(( The Drama Bubble Thread ))

[PearlieMae]

Dang, why can't a bunch of Bangkokians like my page? Waaaah...

Bangkokers?

[Ariadne]

Bangkokers?

Hee! Wasn't sure how they roll...Bangkokishers?

[Merman Arion]

Didn't you know? Gays love the word "bang". For someone like Eric to have "fans" from there, it figures. :lol:

http://replygif.net/i/926.gif

[Ariadne]

Lol, Frenchie you are so naughty! :mermaid kiss:

[Merman Arion]

Am I ? :p

http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Alexandra-Breckenridge-Sees-a-Naughty-Boy-On-American-Horry-Story-Gif.gif

[ShyMer]

Don't scare us like that, Iona!

[Mermaid Dottie]

Speaking of.. I saw something on Tumblr and I just had to post it here XP

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ABOMINATION!!!!

[SeaGlass Siren]

i dont think they go by cities. they usually just say Thai.

Bangkese?

[Merman Arion]

I swear, if she goes on and on and on this week, I'm seriously going to go nuts... Someone HAS TO make her understand.

:headdesk:

[MerEmma]

Any context to that, Arion? :P I think I'm missing something!

[Merman Arion]

Any context to that, Arion? :P I think I'm missing something!

Oh trust me, you don't. ;)
You definitely know who I'm talking about. Hint : two days ago, you told to that person that some thread was two years old.

you understand the context now? :jester:

[AniaR]

yeah I am getting annoyed since this person keeps soliciting people for my personal information and asking inappropriate questions on our pages, hence the reason why they can't comment anymore on them.

[MerEmma]

Hehe, I had a hunch that was who you meant but I wasn't sure. But yes, I agree with you there. I've seen this on all types of forums but with a forum so small and compact and well organized as this one... it stands out more. =\

[Mermaid Melanie]

Ugh so this has been bothering me for quite some time and I feel personally targeted by one particular mer ... I am not going to hold this back any longer because I'm sick to death of people thinking the sun shines out this mermaids blowhole.

The Workshop
I met Kat ( Mermaid Kat ) at her ( and my ) first mermaid gig at a charity event where i was working as a "Dry Mermaid" and she was in the pool in her neoprene tail. I was intrigued by the whole mermaiding scene as I had always wanted to be the little mermaid when growing up ( hence why i became a diving instructor ) In 2012 I took mermaid kat's mermaid workshop in Phuket - it was the first one she had held before and I was keen to learn ! The workshop coincided with a German reality show following Kat and her husband after they left Germany to see how different life was etc - this meant that mostly the workshop revolved around Kat and the filming - not our training - the show made it look like we did the first day in the classroom and pool then a day in the open ocean and then we did the swim for sharks event. However this was not the case. The first day we went to the dive boat and were taken to the open ocean. We donned our tails for the first time without any real training other than a short briefing on the boat and then into the water we got ( keep in mind we entered into deep water, not from the beach ) we were then expected to freedive down, swim like mermaids and pose for the cameras and were driven pretty hard so they could get the shots. It was not the most comfortable way to learn and one of the girls struggled with swimming at all. The second day we went to the classroom and pool where we had a presentation about freediving ( from an actual freediving instructor - this was a one off its not included with all her workshops... ) then we had a pool training session.... Kat devised a way to judge how good you were at being a mermaid based on how long you can hold your breath and how far you could swim in a tail ( the pool is about 10 meters long maximum ... so there was a lot of turning involved for the distance test) you are either ranked bronze silver or gold... according to her. I struggled with my breath hold but got 100% on the exam while others did well on breath hold but barely passed the exam ... I felt this was an unfair way to judge people as mermaiding can come in many forms. As we all know on MerNetwork you don't have to be a great free diver to be a great mermaid ! anyway - we went on the trip to Pattaya where we had our swim in the shark tank scheduled - to promote a good image for sharks. I felt as though the trip was more about Kat and it didnt focus on the students. We mostly had a fun day at the event until Kat was complaining that myself and another girl were spending too long on the surface - we were trying to catch our breath as there was no flotation device for us to rest on in-between swims. Although myself and the other girl were having a great time co ordinating our swim to make it pretty and fun , it still wasn't good enough - we did also have a photoshoot scheduled for the beach but due to bad weather it was being cancelled - I came up with the idea of doing a splash style bad mermaids shoot in the hotel bathroom and it was great fun ! however it took several months for us to get even just one picture from this. ( might I add we paid for this workshop, it wasn't a freebie like some of her workshops )

I did another workshop after this ( a free one ) where it was all about getting promotional images for her website etc ... i think i got 2 photos from this 2 day workshop and during the training session and breath hold practise she was getting annoyed with me because i couldn't hold my breath longer than one minute ... how can you relax with Hitmer on your back all the time ! And again the day was mostly about Kat getting her promotion done.

From the second workshop Kat posted some pictures and left a snide caption on a picture of me diving into the water from a sailboat while pinching my nose - i get water right in my sinuses due to having burst my capillaries while diving ( reverse blocks ) saying ... Another way of mermaids "Diving" into the ocean ;) .... and if you knew her personally you would know the tone in which this was meant.

The TV show -

So I was still quite excited to see the show when it came out but alas I do not speak German - so although it was good to watch I wasnt aware until someone pointed out that Kat had said some pretty nasty comments about us girls - that we weren't able to to the event as we were weak in the water etc ... I felt this was pretty unfair as we all gave it a good go and it was for a good cause so that left a pretty bitter taste.

Mermaiding On

After the workshop I bought my first tail from MagicTail so I could continue mermaiding and improve my skills. I took part in several projects with Kat after this - but of course it was all still about Kat - at first I thought maybe I'm jealous, but some of the other girls even commented on how she had a strange attitude towards me. I put this to the back of my mind and even organised an amazing deal for a live aboard trip where we went mermaiding around Phi phi and the south andaman sea. on this trip my boyfriend took videos and images of us underwater ( which she later gave to a tv channel without asking him or crediting his work) she also started posting pictures of ours as if they were her own ( bubble rings my boyfriend had made - passing them off as her own) also later down the line she saved a picture i took and posted on my mermaid page and posted as her own so she didnt have to share anything to do with my page... I let it slide and didnt say anything... we worked together on a few events, which she seemed to be making double what I was for the same job - taking a big chunk of commission i guess. and of course i was not allowed to promote my own mermaiding as i was working with her or FOR her in her eyes... this make me laugh because i have seen her hand out her own personal business cards when doing jobs through agents ... essentially going straight to the client and cutting out the agent that got her the job ... alas even though the agent is made aware of this behaviour she still got work ...ah the injustice... I still kept shum about it as she was passing a few jobs my way ... only when she couldn't do them herself.. fair enough.

The Agency
Once i started to get my own gigs coming through doing children's birthday parties I was pretty happy and enjoying expanding my skills and just being a mermaid ! it was great fun .. then i went home for a short holiday and when i returned Kat started calling herself "Phuket's Birthday Mermaid" i felt a little annoyed as it was like she was trying to put me in the shadows. Basically she wanted all the mermaid jobs to go through her - She asked me to be apart of her mermaid agency - when i told her i want to be represented as mermaid melanie and not just one of mermaid Kats mermaids... she said yes no problem ... however when it came to jobs she told me i had to wear her tails ... free promotion is great but not if your taking a huge chunk of commission from me and expecting to use those photos for advertising a business. Im freelance not FREE !

That Article

I then read an article posted in the local newspaper which had some very nasty comments about the mermaid community ... i feel its important to know a persons true character and it definitely shone through in this - She says how " there are only 5 good mermaids in the world and I (she) is one of them , all the rest are no good. " even though I have heard her diss some pretty high profile mermaids as is ... including many who attended MerPalooza when she did - you can read the article below -

1966519666

This really pissed me off because she is selling tails to young girls who aspire to be like her, or what they think she is like... but in reality she can be a pretty nasty person ... I told her how great MerNetwork was and how its a really nice community of people helping each other learn and sharing their experiences... she says to me why are you there its full of freaks... I would not buy a product from someone who is dissing the very customers she's looking for ! this to me is madness and EGO.

Freebies
Some time later Kat asked me to take part in a "fun" photoshoot at my local beach with a few other girls - i brought my hula hoop and my own tail and some fun stuff to shoot with but it turned out to be a shoot where we just modelled Kats tails for her promotion again... she said if we have time at the end we can shoot your tails and do fun shots ... we didnt even get the underwater shots done and it was not fun... some of the girls wanted to get creative and were putting sand over themselves and having fun ... but this was not to her liking and it felt like the girl was a bit put down by Kats comments on this... I helped to coach the girls and give them enthusiasm which was lacking from Kats side of things... I got one photo from this shoot and it wasn't a very good one ... for me this was the last time i agreed to do one of these shoots with Kat.

Jobs

One of two more PAID jobs came up with Kat and I still had not complained to her about any of my problems with how she was running things. Even though I am a Master Scuba Diver Trainer and had the most experience out of the girls with the mermaiding - i was not booked to be the second mermaid for a big hotel opening ... I was still glad of the work ( bridal acting in the bridal suite ) so again I did not complain.

Kat then asked if myself and a bunch of others would come and do a shoot with her for her new tails ... again this was not paid but she said she would do her best to push the people who took part for future jobs... but with limited work in the mermaid world how could she give us all jobs for doing the shoot? there was still some sort of pecking order... I told her i had to work that day and couldn't cancel paid work to do the free promotion for her.... this didnt sit well with her and then after mentioning up coming jobs to me she stopped including me and gave the jobs to girls who did not even have training... actually she gave the job to a girl who did not even have a legal work permit to work in thailand ... this is extremely annoying as I pay through the nose to be legit and work to the laws of thailand.

On one occasion I showed Kat my new business cards and she didnt seem happy that I was working as mermaid ... why do you train people if you do not wish them to continue afterwards ?

Even other people who have taken her workshop have asked me - why doesnt Kat want the mermaids she trains to work as mermaids ? I do not know either...

I have so many problems with this girl I find it hard to remember them all.

The hook that broke the mermaids tail

The final dispute came when I secured a job working a nightclub in Patong as a mermaid. The first night went well but the pool was so big they wanted another mermaid ... since I had so much hassle with Kat before and how she behaved towards me there was no way I was signing up to work with her full time. I asked my friend to work the job with me - it would have been a good little earner for her and she was already a skilled free diver - however she had done one of Kats free workshops before and Kat somehow thought she could lay claim to my friend as "HER MERMAID" despite telling the girls involved with her agency that they can still work freelance. My friend seemed very excited about the job and I was really excited about working with her as we hang out quite a bit and get on really well ! However when my friend let the news slip to Kat ... she just about lost her freaking mind saying that my friend was her mermaid and after all she had done for her, how could she do this etc ... so after putting the fear of God into my friend - she pulled out, in fear of loosing work through Kat and their friendship - id like to add that she only is nice to people she can gain something from and will do her best not to pay for anything that she thinks she can get for free. - i tried to organise fun mermaid live aboard at a ridiculously cheap price but she said if she had to pay she wasn't interested.... anyway after my friend pulled out LAST MIUNTE , i was in deep shit - I had to have another mermaid to get the job ! So i had to find and train another girl in a short time to get her ready for the gig - thankfully Susanne was keen to learn and really enjoyed the mermaiding job and we had a great time !

I called Kat as soon as I found out she had stopped my friend from working WITH me ( might i add i did not take commission from the other girls we both got paid the same for doing the same job i wanted a partner not an employee ) Kat seemed to be quite shaky on the phone and i was straight forward with her and asked her what was her problem with me... she said i was starting my own agency and trying to take over her business which was bullshit ... and she referred back to my business card which i had shown her willingly months before ... so she obviously had kept this bad feeling and not spoke up ... which in my eyes is cowardly .... if you don't want other mermaids emerging then do not teach people to do it :S plain and simple... anyway I was not starting my own bloody mermaid agency i just wanted to work and have fun being a mermaid ... but of course her answer to this was its her dream and i don't understand - everyone has a dream Kat and the world does not revolve around you.

