INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

This issue is happening too frequently for me to continue ignoring it, or responding just in comments. Perhaps my regular readers will have guidance on how best to handle this — or even encouragement that I’m handling it properly already (checks and balances are always a good idea ).

Some people think they have the right to attack whatever they please here on Independent Needlework News — and also that they can be as cruel as possible when doing so. They rarely use a valid email address when they do.

So far, I’ve always approved their comments.

“Susy’s” comment is the most recent example. I have no confidence “Susy” is her actual name, especially as it’s a misspelling of both “Susie,” and “Suzy,” and as her email address, stitchashash@yahoo.com, is both nonsensical and fake.

Of course, I never hear from these particular individuals at any other time (or, at least, not under the names they choose to use when criticizing me). Clearly, these are people who are happy only when they are tearing others down and being mean; they aren’t interested in promoting the stitching industry in any way by lifting others up, or by making anyone feel good by thanking them for what they do.

Perhaps I shouldn’t bother approving their comments at all — and there is certainly no requirement that I do so. What do you all think? Is a change warranted here? Should I email everyone back and not print comments from people who enter invalid email addresses? Should I do something else?

Sadly, since it would resolve the problem, these whiners (who may well be just one or two people writing in under a different fraudulent name and email address every time) never make good on their threats to stop reading INN. They’re either lying about how boring they find me, or they actually get substantial benefit out of my other articles.

In any case, I’m tired of the nastiness they think they can throw at me just because I own and write a site called Independent Needlework News. The fact is, I’m tired of all the nastiness within the needlework world, period, and I’ve already vented about this in my personal blog once — with some lovely results in terms of one person, by the way.

Writing INN takes a LOT of time — time which takes away from my stitching, and time which I put in out of the goodness of my heart. I kept encountering so many stitchers saying that with the advent of the Internet, they were doing more researching of their stitching hobby online than actual stitching, and as someone with the same experience, I wanted to do something to change that … which is how INN was eventually created.

Generally, INN has met and even far exceeded my expectations. Sharing my finds with other stitchers has been rewarding, and many of you stitchers are in return bringing things to me to share with others. Overall, this has meant I am getting more time to get back to my own stitching — after “dashing off” a quick informative article or a few articles for everyone else.

I know I’m verbose; that’s just my style. When a teacher in school said s/he wanted an eight to ten page paper, my worry was usually how to edit it down to ten pages, rather than how to get it to at least eight. I’m not going to apologize to those of you who find my writing too long or too boring because you know what? First of all, you can skim it. If that doesn’t work for you, then, if you hate it so much, you can go somewhere else for the information. Belittling me says far more about you than it does about me. You’ve either got to admit you’re getting something out of it, or that you are CHOOSING to waste your time, but you can’t blame me as the problem. I’m not going to let you make me feel small just because you’ve made the choice to read what I write. Grow up and take responsibility for your own actions. Either recognize the benefits you’re getting, or the fact that you can’t look away for whatever reason, but stop your complaining — or go away. I’ve had it with your nonsense, and I’ve got better things to do — like stitch, for starters.

As for “Susy’s” argument, I stand 100% by what I said in my article, Missing the Gift. When Kirsten Edwards has done all the incredibly hard work to turn The Gift of Stitching magazine and thegiftofstitching.com into a profitable business over a period of two years, snatching it out from under her the second it’s (temporarily) available is nothing other than STEALING. I firmly believe someday the laws will start catching up to the technology, but until then, I (along with a handful of other ethical individuals) will speak up for what I believe is right. Just because something is possible, or even because the current laws don’t specifically address it, does NOT make it proper or ethical to actually do, nor does it indicate that it should be legal.

