Monday, June 16, 2008

Cautionary Tale

I've got a few things to share today. First a piece of wisdom. I am so guilty of jumping on ideas for promotional opportunities. Often, I fail to do any kind of research under the false assumption that people know what they're talking about and wouldn't steer me wrong. Guess what, they don't always know what's right for me. Take Trunkt for example. People are always going on and on about getting into the site and they're jumping through all kinds of hoops to get accepted. I tried twice and was turned down twice before I actually read into their site enough to realize that the site was designed to help one wholesale and license art works. Well, I have no interest in either of those things, so why on earth was I bothering.

Now, here's the reason I bring this up. I just recently started using the Flickr, based of course on other people's advice. I didn't look though all the settings, I just started uploading photos. Then, my pictures were stolen and I figured I'd just stop uploading pictures all together. If I had just done a little exploring I would have discovered a simple way to help protect my images, instead I had to wait to be told by one of my steam team friends.

So, I shall tell you what I learned, just in case, like me, you failed to explore. Go to your account and select "privacy and permissions", then read the page. You'll want to make sure your photos are set to "all right reserved" and you can set your photos to be downloaded, shared, or blogged only by your contacts, friends and family or just you. I highly suggest you do this. I know what the technologically savvy among you are thinking, if people want to steal your photos, this is not going to stop them. I think that most theft is a crime of opportunity. I have an example, if you leave your door unlocked, of course someone is going to walk right in and steal the t.v., but if the door is locked, the same thief will probably just try the next door, rather than go to the trouble of breaking in. Most thieves are not targeting you specifically but looking for easy marks, at least that's my limited experience.

So take my advice and don't just take my advice, or anyone else's. Don't blindly jump on every opportunity or social networking site. Do your own research...I know it's work, but I think that it just might be worth it.

On a totally different subject, I need your advice. I think I may have finished my newest tatted hat, but I'm not certain. Is it missing something, should I add a trim? Does it look finished to you? I'm taking all opinions on the tatted hat. Don't forget to check out today's sale and look at my etsy mini for a preview of what will be on sale tomorrow.

16 comments:

Waterrose said...

Well I think it looks great just the way it is. It is lovely.

Sande said...

Your hate is gorgeous as well as your other merchandise.

Ravenswick said...

Very cool hat, I like it the way it is now. Excellent post on doing your homework on promotional sites. What works for one person might or might not work for another.

Foxglove Studios said...

Thanks for the info about those sites. I was also turned down for Trunkt and now I know why! The flickr settings advice was helpful, too.

The hat is beautiful as it is. Gorgeous color. :)

Anonymous said...

thanks for the info. I love the hat! How about adding a few beads along the rim for a little shine?

Mary Richmond said...

just so you know--once your photos are posted on your blog, on flickr, on etsy, ANYWHERE online, they are available to all the search engine image collectors and people can take them from there any time they want, no matter how protected you think they are.

good points about checking things out first--i am a big believer in doing my homework.....and it's paid off over the years so hang in there.

nice work!

Erin said...

Thanks for the great info! I am also taking the advice of fellow photographers and sizing my images down so that they don't have enough pixels to print well.
Love the hat!

Tizzalicious said...

Maybe some kind of flower on the hat? I think it's gorgeous the way it is too though.

Virginia said...

I love the hat as it is but I also think it would be incredible with some sparkley seed beads in a few places. But then, I'm big on sparkley.

Thanks for the advice about protecting images. I'm so honest that I too often assume that others will be, too.

Unknown said...

the hat looks really good! i love how it reminds me of the 50's! and good post about flickr too! i blogged today too but it's a bit of a rant! be warned!

Unknown said...

Love the hat - I am such a hat freak.... because of my wearing experience - I am wondering about adding one small row to kind of connect the scalloped (sp) edges to bring down the length just a teeny bit and keep those edges from becoming floppy after someone like me becomes obsessed with wearing it :). Beautiful color and design. Love your work. Blessings!

Anonymous said...

great hat, does not miss anything.

thanks for sharing you notes on sites' small text importance.

Jrahn said...

command, shift, 4 woman! command, shift, 4!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful hat just as it is!!

Lisa Holman of XSBaggage and Co. said...

Great advice!

I love the hat!! You do beautiful work.

Sharon said...

I'm sure you are aware that your purloined pictures are being displayed here:
http://www.timelesstattingpatterns.com/gallery/
That site is selling the public domain patterns available freely from the Antique Pattern Library
http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/
and the pictures shown in the gallery, including your own original works are being presented as the efforts of the site owner and part of what is being sold in the "manual" that is offered.
A number of tatters whose work has been stolen are making a concerted effort to discourage this behaviour by writing to the site owner and to her server, requesting that the images be removed. Your beautiful work shouldn't be used by someone else to falsely sell public domain material. I sincerely hope that you will take the time out of your busy schedule to write to the server
Defender Technologies Group, LLC at
abuse@powervps.com
and request that your pictures be removed.