The Sock Stigma

[delbelcoure]

So, is there an economic way to get the most out of one way design sox? I have two pairs I busted the toes on but the ankle parts with the designs are intact, and the two designs won't go with each other.

I'd add an entirely different piece of fabric to make enough for the one pair of socks to make one garment/ outfit and then a second entirely different piece of fabric to make enough for the second pair of socks to make a second garment/ outfit. Like the baseball styled jackets that have a patterned body and plain sleeves.
Susan

[Greyhaunt]

Airing ones opinions can be a lot like farting. Everyone does it, but who likes to be around someone who does it a lot and is loud and smelly about it?

I nearly had an accident at work when I read this. You have just made my single most favorite quote ever!

[GooglyDooglyV.2]

Well, there are times when you just have to say "I can't tell you how I know this is mean-spirited and intended deliberately to hurt, I just know it when I see it." Lou, I am pretty sure those of us who are recognizing that malice in certain posts in that topic are the ones who've been the victims of the "Heathers" and "Mean Girls" in our past. We know it when we see it. Those of you who are blessed to never have had that particular sort of vicious vitriol thrown in your face are going "huh?"

It's not being thin-skinned. These posters know exactly what they are doing, and hiding behind "It's my opinion and I have a right to say it." But as the very wise Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins," and if is anyone setting out to punch someone in the face and pretending it's all THEIR fault that their nose was there, then that's just plain vicious AND hypocritical.

I guess that's why I don't see it. Because it was on a debate setting. I expect to have differing and somewhat strong opinions in a debate. If you add personal grievances and past hurt feelings over a debate topic, you'll always see unintended slights and insults.

You said it yourself, those who recognize the malice in certain posts are the ones who were victims of the Heathers and Mean Girls in the past. But if you take out the past negative personal experience, would you still be able to see malice in their post? That is the point I'm trying to get at. Is there truly malice in people voicing their particular opinions, or is there malice in it because its clouded over by our individual experiences?

In fact, this sockdress witchunt is so blown out of proportions that even in DoD, I can only find one other instance where someone was made fun of over a sockdress. And its not really about the sockdress, but over the fact that she was selling cut-the-toe-off-and-nothing-else sockdresses for $10.00 each.

And to use your nose-punching analogy....If someone who you wanted to punch for a long time asked you if you would like to punch them in the face, and if so, you're free to do so...then who's fault is it if you ended up taking him up in his offer?

People who had great dislike for badly-made sockdresses had been civil enough not to voice their opinions publicly. But if someone who has a sockdress asked why they don't like sockdresses and please state why, that's just looking for trouble, ain't it?

[GooglyDooglyV.2]

We all have our personal preferences and we are free to express them in a public setting. The question for me is usually "what is the point of saying this, what will it serve?" Airing ones opinions can be a lot like farting. Everyone does it, but who likes to be around someone who does it a lot and is loud and smelly about it?

Coming from someone who likes Balut, trust me, farts aren't a problem for me. >>;;

I like to stick to constructive criticism when I offer criticism - one supportive comment, one constructive comment, one supportive comment - because my goal is to encourage people to be creative and express themselves positively through making art and collecting art and to share dolly love, not to make others feel bad.

And there are a lot of that in that particular sock dress debate thread. In fact, several people who said they do not like sockdresses offered simple tutorials or ways to make a sock dress look pretty, so you don't have to settle with a sockdress with the toes cut off.

The snarky / drama llama people on DoA are why I only read the sewing sub forum now. Some people seem to mistake having a "good" (expensive/ pretty/ whatever) doll with being a good person - I'm just tired of being their audience and trying to educate them.
I can be pretty snarky in person, I have no trouble with snark in general, but witty one liners are a lot different than mean spiritedness.

I think that's one of the big misconception about the whole thread. It was never about rich vs poor. People never said that you should only buy expensive clothing for your dolls. It's all about whether a badly fitting fitting sock dress is appropriate for a $$$$ doll, when there are extremely cheap, or sometimes free options.

In fact, those people who did not like sock dresses were always quick to point out beautifully-made stuff that's made from sock fabrics. And I guess it's also about expectations. Do people really expect praise like, "OMG you cut off the toes of a sock, that's so awesome great job!!!!!" when that's all they did?

[haruredjen]

Another Fer thought... it's the coat that I love. The dress is meh.

