Beware: Farellemoon

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

I am incredibly sad to have to make this post, I really liked this artist, not just for her art, but because I thought she was pretty cool as a person. However... there's only so much I can take.

I hope that this will still be allowed to be posted, even though the monetary part has been settled before I even get to post it, as it seems the artist doesn't even want to change how she does business, which in itself was making me seriously contemplate posting here.

WHO: FarelleMoon on FA

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/farellemoon (and 2-3 "other" accounts that I can't recall the names of)

WHAT: From/For me: a badge, part of a couple's art piece; from my fiance: the other part of the couple's piece, and she suggested doing a ref sheet for him, since this was for a new character and he did not have one for the character yet. I am (with mod approval) posting for both of us. He purchased the commissions for me as gifts.

WHEN: My badge order was originally placed August 22, 2010. The couples piece, and the ref sheet was placed October 3rd, 2010. There was even a completed commission placed after this, and information of that is included.

PROOF: You can click on any of these images to go to the Flickr gallery they are hosted on, and look at them in the "original" screenshot size. Lots of screenshots behind the cut. Church's screens are on the dark version of FA, mine are using the light one.






*further details are hashed out here, further contact over the next few months*





Shortly after this, she blocked him, because they were going back and forth in an argument. He was not refunded at this point.

Now, for mine.






These are for the completed commission.



The commission was finished, and a censored screenshot can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowhawk/5753181533/ (tastefully nude, nipples are blocked out by me for the purposes of this post, sorry I didn't show the date).

These are the most recent communications between her and I... Keeping in mind, I had sent NO notes to ask about my commission in the time from that last note for the completed commission, and was beginning to get concerned from the tone of her journals, as well as Church's growing agitation over her lack of communication. I read journals when I notice them/have time. Sometimes can't view FA for most of the day, since I can be pretty busy with my RL job and my family.


So, those took place on May 9th...

Two weeks later, I've heard nothing. I've grown more and more annoyed over the past two weeks, between the lack of communication, and what I've been hearing of people who are also having issues and afraid to speak up... I'm honestly angry at this point. But I'm trying to stay composed.


Obnoxious furry-ism aside... This just pissed me off more, so I begin not only gathering my information for this post, but writing it and replying to her as well.


That was the final communication as of my last check of FA, and I did send that note as it is written, I just took the screenshot before doing so.

EXPLAIN: To start, I fully admit the screenshots above are not ALL off the communication exchanged, as some was just working out details of the art, and not of deadlines/payments/etc.

I first commissioned Farelle in February of 2009, for an ink of my character Fidget. It was completed and posted without incident, and very quickly. Well, she offered a few "orphaned" badges some 9 months ago, and I decided I wanted one of them. I worked out the details, and my fiance, Church, sent the payment.

A short time later, he decided to purchase a couples "heart" image she was having a special on, and while working out the details there, she offered to make him a character sheet. She said she would have the heart commission done in 2 hours, and the ref sheet would make it 2 weeks.

Somewhere in all this, another digital commission was ordered as a gift to me, a simple piece of my character, tastefully nude. It was, again, completed with no incident.

Well, deadlines were missed, obviously. And missed. And she dropped off of FA for a while. And she broke up with her fiance. And she turns into an emotional wreck. And she's having issues with pain. And we are trying to be patient. I live in pretty severe pain daily, too, so we can somewhat empathize.

Church's ref sheet commission is supposedly sketched. My badge was changed from the orphaned badge to one of my actual character (at her doing), and has been inked (which I have seen, light bondage warning) and allegedly colored.

We contact her, asking for updates, or refunds if it's too much work. My badge needs to be printed and have the ribbon added. But by me contacting her (the few times I have over this), she now refuses to show it to me (so I can, you know, make sure it's colored properly), and won't complete it, and will just refund me "when (she) can." (Edit while working on screencaps: She says she won't complete it becasue she doesn't want it to be destroyed when it gets here. Which I never threatened to have happen, and I never saw Church say that.)

