The Death of Professionalism

I have big issues with professionalism, and professional behavior. Everyone who has ever exchanged *email rants* with me has seen me use this word a lot: professionalism. I respect people who run their business in a professional manner. I likewise respect those buyers who conduct their transactions in a professional manner. My opinion...having spent a lot of hard earned money myself in my life...is that anyone who is willing to exchange that hard earned money for something you have to offer, deserves a certain level of respect in exchange for that transaction. Even people who don't buy...who are just shopping, who lose bids, who contact you with questions...these people have taken time out of their day to demonstrate an interest in something you have to offer. This alone demands a level of respectful conduct.

Oh there's a rant coming, can you feel it?

I have either been involved with or have witnessed an almost intolerable amount of unprofessional behavior in the eBay DIY community recently. I've been on the buyer's side of some of it too...involving MY hard earned money. Today I feel moved to comment on these matters. Just because its my blog so I can do what I want :) You see, I spend a lot of time lurking around eBay, and MySpace, and LJ, etc...I see a lot of things that go on that a lot of other people miss, I think. I'm waaaaay tuned in to the community...moreso than you think I am, moreso than I appear to be. I pretty much just sit in the dark corners, listening and watching.

1. A seller's About Me page is not an appropriate forum to air dirty laundry.

I don't know what it is. Well, yes I do. Its a combination of immaturity and ego. For some reason, some sellers think its totally appropriate to air their dirty laundry on their About Me page. An example - names withheld. Apparantly, an ebay shopper sent an email to a *big name* DIYer, expressing some opinions about some of the things the seller had on her About Me page. I will admit, the opinions this buyer expressed were a bit strong, and not presented in maybe the most *polite* manner, but she did have some valid points nonetheless. Rather than deal face to face with this buyer, this seller chose instead to post the buyers contact information, her email *at least the portion of it she considered rude...who knows what the full email said...maybe it was gushing love for her product...who knows* and her response to it on her About Me page.

The first thing I thought about this was, what was her intent in publishing this? Why air this laundry for the rest of the world to see? It seems fairly obvious that she feels she wields some sort of influence in the DIY community *which I suppose she does to some extent* and decided to use this forum as a way to exact a measure of revenge on the person who sent this email. By publishing this girl's contact information, she is in effect suggesting to her loyal fans and friends that they contact this girl and harass her. Send her some rude email back. Make her life a living hell, perhaps. Which by the way is not legal on ebay...it apparantly didn't take long for someone to tell her that, because the posting disappeared within a day and it wasn't ebay that did that...ebay wouldn't tell her to take it down, they would have just yanked her about me page, given her a strike one (or two or whatever) and told her to play nice or else.

Why publish this? What does this have to do with her product, her quality, her shipping rates, or anything that has to do with her business? It has nothing to do with it. It has no place on an about me page. It was a combination of ego, immaturity, and really I guess the desire to create some sort of drama for everyone around her to participate in. In any case, I lost a lot of respect for her when I saw that, and I think others did too. Well some...there are those that thrive on drama and just eat that crap up. I just think its unprofessional.

1a. A seller's About Me page is not an appropriate forum for that, either...

I could devote another entire litany of blog to the whole *myth of originality* issue (as so eloquently coined by Karmyn). As she said, life is not so much a straight road as it is a paved circle...nothing is truly new or original. But as I surf about me pages, I find more and more sellers posting their opinions on what they consider the *idea theft in DIY*...I've seen this on about me pages from the top end power sellers all the way down to the DIYer who started selling three weeks ago and is already complaining that her ideas are being *stolen*.

Let's get a few things straight. I didn't invent the corset. I didn't invent the hoodie. DIYer *X* didn't invent the skirt, or the pants, or the purse, or the halter top or....you get my point on this. These clothing items have existed long before any of our births. We all must surely know that women have been wearing corsets off and on for thousands of years. So when I see that another DIYer makes corsets, I should not go immediately into *idea theft* mode. LOTS of people make corsets...lip service, bebe, morbid threads, christ you name it. So just because someone makes the same items as you does NOT constitute *idea theft*.

Next point: These garments can only be made a certain number of limited ways. Pants...can only have a limited number of things done to them...shorten them, widen the bottoms, make the bottoms narrower, lower the waist line, raise the waistline...and its all been done before. Same with corsets...they can lace in the front, back, on one side or the other or both sides, they can button up, zip up, velcro up even. They can be strapless or have a strap or a tie or a chain around the neck. All of these variations have been done before. Before we were born. To suggest that someone is stealing your idea because they used the same variation of a corset that you did...is wrong. So this week I made a corset that ties up both sides. Next week someone else does it. Have they *stolen my idea* ? Most certainly not. Did they sees my corset, see that it sold well, and thought to themselves that they should try the same? Quite possibly so, but there's the chance that Kitter sent an email to 100 DIYers on the same day asking them all to do a corset that laces up the sides. There's a chance they came up with it on their own, and have never seen my work and have absolutely no idea that I did one like that, or even know who the fuck I am for that matter. Say they DID see my work and said, hey I'm gonna do that and see if I can make something neat, too...does that mean they *stole* my idea? NO IT DOES NOT because it isnt MY IDEA. Sure I may have been the first DIYer on ebay to have done one like that, or maybe the first one in a long time, or maybe the first one that got noticed doing it...BUT ITS NOT MY IDEA. Some seamstress in the year 1034 probably came up with that. I used the idea but its not mine. They can't steal it from me, because I don't own it.