It continued then into my modelling work, I got chosen to be in a commercial riding horses and as soon as she found out she was posting pictures of herself horse riding calling herself and action model.... even worse than this she has bad mouthed me to industry professionals belittling me and telling people i need to learn to hold my breath longer.... this amuses me as some of her students can hold their breath longer than she can... and I have now used this negativity to turn into positive motivation and have since more than doubled my breath hold capabilities... ( not that this is the most important thing about mermaiding... ) and i can honestly say I learned much more valuable skills from doing a freediving course than I did in her workshops.

There are countless other things I could mention that would make you question her motives but I just hope that people make up their own mind about her and her products ... this is my opinion and I know many people who think she is wonderful... and I'm sure she is lovely to people who bow down to her every word by I will not be a doormat and I will not hide my feelings... Im sick of people saying " oh you live in phuket you must know Kat " i want nothing to do with this woman as she has been a bully towards me .... maybe the self proclaimed " world first mermaid trainer " might join the mernetwork now to defend herself ... an explanation for this behaviour would be nice but maybe she won't want to join our community of "Freaks and Weirdos"

[AniaR]

I dont like kat for several reasons and you've listed many. I find her to be very arrogant. For someone who is so professional she sure spams the hell out of me I had to block her from posting on my page.

I think her images that are supposed to be in support of the ocean or whatever are a joke. They are just confusing images that can be quite confusing and traumatic for a kid. E.g. the mermaid getting her tail cut off being shared without any context made no sense. I'm tired of mers who claim to care about the ocean and do shit all about it. Oh here's a confusing image to share around fb so I get more fans.

She Bought all those Facebook fans. For a while her city with most likes was weird random words. Now its bangkok.

And f.u. Kat for ever saying anyone isn't a mermaid cuz they don't do what you do. Don't see why shed need any of us lesser mermaids help then. And wh. Ny the need to buy fake fans if you're so great.

Her attitude is appalling.

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[AniaR]

Sorry trying to post from my phone and getting errors. But yeah and that time she threw away a tail and had to show a big dramatic pic of her throwing it in the dumpster? Ugh

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[Mermaid Adriel]

I'm really surprised about her... what a disappointment! :(

[AniaR]

Honestly just look at the tone of many of her fb posts. These type of men and women seem to gravitate to mermaids. Shes not the only one I know just like that.

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[Mermaid Melanie]

I feel this picture sums up exactly how she feels towards me lol

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[Echidna]

I don't know her personally, but making a remark like "there's only 5 good mermaids and the rest is bad" says more about her than the community.

Since we all share the same passion (?), I find it really sad many mers don't seem to enjoy other mers around, or working together.
They rather have the spotlight for themselves, and see everyone else as competition, even if there isn't any.

I got this crap when I was a dancer, and it really can suck the fun out of an art, a hobby, or an activity.

Mermaiding should be more than someone playing pretty princess and wanting all that attention for themselves.
If humans continue to mess up the oceans, ALL of us will be affected.
It's likely that when the ecosystem collapses (and it's close to happening), we can all kiss our behinds goodbye.

Activism for the oceans (and lakes and rivers...) is important.
As Raina pointed out, there's more to it though than just posting some pics on FB and dissing others.

(and btw, deep sea diving has nothing to do with being a good mer or environmentalist.
I'd really like to see someone dive in the DEEP SEA without a submarine lol.)

[shimmygoddess]

Mermaid Melanie, Unfortunately there are these types of people everywhere. I have dealt with this in the bellydance community and unfortunately in mermaiding as well. There are always going to be the ones that want total control of everything and basically want to see you fail. It is hard to deal with but all you can do is continue to be awesome and do awesome stuff. Stay professional and always speak truthfully. They will eventually show their true face to everyone and people who are blinded will open their eyes. Please know you are not alone. I have been a professional dance performer for 8 years now and dancing longer than that, and I am shocked at the amount of 'drama' in the mermaid community. It is far worse than our dance community was at its worst. ((HUGS))

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

See this WHOLE thread right here... LMAO!! Just made me realize that im SO glad that i know when it comes to being a mermaid.... I AM!! One of thoughs self proclaimed mer "queens" I am a HUGE diva!
I like everything done a certain type of way I like the lime light and i think all my stuff is the best and everyone else is second. BUT! I'm working on it.....
Like raven said at the start of this post... we are a community who is full of passion on the same subject... some of us want one thing one way wile others want one thing another way... we just agree to disagree. We are a community full of opinions and expression and art! I have only been on this forum for a few days.. and i can tell you based on how some of you all post to each other... I can tell who i need to steer clear of because im not TRYING to show my ugly side in here.. but i mean.. if it happens it happens.... But I will say im glad we have this thread... and im glad i now KNOW about it... I will SURELY be using this to post issues i have!!
And wile im on the subject... I want to say this....
If im asking for help and your words are anything BUT encouraging... have a damn seat...
So of you post as if YOUR an admin and take charge of threads and topics and post just for the damn sake of posting... like i said only been here for a FEW DAYS!! and im already seeing it...
Lucky for ME I have been a mermaid in the world of SECOND LIFE since 08 and own a virtual mer business... and all this drama here in the REAL world is NO diff then the kind i had to deal with in the virtual.. because is ALL right here ONLINE!!! So im looking out for who will set me off and who wont...
So back to my rant... if someone (correction ME!) posts a thread asking questions or assistance the point is to be helpful.. not be some sort of dream killer.. and also! I personally feel if im asking a question that has been asked before or covered in the FAQ or on another thread... do NOT treat me as if im some dunce or noob and make me feel bad by bashing me for miss reading or not knowing or not seeing this information, I would rather you just answer the damn question or NOT! then get in my face about "This topic has been covered before in another thread!" And then your dumb ass doesn't even give a LINK to the thread so the poor new person has to go digging around to find it in a forum FULL of threads not knowing they did anythign wrong OR what to look for.... thats just rude! It's like you saw the question they asked then came to the thread they posted JUST to throw in there face "HEY YOUR DOING IT WRONG" WHY the fuck would a new person like or respond to that in a nice manner.... see... the DIVA in me would give a nasty post back asap because i feel people should THINK about what they say to people BEFORE they post it online... and they should also see if the message they are typing can be read as rude, if so then i wouldn't recommend posting unless you want the repercussions.. which by you posting.. well disurve them! Any way thats my rant on a few things..... And i'll be sure to look back cuz i know SOMEONE is going to feel the need to comment on what im saying because it's prob something THEY have done and want to stand up for their actions by giving some sort of explanation...... SAVE IT! If you act polite then I will to.. if not i mean i GUESS we can see who wins the CAPS LOCK fight? *rolls eyes*
But love this community and love you all <3

[Merman Arion]

This really pissed me off because she is selling tails to young girls who aspire to be like her, or what they think she is like... but in reality she can be a pretty nasty person ... I told her how great MerNetwork was and how its a really nice community of people helping each other learn and sharing their experiences... she says to me why are you there its full of freaks... I would not buy a product from someone who is dissing the very customers she's looking for ! this to me is madness and EGO.

Im sick of people saying " oh you live in phuket you must know Kat " i want nothing to do with this woman as she has been a bully towards me .... maybe the self proclaimed " world first mermaid trainer " might join the mernetwork now to defend herself ... an explanation for this behaviour would be nice but maybe she won't want to join our community of "Freaks and Weirdos"

"FREAKS" ?! "WEIRDOS" ??!!

THIS really pisses me off! :mad:

WHY THE FUCK would the Mernetwork promote her business then?! THAT B**** doesn't deserve ANY publicity from us!

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[Merman Dan]

You can find a more legible copy of Kat's interview HERE (http://issuu.com/thephuketnewspaper/docs/31-05-2013)

"There are only five really good mermaids in the world and I am one of them. The others are no good."

Yeah, I find that both pompous and insecure. Hey, Kat, swim in this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcwCYIfm6eA

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

Oh damn! LMAO French Merman went OFF! lol

[Merman Arion]

Oh damn! LMAO French Merman went OFF! lol

Damn right I am.

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/bd/bd26415a7a9afe482439b955de41876935f379cb0fb078b471 60568e54f6c176.jpg

[Mermaid Adriel]

You can find a more legible copy of Kat's interview HERE (http://issuu.com/thephuketnewspaper/docs/31-05-2013)

"There are only five really good mermaids in the world and I am one of them. The others are no good."

Yeah, I find that both pompous and insecure. Hey, Kat, swim in this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcwCYIfm6eA



:lol ^:

[Mermaid Adriel]

This really pissed me off because she is selling tails to young girls who aspire to be like her, or what they think she is like... but in reality she can be a pretty nasty person ... I told her how great MerNetwork was and how its a really nice community of people helping each other learn and sharing their experiences... she says to me why are you there its full of freaks... I would not buy a product from someone who is dissing the very customers she's looking for ! this to me is madness and EGO.

This remembers me of Mike Morse. Shame!

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

But you know... not justifying her calling us freaks and weirdo's but when I think mermaids (this is me looking from the outside in) I don't really think of a community of layers of definitions and artistic interpretations of what they feel a mermaid or merman is or looks like. And that's what we are... we are a community all made up of people who interpret the meaning of "mer" In there own way. It's kind of like DRAG.. Ru Paul will tell you.. Drag HAS a definition... but it doesn't stop Drag queens from re defining it for themselves, and I have noticed that.
The thing is.. I know me it's hard for ME to grasp that in THIS community because I have read the books and the lore and seen all the movies and films and have seen all of us share their stories and pictures and ideas of what mer is... and it's kinda crazy when you go back to the basics... and we don't really match up to what is "mer" to the world and it's lore and history. What we are.. is exactly what we are.. a ton of people taking the definition of mer.. and saying screw it.
We have jellyfish mer, snake mer, mer with crab parts, and octopus tenticals...... And really none of them are considered mer "outisde" of the mer community. It's like were a catch all, do whats you want sort of community.
So i can understand IF she said that based on what I'm seeing.. I don't AGREE with her... but i could see why she and other people feel that way. I myself.. work with limitations.. I find it a challenge to work inside of a box and from time to time put a foot or fin out of the box a LITTLE bit... But i think ANYONE can just totally throw the box to the side.. shit on it and cover it in glitter and unicorns and dead little fairies and call it "Unique" But whats more "unique" to me is if you give yourself limitations and push the envelope or make it SEEM as if you went out of the box but didn't. But i mean.. Like i said... were a community full of opinionated artists who took the lore of the mer from around the world.. and said "L.O.L fuck it! LETS DO WHAT WE WANT!" And thats what we are. I love the community for who we are because it's just great that we as a community even EXIST! But I can see HOW some people could be brave enough to call us freaks. Not saying they are right, but I can see why (based on what i'm trying to explain) why they would.

[Mermaid Octavia]

UGH I know someone just like that in the mermaiding community and it's infuriating. It always has to be about her, she always has to one-up you. I am so sorry.

[PearlieMae]

Mermaid Kat would best be regarded thus:


http://youtu.be/LxiLUEgN6vQ

[AniaR]

Kelp its a bit more to it than that in regards to noons. Many of us have been harassed constantly for information quite rudely and obessively for years on here. Don't take it personally if someone just redirects you to a topic if it is done to death. We work hard to make the forum easier and the admins are working even right now. But it isn't a personal attack it is general forum etiquette you'll find on most forums. There's no negative tone. It is just here is the info. You can't expect people to type out the answers to " how do I make s tail" when several people have worked their asses off and spent time and money making amazing threads and tutorials for you. Personally as a professional it bothers me when noons join and ask how do I be a mermaid. Because I wrote a whole book on it. Lol it can't be summed up in a post and I've posted huge tutorials on here for free. If people can't take a few seconds to research it makes me feel like they want it handed to them.