She refuses to give refunds, because she's jobless and the commission money has been spent. She expects commissioners to read her journals, and refuses to contact them directly unless she is contacted by them, and then she seems to get very annoyed by the whole deal. She says "I will have everything done by this date, and if I don't you get a refund whether you like it or not!" and the deadlines come and go and refunds don't arrive.

In the past 9 months, she has stopped coloring commissions, and hired colorists, again saying this only in journals and expecting anyone that doesn't read them to just be happy with it. She recently admitted she's an "art slave" to another person, and that person will ALWAYS take queue over everyone else in the queue (we never would have bothered had we known this, but it's not, or was not, openly posted anywhere). She constantly drags her personal issues into her "professional" artist life and always has some excuse as to why she can't even show a file. She managed to get enough in donations to purchase a tablet, and not just the little Wacom Bamboo by the price she gave Church, it sounds to be a larger one than my 4x6 Intuos... I've been too angry to read her journals to see what size it was, if it was posted.

And, if anyone else remembers, Farelle once tried to improve the relationship between commissioners and artists at cons, by posting helpful things to FA. I would love to link these, but I have lost my bookmarks to them. But this, while it was comforting to see that she valued being a professional, is apparently just smoke and mirrors to hide what's really going to happen.

Also, while I was getting my screenshots, and Church was transferring his to my computer, she blocked him from contacting her. And as I have been typing this, and editing screenshots down/removing personal information, she's replied to me, as you will see at the end of the above screenshots.

tl;dr: We trusted an artist, in the time it takes to have a child we've been repeatedly let down, now getting sob stories instead of work/refunds.

Edit while working: Church just got an email notification from PayPal of a refund. She didn't send it, though, it was sent on her behalf. My last note has yet to be replied to, so I am still posting this as warning. If you want to risk it, go ahead. Neither of us will again, and we're both getting very discouraged over things like this happening.

So, resolved as far as money goes, but the beware remains because she can't keep deadlines which -she- sets, likes to flake out and pretend she's doing no wrong, and refuses to actually contact her commissioners.

Also, she has apparently posted/is posting about this situation here. I will let it be known, if that post is in the queue and she's not posting under an alt account or refusing to name names (which would still be under an alt or having someone post for her), then this is the situation from my/our side and her post, as of the time I am submitting this, is not viewable.

Journal Edit, 2:51 pm, May24, 2011: More screenshots, including the last ones between Church and Farelle, as hamburger requested. The one between her and I are extremely confusing, again, as I am not sure where she is getting the idea I have said some of the things I am being accused of.

I have told her to keep the badge, as the screenshots show, as I am tired of this exchange and getting nothing but more excuses.




(Notice, I point out at the end she seems to have overpaid us in the refund, but Church can't contact her because she has him blocked.)



I am at this point through with her. Any future notes will not be responded to, though I may actually add them if she continues to insist that she is being abused/attacked. I do not deny, in anyway, that I am harsh and abrasive in these notes.

Mini edit: I admit I MISSED the line in the last note from her where she says to keep the extra money. For that I apologize and I take responsibility for the screw up.

Now, between her and Church, these are the last two notes they exchanged.



Church is, as I type, gathering notes where she admits to FORGETTING about the commission, as well as further deadlines she imposed and missed. I will add those when he gives them to me and I have them properly edited.

Journal Edit 2, 3:32pm, May24, 2011: These are the screenshots where she admits to forgetting about the commissions, sets a new deadline (Christmas 2010) for herself, and a contact schedual is suggested by Church. Not asking for much, just not to be ignored.

Church has also pointed out to me that, in the journal where she announced she was going to go to be hiring colorists, he DID actually express his displeasure. However, I can't remember the time frame of that journal as I think I just skimmed it and never got around to coming back to it (This is why, again, journal only communication is BAD.), so we do not have screenshots of it. Assuming the journal is still there and the comment is not hidden, it does exist.

Comments

MOD POST

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is a case where both sides submitted a post to the community at the same time. To keep things simple, we rejected the post by Farelle and asked that she please consider sharing her side in a reply to this post.

Also: Your first image appears not to work, you may want to fix that. :)

Re: MOD POST

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Pie.