Next point: There are genres of styles that come and go. We can all name a bunch of them: punk, goth, emo, hippy, preppy, surfer, slacker, geek, sci-fi, jock, rockabilly, freak, metalhead, pothead, rennaisance...you name it the list will literally go on forever. Clothing has been made, and will continue to be made, in all of these genres as is dictated by the ebb and flow of the fashion industry and consumer interest. I make corsets that are geared toward the alternative/metal/punk/freak/goth genre. Yesterday while surfing around eBay I must have seen 10 other DIY sellers who offer corsets in a very similar style as mine....from the big name powersellers to gals who just started last week and are hoping to break into the market. Are they all stealing my ideas because their corsets are the same genre of style as mine? No. Even if it was my corsets they saw, and thought, wow I could do that...are they stealing my ideas? No. I didn't invent the genre or the style. The culture in which I live my life, the same one that I create clothing in the style of, has been around for a long time. I've been a metalhead since high school...and that was a LOONG time ago, sad to say. Ebay wasn't around then. Hell the internet wasn't around then. But this style of clothing was. No seller on eBay today invented it.

In summary: (and I'm going to say this in terms of corsets, because thats what I do...you can insert any piece of clothing into this that you want and its still the truth) Just because someone else on ebay is selling a corset that is similar in design and construction to mine, and is styled in the same genre as mine, does not mean that this seller has stolen shit from me.

Is there actually bona fide idea theft on ebay? Yep there sure is. Here is an example - a true story. A girl saw a top that a powerseller is selling. Now this top is unique to some extent...no one else is really selling them at the time, but its still not original (see all the points above, they all apply). This seller is obviously doing well selling this top. This girl sees this top and loves it. Now one problem this seller has is she likes to show her tops flat in one of her pictures (like I do) and when its done like that, its pretty obvious how the top is put together...you can create a pattern based on that picture. (cant really do that with corsets, pants, stuff like that, but this top is unique in this manner) Well, that's what this girl did. She studied the picture, recreated this seller's exact pattern, then set about sewing these items and selling them on ebay. The original seller contacted this girl, the girl admitted to her that she'd copied her pattern and was making the identical top. You can't steal someone else's pattern and use it. That's theft. This seller created this pattern with her own hands. Sure it was a pattern of a thing that was not original, but it was hers. Make your own goddamn pattern. Make YOUR version of that top. It will have similarities (as in point two above, you can only do things a certain number of ways) but don't straight up steal another person's version of that top and call it your own. THAT is theft. Also, there is an ebay seller out there who *apparantly* got upset with another seller's complaints about *idea theft* and I guess decided that if she's going to be accused, she might as well do it. She created a new identity mocking the identity of this other seller, and then mimicked the look and feel of her presentation...the way she models clothes, the color of her font, some of her wording that is unique to her (and she lifted a lot of my wording too, which never made sense to me...I'm about as involved in that as I am in brain surgery...). What's sad is that this has been going on for about three months, and her sales are good (whats odder still is I know who's doing it - not that anyone TOLD me - but its obvious if you pay attn - and she's a powerseller herself...wtf?) and no one out there buying seems to see that its a rude attack on another DIY seller...everyone is like oblivious to it. So I guess this gal is riding this account out to make some money I guess...or to prove a point? I dunno.

I got way off the original topic, like I knew I would *because this shit just pisses me right off* but how does this apply to a seller using their About Me page to complain about *idea theft*?? Think about it this way...Ford makes a 4X4 truck. It has a 2 ton capacity. It comes in green and blue and black and red. The driver sits on the left. There is a steering wheel, gas pedal, brake, and stick shift. There is a radio. There is a nice leather interior. There is a 400 horsepower engine in it. Mirrors on the side....etc. DODGE MAKES ONE TOO, just like it. There are differences (Dodge has the cool front end) but guess what, they are essentially the same truck. When was the last time Ford put out an advertising that stated, "Everyone in the truck industry is copying us. Its not flattering, we think it sucks." Sounds retarded when you think about it that way, doesn't it? And it invites people (like the account above thats mimicking one of our big time *theft* complainers) to do things that create drama that just unnecessary and dare I say...unprofessional.

I could go on about consumerism, the free market, why there is both coke and pepsi, but I don't think these gals are going to get that. A few of them seem to think they are much more special than the rest of the DIY community...they think what they make is a minted orginal and no one dare come out with anything even remotely similar. I'm not like that. I see the things that I have done and had success with mimicked in the work of others. I figure the market will decide what it likes and buy accordingly. In some ways thats the price of success. It always has been. I get over it...and don't invite trouble by posting *whines* on my About Me page. I post my opinions here on my blog, where I'm not selling things, and not taking anyone's hard earned money.

There are more unprofessional things I've witnessed recently on ebay...I think I'll save that for another day...I think I've already written too much today. Probably lost everyone on like the third paragraph anyway....