Some may be wondering why Dande Creations disappeared from Facebook and that is a fair pondering. In the past few years of being a designer, I had noticed a shift in the type of fans and the attitudes of other designers through Facebook that I disliked. I was receiving more and more fans that focused on the giveaways and never participated in my posts or enjoyed my patterns. That, by itself, would have been a great reason to close the doors despite missing out on the wonderful people who did participate. What really drove me to close my Facebook doors is simple - the attitude of other designers.
In the previous months, I have witnessed a number of witch hunts, false accusations, childish actions, stealing, copyright infringement, and just plain rude behavior from the designing community. Not only that, I have been at the receiving end of one such attack that left me frustrated and no longer willing to participate in the community. As a person, I would not want to be around that. As a fellow designer and a consumer of patterns, I was appalled at the unprofessional behavior running rampant within the crochet and knit community. Reputation is a huge thing when attempting to maintain a business. In the crochet and knit community, that does not seem to be a care of many individuals.
It was those actions and words of people who were less likely to follow the law and more likely to do what they wanted that led me to leave Facebook. I do not crochet for the money. Let's be honest. 1. Many people do not see the value in what I do enough to pay for it. 2. I work in an industry that constantly has similar patterns popping up on the market with no way to "stop" someone from having an idea.
I do not have any desire to stop someone from having an idea. Two people could look outside and see a car and have similar ideas on how to translate it into crochet. It is not against the law to have a similar idea. What is against the law is copying patterns and photographs then putting your name on it. Those little details are completely ignored by many crochet pattern designers. It's like high school with each designer as a clique. Each one hates the other and finds a way to pick and pick and pick until someone bleeds. It has become a way to weed out the competition. It is disgusting. It's unethical. And frankly, it is not something I want to be around.
At the end of the day, I crochet and I design because I love working with yarn and I have ideas. When I create something similar to someone else and someone mentions it, I research it. If the other person has it for sale, I IMMEDIATELY remove mine because I feel like I am stepping on toes. Does that make my work wrong? No. Does it make my idea wrong? No. Does it mean I committed copyright infringement? No. It just means that I have ethical principles that I follow as a designer and as a person. That happened with my dino pattern.
What I stand for is ethical treatment and following the law. I can't attack or even sue for someone having a similar idea. What I can do...is be a designer I would like to see elsewhere - ethical, kind, and law-abiding. Please know that when you purchase a pattern or use one of my free patterns, this is the type of person you are supporting. There are other designers out there who follow the same principles, but be wary. Many of these individuals are vipers hidden among the grass.
In the previous months, I have witnessed a number of witch hunts, false accusations, childish actions, stealing, copyright infringement, and just plain rude behavior from the designing community. Not only that, I have been at the receiving end of one such attack that left me frustrated and no longer willing to participate in the community. As a person, I would not want to be around that. As a fellow designer and a consumer of patterns, I was appalled at the unprofessional behavior running rampant within the crochet and knit community. Reputation is a huge thing when attempting to maintain a business. In the crochet and knit community, that does not seem to be a care of many individuals.
It was those actions and words of people who were less likely to follow the law and more likely to do what they wanted that led me to leave Facebook. I do not crochet for the money. Let's be honest. 1. Many people do not see the value in what I do enough to pay for it. 2. I work in an industry that constantly has similar patterns popping up on the market with no way to "stop" someone from having an idea.
I do not have any desire to stop someone from having an idea. Two people could look outside and see a car and have similar ideas on how to translate it into crochet. It is not against the law to have a similar idea. What is against the law is copying patterns and photographs then putting your name on it. Those little details are completely ignored by many crochet pattern designers. It's like high school with each designer as a clique. Each one hates the other and finds a way to pick and pick and pick until someone bleeds. It has become a way to weed out the competition. It is disgusting. It's unethical. And frankly, it is not something I want to be around.
At the end of the day, I crochet and I design because I love working with yarn and I have ideas. When I create something similar to someone else and someone mentions it, I research it. If the other person has it for sale, I IMMEDIATELY remove mine because I feel like I am stepping on toes. Does that make my work wrong? No. Does it make my idea wrong? No. Does it mean I committed copyright infringement? No. It just means that I have ethical principles that I follow as a designer and as a person. That happened with my dino pattern.
What I stand for is ethical treatment and following the law. I can't attack or even sue for someone having a similar idea. What I can do...is be a designer I would like to see elsewhere - ethical, kind, and law-abiding. Please know that when you purchase a pattern or use one of my free patterns, this is the type of person you are supporting. There are other designers out there who follow the same principles, but be wary. Many of these individuals are vipers hidden among the grass.
Sarah
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