There are a multitude of reasons why the renewal may have slipped by Kirsten. I can well imagine, as my life has been absolutely crazy over the past six months, and so I’ve experienced a multitude of possible reasons myself for missing such an important occurrence. (And, no, I haven’t received any reminders from my hosting service about renewals … I’ve only received the bills. Email is notorious for going missing, even with being able to check SPAM mailboxes, etc.) What if Kirsten changed hosting services sometime in the middle of the past two years (which I am currently considering doing myself because I am not entirely happy with my current hosting service)? What effect would that have on these supposed reminders “Susy” assumes Kirsten received and overlooked? Would a new service really remind her of deadlines created under the initial hosting service? I certainly don’t have the answers for these questions, which are all speculation to begin with — and my point is that I know “Susy,” who doesn’t have these answers any more than I do, is making a lot of completely unsupported assumptions which she is then using to judge Kirsten very unfairly.

Perhaps someday, “Susy” will learn her own hard lessons by going through a similar experience … and if that happens, she’ll be surprised to find, even though she’s been a complete nincompoop to me during this current situation, I’ll still support her right to a URL and corresponding business name if she purchased it and put months or even years of work into it.

That’s because my beliefs don’t change based on what is convenient to or for me — though I suspect “Susy’s” probably are malleable based on what’s convenient to or for her (that’s called hypocrisy, by the way).

More importantly, unlike “Susy,” I’m not going to pretend I’m perfect or could have done any better than Kirsten did, and especially not when Kirsten is already working her behind off putting out one of the most fantastic stitching magazines EVER to hit the market — and doing so EVERY SINGLE month, with every month’s issue only better than the last. I can understand very easily how Kirsten could have missed the reminder emails “Susy” says she must have received, what with everything else I know Kirsten has going on, and it doesn’t take much for me to accept that Kirsten has a lot more going on than I’m even aware of, too, so I’m entirely willing to be open-minded about the situation. And the point is that Kirsten put all the work into thegiftofstitching.com … and whoever it is that snatched it out from under her as soon as it was TEMPORARILY available is nothing more than a thief who is taking advantage of her in my book. (Oh, and INN? It’s MY book. )

I readily admit I am human and struggle as valiantly as I can daily to make some semblance of worth out of my life. I CHOOSE to make MY business here on INN not just one of showing sensitivity toward others in such a position, but also one of trying to lift up and promote this business and those in it who aspire tirelessly — and ETHICALLY — toward making wonderful products available to all of us stitchers.

A “business” which makes its living off of others’ misfortunes, or even off just their short term delays in being able to complete their obligations, is not one I consider honorable — and I’m not afraid to say so. I put a “business” like this in the same category as I do most lawyers, most doctors, political lobbyists, drug company representatives, and insurance companies. Just because something is “current business practice” or even currently legal does NOT mean it is ethical, proper, honorable, or moral — and this situation is most certainly one of those where what may be legal is NOT what is ethical.

I will not apologize for saying these things or be made to feel small by people like you, “Susy,” who make it your business in life to be cruel to others and to open your mouth up only to show you cannot think a situation through and thus to make a complete fool of yourself.

I’ll also never make any apology for repeating myself when it comes to trying to hammer home the point of why it’s important to be ethical and follow such laws as copyright laws. Simply by your comment, “Susy,” you prove that it is important for me to continue repeating myself on these issues.

Well, there you go, “Susy” … a whole post just for you. If you’d kept your mouth shut, maybe you wouldn’t be so bored right now. Don’t even bother replying, by the way … I’ve already decided that you, with your fake email, can go climb a tree.

If you’re wondering what happened to The Gift of Stitching’s website, here is the official answer from editor Kirsten Edwards (initially posted on The Gift of Stitching Magazine Yahoo Group on February 24, 2008):

Hello everyone,

Well… this is very embarrassing and I’ve been up since 4am trying to fix the problem. Basically our domain thegiftofstitching.com has expired, we didn’t know it was going to and now we have to negotiate and buy it back from a parking domain business that likes to profit out of people wanting their expired domains back. OK, lesson learnt the hard way. Buy this domain back is going to take sometime - up to 2 weeks.

In the meantime we have bought www.thegiftofstitching.com.au and are currently working with the hosting company to get it attached to our account so we can get the website up and running again. This will take up to 72 hours to travel around the world and update all the servers. Hopefully most will see it in the next 48 hours. Keep coming back and press refresh to see if it has started to work.

