Sunday, May 4, 2008

(Follow-Up) Things That Make You Go Hmm...

I wanted to post a follow-up to my original post about the use of the names of Several well known Shoe Designers (i.e. Stiletto Moody, Shiny Things, Maitreya, Storm Schmooz, Tesla, DeLa) in an add for Juicy shoes, where I made the assumption that "Juicy Littlething", the avatar that placed the Classified was in-fact Gorgeous Yongho aka. GOGOLITA.COM.

After reading a comment on the post from Tenshi, who pointed out that this indeed might be someone out to ruin the name of Gorgeous, I felt it was necessary to cover my bases and do a little more research.
Here is what I found:

I went to Juicy Shoes Mainstore, and looked at the Land Listing, found it was group owned, and looked at the Group Owners. As you can see in the following picture, "Juicy Littlething" is indeed a group owner for the Land Holder.
Juicy_007

In addition, the Sign on the wall of the shop clearly states that all customer service issues be taken to "Juicy Littlething", who I can only assume is either an employee of, co-owner of the shop, or Gorgeous Yongho's Alt account.
Juicy_001

I also received a comment about a post that GOGOLITA.COM made regarding the use of sub-contracting to make a product, in particular where she referred to Stiletto Moody's Collaborators as "Sweatshop Workers". I decided to inspect one of the shoes, and found that the creator of the shoe was not Gorgeous Yongho, but rather an avatar named Elven Dreamscape. As Gorgeous had claimed to be friends with one of Stiletto Moody's former employees, I wonder who really is responsible for making these shoes.
Juicy_005

Here are two shots of Elven's Profile.
Juicy_003
Juicy_004

Another comment also stated that the Classified had been edited sometime between yesterdays post and this morning. As you can see, the Names of the other Shoe Brands have been removed, although curiously, the word "moody" still appears in the listing. Call me ignorant, but I have never run a search for "moody" when looking for shoes. Perhaps this is an act of mere defiance, as the word "moody" is not copyrighted.
Juicy_008
Juicy_009

So, as far as covering my bases, I think I have done all that I can to be sure that my original suppositions are correct about the origins of the Classified Ad in question, and the lack of ethics displayed in using competitors names in your listings. Of all the comments I have received, the most interesting to me was one that suggested that using a competitors name to sell your goods is not only unethical, but also against the Terms of Service agreement, I wonder if anyone else has more information on this point.

6 comments:

Bella Baroque said...

*applauds* bravo Ketsy!!! drama sucks but this needed to come to the surface. well done

Ana Boogiewoogie said...

So what's the point of posts like these other than to bash other people? I'm not defending anyone, by the by, just merely asking.

It just seems all it is today is people bitching and whining about others and not focusing on their own stuff.

Honestly, it's things like these that make me not want to play SL. It's not LL's bad customer service, no. It's the people who can't get go 5 minutes without bashing each other...

Ketsy said...

@ Ana

The original intent of this blog, and what remains my focus, is my love for fashion.

I don't think I have been cruel. I merely stumbled on something I felt was Unethical, and felt strongly about it, and felt I wanted to say something about it on my blog. I don't think it is bitching or complaining either, there is no woe-is-me angle to this, I have no personal vendetta here, there is nothing for me to gain from it. I am someone who studied ethics while working on my Masters Degree, and I find that in-world, there is a whole lot that goes on that falls into the ethical gray area. My point here is to question what others feel is and is not acceptable in what is arguably "our" mega-verse.

I have never, nor will I ever engage in public stoning, when I uncovered this it was by accident, pure and simple. I am not a personal friend of any of the involved parties, nor are any of them on my friends list.

I fully intend to get back to the business of spending far too many LaLas on far to many wonderful things very soon. I really only did this second post based on the comments I received on the first, which made me wonder if I was being un-fair and making false assumptions, and therefore doing someone a disservice or ruining someone's good name.

I am sorry if a post like this, which is more about a request for the open opinions of others, would make you say that you would consider not playing SL.

If you are responding more to the comments recieved on the first post, which were un-edited as promised, I can only say those opinions belong to the authors in question, and do not necessarily represent my own opinions.

~ Ketsy

Alabama Smalls said...

Ana... I don't know if you are a creator or not, nor how long you have been playing this game. However, creators here work hard though. Kets is merely fighting the fight against theft. Slandering ones good name to turn around and use it to sale your own items might as well be stealing. Maybe if you don't have a problem with that, maybe you shouldn't be playing this game.

Shelby said...

@Ana: I understand not enjoying the drama, but here's why I think a lot of folks are a little peeved by Gogo's recent behavior, etc.

She has since lost or removed the post in question, but it used to reside at http://gogolita.com/?p=72 Anyway, in this post, Gogo slammed Stiletto Moody for not being the sole creator of the wares sold in Stiletto's shop. She said something along the lines of Stiletto wasn't *really* a content creator, etc, etc because the sculpts were created by someone else. (Photon Pink)

So, let me make sure I'm clear here: If Stiletto Moody uses sculpts made by someone else, then Stiletto is not really a creator. If Stiletto Moody uses sculpts made by someone else, then Stiletto deserves to be scorned and ridiculed on a blog which is syndicated on the feed.

But if Gogo uses sculpts made by someone else, it's all well and good, and she shouldn't be subject to the exact same type of treatment she gave Stiletto. If Gogo does it, it should be fine. Because Gogo shouldn't be held to the same standards herself that she holds everyone else to.

As for the keywords of her classified, let me assure you that I asked someone @ LL (hypothetically) if such a thing would be allowed. I was told absolutely not. So, not only has she been massively hypocritical, but she's breaking rules and behaving unethically, too.

I don't necessarily think that everyone commenting or blogging on these things is just out to be hurtful or cause drama. I think, though, if you're going to be so outspoken with your standards, you really shouldn't be that surprised when, failing to live up to them yourself, someone calls you on it.

Tenshi said...

Nice work on the research. I'll bet that this Juicy Littlething is an alt of Gogo.

Probably cashes out from Juicy, too, and just uses Gogo to further the business.

You should try lining up the Juicy shoes next to a similar Moody pair. I'll bet they line up, at least in some areas.

Anywho, when it all comes down to the wire... it's politics, and politics stems from money.