CapSea wrote:Also, while I'm here. I don't really have an issue with you insulting various designers in their threads. I agree that it's an open forum and there are designers that do things that upset you. Go for it. Freedom on speech and all that.
The only problem I have is that that's pretty much all you do. If I go to entries by Walmazan, TJost, TGentry and other great designers, you are never anywhere to be found. But if I open an entry by Ramy or Seki or Spens, there you are, multiple times, always very angry.
The best way to get respect for your opinion of the designers you dislike is to show that you aren't just here to troll. More people will respect both you and your opinion (which sometimes is accurate) including the Woot staff if you said at least as many positive things about the artwork you do like, rather than simply spitting vitriol at those you don't.
Sometimes the artists deserve the negative speeches. That's fine. But if your posts are 95% negative, most people are going to start ignoring you. At the very least, equal it out. Let others know whose pieces you do like more often, and explain why. Especially in their threads, so they can enjoy the compliment as well. The more positive you are, the more the image of you as nothing but a woot troll will go away.
It's pretty clear your goal is not to simply piss people off. Your goal is to change woot with regard to it being an artist community. So while I'm not going to tell you to stop with the anger against artists you don't like, if you show more love to those that you do, you'd be much more likely to get a reaction you can appreciate.
If I could count the number of people who insist that everything I like is automatically crap, it would be a number big enough to bury you in a pile of how silly this whole argument is.
Basically, I have two things to note here: Firstly, there is the basic one... if you're not seeing me be positive enough for your liking, you're probably spending too much time in crappy threads. There is a lot of internet to cover, and when most of woot is slapdash sellout nonsense, I spend more of my positive commenting time at Threadless or at my blog. Lately I've been a bit burned out on doing this, but it does not mean it is not there.
But secondly, let's be honest here. If there is one entry, or three, or five, which simply do not deserve to win for any reason... generally off theme, generic, rip-off of other people's ideas, pure horrible (seriously, seki's I CANT HAS burger not only proves her complete unfamiliarity with anything outside of 4chan, but her complete unfamiliarity with cats) work gets the brunt of my commenting. Why? Because I don't care if tgentry or walmazan or tjost wins. Though to be fair, I'm not a huge fan of tjost.
Any given derby, there are entries I want, or entries I don't want but love the execution and idea and all-out artistry. In those cases, generally I will comment. But let's take a week like this. Most of the work this week is only good-of-type. Most of it is, by definition of theme, not wearable by adults (people will cite that they are adults and like these shirts, but really, that's questionable). So would I love to see gentry's turtle win over ramy's sameoldcrapbunnies? I'd love to see a pile of horsedung win over sameoldcrapbunnies, because it'd be more wearable to people with at least a third grade aesthetic sense. But I don't care if IT wins, per se. I'm not married to what does print. I just know what shouldn't. And an over-hot-topic'd rendition of an already trite fablefire shirt shouldn't under any circumstances, unless Gene Simmons' son was selecting the winners. Which would be totally apropos for this derby.
That is what people miss, because we are selfish. People think I should be promoting what should win too, because they think that everything is about self-interest. Fact is, I don't really care what DOES win, so long as what SHOULDN'T win is rejected or otherwise shut out of the running. If there are sides here, there are the people who believe all creative art should have a chance, and the people who believe that so long as uncreative dung is selling, no creative art should have a chance. It isn't against cute, or even against anime, though I do think it is the tofu of the art world. It is against the frauds and thieves and such that populate this derby. So long as these people and these concepts don't win, it is far less important what DOES.
If you get a tumor, you remove it. Sure, you also take vitamins, and exercise, and maybe take a vacation for some fresh air, and probably eat healthier, and maybe take up meditation. That's fine. Those are all healthy things to help your body recover and be the best body it can be. But no matter how much you build up the best, you still die if you don't focus primarily on removing the tumor.