Once the domain is working for me, I will be sending out extensive emails so all subscribers/retailers/designers so they know what is going on.

Thanks for your patience, I am really sorry this has happened. We are working as quick as possible to get this fixed.

Kind regards,
Kirsten

–
Kirsten Edwards
Editor
The Gift of Stitching
www.thegiftofstitching.com

In my opinion, this kind of thing should be illegal. It’s stealing, pure and simple — and stealing someone else’s name is about as low as one can go.

Let’s all hope The Gift of Stitching is soon back up and running — on both the old and the new websites. (The new website is already working for me, though I’ll have to re-figure out how to get my sidebar buttons, which seem to have disappeared with the WordPress upgrade, working again. However, the TGOSM button disappeared altogether from my personal blog, too … so that one needs redoing completely, I guess.)

Also, I would like to ask a personal favor of everyone who can spare a moment to say a prayer, send good thoughts or positive energy my way, or whatever you may call your form of hoping someone or some animal does well …

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve had a terrible cold, and it turns out I passed it on to five of our eight cats. Three are recovering nicely with the help of antibiotics, but two really need some extra assistance beyond that. Magic is probably going to be just fine, but we are extremely worried about Dumbledore. It is extra devastating for us that he is so sick because since he is deaf, he is very hard to comfort. We can only communicate with him through touch and vision, but he’s not really interested in looking at much right now, or in being cuddled. To make it even worse, it seems every time we do touch him, it makes him sneeze (which may actually be helpful in getting the crap out of his nose, but it makes us feel terrible … ).

We’re doing all we can, but we’re also supposed to head to Michigan first thing tomorrow (Monday) where I have a doctor’s appointment, and right now, we dread leaving him. I may try driving alone (even though my husband took two days off specifically to drive me because I’ve been having so much difficulty staying awake while driving — something which started after the kidney failure in November), or we may board Dumbledore (and maybe Magic) with the vet while we’re gone.

I can’t cancel the appointment because I have to maintain a good relationship with this Michigan doctor (and who knows how she’d feel about my not showing because of a sick cat), especially after having been terminated by my primary care doctor here (the one I thought was so good but it turns out he nearly killed me — yes, that’s right, he caused the kidney failure … and then he terminated me because he’s scared of making another major mistake) and being as yet unable to find a new primary care doctor (because every one I’ve seen so far looks at a 38-year-old woman who has had kidney failure — and has significant signs of permanent kidney damage as a result — as a malpractice case waiting to happen), but I must admit I’m very torn.

Leaving Dumbledore with the vet may be the worst thing for him, as he might feel we’ve given up on him. Right now, he is at least in comfortable, familiar surroundings with the other cats he knows and loves.

I really am not sure what to do. All positive thoughts are very much appreciated right now …

Here are pictures of Dumbledore and Magic at their best:

I’m sure you all remember this?

It’s the first of Just Nan’s limited edition WhimZi designs, entitled Christmas is Coming, which was released in late 2005.

What I remember is finding out about it fairly quickly — I mean everything else she released at the same time was still considered new and hadn’t been available more than a week — but Christmas is Coming was already sold out everywhere I checked. I was very disappointed, to say the least.

However, this past week, I decided to really try to locate one. Obviously, I’ve wanted one ever since I missed its initial release. But perhaps because of all the icky, wintery weather we’ve had here in central Illinois, which has caused the one-bad-cold-after-another phenomena I usually experience in the fall, and also very likely because I am still reeling and trying to recover from all the frightful events that happened to my family and me between the end of August and the middle of November of last year, I rather feel as if I missed something and that time is heading toward the yuletide instead of toward spring. So, I emailed every single shop who is listed at Just Nan’s site as carrying the limited edition WhimZi releases to ask if they might still have one.

As I mentioned, I’m suffering from one of those seemingly unending colds, so it’s about all I could manage to put together this email (thank goodness for BCC, but I still had a LOT of work to do to copy/paste all the email addresses, LOL … ) — and then to wade through all the responses as they arrived.

