A while back I figured out how to skid, and now it's pretty easy for me to do, but some I talk to prefer skip-stopping; I can't seem to pull it off. Any tips?

Wouldn't that be (more or less) the same thing only in short spurts?

it's not hard...it depends on how you want to do a skip-stop
do you want to skip and slide your wheel to the side for a quick emergency stop, or just a skip stop to slow ya down a bit?

you just unweight your back wheel however you feel comfortable, thus letting the back tire get a bit of air, lock the pedals and let the back tire hit the pavement again....I don't find this to be effective in any way whatsoever

you can however unweight the back wheel and hop it in the air, and knock your thigh into the frame sending the frame to the side, thus doing an impromptu "hockey stop" always good for emergencies

hope this makes sense

Done the hockey stop on accident before. Works amazingly well, but a wee scary if its not what you were expecting to do.

All of the above suggestions are very valid, thus I will not burden you with repetition.

Unloading your stash pocket will help you get better weight distribution, though.

Short sideways skids work better for me and long straight ones, and the tire lasts much longer.

Well, everything I've read seems to suggest that skidding is supposed to be harder than skipping, vis a vis Greg Goode's FG101 tidbit that says "it requires a bit more skill to keep the wheel on the ground"-- but that seems to be what I'm doing-- the wheel stays on the ground. Perhaps leaning forward more is the key...

i prefer skipping through tall prarie grass with bunches of wild flowers in my hands...

oh wait fixed gear bikes...oh yea

why do i have an odd image of a track bike plowing through the foreground of a "little house on the prairie" episode????