because as we all know
1. the head Etsy Bitch (Jen Segrest) only cares about people being raped by Etsy (evidently when raped by ArtFire she considers this "love making", or maybe even just "rough foreplay")
2. the head Etsy Bitch works for ArtFire and shitting where you eat doesn't make for big pay checks or job longevity
3. and as we are all aware of the head Etsy Bitch can't admit when she is wrong or redact a damn thing she has ever incorrectly blogged about on her Etsy Bitch blog even when it is pointed out to her point blank that what she is saying/has said is blatantly wrong and she is given non-refutable proof of said incorrectness/wrongness.
So it is left for non-organized, non-handmade, non-site-affiliated, everyday, run-of-the-mill, generic bitches such as myself and others to report to you what the Etsy Bitches ignore/fear/and or refuse to report to you about ArtFire. This refusal/and or fear may be justified if the following allegations are true:
Artfire has been hopping lately with their newest endeavor to institute an Artfire Assurance Plan. It's been widely debated because it's going to basically take away the seller's power to handle any disputes on their own. AF wants to charge everyone a dollar, even the ones who locked in their rates, although the locked ins can opt out, they are then filtered out of searches and their invoices will have some sort of wording that tells the customer that they aren't a part of this assurance program.
What has really been the most contentious issue with all of this, is that since the new forums came out last year, there has been no admin interference in the forums, with the exception of a few egregious offenders, any disputes are handled by the infamous reputation bar. However, since this new program has been under discussion in the private forums, it has been met with strong opposition. Some object to the interference, some object to having to pay for bad sellers, and some object to AF's change in their change from a platform that helps sellers get their name and product out there, to branding themselves and becoming another destination (traffic) based site. Because the opposition and repeated requests for more information regarding the statistics Tony has thrown out to us, 2500 customer complaints in the last year, 800 shops closed (remember though, in August they closed over 40,000 basic shops) and the fact that at it's highest member count was approx 80,000 shops, it is now approx 15,000, Tony has decided to send warnings to those sellers who are inflammatory and whose posts are not constructive. Basically, if you don't agree with the program you have been either muted from that forum, muted from all forums or had your shop unceremoniously closed.
There has been a lot of acrimony amongst members and Tony's little band of harpies have been among the loudest, meanest and most disruptive of all, yet they continue to get away with treating other sellers like dirt and not being held to the same standards the rest of the sellers are.
So, here is the screen shot of one of the worst offenders who will likely not even get their hand slapped even though those that were muted or booted were paying members of the site and should not be excluded from any 'community' discussions about changes to the site.
There are a lot of people leaving over this, not just the assurance program, but the general treatment of the sellers both by Tony and his little harem. A lot of faith has been lost, along with trust that in a given situation each seller will be treated the same. It doesn't happen now, so what gives people any reason that when it comes to a seller/buyer dispute that AF will be any more fair to a seller they dislike.
Sellers like Patchtique think they can get away with saying this crap and not having it come back to bite them in the ass. We'd just like to see, for once, one of them suffer and pay the consequences of their arrogant behavior.click to make image bigger
So ladies and gentlemen, let us discuss some of the above allegations that were sent to me by someone who evidently feared retaliation (either by ArtFire admin or ArtFire "harpies") enough that they did not feel comfortable bringing such things up for discussion at ArtFire. Or they have already been punished for discussing it at ArtFire or warned for discussing it. Whatever.
1. An Artfire Assurance Plan? Is this for fricking real? What the fuck do you need an Assurance plan for? Are sellers so bad there that you felt the need to institute this? If not, then who came up with this shit? Fire their fucking asses because the need to institute this doesn't exactly instill a lot of buyer confidence in people, you know what I mean? Do you think sellers are so stupid they can't deal with buyer's on their own and need your help? Because as a buyer I don't need you to run interference because that is what I use Paypal for. You (Artfire) aren't selling me a damn thing anyway-the sellers are selling it to me. You (Artfire) are just a venue, and any good venue should already have some sort of standard (if minimal) customer support for buyers any damn way, which you claim to have had since the day you opened. And having such then why do you all of a sudden need this? One can only conclude that either sellers there are so bad you think you need this, or this is some idea you came up with to get sellers to help pay for the customer service provided by you (such as phones, etc), which if it's the latter then just say it instead of dancing around it and refusing to discuss it and allegedly punishing people who do discuss it. Make some plushie phone booths and phones like Etsy and staff them with crash test dummies and you won't have to fund this shit.