One of the first things I learned is that Just Nan and quite a number of the shops on the list — assuming those shops are still in existence — really need to work together to update her list because a lot of those emails bounced back as no longer valid.

Of course, I did also hear back from many shops saying they did not have a Christmas is Coming chartpack to offer me.

However, my perseverance was worth it. Not only did I find one for me (I jumped on the first offer that came in, which was from Lynda — who charmed me by stating she was “tickled” to be able to help — at The Stitcher’s Garden in Arkansas, a shop which does not have a website, or you know I would point you to it!), but I’ve also located a very small surplus of Christmas is Coming chartpacks at several other shops around the country.

Because I know I’m certainly not alone in my experience of having found out about Christmas is Coming after it seemed to have been snapped up by the Ghost of Christmas Past, and as the job I’ve taken upon myself here at Independent Needlework News is to help out other stitchers — as well as to, at the same time, help out the many wonderful shops who work so hard to keep us all in stitches (or should I say INN stitches? ), I am going to list the shops who have one or more of these available so that those of you who are still seeking a Christmas is Coming chartpack might get one. You definitely will want to HURRY, because after these are gone, they really are gone (well, other than if any of the shops whose emails bounced are still around using other email addresses … and still happen to have one or a few tucked away in their stock, that is).

The Iron Kettle in Wyoming has one left and is happy to help. Call 800-801-5660 to order.

Judy’s Stitchery Nook in Texas has several and would love to help you get yours — call 956-421-2654 to order. Judy also offers a small cut of fabric if you need it to go with your chartpack, so ask for this if you’re interested.

Laurel’s Stitchery, an online shop out of New Mexico which will soon be relocating to Virginia, still has eight Christmas is Coming chartpacks in stock! Please use that link to order online; availability can be seen right on the site. By the way, Laurel’s Stitchery is proof that an online store can not just survive but thrive through several physical moves and seemingly insurmountable life changes. Laurel’s story is a true inspiration — and has a very happy ending, too! In fact, it’s also a happy ending for us stitchers, because a move means a clearance sale (10% off on all in stock items, and this sale starts today) so there’s less to pack (and unpack, LOL)!

Needles and Niceties, another shop without a website but one which sounds well worth a visit if you are ever in the Upland, California area based on this February 2001 “Shop Focus” from the Caron Collection, has two Christmas is Coming chartpacks available. Call 800-955-5358 to order. By the way, Just Nan’s teddy bear design Ebenezer was dedicated to Bob Vasaturo, who owns Needles and Niceties, which is the largest Just Nan retailer in California!

The Stitcher’s Garden in Arkansas (where I got mine from) still has three more available. Call 501-513-1851 to order. I know Lynda would be tickled to help you, too!

Thistle Needleworks in Glastonbury, Connecticut had two available. However, Judie (who took her time responding to my inquiry in the first place!) was quite ticked I’d had the gall to contact more than one shop seeking this rare chartpack and insinuated she needed no help from INN because she would probably already have sold both chartpacks prior to this article going to press. If you want to check, though, call 800-635-9757. (Please make sure to mention you’re calling because of this article. Or if you really want this, maybe you shouldn’t mention it — she appreciates so little advertising for her business that she might not sell it to you if she realizes you’re calling because of this article!)

Good luck … and consider being the odd one and starting from the bottom or middle of the list when you make your calls. Once again, HURRY: I don’t expect this surplus inventory to last out the rest of the week, and perhaps not even the rest of the day.

Last night, I installed the upgrade to Wordpress 2.3.3.

So if you noticed a period last night when INN was offline (hopefully, you saw a note saying we were doing periodic maintenance because I installed code for “Maintenance Mode” just before starting to work on the upgrade?), or if you see any differences today or over the next few days, then this is probably why.

I’m proud of myself because I did this upgrade all on my own, too! It’s really the kind of thing I would have felt much more comfortable having Jenna walk me through step by step (or even do for me, though walking me through it allows me to learn, which is the point), but Jenna hasn’t been available for that kind of work lately, so after a phone conversation with her Tuesday evening to get some direction and a lot of encouragement, I made the leap … and on the night before a full moon, too — spooky!