Also, I'm not sure what's up with the images. I'm seeing everything. :x

Re: MOD POST

[thepurplewolf.livejournal.com]

Do you have a copy of my submission by chance because I put a lot of thought into it and I don't know if I have the brain power to honestly do it again.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

This is very disappointing. I like her work, but I don't have time to wait around for months and hawk people's journals. Like you, I'm gone all day. When I get home I can have up to 100 journals sitting in my inbox. =\

I am curious to hear her side of this, but I doubt I will ever spend my money on her.

tl;dr reply :x

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

Something we both pointed out to get, repeatedly, and I have since put in a note in bold, all caps to try and get my point across, is just that: not everyone reads journals. I nuke them after I get so many sitting in my inbox, and I do check FA as regularly as I can... But sometimes... I'm not able to even look for over 24 hours (I wasn't even at my computer this whole past weekend), and when I get back and see 50, 60, 70+ journals, several of which are deleted, and I'm tired from whatever work I've been doing that day... I don't want to wade through that when much of it boils down to mostly stuff that has no substance, just to look for a tiny piece of something relevant.

I really, really did not want to do this, but I've grown more and more and more aggravated over "Oh, you have to read my journals" and the fact that, in two weeks, I've still not even -seen- the colors on my badge. And just how by making a comment about something that I don't like, it's an "attack" or "abuse." (I supposedly attacked her owner and colorists in my last note, and somewhere, she got this idea that I was going to destroy the badge if it arrived. Church, as blunt as he can be, was apparently being abusive before she blocked him, but all I have seen from her lately is a someone with very thin-skin.)

I also am apparently offending her by continuing to call herself a professional since she apparently never calls herself that anymore. Which, as someone that has to be a professional in most of my online and real life settings, is hilarious. I can't treat one customer like they hung the moon, then everyone like they don't matter in the least, just because I took my "Professional Hat" off.

As I have since said in a note to her, both Church and I are sick of people in this fandom flaking out over commissions, and many of them getting away with it because they're "popular" and people are afraid to speak up. And she's said she wants to fix it, but I'm honestly not seeing how she can fix it, if she refuses to actually change how she interacts with people.

[spykie90.livejournal.com]

I really like her work and I was going to commission her. I'm kind of glad that I didn't now if this is how she treats her customers.

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

If she can turn her act around, which I really hope she will because I love her work, then I would say to go ahead. I liked -her- as a person, and the art was just a plus.

Until then though... I just wouldn't I could recommend it unless you're prepared to wait and wait and wait and potentially wait more if her "owner" decides they want more art.

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

Dosen't she have some form of disorder or something? I can't recall if she does or not. :C

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

Oh wait; http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3224499/

Maybe that's why she flip flops sometimes. It's unfortunate.
I still like her art tho~

[razzek.livejournal.com]

This is a bit discouraging to read on both sides of the situation. It looks like you had a lot of success with her until recently but haven't really taken into account events that have happened to her lately (like major surgery, which happened just a couple of weeks ago). That doesn't entirely absolve her of everything, but it seems like you're being a bit too harsh as well.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Even if she was having all of these problems, she could have noted her commissioners individually rather than expect them to keep track of journals. People are really understanding and kind if you are willing to let them know on a one-to-one basis.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I've had a bit of problems with her as well and so has a friend of mine, both of us trades. I finished my trade maybe a year or more ago? I can try to find full info if needed.

On her list I was written down for a bondage badge rather then what we agreed on, two character's inked. But, I don't mind too much as I told her, whichever is easier I'm fine with, but I know a lot of people would be put off by it.

She seems to be a little better lately, when it comes to talking to commissioners, but I can't fully know. It really seems like a case where she took on way too much, tragic things happened one after another and now she's kinda suck. I don't know how she can deal with her list, it's huge.

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

She was, until I had the slightest hint of annoyance in my text, at which point she refused to work with me further. ... Then turned around and said she'd still send the badge. Then basically raged at me for this post after she read it, because I am apparently attacking her commissioners. (?) So I have told her to just keep the badge, I'm done with her unless she can actually be reasonable and stop taking everything negative as an attack.

