The Rest of the Story

There was a post yesterday censuring bloggers for not doing  their jobs correctly.

And I quote: "As for the bloggers that blogged this dress over and over and over.  You need to inspect these outfits a little better and post the flaws so that people will KNOW what they are getting, unless of course, you are in on some kind of free clothes gig from that place you post about. Simply put."

OK. This is bad. Here I am  preaching about working together and there we have someone trying to tear us apart -- or at least shaking a finger wildly like a antiquarian school teacher who needs to -- (fill in the blank girls and guys).

I am still going to be fair -- well, I am at least going to try. The blogger is new it seems, starting the first of May. Have you noticed how many bloggers started the first of May or the last of April?  I'll leave that up in the air for you older writers to ponder *wink*.  When we were new, most of us made a few posts that would have been better left unsaid. I had at least one. I stand by what I said; but it would have been better if I hadn't pressed that PUBLISH  POST button. What is important in this case is that the readers didn't get the rest of the story. Comments were closed and even the designer in question could not post her side of the issue. So here is what I know and what was passed to me by the designer that was attacked.

First: The flaw didn't 't show up on avatars with lighter skin, so many of us couldn't see it because for US it wasn't a flaw.

Second: The designer, when told of the problem by a customer, fixed the problem, sent said customer the repaired dress as well as the alternate color of the dress for free. She even refunded the upload fee for the photo the customer took and sent to illustrate the problem. From the designer's note to bloggers :

To make this story short-I rectified her problem. I fixed the dress and gave her the black version as a gift and refunded her upload fee of the picture she took to show me where the flaw was. I thought we had resolved this issue amicably and professionally. She thanked me for the great customer service and I thought that was the end of that. I updated my vendors at the fair. I took the time then to track down everyone that bought these dresses and sent them a fixed version with a gift to apologize for their troubles.

Designers are people, let's not forget. They make errors at times and sometimes they don't know there is a problem because #1 the database reverted and changed what they saw as a finalized  design to an earlier version of the product or #2 they uploaded a temporary texture and forgot to replace it with a real one or #3 they are colorblind (well that is just one designer I know *wink*) or #4 they simply didn't see the flaw.

Most experienced designers try to do their best. They know that the reputations they have worked on for so long are an important part of their marketing. Some designers have a higher skill level than others and some are just learning, but I doubt seriously that any of them think, "well I'll just put out this crappy dress even though it is full of flaws because after all it is just a game and no one really cares."

Now for the blogger condemnation part. *smile*

From the negative section about bloggers (and yes, there is a URL to the original post later I promise).

"It’s as simple as this:
Things that have flaws need to be noted when blogged.
Stop doctoring your photos!
Tell people what’s wrong with the item (if any)."

It is each blogger's decision whether to post an item or not. It is each blogger's decision HOW they post and what they say.  Many of the older bloggers simply don't  write about items with flaws or lower design quality. I, personally,  show about one-third of the styles I receive. If it looks like an error has been made, I will often write to the designer and let them know that a texture may have reverted, a prim moved  etc. If it looks like they are an inexperienced designer, I simply keep my mouth shut and delete the items.

Let's state that one more time. It is each blogger's choice what they blog.   If they want to feature items that are less than great, they can do that. It IS a free country. I am pretty sure I heard that somewhere. I see tons of things featured that I have chosen not to blog -- because of the style or the quality, or sometimes simply because everyone else has already featured it. That doesn't mean that I am "right" and the other bloggers are "wrong". It is simply a decision.

Some bloggers may chose to show an item with a caveat. I have done that a few times, though not often. Once there was a great free outfit from a well known shop. It was lovely except that the back collar area didn't match the front at all. So, in my post I added a tall choker and noted that there was an issue but that I liked the outfit so much, I worked around it. We do have options, but there is no set of Blogger Standards that we MUST adhere too.  Bloggers do not and cannot guarantee that every item shown on their blogs are perfect and will work for everyone. There are way too many variables in play.

Again, the author of the post is apparently new, so perhaps she doesn't know how most bloggers work. It is that dangerous assumption issue again.  If you read through the review policy sections on the blogger listing at SLFC, you will see that many state "items received are not necessarily featured". Implying that the bloggers who promoted this outfit were in some kind of freebie sample complicity ring is simply stupid uninformed.

Comments on this article are open. If someone posts as Anonymous and does NOT fill in their real avatar name, their post will be deleted. If you  aren't willing to stand behind your comment, I am not willing to publish it. And beware, Blogger has been losing posts both when sent in and when I click on the moderate button. Make a copy of what you wrote in case you need to send it in again. If you have a problem, you can send your thoughts in a notecard to me in world and I will post for you. It is not my intention to censor ideas.

Thanks to ALL the designers who create and the bloggers who work VERY HARD to make the fashion feeds a viable gateway to the SL shopping experience.

The original post this is in reference to is here: http://classyfreebies.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/indie-rose-bbf-mini-dress-and-jacket-blue/

Update: the original post was deleted. Here is the replacement post URL: http://classyfreebies.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/updated-indie-rose-bbf-dress/. It has changed A LOT. Some of you most likely saw it in the original version.