Monday, January 6, 2014

I was surprised to say the least.....

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and New Years! We had a lovely time with family and friends. After Christmas we traveled to B.C where we spent a great week vacationing with friends.
While I was there I saw a post on one of my new favorite Facebook Groups that irritated me. It was by one of the administrators and when I responded on the post I was booted and banned from the page within a half an hour.
Now, I have never been booted from a group so it was definitely a surprise when it happened. I genuinely enjoyed the  posts and learning new things from the members. The group is a very helpful place and filled with inspiration.
Fortunately, I took a screen shot of my response and another member copied and pasted the original post for me.
I am going to post both so you can read them. What do I hope to gain from this? Nothing but awareness as to how a simple crafting group is being manipulated with out being aware.
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Very rarely will you see me post something like this, but here goes…. This will be my last public post about this issue There have been several posts/comments made recently about the “rules” on mentioning other facebook groups/websites here in this group First and foremost I am an admin of this group along with Maria. I am also the owner of craftvinyl.com. Although I own craftvinyl.com I encourage other vinyl suppliers/wesbites to be mentioned on this forum as long as it is done respectfully. You are more than welcome to post other promotions/prices/sales even if those other promotions/prices/sales are in direct competition with my website. For those who are familiar with vinyl in general, we all know there are maybe 3-4 major vinyl suppliers who target the craft/cameo market. From a business owners standpoint I think competition in general keeps the prices down for everybody. If I see another website offering a lower price on the exact same item, I won’t bash that company or try to convince you to buy from me and only me, the smart thing to do is lower my price(s) and let the customer ultimately decide on where they want to spend their money. There is another cameo specific facebook group/forum that is very similar to our group. This other group has been mentioned regularly on this forum , the other group is "Happy SIL". This other group is considered a "secret" facebook group , meaning, you will need to have one of their members add you directly otherwise you will not be able to find their group. Unfortunately because of repeated negative comments/personal attacks on their forum towards myself and my company I will no longer allow their group to be mentioned in this group. Mentioning their group/forum will not get you "banned" from this forum, however the comment will be deleted. You are more than welcome to join their group, please understand joining their group will not get you banned from this group. The reason: There seems to be a lot of misconception in that group about the way I handle my website and the way I run this forum. As consumers we rely on our experience with a business when deciding if we want to continue to be a repeat customer. Yes, I understand there are power in numbers and there seems to be a large following of people who like to constantly “bash” my website, my name, and my reputation. I admit I am not perfect, I try my best to make sure every customer is satisfied, but with a steady customer base of over 40,000 worldwide customers I think that number itself speaks volumes over the number of people who think otherwise. With that said, bashing anybody or any other company will not be tolerated in this group. With all the hardships seen around the world on an everyday basis life is way too short to wish negative things on others. There are several other groups/forums on facebook that are great resources, but, because the sensitive circumstances it is best to leave this group out of the groups mentioned in our group. I will not bash this other group or publicly make the same negative comments that have been directed towards me although if the shoe were on the other foot I wouldn’t expect the same courtesy. I do find it unfortunate that potential new customers rely on these negative comments when making their decision(s) to purchase from my website or not As of Dec. 2013 we have over 16,000 members in this group and disagreements are going to happen, it would be unheard of to expect every member to see eye to eye, but, we are all human beings and atleast deserve respect from each other. That is all that we ask here in this group. After all, In 25 years I don’t think any of us want to look back and say "gosh I wish I had spent more time putting more people down". To each and every member of this forum I appreciate you, to each and every customer of mine I am humbled by your repeated trust, my family and I appreciate you more than you will ever know. Again, thank you….
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This was what I replied
I didn't think that I was rude or disrespectful, but I guess I was wrong. It got me booted and banned. 
I am a member of a few other cameo groups so I can still share and learn, would have been nice though to leave on my terms if I chose. 
Yes, I do realize I am adding to the drama that I am tired of, but I am a wee bit torqued over the situation.


Enough with the gloomy gus, I am planning on putting the craft cave back together after a crazy two months. I really want to get a bunch of cards for all occasions made up as my stash is running very low.
What are your crafting plans?