Had we known (you know, posted clearly in her artist profile at the very least, not some journal) that she not only had someone that could knock everyone a spot down in her queue, but had a three-year long queue, we wouldn't have even bothered, and this never would have happened.

I would encourage anyone that has anything over due from her, and she's being difficult with them to post as well. Your account is far from the first I have heard, and I know many people are afraid to speak up becasue she is one of the more popular folk.

[worgenizer.livejournal.com]

Churchwood, here. I'll just add a few things for the sake of transparency.

My last note to her (not shown) was very blunt and direct regarding my personal opinion of what she is playing at. While I don't agree that it was "abusive," it was very accusatory, because it is my own personal opinion that she is doing all of this on purpose. I may be wrong, but that is where I stand on it.

I also became increasingly frustrated with how she would post so many journals, many of which were only full of personal ranting and raving. It eventually was the proverbial camel-breaking straw for me, because she refused to take constructive criticism about any of it, and it became too difficult to try to weed out any relevant information from all of the other stuff. If she had been more transparent and contacted me every so often (which she promised to do in another earlier note, which can be provided if necessary), I wouldn't have ended up being so angry with her.

I would also like to make mention that I recall nothing about how there were specific points in time where I refund would be given. All I recall are more than one entry in which she said she understood completely if a refund was desired, and that they would be given at any time. At the time of commission, I was new to watching her, and I knew nothing of a TOS requiring me to hang on her every word in her journals in order to get information about my commission. She never mentioned that to me at all. I try to keep up with things, but it isn't always possible.

If a screenshot is necessary of my last note, I can get one put up. However, I will not post it unless required, only because the accusatory nature could be considered to be in violation of this community's own TOS.I do, however, stand by my statements to her, for the most part, with the possible exception of one thing I said in exasperation regarding where she should get my money from. Regardless of how harsh, mean, or "abusive" some may find me to be, I have to be honest: I don't really care. Because of the nature of the situation, I feel that it was warranted and necessary at the very end.

I will also point out that the person who she had refund me may have sent too much money. Since Farelle has me blocked, I have no easy way of looking into the matter. I am willing to refund the difference once I know if a mistake was made. I have no interest in doing to her what I feel was done to me. However, it is her responsibility to communicate with Sno and/or myself regarding the matter. After all that has happened, I will not break my back for her sake.

Again, this comment is simply for the sake of clarifying a few things. That is all.

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

I prefer you would post the last reply, actually. I've seen it and I think it's important to have in this post.

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

This is all a huge shame. I have worked for you both several times, and you are great commissioners. :/

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

Psst. <-(Meant to use this icon, for the record. Would delete the comment, but I know better. )

[tanginello.livejournal.com]

I didn't know anyone assumed people read journals anymore. Making announcements in journals seems like a waste because maybe 10% of the people watching a given individual actually read it.
(I guess unless you label the journal "FREE ART".)

It's very easy to type up a note and copy and paste it to a bunch of different people; I certainly do it all the time when I need to make an announcement to my commissioners. Asking people to read every little journal is absolutely absurd.

All that said, eagerly awaiting hearing Farelle's response. I would love to hear her side of the story.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

It's surprisingly super common. Almost all artist rely on journals.

Me, I'll only use a journal if, let's say, I'm sick for a few days to maybe a week. Something not long. Anything urgent or long would be emailed.

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

A person who wished to remain anonymous wanted me to point out there's a spreadsheet for Farelle's owed commissions here:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Avr5RueP-wESdDdSSjBiWjhucjJXZzFxOGhMZGktMlE&hl=en&output=html

This does not include her list on her FA profile, but it was linked to in one of her previous journals.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Holy... that is a gigantic list.

(frozen)

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I do think Church went a bit too far in calling her a liar, a scammer and a thief. I don't know if I would call it ABUSIVE, but I wouldn't want to talk to him after that either.

I don't get the impression Farelle is trying to withhold art/money from anyone on purpose. I get the impression she's one of many who got in over her head and now can't handle it.

