Posting for discussion

and that to me is another interesting point. I DID get a negative vibe---which I think was perhaps *meant* as funny/caustic--but it comes off to me as "snotty", in the way teenagers are often unknowingly arrogant.

As a writer, I am endlessly fascinated by the response-capability of words, and how they affect different people differently. I look at things like this and it makes me wonder what is the part I am seeing that you don't percieve as "negative", or what are you seeing that I don't.....obviously its not the words themselves, its our own receptors too..... Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

That's true. She could have found more tactful ways of saying what she did, but then again - I have seen worse! :)

You know, I completely understand. Before I read the comments posted here about this, I read her article and responded to it. When I saw that some people saw negativity, I re-read the article to find that indeed, it probably could come off as negative to a lot of people. That's pretty interesting.

oh yesindeedy!!!! But usually, its from people who are picking their words with

As someone who has many times been accused of offensive words that I did not intend that way, its always valuable for me to learn more about the perceptions of others. As an artist who sells, that's also a valuable thing.

Hey Mary--thanks for starting this discussion!! Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

my sister the editor asks the same about me....!! That and the "..."'s, all of which she sets the "Find and Replace" thingy in Word for, and removes. She has threatened to remove those keys from my computer. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

Thank you for posting this. I saved it and think there are many valuable suggestions in it for me. One of the things I particularly likes is her suggestion to avoid donut-shaped beads. That sort of confirmed something I am finding which is that it is hard to find bead caps to fit them. I work so hard to get nice dimpled ends and then I can't get anything to fit nicely against them.

I also really liked her comments about staggering ads which is something I never thought of. I am happy to hear that she says boro is "hot" since that's something I like to work with and I also liked her colour suggestions.

All in all the comments were very valuable for me personally. I did get the impression that she was making pointed remarks to some people in particular but since I know they weren't directed at me and I have no clue who they actually were directed at I have no problem with them.

- Sandy

posted, some of

good call, Sooz---those are definately parts that raised hackles. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

I think she had some really valid points and I don't think she was trying to be offensive. It was just her point of view and if some one gains something from this it just may mean more sales. I used to buy lampwork bead from eBay but now they have become too expensive for me to make into a piece of jewelry for the most part and I just don't have the time to go through 25 or

They are and I'm still looking at them.....for next year. :=)

There's also a style of writing that is effective called satire and/or satirical criticism which may have been what she was going for. In my opinion there's nothing wrong with that style, as I said it's quite effective. I think the difference for me was that she made it personal by naming names. I thought, this is not good business, this is not professional and if I was her customer (I buy as well as make jewelry) it would give me pause because it's bad form. I guess that's my personal receptor, Sarajane, based on being a manager in a corporate world for almost 25 years. So I both agree ie receptors and gracefully disagree ie it is the words.

That's so true - the naming of names was a turn off.

Maroon? Like the color? ;=)

We have a lot in common! hehee

Yes -- and laughed about it being her little bit of fun. What a maroon.<

I *think* that what she was talking about was the semi-unintentional "shilling" (bumping the final price up) that happens when you fight for an auction but lose out because it goes past your limit. Mike and I have that happen a lot with arrowheads we're after. Then there's "mercy bidding" when, as that writer stated, the bid seems unnaturally low. We "help" run up the final price and cheer for the sellers (cuz we like them). They didn't get our money, but they got more of someone else's because we helped the bidding along. Technically it's not shilling because a) we'd happily pay for it if we did win and b) we have no familial or business relationship with the seller...other than as a buyer. Whenever I get outbid, I always look at it in that way....I didn't get what I wanted, but I helped the seller get what the item was worth, or more. Serendipity.

So it wasn't my reading comprehension ability but my understanding of shilling. Thanks for helping me understand, Karen.

As did I. My reaction was/is 'who died and made HER king?'

Some valid points were made. And maybe the whole thing would make more sense if it had some context - how do you get to this page (except for through the direct link provided here?) Is it part of a larger discussion, or part of HER jewelry website, or what exactly?

But my reaction is still the same.

Kar>

This is very helpful, Margie! I see what you mean about the names, so some of it is definately is a style issue and some of it is form.

I personally *love* satire and enjoy some very pointed and very silly forms of humor. Sometimes things just don't catch my funny bone. As a writer, I am very interested in why---and I know setting/setup is really important to the developement of humor in a bit. I wasn't seeing this writer's approach as "funny"---which means that from a comedy writer's POV, the setup was not effective. But then, its probably not really meant as a comedy routine.

As an informational packet, it was effective on many levels. I did get some interesting information, but developed no desire to seek out the writer for more.

Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

I read through her article very quickly as it was annoying to read. I very much agree with what Kandice said about her main points, but her writing style sucks. You can tell she thinks Corina walks on water and I think she was trying for (but failing miserably) for a similar tone as Corina's homepage writings.

Then again, there's people like me who are too busy in September to think about Valentine's Day and are just now looking at lampwork hearts... LOL!!

Mj

You raise another good point here. You buy beads during the season in anticipation of using them for next years goods. You plan ahead. She seems to try to speak for all buyers, but not all buyers work the same way. There are some who might find *stacked listings* those posted all at one time, easier to look through than going to look at a persons auction listings, as in *see the sellers other items*. I like skimming the titles and if an artists work catches my eye then I will look at the others in the stack to see if something else might suit me as well. Diana