Skill Chalanges are so not cool

[DMZ2112]

It's been mentioned a few times by the devs that skill challenges were written up originally to be a vague set of guidelines...

It's really easy to say you didn't mean to say what you said after you've already said it. Unfortunately, in Wizards' case, we have it all in writing. Their Skill Challenge rules are neither vague nor guidelines, and whatever they may have "intended," what they ended up with was worthless.

In my experience, challenges work best with three modifications:

-snip-

I agree with you completely, but I'm sure you realize that these modifications turn the "system" into what dungeon masters have been doing for as long as there have been skills or proficiencies in D&D, which is to say posing a problem to their players and then requiring skill checks as the players suggest actions that require them. Which is the way it should be done, with no bizarre and superfluous mechanics attached.