that response is just the company line
Not at all, that is exactly how I feel about it. Do I like downloads? Sure. But having a certain number displayed somewhere on this site is not my goal at all.
I really don't care if it's accurate. I don't care if I am ever in the top 10 skinners, or whatever. That is not important to me at all. What is important to me is that people like my skins and use them. Comments on my skins are much more important to me than download count.
I would be just as happy if no one ever saw how many downloads I got on a skin (like the way Master skins are). I would be just as happy if there were no ranking on the right side of the site for who is in the top of whatever catagory. It simply is not important. Download count accuracy is needed only on master skins, because that is dealing with money, and no one sees the download count on those except the skin creator anyway.
As long as I am satisfied that I did the best I could on a skin, and the people getting it like it as well, then I am a happy gal.