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[AniaR]

Ugh damb my phone and autocorrect!!!! Noobs not noons lmao

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[AniaR]

Well I am just failing at typing on this thing.

I'm so glad people have finally named Kat. There was a thread on here about her articles but names weren't named. Its not like she was ever part of the community. And if I can sound petty for a second though this is my true opinion I have never liked her tails lol

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[AniaR]

Screw it I commented on that pic lol on her page. I can't screencap from my phobe

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[Kelphinea_Kelp]

Oh I fully understand but thats why I also mentioned I think that if someone is going to inform a person they could do a better job then some stuff that I have come across in random threads or even make the effort to link the noon (tee hee) Noob to the proper page because lets be honest.. I found all the information I needed myself and am still finding odds and ins here and there mostly i just need clarification and fine tuneing peronaly. But yeah as far as admin go.. the thing is if we all ran and told on each other for every little misshap or issue the admin would be extreamly busy dealing with things that may not even be all that! So I feel it's best that if someone is going to take the time to say "your wrong" then they could also take the time to "auto correct" the mistake in this way they not only told you that the question was answered they showed you where so noobs are not lost and butt hurt. I personally find it better to bring mroe people into the community rather then make them feel akward upon entry. JUST my take on it, but i see what your saying!

[PearlieMae]

Well I am just failing at typing on this thing.

I'm so glad people have finally named Kat. There was a thread on here about her articles but names weren't named. Its not like she was ever part of the community. And if I can sound petty for a second though this is my true opinion I have never liked her tails lol

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I think they look like crap. And where does she get off? Someone needs a major smack down. :anger explode:

I looked for your comment, but it ain't there. I commented on the scale sheet pic she posted and it as gone within an hour.

[PearlieMae]

Oh I fully understand but thats why I also mentioned I think that if someone is going to inform a person they could do a better job then some stuff that I have come across in random threads or even make the effort to link the noon (tee hee) Noob to the proper page because lets be honest.. I found all the information I needed myself and am still finding odds and ins here and there mostly i just need clarification and fine tuneing peronaly. But yeah as far as admin go.. the thing is if we all ran and told on each other for every little misshap or issue the admin would be extreamly busy dealing with things that may not even be all that! So I feel it's best that if someone is going to take the time to say "your wrong" then they could also take the time to "auto correct" the mistake in this way they not only told you that the question was answered they showed you where so noobs are not lost and butt hurt. I personally find it better to bring mroe people into the community rather then make them feel akward upon entry. JUST my take on it, but i see what your saying!

It seems that if you want people to tell you where the information is that you're looking for, they are still doing the searching for you.

I have a tailmaking thread now that is over 800 comments long and if you ask me how I did something and where it is, and I tell you to look in my thread, I feel that if you want the information that badly, you'll find it.

If you want to ask me about a specific process that I did not cover, I will do what I can to clarify.

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

no..... im talking about just linking people to the thread
NOT looking through it for them

[AniaR]

Yeah she deleted my comment and pmed me I haven't had a chance to read it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

like if your going to bother telling them there is a thread for it already.. the LEAST the person can do is link them to the thread. Most new people don't even know where to find the answers.. I personally have been lucky.. because i rolled my eyes and litterally scrolled threw like 40-80 pages of threads looking to see if someone had literally typed "word for word" the same questions i wanted to ask.. Why? because I was also corrected for asking one question in a thread of many questions that was found in the FAQ... but was not told where to find anything further on the topic after I read the FAQ nor was i even linked to the FAQ.. i saw it in my inventory and also happened to find it digging threw the forum myself. But yeah I think if you have time to direct someone.. then you have time to give direction.

[PearlieMae]

no..... im talking about just linking people to the thread
NOT looking through it for them

Oops! My bad!

[ivoryleopard]

I found this quote and I find it applicable to a lot of mer-drama

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/7737_302481976567248_1343189441_n.jpg

That sounds very familiar!

[Winged Mermaid]

Wow, Melanie. Sorry to hear you went though all that! I've been off-put by Kat's attitude ever since I found her on FB, it got to the point where I unliked/unfollowed her not even a month later. I thought it was cool at first that she was doing mermaid workshops, but her attitude and ego showed through everything else :/ I did see the interview where she said that there were essentially no other good pro mermaids and that was the deal breaker for me. That and her spamming her stuff all over everyone else's pages, obvious fake likes (seeing the likes jump and the random made up cities and spammer-central cities she was most popular in) , ect. She wanted more and more and more in terms of promotion and having others help her with her products, but wasn't involved in the community at all beyond that. All take and no give. Reading your story of how crappy she treated people.. honestly I'm really not surprised. I'm really sorry though. Still that's horrid how she treated you and others like that :(

It seems like there are people who were/are models and/or underwater models and decided that they'd get more attention if they got a tail. Then they saw there was money and started proclaiming themselves "world's best" (and other such phrases) mermaid. Then they buy fake fans to make them look as such. They don't even care about the community or mermaiding roots either. No respect. She's not the only one who went down that road and is still going at it. Unfortunately mermaiding draws a lot of people who just do it for the publicity, and meanwhile think that us who have a long-lasting passion for it are below them. Typically this attitude shows through and the community loses respect for them, leaving them with their blind following fans. The truth is that they don't like the community because we see through their bullshit.

[Merman Dan]

I'm so glad people have finally named Kat.

Now, now. Is English her primary language? It could be a simple translation error. ;)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dEBcFEt5Dvo/UrsjNyMYEeI/AAAAAAAAWXI/gBF18h0V0hM/s1600/santa+candy+padlock+peace+spaceship.jpg

[Anahita]

Well I am just failing at typing on this thing.

I'm so glad people have finally named Kat. There was a thread on here about her articles but names weren't named. Its not like she was ever part of the community. And if I can sound petty for a second though this is my true opinion I have never liked her tails lol

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

I didn't care for her tails before, but I thought, meh, everyone has their own style. But now I see this, I can say, guilt-free, that I think her tails match her attitude - ugly.

**twiddles thumbs and whistles innocently**

Ok, I've had my petty Persian princess moment there. Sorry, I try to keep it out of the mer-community, but reading what she said pissed me off, especially since SHE friended me (because I have a strange etiquette, I never friend people myself, I just accept requests when they're sent in because that's how I know people actually want to talk to me rather than me being a pest, lol) so I stupidly added her on, and IMMEDIATELY AFTER she flooded my wall with links to her damn page.

Uh, no....

[AniaR]

The truth is that they don't like the community because we see through their bullshit.

AMEN PREACH IT SISTER.

Also Kat PMed me and denied saying those things apparently the magazine made it and other things up ;) funny, agents don't usually allow that type of error to happen.

[Mermaid Momo]

like if your going to bother telling them there is a thread for it already.. the LEAST the person can do is link them to the thread. Most new people don't even know where to find the answers.. I personally have been lucky.. because i rolled my eyes and litterally scrolled threw like 40-80 pages of threads looking to see if someone had literally typed "word for word" the same questions i wanted to ask.. Why? because I was also corrected for asking one question in a thread of many questions that was found in the FAQ... but was not told where to find anything further on the topic after I read the FAQ nor was i even linked to the FAQ.. i saw it in my inventory and also happened to find it digging threw the forum myself. But yeah I think if you have time to direct someone.. then you have time to give direction.

My thoughts on this is that it'll still take time out of my day to go and find said thread to link you to it, so if you don't have the time to search for it yourself then why should I? Sure, I'll tell you the general place of where I remember the thread is to the best of my ability, but i certainly won't spend time searching for it. There is a search bar they can use too.
I have no problem helping someone but I have noticed that a lot of newbies' first post is asking about something that can easily found on the forum, usually in one of the sticky threads. So I know they didn't put any work or effort into looking around before posting and it gets tiresome really. But if it looks like you've searched the forum for a bit and still didn't find your answer? then sure, I may think about finding the thread and linking you. As long as I'm not doing all the work and you actually tried to find the answer first.

[AniaR]

I hate when people spam. This week was the first time in my life I posted on other people's mermaid pages to share something, and I felt totally guilty doing it, and I encouraged people to delete it with no hard feelings if they wanted to.

[deepblue]

no..... im talking about just linking people to the thread
NOT looking through it for them

Sometimes some of us do, some of us don't. But when something needs to simply be entered in the search field such as 'extended' (for extended tails, for instance) and *poof* you will get the two threads which currently cover the subject, that should be enough. So sometimes when we say 'try the search function' it's because it is very clear the person asking the question has not, and perhaps needs to learn the way things are done here, else they will be one of those new people spamming the forum with requests they need to learn to fill themselves.

It's not rude of us, and it's not anyone whose 'dumb ass' can't link. There are no dumb people here.

While you're asking us to remember what it's like to be a new user, you might get something out of looking at the perspective of the rest of us - what Raina said is exactly it. Many new users come in and they go nuts asking questions, often in new topics, all over the forum, which have not only already been answered and thoroughly, but are incredibly easy to find the answers for if they just USE THE SEARCH FEATURE. It's the same kind of feature used all over forums everywhere. This place has reference threads, too. There is no easier forum to navigate, imo.

Some basic advice to any new user: if you use the search feature and you are *still* lost, say so. Ask the question, pointing out that you searched, and couldn't find it. This place is full of awesome people and once we see that you tried and can't find it, you'll get the help you need.

[Echidna]

petty Persian princess

priceless alliteration! :lol:

admittedly, I don't think her tails look good either- too costumey imo, I like realistic tails, no matter what they're made of-, but I know some people who enjoy those tails, so I kept it to myself.

...judging from the replies in this thread, there's a whole load of peeps who politely bit their tongues until now :p

[Winged Mermaid]

"Use the search feature" is often an answer in forums across the web, and even sites like Model Mayhem. Honestly people here are much more helpful - and going out of their way to do so- than other forums on the net. There are also reference threads linking to threads that will answer their questions, as well as nav bar pages, banners on the front page, the FAQ, stickies, an even a message with all the informational and reference page links automatically sent to a user when they sign up. ALL that and people come in expecting to have answers handed to them, instead of reading through the info they want someone else to give them info and links. So you can see where people can get annoyed when that sort of thing happens allll the time! But I understand it's overwhelming with all the info too. Especially tailmaking stuff.

[Kishiko]

like if your going to bother telling them there is a thread for it already.. the LEAST the person can do is link them to the thread. Most new people don't even know where to find the answers.. I personally have been lucky.. because i rolled my eyes and litterally scrolled threw like 40-80 pages of threads looking to see if someone had literally typed "word for word" the same questions i wanted to ask.. Why? because I was also corrected for asking one question in a thread of many questions that was found in the FAQ... but was not told where to find anything further on the topic after I read the FAQ nor was i even linked to the FAQ.. i saw it in my inventory and also happened to find it digging threw the forum myself. But yeah I think if you have time to direct someone.. then you have time to give direction.

I know a lot of times people aren't able to link to things when using their phone and such, so they try to point out where to find it, it doesn't mean they're being rude. They're just doing the best they can to help. You also said you found it yourself while digging through the forum.....that's the point so I don't see why you're so wound up about this. The only reason people even respond saying wear to find it is because they've been on the forum for years with people constantly asking the same and junking up the sections with new threads which have been answered many times before. Trut me, I did the same thing when I was brand new too! Just keep in mind that you're probably not he first to ask before you post a new topic (:

[Winged Mermaid]

...judging from the replies in this thread, there's a whole load of peeps who politely bit their tongues until now :p

People do that a lot, until something comes up that they can't hold it in anymore. That's why this thread exists :P Kat and some other "worlds best" mers almost never get brought up here or even elsewhere by the mer community.. That's a pretty good sign of quiet dislike by the community. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all.. Until they really freaking piss me off" is like the moto of this thread haha. (Otherwise it usually comes out on mer's personal FB pages.)

