INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

I had hoped to get a very explicit, accurate, and detailed retraction about the Needle Necessities/ThreadworX situation posted already. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way (those details will be covered later, too; right now I am simply drowning).

However, this post is immediately necessary in order to correct errors I made earlier regarding Dragonfly Dreams.

Earlier, I implied Dragonfly Dreams was not an authorized Needle Necessities supplier, I was wrong, WRONG, W-R-O-N-G.

Here is how that mistake happened: I went by the information listed on Needle Necessities’ website. They listed one Australian distributor, and just two Australian shops who carried their threads. I took that to mean no other shops carried their products. While this assumption would generally be true if I had been making it about Needle Necessities’ US listings, it would not generally true regarding shops in Australia for a variety of reasons — only I didn’t learn that last bit of information, nor would it have ever crossed my mind to ask about it prior to this situation. I very incorrectly assumed shops from different countries were all treated the same by Needle Necessities.

You’ve probably heard the “joke” about why you should not assume? Because you might make an ass out of U and me? Well, I certainly made an ass out of myself this time.

A surprising result (at least to me) of this situation is that a good number of people (who have come to trust me when I mention copyright) found themselves even more disturbed than I was by the possible copyright infringement which I speculated might have been occurring. They actually wanted to do something about it and took it upon themselves to start contacting Karen Kirk, owner of Dragonfly Dreams, to ask why she stocks, “counterfeit threads”!

The thing is, some investigation was required first in order to determine whether or not any copyright infringement had indeed occurred (much less whether or not there was an issue of counterfeit threads … which is laughable — except when it is directed at you). Karen wrote to me [emphasis mine]:

The thread image you displayed on your site was loaded when we were told that they were the same company, and I forgot to change the image when I was told two months later that they were not. I have since corrected this, as I correct all honest mistakes when they are brought to my attention.

Therefore, copyright infringement is also NOT an issue in this case.

In other words, to those individuals who are calling Karen at Dragonfly Dreams, it is time to STOP. I was WRONG. Karen did nothing wrong.

I am new to doing this specific kind of business (the journalism part of what I am doing now, that is) and so this is an educational process for me; it is from my readers that I learn and become more accurate in my journalistic efforts. In fact, Bernadette Huysing of the Needlework Boutique (a competitor of Dragonfly Dreams; Blogroll) was kind enough to contact me — not only in Karen’s and Dragonfly Dream’s defense, but also to explain to me some of the inner workings of the distributing of threads in Australia about which I was entirely unaware. Because of my lack of knowledge on that matter, my report was very inaccurate and contained some unintended but still negative reflection on Dragonfly Dreams.

I certainly did not intend to “condemn” any business or to direct any malice toward any business in any way . However, there is a LOT of information to get out to the public, so the upcoming article retracting my statements is taking some time to write.

I have twice called Karen Kirk, owner of Dragonfly Dreams, on the telephone in response to emails from her because I felt this situation was important enough to call her about rather than just send email back and forth. She deserved to hear my voice, and the sincerity in it. I have also received email or comments from some of her most loyal customers. Please accept my heartfelt apology to all of you as well.

Note to Bre: Both of your comments will be published, and in fact, I am utilizing your first comment to make sure my more extensive retraction post is correct and properly detailed. I am also cross-checking points 2 and 4 of your first comment with ThreadworX. Also, having talked by phone directly with Karen and with Travis Richmond, I am quite sure we are all in agreement that we don’t wish to incite any further argument; therefore, as soon as my full retraction is written, approved in advance by Karen Kirk of Dragonfly Dreams and Travis Richmond of ThreadworX, and posted here on Independent Needlework News, I will post your comments at that time.

Technorati Tags: Dragonfly Dreams, Karen Kirk, copyright

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 7:55 am and is filed under Blogroll, Can You Help?, Copyright and Needlework, Needlework Facts, Needlework Shop Information, Posts Containing Information about Heather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.