First enjoy something sweet to soften the blow of the rant though, candfloss and fluffy clouds with a few adorable pets thrown in for good measure... The Candyfloss - or Cotton Candy - machine and my adorable little flying friend are new releases from MishMish - that can be picked up at the Summer Daydream event. As can the adorable Ice Cream chair from flowey. The rest of the goodies are past gacha items or even just things I've picked up along my SL shopping travels LOL... I wish I could be more helpful than a list of links at the bottom of the post but OH WELL...
This may well ruffle feathers, and if it does I am sorry, but I needed to get something off my chest and this would be the best way without causing a drama explosion amongst people I know... Let me start at the beginning and paraphrase to smush the story into something that won't become an epic saga!
NOW... Copybotting is WRONG - unless you live under a pretty hefty rock - you know this. Stealing is stealing no matter whether it's done in a store in RL or by downloading something and re-uploading it in a virtual context... Pure and simple it's wrong. I don't like it, and won't wear anything that I know is copybotted - it usually finds it's way into the trashcan and ends up being deleted, and normally I don't bother to think twice about it... That was until yesterday and ALREADY I am beginning to regret making a concious decision to try and do the right thing.
I contacted a designer about an item I'd recieved... This was a well known accessories designer, someone that has been creating for a long time, and has a well established and well liked store. I've always admired their designs and though often the price tag was a little steep for a random purchase I'd make I have loved a great deal of their designs. Yet if I am given anything copybotted from this store again I will just keep the information to myself.
I contacted the designer and shared with her the item that had be stolen, she and I talked a little and I appologised for sharing this information with her, I thought that would be the end of it! That's where it should have stopped! Though in this case it didn't, apparently the designer shared screen shots with the copybotter that included my name, and that... Well that basically puts me in a kinda vulnerable position, doesn't it?!
It's no wonder that people don't report things like this to designers... People are too scared of the consequences at times to risk coming under the radar! When I sent the message to the designer and her store manager, I believed that something like that would have been kept anonymous, if any communication at all was to take place between the copybotter and the original content creator, but apparently this wasn't the case. So from now on I will DEFINITELY be thinking twice before I try to help someone out like that. I haven't spoken to the designer in question but thanks to them I seriously doubting my own judgement and will really have to question myself before I talk to someone like that again and it's really put me off shopping in this certain store, I don't think I will be going there again.
I'm not going to name names here but as a note to people, becareful about what you tell other people sometimes it may well come back to bite you on the ass!
What is she wearing;
Hair: Spellbound - Warrior
Mask, Choker, Dress and Bracelets: Alchemy - Dreams in White RARE
Necklace: Atomic - Unicorn Horn (Past Chapter Four Item)
Wings: Schdenfreunde - Mannequiel Wings
Shoes: Crazy Kitty - Bite Me Heels in Black (Worn with SLINK High Feet)
Flying Friend: MishMish - Candy Fluffz in Rainbow RARE (Available now at Summer Daydream)
Cotton Candy Machine & Candy: MishMish - Cotton Candy Machine (Available now at Summer Daydream)
Bottle: Atomic - Wishmaster
Seat: flowey - Cone Throne in Caramel (Available now at Summer Daydream)
Goat: Half Deer - Itty-Bitty Pygmy Goat in Lovemuffin
Cloud: Weather or Not - Little Fluffy Cloud Couch (No Longer Available!)
I have been in SL since early 2006. I learned a similar lesson back in 2008. That's why I use an alt I had for taking pics for advertising for a business I had back then, to report that kind of thing. I am sorry the creator didn't think about putting a loyal customer in such a bad position. That was not cool. But, you were doing the right thing and that's all you need to worry about!
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