ARE YOU UPSET ABOUT YOUR BLINGEES GETTING DOWN-VOTED? I know exactly how you feel. We pour so much of ourselves into each Blingee that we make. We work hard to make it perfect, some of us even take hours working on a single Blingee and when someone comes along and votes less than 5 stars on it…well, it feels like a slap in the face. Like looking at that Blingee with less than 5 full stars somehow tarnishes the Blingee itself and de-values our creativity. It feels like, behind the veil of anonymity, someone came along and slapped us right in the face and then disappeared. We can’t retaliate because we don’t know who it was. And worse yet, they left their insult on our work of art for the whole world to see when they notice that the Blingee has earned less than 5 stars. It hurts our feelings, makes us angry and our hands are tied to do anything about it. Understandably, all that you are thinking and feeling about the down-voting may have made it difficult for you to consider a couple of things. You may not agree with me, but at least try to hear the perspective that took me several years to come to.
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THE 5-STAR RATING SYSTEM Originally, the 5-star voting system was set up for people to give an honest review of another person’s work. The Blingee Team intended for us to give 3-stars to a Blingee that we thought was ok, and maybe 5-stars to only the most perfect Blingees we came across. That is exactly how a 5-star voting system is supposed to work everywhere else. What the BT did NOT count on was the loving, supportive community that would form on this site. They couldn’t have known the intense friendships and bonds that would form, or how much love would flow to each other through our creativity. Or our collective opinion that EVERY SINGLE BLINGEE deserves a 5-star rating because the artist worked to create the best Blingee that they could make at their current ability. We, as a community, would NEVER want to discourage a new comer from continuing to practice and develop as an artist. Nor do we think so highly of our own view or preferences minimize another person’s artistic vision. We respect each other. We support each other. We LOVE each other. We are friends. So, our community rose above the 1,2,3,4,5-Star rating system to form an exclusively 5-star rating system. THAT is the source of our pain and anger when someone gives us less than 5-stars. It goes against the unspoken rules of our community. However, we cannot discount the fact that this was not what was originally intended by the BT. They have consistently stated that they will not penalize a person for down-voting another’s work because the person rating has the RIGHT to vote whatever they want on anyone’s work. Let me repeat that. They have the RIGHT to give us less than 5 stars. If only because that is what was originally intended. Even though we have evolved into a kinder, more supportive society, we all know that there are people who refuse to follow the rules of any society. Some people murder, rape, or burgle…other’s down-vote a person’s Blingees. |
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EVERYONE GET’S DOWN-VOTED Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, if they have been on Blingee long enough, get’s down-voted. Usually it starts once the qualities of our Blingees get better. As frustrating as it is to see less than 5 stars on your work of art, remember that you are not alone. It is a feeling that everyone on Blingee has experienced. Let’s help each other when we see someone get down-voted. Rather than perpetuating the negative feelings, we could do what we always do when our friends are feeling bad; make them a Blingee letting them know what a great artist they are! Remind them that you have also been down-voted and that it has nothing to do with their work not being good enough! If we build each other up, it’s harder for the few jealous and hateful individuals to pull us down. |
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THE PEOPLE WHO DOWN-VOTE When you really think about it, who do you think it is that is behind the down-voting issue that we have all faced? Is it world-renowned art critics? Probably not. Is it some amazing individual who has won the Nobel Peace Prize for their unprecedented Blingee-making abilities? I doubt it. It is often jealous, small and petty individuals with REALLY low self-esteem and sometimes legitimate mental illness. Every time the attention isn’t on them and how talented THEY are, they panic and lash out. They believe that if someone else is doing well, other people can see how much of a failure they are (or believe themselves to be). I pointed out already that our work only begins to be down-voted once the quality of our work gets better. Doesn’t that speak to one of the reasons we may be getting down-voted? It really is simple jealousy. (Cont...) |
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(CONT...) THE PEOPLE WHO DOWN-VOTE Sometimes it is not a childish adult. Sometimes it is an ACTUAL child who is behaving in the manner that we would expect a child to behave. Hopefully they will outgrow this behavior. In all honesty, sometimes it is just someone who doesn’t like us, pure and simple. It may be a person you already know doesn’t like you. Maybe you have had issues with an individual in the past. You may be acting like an adult and just avoiding that person, happily expanding your artistic abilities while they relive their anger every time they see one of your Blingees and so, they feel compelled to take a swing at you via the down-vote. There is another very small group of people who will give less than 5-stars. That is the people who are brand new to this site and have yet to learn the community expectation of giving only 5-stars. In all honesty, when I first began here (for about the first week or so, I think) I voted on people’s Blingees with the view that 5-stars were only for perfect Blingees and a single star was for the absolute worst, and everyone else’s fell somewhere in between. I didn’t have any friends yet, so I had yet to read anybody’s profile where so many people state that they ONLY give 5-stars and I had never come across that before. I was not trying to be mean and I would NEVER intentionally hurt another person’s feelings. I was simply unaware. I have to believe that I am not the ONLY person out there who had a short learning curve when they started on Blingee. I also have to believe that there are still people who start on Blingee every day who are unaware. I know that this does not explain your situation if you are consistently getting your works of art down-voted, but if it’s an occasional thing, this might me why. |
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FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, LET IT GO Now, are these the people that you want in control of your emotions; children and emotionally sick degenerates with a grudge? By holding on to your anger over the situation you are hurting yourself not the crazy people who are down-voting. Take away their power to hurt you. We all know people who have left Blingee specifically because of this issue. That is a travesty. Please, don’t allow anyone to drive you off of Blingee. You are too valued by the other people in the community. Besides, if the crazies drive all of the kind people away, we will only be left with crazies…and me! LOL! Do you know that saying by Buddha “Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die"? Well, stop drinking the poison! Continue to be creative, artistic, supportive and loving toward your friends and don’t allow other people’s misdeeds affect your behavior. I'm so sorry that this was such an incredibly long post that it had to be divided into several individual posts, but I really want to somehow ease the hurt feelings of so many of my dear friends, and if giving them another perspective with which to view the situation could help them, then I must try. Thank you so much if you kept reading all the way to the end! :D Gloria |
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Bravo~so wonderfully articulated! If a person has NO ONE UNDER 21 OVER THEIR PAGE it should be respected regardless of the group. |
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Beautifully said, Glo. |