Please let me know if you see anything that did not transition properly. I’d also very much appreciate comments from anyone who either could not get to INN at all, or who saw the note that we were doing maintenance, as I forgot to check during the process myself to see if that part of things was working correctly or not.

Let’s hope an ad-ready template is next so INN can start making some money!

I hear it will be difficult to outdo the phenomenal retreat Shepherd’s Bush hosted in 2006, when their theme was a Haunted Weekend. However, sisters Tina Richards Herman and Teri Richards intend to make the 2008 retreat their best ever … So if you’re a Shepherd’s Bush fan, you won’t want to miss it!

Preliminary information for the 2008 Shepherd’s Retreat has been posted, so now you can finally start planning your fall calendar!

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, will be an open house at the Shepherd’s Bush shop in Ogden, Utah. If this will be your first time travelling to Ogden, then don’t forget to print out a copy of the directions from Salt Lake International Airport to the shop!

The actual retreat will follow from Thursday through Saturday, September 25th-27th, 2008, at The Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah.

Accordingly, interested stitchers will probably want to reserve the dates from Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008, through Sunday, September 28th, 2008 in order to allow for plenty of SHOPPING (and travel) time on both sides of the retreat.

The 2008 retreat theme, teachers, classes, and all further details will be posted in the retreat brochure toward the end of March on the Shepherd’s Bush website. I’ll do my best to remind you when the time comes, but you’ll want to be watching for the brochure yourself, too. That’s because you’ll want to register for the retreat as soon as you can after it’s posted — Tina and Teri recommend “… within a few days … ” of their posting the retreat brochure — because retreat enrollment is somewhat limited.

And don’t let your spouse make any argument about spending your tax refund for this very special reason. After all, he agrees you’re worth it, doesn’t he? If need be, tell him you’ll be giving him a five day vacation from you (this would be a good time to remind him of your one or two annoying habits), and then bat your eyelashes and offer him something special from next year’s tax refund. After all, he’s not likely to hold you to that agreement, right? (Will he even be likely to remember that agreement just a month later? One year, I think I spent “our tax refund” several times over! I just waited a few weeks between each expenditure … ) Besides, even if he does remember, you’re still safe … since the Shepherd’s Retreat only happens every other year!

Technorati Tags: Shepherd’s Bush, retreat, Ogden, Utah, Park City, The Canyon, needlework, cross stitch, Shepherd’s Retreat, Tina Richards Herman, Teri Richards, tax refund

Almost every stitcher enjoys admiring the work of other stitchers. Today, I want to share the work of one stitcher for whom I think I can only rightly be defined as a “groupie,” LOL …

Several months ago, I mentioned a darling new (at the time) piece from Twisted Oaks Designs called Coq Au Pins. Well, now that I have seen the entire set stitched, finished, and photographed terrifically well by regular eBay seller Tammy Henshaw (many of you will recognize her as themistymoon), I simply HAD TO share it with you again.

Proving it IS possible to age gracefully, this chick seems perfectly (and rightfully) pleased with her wattle made out of sparkling beads!

This set is simply one of the most charming pieces of needlework I have ever seen — with both a silly character and yet a simple grace at the same time. I am absolutely head over heels for it.

Please make sure you check out Tammy’s auction of the Coq au Pins set for more detailed pictures of these adorable needlework smalls. You won’t be sorry — I promise!

Also, you won’t want to miss the AMAZING faux scrimshaw pieces Tammy has created to go with her version of Merry Cox’s Swan Lake Mending Bag and its lovely set of smalls!

I encourage anyone who might be interested in such a set of faux scrimshaw to post a comment here — or contact Tammy through her auction (although contacting her through her auction could really overwhelm her if there are as many positive responses as I suspect there might be, which is the main reason I suggest people comment here) — just so Tammy can garner some idea what kind of demand there might be for these faux scrimshaw products.

Personally, I think they look fantastic — and since I know what she used to make them, I also know she could conceivably make such items available at a decent profit for herself, but also at a very reasonable price for such artistically challenged beggars as myself.