[Merman Dan]

I think her tails match her attitude - ugly.

In all honesty I like the clownfish and juvenile angelfish tails.

[SeaNymph]

She's in Germany right now and we have to endure endless announcements of her workshops she gives in march and april. Aaaaah, help us!!!!

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

LMAO gill friends.. im talking about the ones I have seen who have come off rude.. and again I saw some of you call the search function easy to use... but then say why should i go through all the work of finding the thread... thats my point telling a person that a thread simply exists someone in the forum for them to find... is only that.. telling them its here... they could be having trouble with the site they could be having a hard time finding it and have not said so... thats what im saying I have seen a few threads where people have just been dismissive and NOT as helpful as they could be. They point out corrections and problems but are not officials of the site, and they don't add any extra info to better help the person, they simply comment scold and leave. If your going to help help.. if your going to add to the conversation add to it.. if your going to take the time to bash someone for their efforts.. then you have time to be helpful with them, just like you wouldn't give someone a critque and then not tell them how to better their problem or issue from the critique given.

[AniaR]

Kelp Im just wondering what or who you're referring to because I checked your thread history and I dont see anyone being rude anywhere, I can't even find an unhelpful post from someone. It may work better next time if there's one single person making one post you contact them via PM to let them know your thoughts.

[ShyMer]

Right now we only have two admins and no moderators. I think a lot of us like to try to help out to tell new members how things work on the forum since Iona and Mal are so busy. No, we're not officials, but we take pride in the forum and want to help it run more smoothly.

Also it's not required for someone leave a complement with every criticism. Just because someone says they know something isn't going to work doesn't mean they know a better way, either.
Once again, we're just trying to help. Nobody's trying to put anyone down or make them feel bad because they don't understand how some things work. If someone comes across as rude to you, why not just ask them about it in a private message? Chances are you just misinterpreted their tone or they wrote it in a way that was easily misinterpreted. If someone's harassing you, report them.

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

No i wasn't refering to me I had used the search to look threw some random threads and I noticed a few posts I felt could have been better trust me if someone is bothering me one of 3 things will happen.. I will say nothing and try not to show my ass, or i will say somthing to them or an admin about how i feel.. or I will just go off letting them know where i felt the crossed a line with me and give them the chance to step back across that line in the place provided because no one should be speaking to myself or anyone else in any manner other then respectful.

And also im sure the admin appreciate the help, but I can not tell you the number of problems that can be avoided by simply not trying to step in as an admin or attempting to do what admin do. I personally know I don't want to be approached by anyone in an authoritative manner if they have no authority to do so nor are they the authority here, nor have they been given that right nor earned it. As for me taking things personal, so far things have been fine I simply brought this up to discuss it because I have seen some users here be a bit brash wile looking through threads as to if they are old threads or current ones I can't say because being new im still just skimming around but i do know me being new I can feel the preexisting tension here, because no community is with out drama ESPECIALLY in a creative environment, and now that i have looked around I have seen a few rude bits here and there.. I'm simply sharing my feelings and things I have seen in my short time being here and bringing it to attention. I mean this is a thread to talk about it so im just talking about it im venting and expressing my feelings on something i felt i had an issue with wile looking through things. And Raina IF someone was rude to me, just like Shy mentioned, for you to go back and read it for yourself wouldn't make a difference because I or someone could have taken what was said AS rude. So looking to see if you feel it's rude or if others around you feel it is or isn't doesn't clear the water on that individuals feelings, And again this is why im bringing up also why i know that me personally I would have an issue being addressed in an authoritative manner by anyone who is not an authority. If everyone could be an admin im sure lot of people would be, however not everyone agrees, not everyone is polite, not everyone is professional... etc etc So if the issue calls for an admin and the admin are busy.. I personally would rather wait for what feels like forever then have someone come and take the place, who actually doesn't hold any place at all. Again this is just my feelings im posting *shrugs*

[Mermaid Melanie]

Thanks for taking the time to read my ranting guys - I hoped it wouldn't come to that but yes sometimes you just can't keep quiet anymore - Im glad that Katrin has moved on however it said in the paper she was leaving a few mermaids behind in Phuket to continue her mermaid work, I guess she will be returning here after Egypt... yay.

[AniaR]

I think everyone has validated your feelings kelp but keep in mind you don't have all the context as a new member. I'm not an admin or mod by choice because I get too busy. But I have the highest post count on this site and I have been here since before mernet existed. And there are several others like me. And sorry, you don't have to like it, but we do step in. Its a community run forum and thems the breaks.

For instance you may have observed a recent member who was suspended for harassment. For over a year that member made posts exactly like you described and got chilly responses from members as you observed. But being a new member you would not have the context.

I personally feel that if you have a suggestion to make on how the forum is run then feel free to outline it in the suggestions board. You'll see we have already discussed at length how to help new members and you may be able to contribute some helpful ideas there.

But at this point I feel based in your comments you're getting a bit too defensive with everyone. You can't really walk into an established website and criticize to this degree. I think everyone has raised valid points and so have you. But I get the impression ( and I feel others do as well) that while we are genuinely listening to your points you are responding to ours defensively and aggressively.

So in summary : yup. We hear you. It is being worked on. Simply remember you don't have all the context for every situation. Feel free to leave suggestions in the suggestions thread. It is okay to complain there so long as it is followed by suggestion ;) but it is liklier to get mod response in that area.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[AniaR]

Melanie thank you for being brave enough to say something. I know so much and have proof of so much going on in the Mer community but I always have to sit on it because people involved are afraid to come forward due to the offending party. There is so much I wish people knew. I'm glad you spoke up.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[AniaR]

We aren't really a forum of nameless members here. We all know each other in some capacity. If someone was genuinely acting rudely they'd be reprimanded. It happens all the time.

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[Kelphinea_Kelp]

well as i said this was in reference to me so i mean how ever i choose to act i except full responsibility for its not so much as i feel all members should be treated in one way or another its this is what i have seen and i don't know all the information but i know personally i wouldn't respond well under A or B type situations. And as far as me getting called defensive.. yes because im speaking for myself in terms of defense in said situations *shrugs* nothing I don't think most people would do. But again I understand and thank you <3

[Starfrit]

In regards to the Mermaid Kat situation, all I can say is this: I've only really been "in" the Mermaid community for, what... A month now? And when I first started looking more into mermaiding, shortly before joining Mernetwork, I came across Kat's Facebook.

I unfollowed her after a week because her attitude was that off-putting and not only that, but some of her posts and her constant spamming and fake-likes sort of left me wondering if she was even legitimate at all-- I mean, even Eric Ducharme tries to be subtle with his fake follower count, come on. :P

Imagine how many people may have only just started to learn more about Mermaiding and come across her page, and end up second-guessing the whole mermaid thing altogether because they think all the professionals are like that. :( People like her do more damage to the community than good!

[Merman Arion]

She just shared on Facebook the first photo of her silicone mermaid tail. I'm definitely not impressed.

19690

[Starfrit]

I saw that too! That paint job is seriously awful. Those seams...

It's like she skinned a rabbit and just smeared its blood all over a plain white tail. :/

[Merman Arion]

I saw that too! That paint job is seriously awful. Those seams...

It's like she skinned a rabbit and just smeared its blood all over a plain white tail. :/

Oooooh... That's what it was? I thought it was her grandma's drapes lol :jester:

[Kishiko]

I couldn't even tell it was silicone at first because of those terrible seams. And I agree it does look like blood lol :P

[AniaR]

well, I can't make tails so props for her for trying. But yeah it's see through (as we've talked about on another thread white is super hard to do) and I'm not much for the design either. I think it's for more more her attitude.

[PearlieMae]

Did she make that or was it made for her?

[Merman Arion]

Did she make that or was it made for her?

I thought that too :doh:

[Mer-Crazy]

It kinda just looks like a painted neoprene tail in that picture anyway, I can't see any detail in the silicone. On that note and IF she made her tail then good on her. I can't make a silicone tail. Everyone has to start somewhere, it's a learning curve isn't it? I don't think she should be judged harshly on her first attempt (this is all under the assumption she made it herself). But judge her for her shitty attitude all you like <3

[SeaNymph]

Her FB page says that she will sell silicone tails soon. So I think she or her team made it. But I have never heard of them being tested or quality checked.

[ShyMer]

Her paint job looks like a fish with a serious illness to me... She needs to work on her overall design. It looks like she just slapped red in places without any thought to movement or overall composition.
Is this supposed to be a koi tail?

Sent from my Huawei-H867G using Tapatalk

[shimmygoddess]

I guess I live under a rock, b/c I have been on Mernetwork for about 2 years and active in mermaiding for the last year, but I have never heard of Mermaid Kat :)

[MerEmma]

I sort of like the paint job and overall it looks like a really good first tail. I feel like Selene has it completely right, lol. :P

[Mermaid Melanie]

It was made for her - her mum and step dad have the tail making business in germany, they make all the fabrics tails and silicone - i think she paints the neoprene ones herself though.

[AniaR]

See it drives me nuts when tailmakers take alllll the credit for other people. I have met so many people who worked with Eric and until the past little while he always claimed he did everything himself. Even now he slightly credits his boyfriend, but never like "He sculpted this tail he made this tail!" etc. I mean if you're a team company be a team company. Thom told me all about his amazing seamstress who sadly passed away. Raven is very open about her husband helping her. It's just so sneaky to have other people working so hard for you and then try to put up this front like you do it all. Why yes, I am a pro mermaid, who also teaches classes, and also makes loads of tails!!! Like I knew she wasn't doing it alone from the start, because I've seen Raven try to do this alone and literally have no life because of it :p

[Mermaid Melanie]

Yeah a bit strange - I noticed she thanked herself and the photographer :S Even though her mum seems to do a huge amount of work toward the whole Mermaid Kat franchise, Kat doesnt seem so appreciative of her mums help ( from what she's said to me anyway ) Ive met her mum and she seems lovely but Kat says she has a "bad character" whatever that means - I don't know how you could say that about your own mother who you work so closely with and helps you so much but guess everyone has their issues...

My mum made my first painted fabric tail and then taught me how to do it - couldn't have done it without her and I'm still learning, I don't think theres any shame in admitting you get help along the way ! Everyone starts out somewhere but give credit where credit is due !

[Mermaid Lilium]

"FREAKS" ?! "WEIRDOS" ??!!

THIS really pisses me off! :mad:

WHY THE FUCK would the Mernetwork promote her business then?! THAT B**** doesn't deserve ANY publicity from us!

19668

Shit, well there goes my aim to be the only/first euro silicone tail maker =(


priceless alliteration! http://mernetwork.com/index/images/smilies/10481.gif

admittedly, I don't think her tails look good either- too costumey imo, I like realistic tails, no matter what they're made of-, but I know some people who enjoy those tails, so I kept it to myself.

...judging from the replies in this thread, there's a whole load of peeps who politely bit their tongues until now http://mernetwork.com/index/images/smilies/tongue.png

Add me to that list :') I get that some people might like her fabric and neoprene tails... I'm definately not one of them!
Finally caught up and saw the silicone tail... is it just me or does it look like she's cut printed elements out and put them on the tail to do the 'paint job' Or stamped the red on with some large round sponge? Cause you can see the white edges of the scales....

[Mermaid Octavia]

I can't make tails, let alone silicone but I can paint and... that paint job... :thumbdown:

[PearlieMae]

I suppose it's trying to be a koi tail, but I think it's a koi FAIL.

