EXTREME Traffic!

Is it means that the people without account can not view or download all the skin categories?

And why the traffic will increase when Windows XP ships?

I am asking because your message is important but not very clear for me

Currently at this moment people without an account cannot view or download any skins. This is only a temporary measure. Once the traffic dies down we will turn off this restriction.

I cannot see how With Windows XP Shipping that it will increase the Vistors to this site. You only need to look at windows XP Skins over the past few months to see what kind of downloads they get. If anything interest in XP skin as such will decrease. As for Window Blinds XP users and new WindowsXP users, a good majority of these people will be people who will have upgraded their OS to XP. So the site traffic in these area's won't have gotten any higher I would have thought.

As for user accounts for the Library..?! sorry another confused customer here... We already have an account you want us all to sign up again for another one ?? is this right ? otherwise we dont see the library ? pfft! well its not that plain to me and like Adni18 wouldn't mind mre information to elaborate on this thread.

Pat - some of us WITH accounts can't get in at the moment - took me 20 minutes to get here.

your not alone

It means people who don't have accounts (anonymous users) cannot browse or download skins. That's it.

The sections might be slow for those of you with accounts but you can at least reach them.

We'll just have to disagree. Most people are unaware of Windows XP still. And XP will introduce the idea of changing your look and feel of Windows.

Best of all (for us), you get Windows XP, you get 3 choices in looks. That's it. You want more? Too bad. Unless you get WindowBlinds XP which can not only add more looks but let you change the color of many existing skins on the fly.

As for accounts, people are creating accounts which is good. We normally get 50 new accounts per day. So far this afternoon we've had 600.

I agree with the account thing. Good move.

But I don't understand either how WinXP will bring more people to the site. Is there going to be a link from say the "Display Properties" panel that would read "For more Windows themes, visit Wincustomize.com."?
People can already change their skins with Windowblinds, I don't see how that will be different with WindowblindsXP... Cause unless there is a place within Windows that lets people know about WB and/or this site, people will have no clue how to get new themes/skins...

A lot of people still don't know the joy of skins, when those people will know they can put skins on their windows, they will want to know if there is any other skins they can find on the net.

My point was that with Windows XP and Window BLINDS XP, many of the users here already, will in some percentage upgrade to windows XP and use Windowblinds XP anyway. So for downloading themes for XP and making them it is generally business as usual for many of use who plan on upgrading. This doesn't increase traffic. The increase would come from people who have bought windowsXP and know about Wincustomize.com and also know about the release of Windowblinds XP. Unless there is a good advertising link for things like Windowblinds XP and the benefits of using skins, then most people will still be oblivious to these programs, and wont increase traffic. Everyone using WB already knows about the WBXP version. If they upgrade they will, if they get WinXP.

I mean sure there are Three Luna Themes in XP right now. But remember Microsoft plan on launching their own Windows XP Themes site, so more themes will become available on the Shipping of XP itself, through Microsoft. So if people see they can get themes from MS's WinXP theme's site why would many of these people even think about Windowblinds XP ?

Don't get me wrong on this, I am just saying that Windowblinds XP will need the right kind of publicity to gain the kind of Bandwidths your talking of. Well until XP is really here it is just speculation still

So, just out of curiosity, how many account holders does Wincustomize have at the present time?

We're up to 1600 new accounts today (which is more than all last month).

Cat, all I can say is that the average person has never heard of Windows XP.

So do I have an account, like the one I use here for and example. Or does my Object Desktop, registration count, or what?

wow i think thats a really smart way to even out the traffic ... smart

I think it is a good idea also, for I do understand the cost aspects that high traffic can generate. But I have a small suggestion to not drive some visitors away. How about having the top ten downloads for the past week or day available to all the visit the site. Or something along those lines. This was the average user that wants to explorer but not register can still see the best of the best, and have an idea what all there is to enjoy here on this site and other skin/digital art based sites. This may draw more people into the folds and encourage visitors instead of possibly discouraging repeat visits.

Just the mental ramblings of the insane...so pay it no mind if it does not make sense.

Well MobiusCo returns to the nice padded room..

Cygnus, nothing is changed for us, you, me, and the whole gang here. You have an account since I can read you on this msgboard and see your name at the bottom of your post. Anonymous downloads won't be allowed in peak times, that's all it meens, and that's good, IMO.

Forgboy, Alex, I understand that the average user doesn't know about XP (although they are gettnig to hear about it more and more...), just like very very little people in the computer industry knows what a "skin" is. My point is that I don't think that the average user will learn any more about skinning with WindowsXP.
Take Outlook stationeries for example. Outlook introduced them a while ago, and they are cool. But how many people do you know actually make their own stationeries? Hardly anybody. I personally it will be a similar effect with WindowsXP and skins. Why? For a few reason. First, I believe a very small minority of XP users will ever find out that they CAN actually change their theme (skin); second, of those who will find out that there are 2 other themes they can choose from, another small minority will find out that it is actually possible to get even MORE skins from the Internet. And of those who do find out they can get more skins from the Internet, how many will actually come here? Why should they? How will they find out about this site?

Anyway. I could be wrong. I think there may be an incease indeed, but I actually think the release of DesktopX probably had a bigger effect on this site than the release of XP will. My opinion.

I totally agree with ths idea ( WC just for registered users)!!!
I 'll support any idea that would help WC to not became just an OS skin's repository to people that doesn't care about the site.
NICE MOVE!

Paxx is correct - nothing changes for any of us. Just when the server is at unusually high activity, if you want to browse the skin sections, you have to be logged on.

If I hadn't made a post, none of the regulars would even know there was a change since to all of us here, the site behaves exactly the same.

But log off, go to a section, and it'll give you a message about needing to logon.

In a few days, things should be back to some semblance normality. The theory was that a significant percentage of users would simply not use the site but we actually ended up with 2600 new accounts yesterday and as I type this, 12:43 am, 160 new ones today (160 in 43 minutes).

We also have a mechanism to track how many users are on the site at a given time. As I type this, there are 201 people currently on the site.

Regarding XP, you could be right Paxx, we'll know soon.

maybe a lot of new accounts but they ain't posting yet!

christ, 201 people on at once? How in the hell did this site get so popular so fast? Is the skin traffic distributed semi equally amonst the other sites?

That, Frank, will remain a mystery unless the admins of the different sites care to share that with us.

I thought I heard Skinbase tells how many people are currently connected.

I think both Skinbase and Deviantart have something that tells you how many people are on.

Those numbers are staggering!
It makes me appreciate even more the mere existance of this site. Congrads on the popularity of this site admins. I hope it's translating into some increased interest in Stardock's products.

Brad has in the past brought up the theory that WXP will actually help WindowBlinds, because it would introduce people to skinning.

I was always a bit skeptical of this, but that's exactly what I'm seeing in the WXP beta groups. People are excited by the themes, but frustrated that they have so few choices.

Myself and others have introduced a great many of these people to WBXP and this site. These are people who were clueless about WB and skinning in general.

And mind you, this is only people participating in the WXP preview program and who have chosen to participate in the WXP beta newsgroups. Once WXP hits the masses, I would expect word of mouth to dramatically increase the popularity of WBXP, which can only lead to increased traffic here.

It's possible, but don't forget that these people are tekies, more intrested in customizing their comp than the average user. And didn't you say that they had never heard of WB before? How do we expect the masses to find out about WB's existance? I'm talking about the masses here, who have even never heard about Winzip...
but as Brad said, we'll know soon.