This bothered me today.
I am a paying member for a wonderful sewing blog called 'SewingMamas'. They are a great group of ladies who share sewing and raising childen in an open, caring kind of way. They rejoice with the good news, commiserate with the bad, offer helpful advice or just a shoulder to cry on. Their stories range from tug-at-your-heart to wet-your-pants-from laughter. I don't comment as much as some but I check in with them every time I'm online. I especially love that they are non-judgemental. Everyone has different beliefs, different stories, different philosophies but I have never seen anyone disrespect another.
Today, someone posted about this project from the very popular "SewMamaSew" site:
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2012/06/readysetgo-patchwork-car-shade/
It's a cute idea but, even though the instructions call for you to "leave a gap for checking your blind spot" it struck me as a dangerous idea to block any part of a car window. I'm not alone: the SewingMama who posted it brought up the concern and several Mamas chimed in that it seemed unwise. Here's the bothersome part~ several of the Mamas took the time to leave a comment on the site questioning the safety of the project. Instead of addressing those concerns every one of their 'negative' comments were removed.
http://www.sewingmamas.com/b/showthread.php?t=156371
All the comments I've read on the Sew, Mama, Sew site are happy, gosh-isn't-that-great fodder. And I think I have finally found why I dislike the "big" sewing and crafting blogs. They're not real to me. They're too happy; too perfect. There are too many exclamation marks over simplicity and too much love, love, love. And apparently you get this illusion of perfection by removing content that you don't want to deal with. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination saying every big, successful blog does this and maybe Sew, Mama, Sew doesn't do it all the time. But I do know I will not support a site that does it even sometimes.
I love reading sewing blogs and my favorites are those that show me, inspire me, make me laugh and even cry. Real people who admit mistakes and don't give the illusion of 'perfect'. I was taught the 'if you can't say anything nice...' and the 'always be kind when you comment' lessons but I also believe to can say something that opposes respectfully without being unkind. Debate is good, we have to allow differences of opinion. Otherwise, how will we ever see outside our own little box? I want to see/hear others' thoughts. I won't waste my time on gosh-isn't-that-great fodder. Time is too precious.
2 comments:
Well said. Agreed.
Meg, you have raised a valid point and it is unfortunate that comments given for the sake of safety and concern were misunderstood and not taken for face value. Receiving input, including healthy criticism is about growth.
Post a Comment