[MermaidMichelle]

Is that Kat (I've never heard of her before) modeling her own tail? If so, her skin-deep beauty is tremendous!

Regarding that tail, it's not too bad for a first try; even the legendary Splash! tail had a noticeable seam. Admittedly, the seam wasn't quite so noticeable and the paint is a bit haphazard/bloody-looking. I'm not sure if she's quite ready to sell tails yet, unless she prices them far lower than professionals like Raven!

Regarding the photograph, that well-lit-mermaid-on-black-background-with-strangely-located-bubbles type of photo is one I've seen often (such as in the MerTailor's work). Is that a PhotoShop job or do they just have access to a really big tank and powerful lighting?

[AniaR]

Honestly I just don't like her or her attitude. I personally don't like the tail but I don't like a lot of tails lol. I could care less if she makes them.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Starfrit]

See, I'll be honest with you, a lot of the reason I'm finding myself kind of side-eyeing Kat here is that she's "made" (supposing it really is someone else making her tails for her, which I honestly wouldn't doubt) ONE silicone tail, that isn't even that well done and is riddled with basic flaws, and is now claiming that she'll be offering them as another mainstream product of hers.

Am I the only one who sees a huge issue with that?

Before I joined the mermaiding community I'd spent ten years in a fandom with an increasingly heavier focus on large, elaborate costumes (I'm not going to say what fandom it was because, honestly, to hell with that fandom and everything to do with it). There were SO many people who would try to make ONE of these huge, expensive costumes, often using really cheap/shitty/questionable and downright hazardous materials, riddled with the most basic construction mistakes that even an amateur should be able to avoid, and then decide "Okay, I made one, that totally means I can start taking orders for these and make a business out of it!

They start charging industry prices for items that in the end are hardly worth the materials they're even made out of, find some sucker or a friend who's willing to pay them that much for such a poor quality item, and ultimately end up ripping that person off. There are SO many problems in said fandom of people who make one shoddy suit, start taking commissions, get paid thousands of dollars from multiple people who don't know any better and become so overwhelmed by the amount of work that they become overwhelmed, freak out, and shut everything down and disappear with the commissioners' money without a word because now they're in a position where they can't do the work and have spent all the money they had and can't refund their customers.

This is why I'm so wary of people who do this "Hey look I made one thing and nevermind how terrible it actually looks, I'm going to start selling them to people!!" thing, even people who are familiar with the industry and have made some sort of a "name" for themselves like Kat -- We've seen the above issues already in the mermaiding community even recently, with people like Kanti and Fishbutts and so on.

It's not even that I think Kat in particular is going to get overwhelmed and try and take off with her customers' money (first of all she doesn't strike me as the type of person who could handle staying out of any sort of spotlight, and secondly it's hard to be overwhelmed by work that other people are doing for you to take credit for in the first place), but mostly that I'm concerned for customers of hers who are going to order from her, end up with a heavily flawed item, try to contact her about said flaws once they get it and end up being met with Kat's special brand of "professionalism," or a whole bunch of excuses for why she's not responsible for any problems they may have with her product, and ultimately end up being out a whole bunch of money on an item that may not even be worth whatever pricetag she decided to attach to it.

Granted, I'm a little bitter and wary about my experiences in my past fandom that I tend to feel that way about... just about anyone in any industry who pulls that stuff, not even just Kat, so maybe I'm just being paranoid.

[PearlieMae]

"It's not even that I think Kat in particular is going to get overwhelmed and try and take off with her customers' money (first of all she doesn't strike me as the type of person who could handle staying out of any sort of spotlight, and secondly it's hard to be overwhelmed by work that other people are doing for you to take credit for in the first place)"

I think that sums up a good chunk of it.

I like how one day, she had a batch of likes...then two days later, 5000 males 18-34 from the Maldives liked her page. :rolleyes:

[Mermaid Wesley]

Well. That's the quality I would expect for a personal tail or a first try. But she intends to sell? Nope.


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[AniaR]

Well saiiiiiiiid

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Starfrit]

Well. That's the quality I would expect for a personal tail or a first try. But she intends to sell? Nope.

This is exactly why I'm so critical of it; normally a tail like that would get a lot more of a positive response from me, because most of the time they're a person's first attempt at making a tail and are just a personal tail. But at the time I saw the picture posted, she was talking about how she was soon going to be offering them for sale (though I can't seem to find those comments on her page anymore??) and that's what I take issue with.

For a first try as a personal tail, it is really good and the seams and wonky paint job can easily be ignored. It's a great place to kick off from and start working out the kinks to really fine-tune your method! But to do one tail and decide it's good enough to start taking orders for... No. Just no. It's a massive shitstorm waiting to happen.

[Kishiko]

I would just like to point out that on the mermaid KAT Facebook and the mertailor Facebook the most popular city on BOTH pages just "HAPPENS" to be Bangkok Thailand...hhhmmmm..... :lol::thinks::rotfl:

[AniaR]

Oh yes as I've proven in the thread about fb likes they and mermaid melissa are big fakers. You can now pay 100$ week for unlimited like and post likes shares too.

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[Kishiko]

46k? 147k? Highly doubt that many people liked it lol

[AniaR]

There's no doubt actually. We proved it was fake likes in the other thread. Melissa was going up obnoxious amounts daily.

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[Mermaid Wesley]

Ew... obnoxious...

[deepblue]

That Maldives one seriously slays me. It's so ludicrous.

Also, apparently, selling FB Likes is THE biz to be in these days. Holy cow.

[Kishiko]

It doesn't even do any good for you business. Smh :headwall:

[Starfrit]

Seriously. Sure the number is impressive, but in the end you're shelling out money for a tiny number showing on your screen that does absolutely nothing for you or your business. It just makes you look stupid. :/

I mean, I knew Mertailor did it, but come on... He doesn't even need to do waste his money on that! He gets loads of attention and clients, and he still gets plenty of REAL people liking his page and sharing his stuff constantly! I just don't get the obsession with having a high "Like" count. It's meaningless.

It's like people who obsess over getting "pageviews" on DeviantArt... What's the damn point?

[Mermaid Melanie]

Yeah guys Kat definitely did not make that tail herself... in November she asked me if I would help her make a silicone tail ... she said "we could make silicone tails together" ... this is after I spent months researching on mernetwork and other sources on the process and materials - I already had my dragonskin silicone and scale sheet made and she hadn't even done a tiny bit of research on where to buy anything or how it worked... i told her i was already working on one myself and to be honest i didnt want to help her as I had already done all the ground work and knew she would take all the credit. The same thing happened with my airbrushed tails - after she saw them, her folks were over on a visit and she asked if she could send her mum round so i could teach her how to do the airbrushing the tails so she could make them also :S she already had her fabric tail business and it seemed to be doing well... why she wanted to copy my tails i don't know... just greed.

[Mermaid Melanie]

Ugh I even see Chris Crumley is praising her now... I wish more people knew who she really is

[Winged Mermaid]

Wow :/ This is the only explanation I have for why people put up with this kind of thing..

19741

Sad, but true.

[Winged Mermaid]

On a side note, laughing cause I realized the past 3 graphics I've posted on the forum have all been of Barney Stinson XP I'll mix it up with a little Leslie Nope haha

http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/leslie-knope-bitches.gif

[Mermaid Wesley]

ugh. Thats crummy. I wish people weren't so lame.

[Mermaid Melanie]

yeah i guess fake boobs and a fake personality will get you far these days

[Mermaid Dottie]

On a side note, laughing cause I realized the past 3 graphics I've posted on the forum have all been of Barney Stinson XP

That's because NPH and the HIMYM writers are all geniuses. But, yeah, the hot crazy scale is so sadly true, especially in this case. I think our Lovely Mermaid Lillium will do a more fincredible job, and poor Kat Felton will be left in the dust, weeping for her burnt out spotlight.

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[AniaR]

Why care what Chris crumbly says. I caught him red handed stealing from another artist (I made a thread about it a while back ) and he refused to credit the person. He also thinks people can't tell the difference between mertailor and raven.

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[Merman Arion]

He also thinks people can't tell the difference between Mertailor and Raven.

Yeah riiiiiight... :rolleyes:
The quality of the scales, the paint job and the flukes are sooo "alike". To mister Crumley, what have you been smoking exactly to say such BS?!

[PearlieMae]

Photographers are going to like the models that get them the most attention, despite personality (or lack thereof). Mermaid "Tits on a Stick" Kat is likely to garner lots of attention because she is thin and pretty and that's what big media dictates to be the definition of 'beautiful'. IMO, she looks hard and is getting to look haggard, more Real Housewives than Supermodel.

I'm not surprised to hear she's a real See U Next Tuesday.

[deepblue]

Just because this woman Kat is all sorts of wrong does not mean she's crazy. Calling her that not only frees her from a degree of responsibility, but it insults us actual crazy people who would never treat people the way she does. :p

I doubt very much she's crazy. She's a lot of things, apparently, but I doubt very much that crazy of any kind is one of them. I think she knows exactly what she's doing. Sometimes people just suck, and it's nothing to do with their mental health but the state of their ego and their heart.

[Mermaid Melanie]

unfortunately its very sad but true ... she does have mental health issues but I guess saying anymore about that subject would be unfair and cruel ... but she really does have plenty of issues other than this.

[Mermaid Wesley]

~Yes and mental health issues are not an excuse to be a bitch or to take advantage of anyone~


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[MerEmma]

I'm kind of disappointed to see insults to Kat's appearance--clearly her personality is lacking, I have no problem with calling that out, but I wish we didn't have to body-shame ANYONE regardless of what they look like or how they act. Making rude comments on someone's appearance is lame. :(

[Mermaid Cascada]

I'm kind of disappointed to see insults to Kat's appearance--clearly her personality is lacking, I have no problem with calling that out, but I wish we didn't have to body-shame ANYONE regardless of what they look like or how they act. Making rude comments on someone's appearance is lame. :(
I kinda agree. I was just scared to say it :p
She may act rude and mean but who knows, maybe someone out there has a tail design like hers or looks like her... imagine how this thread would make them feel.

[Mermaid Melanie]

if you heard the things she has said about others you wouldn't feel so bad.

[Starfrit]

I'm kind of disappointed to see insults to Kat's appearance--clearly her personality is lacking, I have no problem with calling that out, but I wish we didn't have to body-shame ANYONE regardless of what they look like or how they act. Making rude comments on someone's appearance is lame. :(

This, absolutely. The problem with her lies totally in her gross attitude and personality, her looks have nothing to do with it. I'd really like to think that we're above attacking people's appearances. :/


if you heard the things she has said about others you wouldn't feel so bad.

I'm not seeing how that means anyone should stoop to her level?

[PearlieMae]

if you heard the things she has said about others you wouldn't feel so bad.

Well, speculation is just that...speculation. Considering you have first hand experience, I'm inclined to take your word!

[Mermaid Wesley]

I was disappointed too. Her looks really have nothing to do with it. Skinny and big boobs is not an indication of a bad person *points at self* (though I'm not quite a thin, admittedly). Sure her looks allow her to behave the way she does and still get positive attention, but once we get into insults on her body type I t's no longer ok. (As far as the tail goes, I think we were saying it's executed poorly, so it's not really about the design ya know?)


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[Mermaid Melanie]

I don't think anyone here could stoop to her level to be honest...people vent...Im pretty sure everyone agreed she is equally hot as she is crazy...personally I don't have any sympathy for her.... one of the most judgemental persons I have ever come across... if you can dish it out you should be able to take it.