I will let Tammy decide whether or not to comment here, though, to share her secret for making these. That way, if she decides to make a go of this business idea, I haven’t given away anything on her behalf.

I think it is especially fitting that Tammy has found a way to make a product which looks so much like the scrimshaw we stitchers all know and love — but which so many of us cannot afford. Her eBay nickname, thmistymoon, came from the name of her grandfather’s commercial fishing ship. She writes that The Mistymoon always held a bit of magic for her as a young girl, and she hoped this magic would carry into her business when she chose the name herself as an adult. Although she does not mention her grandfather ever creating any scrimshaw himself, surely he must have known fishermen and sailors who did — it’s good to remember the ties that bind us each to the past are always there, and sometimes revealed.

Meanwhile, Tammy has kept a journal throughout the years to record the journeys of all the needlework pieces she’s finished. They have traveled to their final destinations in locations all over the world including the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Japan, and Australia. While Tammy doesn’t expect to be able to travel the world in her lifetime, she does feel as if little pieces of her are still traversing the seas — and if that isn’t magical, I don’t know what is!

Now that you’ve seen a few of Tammy Henshaw’s eBay auctions, I hope you’ll mark her as a favorite and keep an eye out for her auctions. Tammy has wonderful finishing ideas, most of which are also very inexpensive and able to be made with basic supplies from your local craft store. Of course, most require a time investment and some do also require a little bit more artistic talent than many of us really believe we have to begin with — but they’re worth trying at least once, especially when they can save a great deal of money on framing costs. After all, when you least expect it but put in your best effort anyway, you’re bound to achieve success, even if your success looks a lot different than someone else’s success — a situation which only makes your neighbor’s results and your own results both interesting to study! .

Oh, and if you simply must have the Swan Lake Mending Bag and Smalls chart to stitch for your own collection, this extremely hard to find class-only chart is currently available on eBay through another of my favorite, highly recommended eBay sellers (who is also someone I consider both a friend and another admirable stitcher).

Technorati Tags: Tammy Henshaw, Coq au Pins, Twisted Oaks Designs, eBay, cross stitch, needlework, finishing, Merry Cox, scrimshaw, Swan Lake Mending Bag, smalls

Janet M. Perry of Napa Needlepoint is seeking stories, primarily about needlepoint, from needleworkers like yourself.

There is little sense in my re-writing what she has already written very well, so I’ll just quote her request directly, and hyperlink to her email and other informational pages:

Stitched with Stories
Sharing our Love of Needlework

Stitched with Stories will be a collection of stories about stitching, most specifically about needlepoint. The book will be similar to the KnitLit series, and will be available for Summer 2008.

You have a great chance to share your love of stitching with others. You can write about how you learned to stitch, a wonderful class, a great canvas, a terrible canvas, teaching others to stitch, what needlepoint means to you - whatever you like!

Don’t worry if you aren’t a professional writer, a great story is better than great writing!

If you have a great needlepoint story, I’d like to consider it for the book. The stories should be engaging (so you want to read more). They can be thoughtful, heartwarming, funny, poetic, witty, or even mischievous.

The stories should be to me by May 15, 2008 for consideration and should be 1,000-1,500 words in length. If you have an idea but don’t know how to write it, email me with your idea.

Email submissions to Janet M. Perry at stitchedwithstories @ gmail.com (remove spaces).

If you’re a writer and want to submit the story elsewhere, the book is only using first time rights.

Pass this notice along to any stitchers you know, to the folks in your guild, shops you visit, teachers you know, or wherever.

Let’s let the world know about our love for stitching!

Come on, everyone, put down your needles momentarily and instead wear your thinking caps for just a bit. Let’s make Stitched with Stories something to talk about at stitch-y get-togethers the world over!

It seems Donna, Karen Reece, and Rick Abbott (DKR) of Needlework Designs on Demand aren’t happy to leave well enough alone. I thought they’d want to let my last article about them fade away into the archives, rather than call even more attention to it, but I was wrong.