That said, I fully recognize that's nobody's problem but her own. But I always believed to not attribute anything to malice that could be attributed to ignorance. Only some people, usually people with a mental illness, will usually intentionally do something 'bad' and not at least regret it, ala Starfinder.

She was definitely wrong in giving constant excuses and assuming people will read her journals, though. You won't get any argument from me there. I just think he should have reigned in the personal attacks (and I do consider them personal attacks), but I can understand that he was probably pretty frustrated.

I do think she wants to make things right. I think you should let her send you the badge, and then everyone should go their separate ways. Hopefully she can work things out. People in bad positions that would prevent them from working shouldn't take commissions to begin with if they can help it.

(frozen)

[icen-rose.livejournal.com]

^This.

I think she's trying to set things right; be it actually right or what she might deem right in her own way. She sounds like she has a lot of stuff on her plate (commission-wise and life-wise) so doing this kind of thing is extremely frustrating.

I know it's hard on commissioners to have any artist be unruly with them but I tend to err on the side of compassion w/artists and try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[zippiner.livejournal.com]

I wish I had a facepalm icon, because this post has been coming for a year now. It has also needed to.
So, I am her ex-roommate and would like to explain a few things here. I am not speaking FOR her, and I am only speaking for myself.

"She recently admitted she's an "art slave" to another person, and that person will ALWAYS take queue over everyone else in the queue (we never would have bothered had we known this, but it's not, or was not, openly posted anywhere). "
She is an art slave to BelleCandi, who paid SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS, years ago, to get many, many, many peices of work from Farelle. Making her the head of the list for good reason. She has also helped Farelle pay for most of the conventions in the past two years, too. So the "art slave" is just her joke (hit and a miss) at the fact she owes someone almost 1k in art and labor.

As for her tablet. She posted for donations, and had no control over the amount people donated. I think she was going for a Bamboo, and one of her close personal friends went 'GET THIS ONE, HERE IS THE MONEY' because a surprising amount of people do that for her (for god knows why.) She is also 100% correct. Spending any of that money on anything other than a tablet, would be fraud.

As for her journals. When you have a 150+ person backlist, it's get pretty hard to respond to all 150 people. She seems generally nice about her replies until you started to be angry as well.(Which everyone started metaphorically bitchslapping her for out here, and every time she would try to take on more. We'd have to sit her down (Like parents) and tell her not to. :|)

Her organization has come a long way in the past year, but she apparently need to work on contacting people still, although she is a very talkative, and responding person in her journals. I think she has a very hard time talking onexone with people in notes, and would rather publicly broadcast herself in journals, so if someone attacks her for any reason people will give her buttpats. (I'd do it too if I was popufur =P)
--
There is really no pure excuse for the waiting 9 months for a piece of work that was promised that night. Even with the queue. It should have been done the same night, and lord knows we scolded the heck out of her every time she took on last minute commissions to pay for something she -needed-. Because she has family in the area, who would have taken her out for food shopping, or clothing / etc.
I know she has crippling mental illnessess (Yes, multiple) as well as an incredibly stressed life. I also think her recent surgery put her over the edge, since doctors really trigger her stress / PTSD. But, once again, you should not have waited 9 months, and heck. The only reason I got any art from her, is because she still owes us a LOT in rent.
In fact, we still have her wheelchair, that she owes us 300 dollars for, because we bought it on credit so she could order it that day and well. I'm not going to go into personal drama right now.

I sincerely hope that sh refunds you quickly. I know from being her friend ATM she has no money, and I do hope she guts up and asks her family for something, anything, to help her pay you. Because having this out of her hair, will stop the phone calls to me that are asking for advice when I really have none to give past "You owe them work, or your money."

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

We have been refunded, but not by her. Someone refunded us on her behalf.

I have been incredibly saddened to see the turn she has taken. I really liked her, and her art, and, as I have said, I could empathize somewhat, being a person with a whole laundry list of issues myself.

I feel like she needs more people that are close to her to get on her rear and try to talk some sense into her. She's going to destroy herself if she keeps going like she does.

I was not angry until she started snapping at me. I wasn't really even angry then. Harsh, yes, but I'm sick of dealing with adults that act like children, and having to feel like I have to coddle them to get something accomplished. Which never seems to work anyway.