[Mermaid Wesley]

The thing is it's not about her. I could give a shit if she saw this thread. It's about 'boobs on a stick' comments. That are insulting to everyone in that category (like me, though I have enough self esteem not to be insulted) what I'm saying is go ahead and bash her all you want but stay away from things like body type because for the most part, we can't control that and we are stuck with the bodies we have. I get that it a way of venting but we should all try to avoid venting in a way that might damage other people. :)


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[Kishiko]

Regardless of how people speak about body types, it's a fact in society today that skinny people with large breasts are more widely accepted and get more attention because modern society is so focused on looks. I think what everyone is trying to say is that no matter how good she try's to appear on the outside, it won't to anything to hide the ugliness on the inside. No one is body bashing, just merely saying why she gets so much attention, even though people know about her attitude.

[AniaR]

I think the issue around Kat's looks is that she uses them as a way to be entitled and that's what pushes people's buttons. Not that I agree with people insulting her looks. I think it's that she rubs it in people's faces.


Sometimes people just suck, and it's nothing to do with their mental health but the state of their ego and their heart.

yup

[Mermaid Wesley]

Agreed


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[Mermaid Melanie]

Second that! well said... ah who knows people are capable of change... i hope she sees this and has a think about how to treat others in the future.

[AniaR]

I think the drama threads and soap opera thread are member only threads? I'm not sure.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Yeah they're member only. I forget To log on some days and realize I can't view those threads unless I sign in.

[AniaR]

In regards to the chris thing I mentioned earlier, I was able to track down the images in question I brought up:

Original Image:
https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1.0-9/179312_392919750784158_699375597_n.jpg
Original Artist: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=392919750784158&set=pb.316999585042842.-2207520000.1396799403.&type=3&theater

Chris's Version:
19869

I contacted him and asked him to credit the original artist, because on his first posting of the image he credited a ton of people but not her. He refused to. The original artist contacted him too and was very upset about it. We had a conversation wherein I brought up that I always tracked down people who stole his art and reported it, and that the community looks out for eachother, and it should be no big deal to say "inspired by: ____" considering all the people he already credited. but he decided not to.

It completely turned me off him. I don't think it's professional at all, or appropriate.

[Starfrit]

Ugh, as a member of the art community I have SERIOUS issues with "inspirational" theft. It really, REALLY isn't that hard to go "This photo was inspired by ____'s piece!" in the description, and I find it seriously gross that someone would do such a blatant copy of another artist's hard work, be outed for doing it and then STILL try to come up with reasons why they shouldn't have to give credit. It's all too common and way too many people feel they can get away with it because they have enough of a following who will blindly tell them they're in the right even when it's pretty obviously theft. I don't doubt for a second that he knows what he's doing is wrong, either.

That's really disappointing, and grossly unprofessional. :/

[AniaR]

Just posting it as a few people said I made it up. People can see for themselves.

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[Winged Mermaid]

lol, made it up? There was a whole huge thing over it. Last I heard the artist was consulting her legal advisers.

[AniaR]

You know me. Anytime people don't like what I say I must be lying ;)

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[Merman Dan]

Playing devilfish's advocate, here. What ever happened to "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"?

If you do a google image search for "peeking mermaid", a few similar images appear (Safe Search on and don't forget the "k", please ;) ).

Wyland & Warren have a whole series of painting inspired by the "half-in, half-out" look. I have several hanging on my wall. :)

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/15/01/bd/1501bd56ad02339b4de5a9ac21e2dbcc.jpg

[Mermaid Momo]

But hes wasn't just influenced by and created his own image with a totally new pose, and perspective, he used the exact same pose, exact same lighting, exact same "cut" He literally jacked the whole picture off, and his version of it got more attention.

[AniaR]

Exactly. Plus the woman licences her image for use and Chris does the same with his as stock photos which is illegal when you've already infringed on someone else
And Chris openly admitted to me it was directly taken from it which I supplied the artist with screenshots so she could address it legally.

As I said people can see for themselves and make up their own mind but for me I lost total respect for him.

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[AniaR]

It was sad he could of just credited her. I don't see the big deal since he tags a good 5-6 people per image.

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[PearlieMae]

Draggersprez is right. If this were to go to court for intellectual property theft, chances are the original artist would be found right.

Whether or not punitive damages would be awarded is another matter.

[Merman Dan]

I know a phenomenal amount of work went into making both images. As a recreational merman maybe I am seeing it in a different light, but I see different cloud patterns, sand patterns, fluke positioning, hand positioning, and coloration. Yes, they are similar. Yes, one inspired the other.

And then there is this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/She_Creature_DVD.jpg

[PearlieMae]

You might think 'well, there are only so many ways to slice bread', but this is a blatant ripoff. I hope she takes him to court and sues him.

[Echidna]

It sure looks like a rip-off, but actually before reading what it was about and just looking at the images, I thought the first was either original she-creature art or a ripoff of it (the tail/fluke does look like the she creature tail), and the other was just a photograph from a similar perspective.

[AniaR]

The original image from the artist is several years old and has been posted on deviant art and the artists website for longer than fb. I documented this all already in its own thread months ago. To me it is more the issue that he openly admits to basing it on her photo and then refused to publicly credit her. He deleted anyone's comments pointing it out.



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[AniaR]

There's a loads of split photos in and out of water virtually every underwater photographer does them. That is clearly not the issue here. I'm justifying my personal reasons for why I no longer respect him and providing my proof as a member of the community began pming people about my earlier remark saying I made it up.

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[Merman Dan]

No worries. As I mentioned before, I was simply playing devil's... Errr... Devil fish' advocate.

Besides, out of the two models, there is only one with whom I shared mermaid punch, a hot tub, and a wonderful conversation at MerFest!

oh... Merman on a settee is mine btw. ;)

[MermaidMichelle]

I concur with caltuna; She Creature was that of which I immediately thought as well. Both it and the cover of said film also remind me of my friend Isis' appearance in "Fierce Eyes", an episode of America's Next Top Model in which the entire set of contestants was to pose and be photographed in the same manner, so similarity is allowable to some extent.

Having said that, the similarity in pose, angle, and lighting of the two photographs Raina showed is simply too great not to draw immediate connection. The expression and even the pose of the hand are there! It is not an exact copy, but inspirational credit is at least due.

[Mermaid Lilium]

*sigh* this is the same sort of reason why I will never EVER buy anything with Anne Stokes' artwork on it (google her, you'll recognise her work) - she ripped off my best friend's stock image without credit, payment or permission, and they denies it. Literally its practically traced *facepalm* The model in his image gave it to anne, even though she didn't have the right to as my friend automatically holds copyright as the photographer. Then anne started saying she didn't use the image... yeaahhhhhh then this same model gets pissed off because another artist takes her idea and rips it off and says he didn't use her image... oh karma and double standards. lol.

[Mermaid Lilium]

That's because NPH and the HIMYM writers are all geniuses. But, yeah, the hot crazy scale is so sadly true, especially in this case. I think our Lovely Mermaid Lillium will do a more fincredible job, and poor Kat Felton will be left in the dust, weeping for her burnt out spotlight.

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<3<3<3

ps I'll give you that money later ;D hahaha

[shimmygoddess]

Like I said before, it is not hard to say 'inspired by'. It does not devalue your work to let it be known someone inspired you to create an image, ect. And for sometime to get 'mad at someone' b/c they are calling them out is unprofessional. Even as a dancer, when I choreograph something, I will stay inspired by, or tell people I was inspired by a certain dancer, ect. It is a common courtesy. I see so much blatent disrespect for artists and I give Raina a high five for doing it.

[AniaR]

I just looked up she creature and I'm not getting why everyone says it looks like she creature beyond the split above below water? It looks nothing like she creature tail (and FYI, Nina is a photoshop artist, the tail was made from a PSD file that is fair use that she manipulated and has been around for a decade) which is a split tail and different. Like I've said multiple times now, the above below photo has been done since the dawn of underwater photography. Steve Anton did a shot of me like that. Yes, all art can be seen to look like other art even when people work their asses off to be original sometimes something just looks like something else, but that is absolutely not the case here. This is *self admitted* copying, and everyone can see there's no argument that the two images look almost identical. LOADS of people do photo versions of famous drawings or paintings, and vice versa. My issue was just the not crediting. I think it would be simple to say "inspired by an image created by Nina Y" since he tagged, the wig artist, the tail maker, the model, the photographer, the person who did the lights, the guy who drove the boat like I'm not even kidding. the first posting of the image credited everyone but her.

It says facebook user because he blocked me after I asked him what the big deal was with just adding a credit to her. And I just went back and searched through my messages to find it.

19909

And again, my whole reason for posting all of this (because as I've said a few times, I already did a whole thread on it back in 2013 people can see that documents the same stuff a little better) is because a few pages ago when I made me reply about not respecting Chris because of it (my own personal opinion that anyone else can feel free to agree or disagree with) a community member who is angry I deleted them from facebook with polite warning (sorry, I have a mermaid account and I'm not required to keep people I barely know on my fb) is now messaging people (mostly mutual friends) saying I made that up. I know they stalk the forum so there they go. They can see it for themselves. A lot of people like to default to "Raina is lying" when I say something they don't agree with, or don't want to hear. And I have *never* lied to the community. I don't say things unless I can prove them, or unless I have a reliably source. And when I have a source I try to disclaim with "I was told by someone who doesn't want people to know who said it" or somewhere along those lines, and 9 times out of 10 when I quote a source who wont say their name, it's because that person is afraid of or already experiencing harassment for trying to speak out about their own situation.

[MermaidMichelle]

Well, you know I'm with you, Raina! :mermaid kiss: Your contribution to the mer community as a whole is very impressive, and I understand your concerns.

[Mermaid Wesley]

I agree. It's scummy to not credit the hardworking artists who inspired you. Thanks for calling that out, Raina :)


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[AniaR]

I'm actually not trying to argue with you catluna or anyone else, lol I'm just really mad someone is telling everyone I made it up. LOL like, you can see with your own eyes :d

[shimmygoddess]

I'm actually not trying to argue with you catluna or anyone else, lol I'm just really mad someone is telling everyone I made it up. LOL like, you can see with your own eyes :d

It is total crap to be accused of lying when you know you are not, especially if you have proof to back it up. That has happened to me too recently. Some people just do not want to hear or accept the truth. Glad you are standing up for yourself!

[Starfrit]

So I just put the images side-by-side and noticed... A lot more similarities than I thought I would.

19921
(Sorry for the crude MSPaint circles, bear with me on this)

The above highlights the four main areas that caught my attention when I put the images together-- Note that Chris's photo on the right has had the top cropped off, to line up the bottoms of the images. I'll explain why I did that in a moment.

RED + ORANGE: HANDS + ARMS PLACEMENT

I could make an argument for the head placement here, but I'll admit, that alone doesn't strike me instantly as "copycat"-- When you're going for a more "eerie"-looking mermaid, simply having the character's eyes peering out above the surface is actually a really common shot that is generally used to suggest "predator." What got me on this point, specifically, is the specific placement of the hands against the face-- They're almost mirror images of each other, and I feel this was done deliberately.

In fact, when you flip Chris's image...

19927

... The hand placement, and even the overall positioning of the arms, look eerily similar, don't they?

First there's the obvious: A portion of one hand is up out of the water alongside the mermaid's face, in the typical "ladyfingers" curl; the other hand is almost to the surface of the water, but not quite breaching the surface. Arms are positioned so that they subtly cover the breasts, and in the mirrored image in particular, you can see the similarity in the angles that the arms at being held up at; the "left" (mirrored right in the instance of Chris's model) arm is held more at a vertical while the "right" (mirrored left) is at more of a diagonal. I'm definitely reaching there, but it was one of the things I noticed when I flipped the images.

In fact, the argument could be made that the hands are positioned MUCH closer to that of Nina's artwork on the left, and that a lot of the difference in positioning is actually being caused by the natural distortion of the model caused by the water itself (where that optical illusion isn't occurring in Nina's piece due to it being a more strictly photoshopped medium).

Going back to the MSPaint circles...