After being dared by Rick to provide my factual and investigative evidence to you, I’ve actually been contacted since I did so by DKR demanding I remove that evidence (their email messages, to be specific). The text of their latest message reads as follows:

Heather,

This is our second request asking you to remove our copyrighted e-mails which we have not given you permission to publish.

A copyright ordinarily vests in the creator or creators of a work (known as the author(s)), and is inherited as ordinary property.

Unlicensed use or distribution of copyrighted works is illegal and may be considered a criminal act. Copyright law grants the exclusive right to use, copy, distribute, display and perform a copyrighted work to the owner of the copyright. The owner of the copyright is the only entity that may grant permission for anyone to use, copy, distribute, display and perform the work.

If one uses a screenshot of a copyrighted work without the proper license from the copyright holder, it is copyright infringement.

Since you, too, have been known to cry ‘copyright infringement’ by accusing others of copying your blog posts (which are PUBLIC) then you know you are in the wrong.

It doesn’t take very long to send a complaint to the DMCA via fax.

Needlework Designs on demand Management

(From the tone, the bullying, and the impersonal sign-off, my money’s on Rick as the author. Anyone else care to hazard a guess?)

First, why would I remove the evidence Rick himself insisted I provide?

Second, why would I remove evidence of specific statements made by DKR, which, if acted upon, could be considered a crime and prosecuted as such? More importantly, why would I remove evidence of specific actions taken by DKR which might already be considered criminal? Removing this legal evidence would mean I would incur personal liability if DKR were ever charged or prosecuted, and while their being charged, much less prosecuted, is an unlikely proposition, I’m still entirely unwilling to take on such liability. It is my LEGAL OBLIGATION to leave the evidence exactly as it is, where anyone who might wish to research DKR can readily find it.

The fact is, DKR only want me to remove the EVIDENCE in order to hide their own wrongdoing. I will not be party to helping them possibly bilk either the designers they purport to help, or the stitching public they claim to serve, nor will I sacrifice my own reputation at their expense for any reason.

If they are so ashamed of what they said in the emails archived here on INN that they wish they could take them back (so that they would not have been archived here), then they need to — FINALLY — do the right thing. That is to step up to the plate and take both accountability and complete responsibility for their own actions and their own mistakes. DKR need to apologize sincerely to both designers and stitchers alike. Nothing less will do, and I think they know this as well as all the rest of us do. They just haven’t been big enough to make that apology yet.

For whatever reason (okay — it’s because I still think Karen is a voice of reason among the three), I still have hope for them and their new venture yet. But it’s the last little bit of hope I can muster for them.

I’d be more than happy to publish such an apology, by the way — but they’ve made no attempt to post to INN since Rick’s last comment got him into this situation in the first place. Too bad for them. They could be using INN as a resource. Instead, they are still playing childish and irresponsible games.

(For your information, no one has made any attempt to post in support of them either, and I have so far approved every comment submitted regarding the discussion revolving around DKR.)

Not that I would remove anything I have already printed, mind you. But I think almost all of us agree that taking responsibility for one’s own actions and owning up to one’s own mistakes can go a LONG way toward remedying a problem, no matter how insurmountable that problem might seem.

Third, I am giving full credit to the authors of the material, and not attempting to steal that material from them. My use of their emails falls under fair use. I am not “performing” their work, but rather have archived it as LEGAL EVIDENCE — and it should be noted that I did so only at Rick’s behest. Had he not made his demand, I would not have bothered writing the article at all. That he does not like the results is not a proper, ethical, or legal reason for him to require me to remove exactly that which he insisted I provide.

DKR are completely misconstruing both the context and the intent of copyright law, and are, in fact, trying to use it to corrupt the law.

It’s really a sordid state of affairs that they try to use copyright law in their own defense when the initial problem was that they STOLE someone else’s trademarked company name — and then they couldn’t even bother to come up with a truly original name when they finally did (to some degree, at least) back down and decide to move to a “new” name and a new domain.

And what if DKR had not done anything morally, ethically, or legally questionable … Would they then have any claim to ask me to remove their emails? The answer is still, “No.”