And I admit, I could have tried to be nicer, but what's been said has been said, and do not take any of it back.

[allykat.livejournal.com]

Yiiikes.

Ok. I have to admit that the revealing of the missing communication between Church and the artist color things for me. However, I'll leave that for last, as I believe pretty much everything in here is valid.

1. Regarding the "communication via journals"

I'm going to be in the minority here and say that, as a commissioner, this isn't really a problem for me. Yes, I have a watch list a mile long and regularly nuke my journals. However, my list of "Artists from whom I am commissioning artwork right now this very minute" is generally quite manageable. Within reason, it is no trouble for me to visit an artists FA or LJ journal to check for queue updates.

Of course the key term in there is "within reason", and I do agree that this had crossed that line before things started to get heated. Additionally, once the commissioner communicates that he/she doesn't like journal communication, it would be MUCH smarter to just respect that wish and contact that particular customer directly from that point forward. If nothing else, it just seems like it's in an artist's best interest in order to avoid situations like this.

Finally, when things get REALLY mucked up as they had for this particular artist, I think a form letter to each individual commissioner would have been a very smart business thing to do. If nothing else, just to say "sorry". Life happens, but folks are generally willing to forgive folks who are forthcoming with the apologies.

2. Regarding the colorist issue

I actually find this to be the most troubling issue of all. I'm not sure that I think this is ok ever. Even had the artist written every single outstanding commissioner to let them know about the change, I still think this is pretty iffy. When they originally ordered their commission, they knew what they were getting. A new colorist throws everything into uncertainty. Will the commission be as high a quality? Should they request a refund or wait and see if the new colorist can produce the product they were expecting to get? I just think this puts EVERYONE in a really awkward situation.

3. Art slave? Not even going there.

4. Ok. Having said "I agree" with basically everything, I do have to point out that I find it ironic that the artist is being ripped a new one for not being professional, and at the same time I found Church's communication to be extremely unprofessional. This is a two way street. Let's say I was purchasing a product from basically anywhere. Let's say Best Buy. I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars and the person I was working with screwed me over six ways to Sunday. I don't care how infuriated I became by the service I received- I would never say to that person that they were going to wind up alone and unhappy. That is not being blunt. That is not telling it like it is. That is getting personal which is, I believe, the literal opposite of being professional. I appreciate that things were heated by this point, but for goodness sake practice what you preach.

[zippiner.livejournal.com]

A new colorist throws everything into uncertainty. Will the commission be as high a quality?
It took her a month to choose between two people, and she then taught them everything she does to color, down to templates.
It was her idea to bring down her commission list so people can still get their work. All the digitals are done by the color artist, all watercolor / etc are done by her. Not having to digitally color actually did help her crank out half of her list's drawing.
It has the downside of 'what will I get' but it had to upside of 'Your art you waited a year for.'

[icen-rose.livejournal.com]

Aw, this is terrible. =/ An old friend of mine used to be good friends with Farelle; she seems like a really sweet person to me.

As I've said before (and especially in Farelle's case) erring on the side of sympathy/compassion will definitely help you guys get through this hassle. It really seems like Farelle is trying her damndest to make this right...but she really needs help.

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

She can't, at this point, make it anymore "right" by us, we have been refunded and are both just left with a very bitter taste. I tried for this whole time to be empathetic with her. Church tried, because he sees what I go through every day of my life, and has his own issues as well.

Empathy runs out after a while, a little faster when you're only met with excuses.

Like I've said several times, I am sad it had to come to this, but it was time. I know we are not the only ones to have issues, and she has continued to take more work on top of that massive list that was also posted here.

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

I'm actually honestly surprised by the people who are supporting Farelle's useage of journals as a means to update commissioners.

how many times have we, as a community, criticized other artists for doing that? how many times have we, as a community, agreed that journals are a pretty awful way of updating people as to their commission status? I swear, if it were any other artist...

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

To be fair, we're not a hivemind. It's very possible the same people who are supporting journals here have supported them before.