YELLOW: WATERLINE

This is the most surprising thing I found when I lined the images up-- Again, I want to remind you that the only altering I did to Chris's photo was cropping the TOP of the piece, so that the bottoms of both pictures lined up to the pixel.

When I did this, I found that the waterline is in the exact same place in the photo. In fact, taking the line tool to it, I discovered that-- save for one very small section between Chris's model's hands-- the bottom part of the waterline matches up EXACTLY. As well, the places where both mermaid's faces become submerged under the water line up as well.

19928

And the most obvious one...

GREEN: FLUKE

Though they're positioned differently (obviously; I'd feel bad for Chris's model if she were to try and position her tail the way Nina's character has hers posed!) I did find it interesting that Chris chose The Mertailor's "Leaf" fluke, which is easily the most similar-looking fluke of any currently available on the market to the fluke in Nina's piece.

There are also a lot of similarities in terms of setting and background (the backlighting behind the models, the general positioning of the lighting in the back above the water's surface, the stormy sky, etc.) but I would like to say that I feel these could be compelling arguments for Chris's "inspiration" and is difficult to ignore given all of the other similarities that I've highlighted above, I opted not to go in-depth with it as they're also very common lighting techniques and background choices for this sort of thing and therefore could also be argued as "reaching."

The same goes for why I chose not to bring up both images sharing the "long, flowing hair" thing-- That's pretty much a staple when it comes to mermaids, so bringing up that similarity doesn't necessarily mean anything.


THIS ANALYSIS BROUGHT TO YOU BY A RATHER SLEEP-DEPRIVED TIERI WITH FAR TOO MUCH TIME ON HER HANDS.

[AnnaAbyss]

You'd think that if someone loved and was inspired so much by the artwork, they'd credit it and the artist? I guess some people are just greedy and want all the attention drawn to themselves. Sigh. x.x
Giving credit to work that has inspired me is always a thing I make sure I do, and it sort of feels like you're honouring them in a way. :)

[MermaidMichelle]

I quite agree, Anna, and appreciate Tieri's close analysis! :mermaid kiss:

[Winged Mermaid]

The same goes for why I chose not to bring up both images sharing the "long, flowing hair" thing-- That's pretty much a staple when it comes to mermaids, so bringing up that similarity doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Besides that the model actually has short (above the shoulders) blonde hair, and that she wore/was directed to wear a long dark wig for this photo... I'd say that was an extra step taken to make the photos match :/

[PearlieMae]

Tieri, I want you as my expert witness in my next intellectual property case.

I was, for a time, the senior art director for six concurrent magazines. Often, my managing editor would come over with a copy of Forbes and direct me to copy their cover. *insert huge fights in conference rooms here* Oftentimes, I would lose these fights, and be required to rip off other publications. I would remove my name from the credits and send HR a letter protesting the practice.

Long story short, I have a stack of letters, cease and desist orders, and threats of lawsuits from Very Big Publishing companies. I was lucky that it never went much further than that, but I've been threatened with legal action for far less similarities than the ones pictured here.

It's obvious that the photographer took specific inspiration from the artist and should have given, at the very least, attribution. Would it come to a settlement in court? Probably not. These cases drag on forever and cost more than any award that might be granted. Is the photographer a shit for doing this? Absolutely.

[MermaidMichelle]

Wow, Pearlie; I admire and respect your integrity and the strength of your convictions! :mermaid kiss:

[Mermaid Melanie]

I see someone changed their tail design - I saw the comments on the togs page Pearlie - I guess you must have made an impression lol

19937

[PearlieMae]

Hahaha!

Togs page?

[Starfrit]

I see someone changed their tail design - I saw the comments on the togs page Pearlie - I guess you must have made an impression lol

19937

Oh hey, it doesn't look like a used tampon anymore. It's an improvement!

[MermaidMichelle]

I can't say I like the tail much better; though it is OK except for the fluke, which looks a little too manufactured for a living mermaid. Still, I can be happy for her, as I am for anyone who can live their mermaid dream!

[AniaR]

Its an improvement I think

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[Starfrit]

Yeah, I have the same feeling about the fluke. On the upside, though, I do feel that the whole design overall looks a lot better than before, and I think it would even look really nice moving about in the water!

[PearlieMae]

Oh hey, it doesn't look like a used tampon anymore. It's an improvement!

:lol ^:

[Ariadne]

Melanie, is this Kat person the heifer with the i'm-sucking-lemons-while-giving-massive-side-eye face in that group photo? And she's...a model? Uh...okay.

[Mermaid Melanie]

Pearlie -Tog = Photographer ( sorry for the short talk lol ) and Ariadne - Yes the sourest face Ive ever seen lol ... I have a few more "funny" "model" pictures of Kat but it would just be mean to post them - you can find them online however lol Yeah I think that it is an improvement but I don't like the fluke its going back to that cartoon look she likes in my opinion but hey everyone has their own style ! ;)

[Mermaid Narina]

Alright i have something to bitch about:
When I first started mermaiding (nearly 2 years ago), I had two close family members start posting on facebook things like "sick of seeing mermaid pictures" and "its childish" and even one person who said about me and Mermaid Petronella "THEYRE JUST PLAYING FAIRY-DRESS UP".
Excuuuuse me, but that is so F***ing condescending, it made me really mad :(
They could have unfriended me and Petronella is 3 mermaid pictures that we posted were bothering them.
Petronellas mum told me a bit later that Petronella saw it and started crying, and I kind of feel very protective of .. well.. everyone, so it made me even angrier! How dare you make someone cry by going out of your way to be rude??!!! Family are supposed to support each other!
Anyway, I didnt post anything on those statuses, and I pretended they weren't there, but I did notice some of my other family who were defending us which was nice :)
Has anyone else had similarly condescending comments about mermaiding? IT PISSES ME OFF....



Phew :) Anyway, rant over (not angry anymore). Sorry, I had just been holding that in for like 2 years :)

[Winged Mermaid]

I'm sorry to hear that Narina. So disrespectful :mad: You should show them the photos of Michael Phelps in a Thom Shouse tail (photo (http://www.insidethemagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/32800-med-phelps-standing.jpg) photo (http://s231432788.onlinehome.us/lotion/pics/SS20080425-DreamPhotos/P1-0003.jpg) photo (http://www.insidethemagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/The-Little-Mermaid-Juilenne-Moore-Michael-Phelps-550x364.jpg)) and see what they have to say about that ;)

As for me.. They've never said anything, but I'm pretty certian that my mother and father in law disapprove. Every single time I bring up mermaiding or anything related to it, they go suddenly dead quiet stone-faced, and will not respond until he subject of conversation is changed. They've also never commented on it, even online- I started this in 2007 (same year I got engaged actually), so that's a long time to avoid conversation when it's a big chunk of my life. :/ Better than outright bashing, but it still sucks. Makes me wonder what they say when I'm not around.

[MermaidMichelle]

That is a sorry thing, Narina. People often become so much nastier online; many are so accustomed to television and video games that they forget that people are just as real on the internet as they are in real life!

As a sister-in-training, my desire to work with and improve the lives of children in some little way is applauded, but my mum of all people is concerned that swimming as a mermaid is too sensual. I discussed this with my Confessor (and mentioned that Raven is working on a nice modest scale top for me) and he told me that this was quite alright, however! :pearl:

[Thalassa]

Raven is AWESOME at the modest tops! Dottie isn't too shabby, either.

[MermaidMichelle]

Thank you for the words of encouragement, and the endorsement of my dear, hard-working Raven! :mermaid kiss: I can see that you also improve the lives of children, you delightful desert mermaid!

[Thalassa]

Aww, thanks, MermaidMichelle!

To Narina: my family was a lot the same, but verbally instead of on the internet. Over tune as I proved that I was in this for a reason and the long haul, some started to support it (they saw the growth it brought me) or they just got used to it. Hang in there!

[AniaR]

Michelle I find your positivist on the forum so inspiring <3

[MermaidMichelle]

Merci beaucoup! :mermaid kiss: I hope you have seen those posts in which I mention how much I'm enjoying your book! (Mine just became available in "soft launch"; I shall mention it again later)

(Oh, and here it is in the meantime: http://www.whyGoddoesnthateyou.com (click on "AVAILABLE NOW"))

[AniaR]

Ugh Mermaid Melissa drives me nuts some days. I dont follow her but someone commented on one of her youtube videos, so it showed up in my feed. The preview image? Her photoshopped into a very famous photo of an elephant swimming underwater. A bunch of these photomanips of hers keep coming up on tumblr. If you're the world's best mermaid, why do you need to photoshop yourself into other people's hard work with no credit either? And buy fake likes -_-

[Anahita]

Ugh Mermaid Melissa drives me nuts some days. I dont follow her but someone commented on one of her youtube videos, so it showed up in my feed. The preview image? Her photoshopped into a very famous photo of an elephant swimming underwater. A bunch of these photomanips of hers keep coming up on tumblr. If you're the world's best mermaid, why do you need to photoshop yourself into other people's hard work with no credit either? And buy fake likes -_-

I don't understand it. Like, I've seen that damn picture of her popping up everywhere.... Why would she even try that? Like, not to condone or encourage that behavior, but you'd think if you're going to photoshop yourself into something, maybe not pick a kind-of-already-famous photo. :P

[Mermaid Wesley]

which photo are we talking about here?

[Anahita]

which photo are we talking about here?

This one:
19993

and this is "hers"

19994

[Anahita]

I'd like to add that it literally only took me 15 seconds to put that together. The image comes up when you google "swimming elephant" and it's on the fourth row of the image search.... Not even the bottom of the image search or anything.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Wooooow. I've never seen either (and when Raina said elephant I read elegant sorry guys) but that's plain rude.

[Mer-Crazy]

She has a lot of those, I think it's kind of trying to 'raise awareness' since shes very eco-worrier but at the same time I don't agree with the photo shopping. Because finding out one picture of hers is photo shopped (and not those blatantly obvious one) it brings into question every other photo she has. How are we supposed to believe she was actually somewhere swimming with some creature?

Also, for the record I do have her page on Facebook and, honestly there aren't all that many pictures of her. I'd say 80% are just cute animals, most of which aren't even sea creatures.

[Anahita]

Yep. The audacity of it is insane. Like, the lots of little fishes she often photoshops in are kind of whatever... as is this photo (http://mermaidmelissadotcom.tumblr.com/image/79314824345) of her that's been HEAVILY manipulated. But I mean, those are pretty common things for anyone to do. But to take someone else's photo entirely, then stick yourself in it, and then act like you didn't just do that.... Ugh.

I do follow her on stuff though, just like I follow Eric, because let's face it, seeing the stupid crap both of them do is a great example to me of what to avoid.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yeah, that sort of pic isn't fooling anyone.

[Winged Mermaid]

Perhaps someone should make the copyright holder aware. Especially since I'm pretty sure she has youtube monetization turned on on her videos.. that would mean that she's breaking the law by earning money from a stolen photo. :thumbdown:

[Merman Arion]

Personally, I would follow Mermaid Melissa if only she could keep her page mermaid-related only. I'm fed up with her constant feed of animal stuff, it's insane. She always use the same images from months or weeks ago.
I would be more interested if she could write in her page just like Raina does. Like a journal where she shares her journey as a mermaid, pictures, swimming videos, her thoughts, etc... It would be far more entertaining in my opinion.

[Winged Mermaid]

Like, the lots of little fishes she often photoshops in are kind of whatever... as is this photo (http://mermaidmelissadotcom.tumblr.com/image/79314824345) of her that's been HEAVILY manipulated. .