Remember, their emails were PUBLIC. Anyone could read them if they had DKR’s Yahoo Group information. That’s why when you look at any of their archived emails, “Messages” is shown as a Hyperlink in blue, while all the other options (Post, Files, Photos, Links, Database, Polls, Members, Calendar, Promote) are grayed out and available to “Members Only.” Regardless of their intentions, DKR’s messages were NOT private; their messages were public.

Independent Needlework News is a NEWS source. INN is no different than any other news source, except for the subject matter on which I focus. I do my best to conduct myself professionally — just like the reporters for CNN or any other professional news source try to conduct themselves. In looking at stories with a different subject matter which have been reported by the news media including CNN, all the major print media, all the major networks, and so on, a consistent pattern emerges of making public exactly the type of information I have made public — and this kind of publicizing is frequently done for far less honorable reasons than my own reasons in this case. I am simply doing what all good reporters do — printing my story and providing my proof.

Do you recall this very recent case? A principal did not cancel school on a day which might otherwise have been called a snow day by someone else. A student found the principal’s phone number listed in the phone book, or with Information, and called the principal. The student left a message for the principal criticizing his decision not to cancel school. The principal’s wife returned the telephone call and left a message on that student’s answering machine. The student apparently made the principal’s wife’s answering machine message available over YouTube, and it became what is called a viral Internet message. Her message was fairly heated, the blogosphere discovered it and gave it enough attention that the news media noticed it, it was replayed over and over again in the news media (along with the transcript being printed onscreen), and the entire story garnered a huge amount of attention in the news media — just look at all the hits a Google search for it results in to see all the different news agencies (online only, television, and newspaper) who reported the story. No matter what you thought of this story (which you had to be totally out of the loop to miss, in which case you probably don’t know Heath Ledger passed away either ), the point is that neither the principal nor the principal’s wife could stop the tide — or cry foul over something they initially thought private being exposed to the entire world by the news media.

There are numerous other examples. There have been any number of cases in the news about emails which, once sent, the sender wishes he or she could take back. These cases involve all kinds of email subject matter from negative comments made about one’s boss or one’s employer, Dear John letters, and even emails in which someone writes about a successful (or unsuccessful) sexual escapade with the recipient — in all of these cases, the message generally comes back to haunt the sender.

When you send an email, you’d better be certain the recipient is someone you can trust if you’ve written anything you wouldn’t want to see on the evening news because once it’s out there, the damage is already done. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a single one among us who can say this has never happened to them. I’m no exception, but I learned my lesson. I don’t share news by email with groups of people anymore. Keep in mind, too, this was GOOD news when I sent my email — but it still came back to bite me in the behind — and I never did learn which of my fifteen or so “trustworthy” Internet friends let the cat out of the bag. More than likely, whoever it was (and it might well have been more than one person) only shared the “secret” with a handful of people she thought she could trust, and only because she wanted to share the good news, rather than to cause the whole thing to fall through. But at this point, it doesn’t matter because … you guessed it: the damage is done. So, yeah, I had my say in my personal blog when I was angry and not taking responsibility for my own mistake that caused the whole problem … but this is now, and I’ve moved on and learned my lesson from that little episode.

In the world we all live in, the one with camera phones, IPODs, answering machines, etc., etc., etc., along with the blogosphere which often carries breaking news stories faster than the mainstream news networks, there is very little such thing as privacy anymore. If you say it or write it anywhere that it can be recorded, then you should expect that it not only IS being recorded, but that it might be used against you. In today’s world, we must always think before we speak or type. Once we put it out there, we can’t take it back.

So far, DKR are handling this situation as if they’d accidentally passed gas in public. Although everyone else knows DKR are the ones who made the awful stink in the room, DKR thought they’d been really silent and sneaky about things, so they are still trying to pretend they aren’t responsible, which only makes them look foolish because we already all know they’re responsible for the bad smell.

DKR need to have their say, too — but that say needs to be an APOLOGY to everyone for their lies. Afterward, perhaps we can all move on, and perhaps we can all do so with a clean slate. I’m certainly willing to try if they’re willing to take accountability for their actions.

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