Farellemoon here.. reporting in

[thepurplewolf.livejournal.com]

Alrighty,I know that many people are waiting for my official comment on this matter. I have put a great deal of thought into what to say in response to all of this.

I have decided not to defend myself. I do not, and I will not, contest any complaints which have or may surface from my commissioners. I'm especially concerned with those who have shared their concerns with Sno but feel their voice can't be heard without some sort of back lash from me or other people. I lived that way for many years and it hurts me to realize that my actions or fear of my actions have caused people to feel this way.

My current plan is to move forward as I have been with completing as much of the commission list as I can before June 17th and refunding those who remain on the list after in order to regain control of something that has clearly gotten out of hand.

After that I will heavily revise how I conduct business with the fandom taking into mind much of the insight that has surfaced from this and other things over the past three years.

Re: Farellemoon here.. reporting in

[thepurplewolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to mention because I noticed that it was not posted for reference so people know for the future in case there is a problem:

Bondagepuppy <--- bondage art account
thepurplewolf <--- sketch account

I once used the account called 'Mnema' for bondage work but have since left it for personal reasons.

So, if anyone disputes one of those names on here, that is me, my name is Jennifer Rae Allen.

[ocelotish]

I feel like this is a situation where what the artist done was absolutely wrong, but I feel like both of the commissioners' actions made the situation worse.

From what I saw, the artist keep a relatively level head until personally attacked by both commissioners. Yes, the artist was wrong to keep you guys waiting, but you two also handled this horribly. If the colorist was a problem (and yes, professionals can and do hire helpers sometimes for the more mundane), the simple thing to do is to ask for the artist to color it, a discount, or a refund. From the moment it was brought up it was done so in a hostile manner.

In addition, the commissioners asked for a refund, told the artist repeatedly to find it somehow, or hold a donation drive, then got upset when the refund came from someone else. I'm not saying the artist was right to spend the money before the commission was done, but what was the artist supposed to do? Were they supposed to keep the commissioners waiting, borrow the money, or what? pull it out of thin air?

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

We expected our art by the deadlines the artist imposed, and repeated excuses as to why she couldn't deliver.

Had they been delivered when -she- promised them (keep in mind, we did not set deadlines for her), this wouldn't have been an issue.

But the deadlines were missed, repeatedly and what we got in return were excuses, repeatedly (and one admittance of her actually -forgetting- the commission). Which is clearly shown by the notes.

[astraldescent.livejournal.com]

AB is such an odd community.
"Oh ye gods, someone who got ripped off was MEAN to the person who ripped them off! Oh despair! Oh woe! Oh, misery and pain!"

Um, no. It happens all the time, and when its someone less liked, you ALL (even the mods) join in- look at any post tagged "Starfinder" for proof. People get upset when they are lied to and made to feel responsible for other peoples problems, and that upset changes to anger in some cases, when the person also owes them services/money.

Honestly, with how the artist was shoving her personal problems in everyone's faces, I'm sorry, but that's asking for it to get personal. And having a backlist of over 100 commissioners? Is that NOT at a Starfinder-esque level? Or do you have to be "popufur" (*gags*) to warrant any serious dislike in this community?

I don't blame the commissioners for how they acted. I blame the ARTIST for MAKING IT PERSONAL. Using a personal excuse like I'm sick, there's a family emergency, etc once or twice is understandable. But people who have perpetual misfortune, via health, family, or other ways SHOULD NOT TAKE COMMISSIONS, PERIOD.

When you say "Oh woe is me, I'm so sick" once its acceptable. When you keep saying that, and you keep making personal excuses, and you expect everyone to just read/deal with them, YOU ARE making it personal. If someone commissions me, and they try to treat me like I'm their free therapist rather than someone who they're commissioning, is that right? No. So why is it right in the reverse situation?

In no other fandom, in no other commissionable service, in no other form of business, do people get away with months long waits, poor communication, and outright scamming without so much as getting yelled at. In fact in most cases they'd get a lawsuit.

I guess the only explanation is just furries. The only fandom where artists can and will repeatedly get away with murder and GOD FORBID you so much as call them a name for doing it.

