All master skinners are true master skinners.

This. I still think that very few master skin customers actually take the time/trouble and have the know-how to modify them. Making it slightly more difficult to do so I don't see affecting a large number of people in a huge way, certainly not enough to offset the benefits.

Some Master Skinners / Skins are better than others.  It would be nice to say that ALL Master Skinners are on the same level, but that is a false statement.  There is NO denying that.

That's just a matter of opinion. They have all earned the title of "master" and in that way, they are equal. Any word, like "true" placed in front of the term "master skinner" is arbitrary.  They are all master skinners.

Look at Mannis Member No and You know where that comes from. We still live in a world of Alexandrie, Treetog and Mike B. and even no more active skinners like Thredz, Hippy and Dangeruss. So bare with him.

We have had that discussion with Audio CDs and Games and at least with audio copy protection disappeared quite fast as it was a pain even for legal consumers. Stardock itself is quite proud of having no copy protection in its games. So now there should be copy protected WBs just to be cracked on a constant base ?

And : If Stardock even hasn't enough manpower to get their normal business done, how should they get a whole new copy-protection going ?

It is  good to hunt for pirate sites to get them down, but I am very sceptical about software-protection in skins.

@warreni

I think the opposit. There isnt one skin i dont modify for my taste or needs and i think a lot of people do the same.

With the level "true" i meant no disrespect to the other masterskinners, but the few i mentioned, you can add danillooc to my list, are producing skins on a much higher level than the other masterskinners and so i think they will make much more money with skinning then others and i never heard an opinion from them to this topic. They certainly will make less money when the skins get encrypted. Why havent we seen any new mycolors themes in month? Maybe because the customers dont buy enough of them, because they cant work with the encrypted graphics, i dont know.

I dont like the way vampothika is looking for.

No.  It's fact.  Yes, they have all earned the title of Master.  But you can't say that all Masters are equal.  That's fanboy talk right there.

I can.

We don't promote people to 'Master' because it was a quiet day and had nothing else to do.

Each 'gets there' when his/her time is right.

If there's a 'difference' at all it's going to be 'age'. An 'old' Master will likely have a more extensive 'portfolio' than a young one.

Might have gathered a greater following over time, too.

Other than that...they're equal...

When I'm finished what I'm saying here I done talking on this thread so reply all you want but I won't respond as it's been hijacked enough and your not worth continuing with.  You have been here since 2001 and am entitled to have your favorite skinners. If you choose not to expand your capabilities into future years and new skinners so be it. A statement and a question was made by Kitty to start this thread after things were tossed about there was a reply on I believe page 6 that she replied back with a thank you and it appears she is sitting back and going to wait to see what happens. I have no idea how you could call her starting an avalanche and what you mean about "I don't like the way vampothika is looking for" have no idea what that pertains to. There is also no way for you to know if any Masters are actually selling skins, but you appear to know Kitty is frustrated because she isn't selling skins. I have never said a mean think in the forums about anyone, so congrads to you as you are a total ass and have no respect for any skinners except for your few. So I'll finish by saying there are many different skinners and types of skinners and they are all of great value to this community and have taught me a lot. Where would this place be if only the skinners around were from 2001. So show some respect for all "manni" or the the hell up.

I think the whole point has been missed in all this discussion.  The original point was to stop pirate sites from distributing files illegally.  I do not believe encrypting files to disallow editing of the graphics would do any good at all, they could still be distributed illegally and the scum that downloads them from those sites could still use it, just not edit it.

We need something that only allows the file to be used by the original purchaser. 

Ok.  They are all equal.  Because they are Master Skinners. 

Only if you missed my 'suggestion', lad...

Read it again...it's more than 'just' preventing a skin from being altered...it's specifically about the skin being tracable if pirated.