Did it ever cross your mind though, that I (and others) just
like the color scheme of this particular skin? It's not about the efford. I spend an enormous ammount of time on my forums, mostly making content, and making sure everything stays secure, and functionality of it is flawless. For me the logo and the simplicity is what makes the house style on our forums. Even though it has the default skin, the little customization it has still makes it very recognizable compared to other sites.
I can understand though why this might be difficult to understand for some people. I never cared much for complete customization, I guess this is something very personal and some think it's important while others don't care for it that much
You have a point there, and my first post seems a bit too strong about it now that I read it again. One example of forums where people care a lot about the skin are game forums. But they too need a custom skin that looks good and fits their main site (if they have one). A $50 custom skin is still a bad choice IMO.
I will rephrase my initial statement: 'Most people don't even like custom skins
if they look worse than the default.' I think you might find that a more reasonable statement.