I'm sorry for the rant but honesty the hypocrisy makes me sick. Starfinder post? PILE ON. Anyone else who is just as bad? THEY'RE A SAINT DONT YELL AT THEM THEIR POOR FEELINGS OMGGGG

So if it's not obvious, I fully support the commissioners' choice to give said artist a thorough talking-to. The fandom needs less asspats and more ass-kickings, lest artists continue getting away with this shit forever.

[ducttapeninja.livejournal.com]

You can't see it, but I'm giving you a standing ovation right now.

My biggest concern is where Farelle pulls the "I don't want to give you the art anymore" card. It was supposedly done and then she disappeared for two weeks, and when the commissioner gets upset she says "Yeah, nah, I'm not really up for giving it to you anymore." Why the hell not? The art's done, and was supposedly done for two weeks. The whole reason the commissioners are upset is because she disappeared and didn't keep in contact with them and then shirked off their incredibly clear irritation with the matter with "you should be reading all of my journals, not my problem." Why would she drag that crap out and make them even angrier when the work is done? Just give 'em the art or whatever and get the transaction over and done with so the situation doesn't get worse.

Also it's like 8 in the morning and I got maybe four hours of sleep and sort of wanted to express my thoughts on the matter, but I don't know if I'm all that coherent so I'm going to type it out anyway and hope it's not just be smearing my face all over my keyboard.

[poizenkat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes ive dealt with her about a year ago. all i wanted was a grab bag and all the art was already done. it took her well over a MONTH just to send them with no communication whatsoever

[prismpawpaw.livejournal.com]

If I was told by an artist that they would only communicate with me through /journals/ I would demand my money back that instant. It is a seriously disrespectful to my time to expect me to go through your life to figure out what is going on with my order.

I hate to say it, but maybe the furry community should try to be as professional as Etsy.

I think the OP was harsh, but if I had been told that something was done, and then I wasn't shown it finished, and hadn't received a refund but a promise to a refund when they had money to do so? I would have snapped too. What's forever when you've proven to ignore people for months at a time?

[ocelotish]

The artist did refund the commissioners, relatively quickly (within 24 hours) of the customer changing the deadline.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I'm not defending the artist in any way, I think she's completely in the wrong for all of this and she's dug herself quite a hole.

But for the commissioners, it seems more a case where, it's understandable you're angry, you can get into personal things, but should you? I don't think anyone should have to play the nice commissioner when they end up in this situation with an artist. But there's a huge difference in putting your foot down about how she works with commissions and getting into personal things.

Even if you were angry, the personal parts, like how she'll end up alone, has nothing to do with how she works. Why? Because it doesn't mean she herself is a bad person. You see it all the time, really nice people who are horrible when it comes to commission work and vice versa as well. So there's no point in it rather then just to hurt her personally when what you want is to change how she works.

I already know both of you will say you still stick up for what you did or even you don't care. This is more for others to put my view on it.

[saitenyo.livejournal.com]

I like the way you worded this.

I think from a professional perspective, the artist is the one in the wrong here, definitely, and hostile attitudes from customers don't at all justify her behavior.

But from a personal preference of how people should interact with other human beings in a dispute, the commissioners didn't behave in a way that I'd applaud or defend either.

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

Faraelle is a talented artist who has seen a lot of hard times and has tried to lean on her art to support her financially. Not to best of choices, and I won't deny she has a huge list to work with. I also don't agree with using journals as a means to communicate, but with a list that long I do see why personal communication could get difficult.

But the way the OP and her mate dealt with this situation with such venom and nastiness at parts is just as disconcerting as the length of time and poor communication on the artist's part. I can realize being frustrated, but there is never a need for rudeness like that. I hope this entry gives someone pause before working with either side.

[mikaufoxy.livejournal.com]

I almost stopped right then and there when she suggested that you two should commission HollyAnn instead of her. That's a bit surprising, if not shocking, that she'd pull the card to you; given that the two of them are friends, and are purple canines (and would often make an inside joke of such at cons via signs).

Seeing this post, looks like I won't be wasting my money on her if this is how she treats her customers.