As a buyer what kind of assurance do I get from you with this Plan? Considering how childish you have acted as admin in the past am I to really believe that with our past ( our would be me and ArtFire) and how we dislike each other that I am going to get the same assurance if I need help that any Joe Blow would get? I can't say that I feel assured that I ( or anyone else you dislike ) will, and if I won't then the seller, not to mention me, are not getting what the seller paid for. So what components is this ArtFire Assurance Plan comprised of, for both the seller and the buyer? So far to me the seller that pays for this seems to get preference over other sellers who do not pay for it which is sure to sew seeds of peace and contentment through out the seller population of Artfire, and the buyer gets one more asshole in their long list of people to deal with when trying to get their money back if a sale goes wrong, but that's just my opinion.
2. The Forum Reputation Bar-I already blogged about that one a long time ago. About how certain people are able to gang to together into little cliques and run the forum there. About how if some one didn't like you they would just gang bang the reputation bar so you couldn't speak. Like I said before all of those who did it to people at Etsy simply moved over to ArtFire and formed their little cliques there. Besides Patchique other names sent were NightskyJewelry, Coolstraps, and RoxandThings, and I am simply posting what was sent to me, but it does appear that there are finally some people on the ArtFire forums as cruel as myself when Kibbles witnessed me there *wink*. Also the Patchique comment linked above no longer exists because Patchique made a half hearted attempt at apology so the comment is no longer there. But it is being referenced here to show how some are allegedly allowed to say anything while others, some who do not agree with the changes taking place at ArtFire, are allegedly muted or even banned from the forums for voicing their displeasure.
And with the Reputation Bar thing the forum is supposed to basically police itself (with the help of a few dedicated minions and harpies). And it has until recently, but with people complaining about the ArtFire Assurance Plan and other things they are in disagreement with ArtFire admin suddenly feel like they themselves now need to police the forum and send out warnings to and punish those who cause "forum disruptions" or who are "inflammatory". Causing disruptions and being inflammatory appears to mean that your little head doesn't move back and forth or up and down in sync with admin's as if they have their hand up your ass moving the shit themselves like you are some kind of puppet.
3. We all know how the Etsy Bitches can be very dramatic-people are raped, shops are plundered, Etsy admin are Nazi's, Hitler, etc., but for sure are liars. The point I am trying to make is this: the same stuff goes on at ArtFire. Artfire admin are assholes too, they have repeatedly gone back on their word (openly allowing resellers, roping people in with their free Basic accounts only to take the shit back, etc., refusing to police the forum then rushing to do so when people voice unhappiness with the admin and the site ). They want to institute their crazy-assed Assurance Plan but don't want to tolerate discussion in opposition to it, and they mute and ban people too. Some of the stuff they have done can not only be referred to as "raping your handmade dream", IMHO, but could as be described as corn holing as well. But you won't hear about any of this at Etsy Bitch, because their agenda has always been Etsy, and I feel quite comfortable with the use of the word "agenda" here.
And you won't hear about any of this at ArtFire either if people are too scared to post in opposition to anything. The ArtFire admin, IMHO, want people to think that everyone is happy and in agreement with all of this stuff, even though just the opposite is true. They also don't want you to know that people are now as uhnappy there as they were when they left Etsy to open ArtFire shops. They don't want you know that they are as big a fuck ups and liars as Etsy admin are either. But they are, if not worse IMHO. If not worse, then just as bad.
Seriously, if an Etsy Bitch works at ArtFire and Artfire is doing the same things and worse that Etsy has done, how can that Etsy Bitch/ ArtFire employee refer one site and condemn the other? Wouldn't both sites be despicable? If you can't take the Etsy Bitch seriously and the Etsy Bitch is an ArtFire Employee then how can you take ArtFire seriously either? Why does one deserve a Bitch blog and one doesn't? Because in my humble opinion ArtFire has gone downhill with a swiftness, and has raped just as many handmade dreams, pissed in just as many handmade cornflakes, and taken a dump in just as many accounts and shops as Etsy has ever been accused of doing. And if the admin there think no one has noticed and that they can gloss over it they are only fooling themselves. They are turning into the same little goose-stepping, jack-booted, dream-rapers their employee/head Etsy Bitch has accused others of being IMHO. Sure, you can mute people and ban people and police the forum so that it appears to support whatever bullshit you have come up with next, but sooner or later people leave, they make a bitch blog about you, you get a reputation, and you end up sitting there all alone with nothing to pull anymore except your own little pecker. So this strategy is probably not the best one to take either IMHO.
4. Don't start a site on a whim and a shoestring budget by making a bunch of outlandish promises you can't keep or will have to drastically change pretty fast to survive. Don't start a site because it looks like the next cool thing or because people hate the one major site already in existence that supports this type of thing, because if it were that easy people wouldn't already hate and despise the original site you are trying to out-do and everyone would already be deliriously happy. People who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it and if I remember correctly didn't ArtFire already own one company that went bankrupt? Just sayin'. What kind of assurance do people get that you won't go bankrupt again-do you have an Assurance Plan for that? Quite honestly I trust a lot of these sellers a hell of a lot more than I do some of these sites.
PD
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