So, I don't usually do these sorts of blog posts but I just had to do this one. If you don't want to see this then don't read it. It is about nails (well nail bloggers) but there will be no nail art or swatches in this post. After the drama in the nail art world the last week or two I just can't keep my mouth shut anymore. If you don't know what I am talking about consider yourself lucky. Because I have had a belly full and I'll have no more thank you.
I'm
not going to post a link to any of the posts and I'm
not going to mention names. Because doing so only furthers the problem. It doesn't solve it. I will however give you a brief synopsis of what happened, so here it is: person X posted a manicure, person Y copied said manicure....person Y also copied person U, person V, and person W's manicures as well posting them on their YouTube channel. All without crediting the "original creator" of said manicures. She didn't steal photos, she had the same designs. Then other bloggers/vloggers took it upon themselves to make posts about what "happened" to incite anger, hatred, and aggression about said event. And now the whole community is up in a snit over "theft" and "sighting" and "crediting," etc, etc. So now you are up to speed on the whole cluster 'F' of a situation.
Here lies the problem I am having with what is going on. Yes, I do agree that not crediting your source material is bad...it's a morally gray area at best. But for me they would have to prove that person Y knew of and followed or saw said manicures before doing her own. It's entirely possible that person Y came up with the design and was/is completely oblivious to the other persons version of the manicure at time of creation. It's virtually impossible for any blogger/vlogger to be aware of all other nail bloggers/vloggers...There are hundreds, if not thousands of us. And this whole thing is contingent on the assumption that person Y knew about, and intentionally copied another's work. Which no one can prove unless they have a spybot installed on person Y's computer (and in which case shame on you).
Even if person Y knew what she was doing and did it intentionally (which is rude at best), the way it's being handled is beyond awful. How everyone is dealing with this issue is what I have a problem with. People in the community are inciting mob mentality against person Y and trying to bully her out of the community. They have posted hate pages, links to her personal social media (encouraging others to go after her on those platforms), posted degrading photos, and incited (after riling them up) their follower to go and bully this person as well. I'm sorry but bullying in any fashion is wrong! And that's what is happening. What is being done in response to person Y's actions, is wrong! She is responsible for her actions, just as we are all responsible for our own actions. Just because she may or may not have stolen a design idea, doesn't mean you get to bully her, or get your followers to bully her. There is no need for grown ass women (and I'm sorry if you are old enough to have a blog and manage it you fit into this category) to be acting like children. I'm not saying it's okay what she did, because it isn't. Stealing others ideas and saying they are yours is wrong. I'm not saying the people who had their work copied aren't entitled to being upset, they are entitled to every bit of anger they feel. I'm saying the way it's being handled by the community is complete and udder bullshit.
Which leads me to why I'm taking a break from doing nail art. To be clear I am not one of the people involved in this case. This event just made me really struggle with why I would want to be part of a community that would turn and attack a person because they made a poor decision. This sort of mob think disturbs and disheartens me. I honestly thought about leaving the nail art community all together after this newest drama. I started doing nail art for fun. This behavior is not fun. Worrying, "how long before they go after me? How long until they go after anyone? Who's next?" is not fun.
I site anything that inspires me, or if I saw another blogger/vlogger do a similar manicure (if I can find the original source) I site it. It bothers me that people feel this need to bully. I have had designs stolen, and by people who made money off of it (I have never made a dime off my nail art, either in money or product endorsement). How I dealt with it: I said "Oh, well at least they liked it enough to copy it." I didn't incite a mob to reek vengeance on my behalf, and I didn't post hate for the person online. I may have mentioned to my BFF that it happened, but then we painted our toenails and I moved the 'F' on. I don't see why it has to lead to all this animosity and bullying. I refuse to participate in any of it. Which is also why I have been MIA for the last while. I was deciding if I even wanted to do this (nail art/nail swatch blog) anymore. I decided rather than let a few bad apples ruin this for me I would just post swatches for a while and lay off of nail art. I doubt it will even make a difference (in the community) but for me it will give me piece of mind that I won't have someone turning all their followers on me because I forgot to site them. I will still be posting, but it will mainly be swatches for a while. I hope all of my lovely followers are okay with that. I happen to have over 50 polishes that I haven't swatched yet anyway and it will help me get through them without having to worry about the potential backlash involved in nail art. It's not permanent. I just need a break from the art side of the nail community for a while.
Anyway, I'm sorry for the rant but this is something I feel very passionate about (not bullying). Bullying is never okay. So please don't bully people no matter how justified you feel in doing it. It's never okay. It wounds just as surely as weapons and lasts the persons whole life. Bullying online is still bullying. Lets all try to make the nail community a fun place to be. Let's not bully one another or incite others to bully on our behalf. I'm not saying we all have to like each other (that's never going to happen anyway), just be respectful and please let's all stop the bullying in our community. That's all I have today. Until next time, stay classy, and stay polished.
XOXO