OK, posting one's opinion is fine, it's what it's all about, but opinion does not need to continue into judgement. I have no problem with someone saying I really don't like sock dresses/Fers/chocolate ice cream. What I have a problem with is people saying you're an idiot for liking sock dresses/Fers/chocolate ice cream. Yes, it goes in both directions, pro & con, but it does really seem that the ones saying it the most and the loudest are the sock nay sayers. And far more spitefully. That's basically what everyone is getting upset at, I think.

I wish the thread had never been started, to be honest. And I think moving it to debate may have been a mistake. It seems to have given people the belief that they have the right to be terribly unkind in the name of debating.

[Greyhaunt]

And I'd like to point out that we here have thus far been having a very nice debate, maturely handled and never devolving into internal insults or anything. And I think the key factor here is the word Mature. The fact is that many of the more vocal folks over at DoA are often younger, and it may not be that they INTEND to make malicious or hurtful statements so much as they simply do not grasp the concept of "perception" yet.

What I mean is, while individual X knows that she's just trying to say "I don't like that.", she has not yet learned to choose her words based on how the person on the other side of the conversation may perceive her meaning. It never fails to amaze me just how hard that concept is for even adults to comprehend - let alone today's "instant communication" generation. Now I'm going to admit that I haven't read the thread that this is all about - because honestly the opinions of the DoA crowd generally don't mean much to me - and like Delbelcoure I mostly hang around in the workshop area where drama just doesn't have a llama to stand on. My reflections are based on personal experiences of the past, and what I'm "seeing" people around here say. Still, I bet if we took all of the perceived "mean" posts in that thread we would only find one, maybe two, that were intentionally so - the rest would be the result of ignorant wording.

[skookum hime]

It was never about rich vs poor. People never said that you should only buy expensive clothing for your dolls. It's all about whether a badly fitting fitting sock dress is appropriate for a $$$$ doll, when there are extremely cheap, or sometimes free options.

i blatantly remember one member saying "why buy a 600 dollar doll if you won't dress it to look worth 600 dollars" and believe the same person said that if you didn't have money for the hobby then it wasn't the right hobby for you.

That was the only mean and hateful comment that I distinctly remember and its probably what set everyone off.

[catzilerella]

heheeee I cut off a toe!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20313997@N03/5188162828/

It's my first time but I think I got it! =p

[catzilerella]

It was never about rich vs poor. People never said that you should only buy expensive clothing for your dolls. It's all about whether a badly fitting fitting sock dress is appropriate for a $$$$ doll, when there are extremely cheap, or sometimes free options.

i blatantly remember one member saying "why buy a 600 dollar doll if you won't dress it to look worth 600 dollars" and believe the same person said that if you didn't have money for the hobby then it wasn't the right hobby for you.

That was the only mean and hateful comment that I distinctly remember and its probably what set everyone off.

I remeber something like that, and then those people who agree turn around and get all butthurt because they are called out as "Elitist"
hehehe
I remeber a few people saying things along those lines, then comming back with "standards"....

butthurt.

[embyquinn]

It was never about rich vs poor. People never said that you should only buy expensive clothing for your dolls. It's all about whether a badly fitting fitting sock dress is appropriate for a $$$$ doll, when there are extremely cheap, or sometimes free options.

i blatantly remember one member saying "why buy a 600 dollar doll if you won't dress it to look worth 600 dollars" and believe the same person said that if you didn't have money for the hobby then it wasn't the right hobby for you.

That was the only mean and hateful comment that I distinctly remember and its probably what set everyone off.

Well, it sure as Phuoc* lit my fuse, I can tell you that much.

There were other snarky, petty or thinly-veiled derisive comments, but if I go through them and start cataloging I'm going to get pissed off all over again.

Googly, what I keep trying to remind people of is that the so-call sock thread did not start out in Debate. It was only moved to the debate forum after it went from a discussion to, well, a debate. Therefore, when I first posted (and when I did, I said absolutely nothing against people who didn't like sock clothing--in fact, I never said anything was wrong with not liking sock clothing), it was a discussion, which meant there was a different standard of expectation. It was only when certain people started trotting out the whole "If you can't afford to dress your doll properly, you don't need to be in the hobby" nonsense that I started getting miffed.

Can no one else see the difference between defending bad clothing (which would be silly) and decrying the bad treatment of those who can't live up to the standards of a certain privileged few? (Well, yeah, obviously I'm not the only one here, but I was talking about certain people over on DoA.)

*"Phuoc" is a Vietnamese boy's name. It means "luck" or "blessing" and it's pronounced...yeah, like that other word.