Life is like babies, it doesn't come with an instructional manuel".

Have a great day.  

i think the main idea is WomenSkinners here need to be themself and skin for fun if they love what they made and speaks around about that to others (men and women) THE word is launched: You can be a woman and make skin and get fun with that as a hobby or more.
Again the problem is not the numbers of download or ratings it's more being happy with what you do.
If you are happy to skin and tell it you'll import some more people in skinning community and maybe more females.
In the same time, If you are happy to skin and be a part of the community day after day no mater how good/feminine/masculine/..../Gothic/.... yours skins are. Cause if you hang up in forums in helping around in same times as you make skins (not only on WC) (that's what i call being active) people will go on your page to see who you are and look at your works to see it also.
All is there i think: Be happy, have fun, help others, skin for YOU as well as for others, Speak around and express that you are happy in the skinning community.

I agree with Quentin  that people usually arrive and stay organically but having said that . . if anyone had any ideas to attract women/youngsters/Marians/whoever to WC and skinning I'd be happy to jump in.

Each of us as individuals should "recruit" our peers as best we can.  If *we* can't sell this stuff, no one can. 

Huh?...what about Bridgets and Josephines and Sandras and...  

While feminine Skins are not of my taste.. I can appreciate the quality and work involved and rank them accordingly to Quality,aesthetics,the over all flow.etc. no matter wether a skin has a flower pattern or USMC insignia, a well built, pleasant looking, skin will get a good rating from me...a bad one wont...

Ive never looked at gender of a skinner as a basis for if their good or not.... Starone has been and always will be one of my most fave skinners...as well as alexandrie, whose masterful skills I one day hope to replicate.

on a side note:
I would love to see more fluffy skins as im hoping to entice the MRS. in to customizing her desktop.( maybe then she will ease up on "skinning time" complaints)

I figure that if it came into my head, it's probably a stale idea already, but I put forward the following methods:

promote skins that would appeal to women (i.e. pink (@jafo) )

maybe switch some jargon in the advertising to ensure that women realise it is not a male 'sport'.

how 'bout ensuring that some images of women get onto Stardock's site

try to get some of the women skinners to write reviews etc. It'll let other women know that it's 'their game' too.

approach some common technical/computer sites that women frequent and ask them to promote the product or link to a page stardock would customize toward appealing to these (more of those pink colors (@jafo again) )

If this post comes out really bad, then please blame the makers of the WinCustomize Discussion section of Stardock. My forum posts won't allow me to hit the enter button, which makes it VERY difficult to correct grammar etc...(::insert more excuses here::   )

If you want to attract more women, open a shoe store. The servers will crash by noon.   

Good ideas and most of which can be done by the individual who wants to push skinning to the women of the internet. I think linking back to your personal page at WC on other forums might be a good way to spread the word. Also, anyone can write a forum post or news article about a skin or skinner. (Articles go through moderation though)

It is interesting to me though that not all women want feminine skins and that type of stereotyping might drive just as many women away. My wife like minimal skins more than the "girlie" ones.

Spreading the word about skinning in other forums might be the best start. Link to your WC gallery or the WB top ten gallery when you visit other sites. Post your desktop on other forums as part of your sig ( I like Rumshot for that)

Thats about the best idea yet. I am sure we can dress up Po and Skinhit to do some undercover work in the ladies forums.

One of the best things about WinCustomize is that it is largely driven by the community.  You folks have the most power when it comes to promoting and encouraging artists on the site.  You're also the most powerful marketing force there is when it comes to spreading the word of WinCustomize and skinning to the 'net at large.

Like it has been said, if the community wants to more actively encourage female skinners, the community has to step up and do something about it.  This isn't a problem that can be fixed by "someone else"  If this is an issue that is important to you, you're the only one you can rely on to promote the issue.

Write articles (and there is NO article moderation queue.  all articles are accepted, but only select ones are featured.  They have to be well-written and longer than a few sentences to qualify). 

Start more community projects.  Gather together all the female skinners in a single group and start working on skins and suites.  What's stopping you from forming an all-woman skinning studio?  MaxStyles could use some competition!

Are you involved in other female-oriented online communities?  Get them involved, try and bring in more people to fuel and promote the cause.

My point is that if it's an important issue to you, you need to start working to improve the situation too. 

We will always officially promote users based on their contributions and the quality of their work.  Being male, female, disabled, healthy, European, Asian, American etc makes absolutely no difference to us.  Items selected for featuring on the front page, in periodic round-ups etc are picked based on their quality.  We work based on achievement, not based on minority profile.  We also do not work under the idea that people are owed any rank or title.  It's not something anyone is entitled to, it is something that is earned.  No one wants to be "given" a promotion, they want to earn it.  That's how we're going to continue to operate too.

No matter how many times I'm told that I forget next time I type it.  Sorry folks.

I may be opening myself up to some real heat with this...

While we're at it, why not do special promotions to increase the activity of the following groups:
American Skinners, Afro American Skinners, Chinese Skinners, Bald Skinners, Fat Skinners, Skinny Skinners, Redheaded Skinners, Blue Haired and Blond Eyed Skinners, Skinners with spots, and Skinners with Stipes....

As far as I knew, this and most all other skinning communities are for SKINNERS. No distiction is necessary for enjoyment.

A brilliant idea.  

They seem to do a good enough job of that all by themslves   

Here's an idea to attract the ladies.. a Pinup calender featuring all the popular male skinners in their tighty whitey's free with purchase of WB 





I know..   

Duane, I wanted to say the same thing.

Another way to help is for Master Skinners to take on apprentices and help them along the way. Like Jedi's.

without me! they will go back home and never back here if i'm there

Women wishing to be an apprentice should leave there measurements, best recipe, and picture of Mother.   

Have we hit bottom yet?   

- I thought the idea was to attract the ladies, not repulse them   

Seems like I remember collecting this info some twenty odd years ago. Wonder whatever happened to that apprentice???

I like a lot of those ideas, but maybe not put up pictures of the skinners themselves...maybe they could use stand-ins...

Anyway, I had a look at what comes with applications like ObjectDock and Object Desktop (Theme Manager) and guess what? No "pinks" ship with either of the above programs (from what I downloaded in July/Aug anyway). How do you expect women to fall for programs that ship with mainly 'manly' skins?

Personally, I have a website about multiple Operating Systems. I'll upload a bit there about ObjectDock and Object Desktop with links back to Stardock, BUT I refuse to download and apply a 'pink' skin. If anyone HAS such a desktop, perhaps they could put a screenshot up here for me to use?

Thanks and regards,
Daniel

Plenty skins can be recolored pink, fact is skins for the most part dont look manly or girly, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Women like all the colors of the "spectrum" (shameless plug).. I would assume.   

Hmmm...yes, the Eye of the Beholder...but about recolouring skins, how many people have the time or desire to recolor someone else's skin? (and that's not even taking copyright into account ) And I should be OK for getting images of 'pink' skins...I'll just screenshot whatever comes out in the Stardock Central skin browser...and add big signs stating, 'I DO NOT USE A PINK DESKTOP'  ...

(I'm certainly NOT chauvinist, just believe that there are inherent differences that ought to be emphasised, NOT denigrated...whatever...my opinions are like every other undergraduate's...infallible   )