I usually don't mind stuff like this, graphics are eye catching and cute and all that. What gets me is that her hips and waist were shrunk so her hips are about the size of her head X_x Almost all of her photos are retouched, and usually they shrink her waist and hips. It bothers me becuase people look to mermaids as role models. I think minor retouching is fine- I mean just from wearing tails we get little lumps and bumps that you wouldn't see normally so it's common for mermaids to smooth those out a little. But going crazy with the liquify tool (like in this photo (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152513444573294&set=a.10150465044758294.450154.214150993293&type=3&theater), they even took out all of her curves from her knees, calves, ect) all the time, it leads people who are looking at someone as a role model to think that it's not only real, but that is what they have to live up to. I can't even count the number of people who think they can't be a mermaid because they're "too fat" or "not skinny enough". As someone who has seen media induce eating disorders that literally kill people, it infuriates me. But maybe that's just me on my own soap box over here.
:soap box:

[Mermaid Wesley]

No, don't worry. Stay on that soap box. You're right.

[Anahita]

I usually don't mind stuff like this, graphics are eye catching and cute and all that. What gets me is that her hips and waist were shrunk so her hips are about the size of her head X_x Almost all of her photos are retouched, and usually they shrink her waist and hips. It bothers me becuase people look to mermaids as role models. I think minor retouching is fine- I mean just from wearing tails we get little lumps and bumps that you wouldn't see normally so it's common for mermaids to smooth those out a little. But going crazy with the liquify tool (like in this photo (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152513444573294&set=a.10150465044758294.450154.214150993293&type=3&theater), they even took out all of her curves from her knees, calves, ect) all the time, it leads people who are looking at someone as a role model to think that it's not only real, but that is what they have to live up to. I can't even count the number of people who think they can't be a mermaid because they're "too fat" or "not skinny enough". As someone who has seen media induce eating disorders that literally kill people, it infuriates me. But maybe that's just me on my own soap box over here.
:soap box:

Yeah, she just really creeps me out in those photos, especially the one I shared, because it's SO obviously out of proportion it's a bit nightmare-inducing. Like, how could you look at that photo and say "Yep, that's what a human is supposed to look like... All head and arms and then nothing else! Let's give it the go ahead and send it out!"

It's creepy to me, too though, that there are people who can't see that that's abnormal and actually actively attempt to pursue that. To me it seems so blatantly obvious, I can't imagine how horrible someone would feel thinking that was real, or attainable under any circumstance outside of a photomanp software. :(

[Theta]

Are either of those blondes her? Neither of them look like her at all!

[Theta]

If they are her, I wish she wouldn't do that- she doesn't have to. I kind of liked the fact that she looks like she's on the stockier side and went pro. It gives me hope that I can go pro too, who am on the well... curvier side or something.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yeah those are both her.

[AniaR]

She has a lot of those, I think it's kind of trying to 'raise awareness' since shes very eco-worrier but at the same time I don't agree with the photo shopping

she doesn't do ANYTHING for the environment at all. In fact, she has her logo plastered on a hummer. The only things I've ever seen her do is photoshoots and videoshoots with manatees and I think that had a lot more to do with her being able to get some photos with them. It also makes me angry that her mantra is about saving the oceans when she worked until this year at seaworld (though because she worked term before and didn't say "sea world" on facebook but rather "the orlando park" I am unconvinced she quit) and doesn't do anything that isn't publicity. :/ but this has bothered me since I first met her. She's a mermaid because she wants to be a famous mermaid. All her decisions revolve around that. Not even what is financially best for her business, what is good for the environment, or anything like that IMO based on all my conversations with her and all these years following her or seeing what she does. She bought my book and went through it and literally typed whole sentences from it on her FB acting like they were novel ideas she came up with, and she went through it in chronological order of the book and all the steps I suggested she did very specifically to a "T" but she is the world's best mermaid and totally got there on her own.

One day I'll make a great post like Melanie did about Kat with my experiences with Melissa. They are two mermaid peas in a pod IMO.

[Starfrit]

@Iona and Anahita:

I'm SO glad I'm not the only only who noticed how horrific most of her photoshop jobs are... Like the one Anahita linked is actually cringeworthy-- not only has her ribcage been squished in so much that it's practically nonexistent, but the liquefied waist and hips make her neck and head look grossly disproportionate and on top of that, her arms look freakishly long as a result.

If you're going to photoshop yourself into a freak of nature for the sake of the gross Cosmo Magazine-esque levels of "Conventional Beauty" that plagues women everywhere, for fuck's sake look at a book and get at least a BASIC concept of how anatomy works.

I have SUCH an issue with people who feel the need to do that to themselves in their promotional photos, because of the impact it has on others who look up to them. I've been struggling with weight issues for YEARS because of things like this, so this REALLY get under my skin and it's why I can't look at pictures of Melissa. A bit of touching up here and there, I can understand that, but when you're going to these lengths to completely alter your whole appearance...

It doesn't make you look prettier, it makes you look like you're ashamed of who you are-- and I can't support people like that as "role models" or "inspiration." It does more harm than good, especially to those who look up to you and aspire to be like you.


That said, I'm not exactly shocked at her nerve of using copyrighted material for her own benefit-- I wrote her off forever ago when I encountered her on YouTube using someone dressed up and acting as Jack Sparrow to advertise herself and narrate her freakin' life story.

[AniaR]

her life story thing was my idea, I made an example video of something I wanted to do to inspire people and it was my eventual goal to make one like that. Her sister I believe is in the film industry and helps her with a lot of that stuff. She has released I think like 6 different versions of it now. I believe the first two were narrated by different men she dated, and then the jack sparrow one is Mike VD. She made her life story video the second she got her first mike VD tail as if she'd been this successful all along! Geesh, I'd be successful too if I flew to a different state (in my case province) and worked at ripleys aquarium for 250$ a week and went into debt and then bought a 3000$ underwater camera and multiple tails. I love my mermaid dream, but Melissa we'll be working the debt off for the rest of her life. I may be a bit slower but I'm doing this so I can actually make a living at it, and not have to sacrifice by making myself do a job I hate to pay down the debt from the one I love.

[Starfrit]

OH so she took the life story thing from someone else like it was her own original idea.

I am so totally shocked. Look at how shocked I am. e.e

I don't even want to IMAGINE how in debt she is-- I owed my boyfriend like $400 at one point not that long ago and it was the most in debt I'd ever been, and I got so stressed out I basically couldn't eat or sleep for weeks.

I used to really look up to Melissa when I first discovered mermaiding... Now I look at her and all I see if fake attitude, fake popularity, fake photos... Ugh. If anything, I feel really bad for her.

[Mermaid Wesley]

All those professional mermaids seem to be really not great people. I've yet to hear anything bad about linden (in fact my almost uncle met her and says she's super nice) and of course not you, Raina, but it seems like fame-hungry buttheads are dominating the mermaid business. It's sad.


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[Winged Mermaid]

Sadly, yeah. Like I said before, there are people who do modeling and/or underwater modeling, and they take up mermaiding becuase they think if they put on a tail they can become famous. It's for all the wrong reasons, and it always shows. :no-no:

[AniaR]

oh talk to the right people and you'll hear bad things about me ;) but ask them for proof and that is another story.

Linden is a doll. I have her as a friend on FB and she is going to do the forward for my book.

See, there were mermaids I have had bad experiences with like 5 years ago, but many people grew up, changed, got better, and are great! People are surprised to know Raven and I met in a pretty heated argument on mer yuku and were NOT friends. lol but a little while later we added each other on FB and decided to give it a go and the rest is history.

I think for me I have a chip in my shoulder about users, and manipulators. Sometimes we use people, or manipulate a situation, and it's out of total ignorance, or just a dumb accident etc. We all do it and I wouldn't judge someone on one instance unless it was super super bad. But some people make active choices to use and abuse, ad manipulate as much as they can. They think it'll help them climb the ladder. But keep stepping on people and you'll end up with a lot of haters.

For me, I usually know why people don't like me in the community. I totally understand I have one of those personalities you either love or hate and that's okay with me. Not everyone is going to like me. But most of the time it's because I've proven something bad they've been involved in. Or in the case of mertailor, he's got many loyal followers who just take him on his word about me. I don't need everyone to like me. And I know along the way I've made dumb decisions but I have also made a consistent effort to grow. I wake up everyday and try to be a better person. The problem comes when you expect that other people do that. The users don't do that.

I've been accused of having sheep and followers etc but the fact is, I'm not on here sneaking around PMing people trying to get them "on my side". I'm not whispering lies in anyone's ears. I'm not trying to turn one person against another. Anything I have to say I just say it on the forum and back it up. But when people agree with me, regardless of how often I may have disagreed with that person in the past, they are suddenly brainwashed. A good example would be Catluna. If you look at our post history together, sometimes we very passionately agree, and often we very passionately disagree. I have no less respect for her when we disagree. But imagine given our post history together, if she agreed with me on one particular issue, and suddenly she's brainwashed by raina! a sheep! just following me around and doing what I want for popularity sake! LOL it sounds ridiculous, but it's an accusation pretty frequently made.

The big thing I have learned from 6 years active online in the mermaid community is that if you're always truthful, the liars will do ANYTHING they can to try and discredit you, so people will no longer believe you're truthful. But really, it's not my loss if people don't believe me about something I have proven. It's there's when they get screwed over in the same way. *shrug*

I am all over the place with this post lol

[Mermaid Wesley]

Aw well people are dumb and as far as I can tell, you're pretty cool. And I'm glad to hear from another person that Linden is cool. There is a teeny possibility that I could meet her through said almost uncle. :) anyways.... What was I saying...... Idk. You're cool.


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[Mer-Crazy]

she doesn't do ANYTHING for the environment at all. In fact, she has her logo plastered on a hummer. The only things I've ever seen her do is photoshoots and videoshoots with manatees and I think that had a lot more to do with her being able to get some photos with them. It also makes me angry that her mantra is about saving the oceans when she worked until this year at seaworld (though because she worked term before and didn't say "sea world" on facebook but rather "the orlando park" I am unconvinced she quit) and doesn't do anything that isn't publicity. :/ but this has bothered me since I first met her. She's a mermaid because she wants to be a famous mermaid. All her decisions revolve around that. Not even what is financially best for her business, what is good for the environment, or anything like that IMO based on all my conversations with her and all these years following her or seeing what she does. She bought my book and went through it and literally typed whole sentences from it on her FB acting like they were novel ideas she came up with, and she went through it in chronological order of the book and all the steps I suggested she did very specifically to a "T" but she is the world's best mermaid and totally got there on her own.

One day I'll make a great post like Melanie did about Kat with my experiences with Melissa. They are two mermaid peas in a pod IMO.
No you're right, my fault. I got her confused with Hannah Fraser. My bad. It was like 5 in the morning when I posted that sorry >.<

So, with the photo shopping thing are there any untouched pictures of her? I'd like to see what she really looks like. I have no photoshop skills, so I can only do very light work to try and remove some blemishes from my face in pics, that's about all.

[Anahita]

Well, my guess is that she's not spending a fortune on having any of her youtube videos altered frame by frame - could be entirely wrong, but I feel relatively comfortable assuming they're not. So if you want to see what she looks like (well, what she looks like with a lot of makeup on, but still, no photoshop) her videos are probably the best way to go.

[Nicky-Katz]

she doesn't do ANYTHING for the environment at all. In fact, she has her logo plastered on a hummer. The only things I've ever seen her do is photoshoots and videoshoots with manatees and I think that had a lot more to do with her being able to get some photos with them. It also makes me angry that her mantra is about saving the oceans when she worked until this year at seaworld (though because she worked term before and didn't say "sea world" on facebook but rather "the orlando park" I am unconvinced she quit) and doesn't do anything that isn't publicity. :/ but this has bothered me since I first met her. She's a mermaid because she wants to be a famous mermaid. All her decisions revolve around that. Not even what is financially best for her business, what is good for the environment, or anything like that IMO based on all my conversations with her and all these years following her or seeing what she does. She bought my book and went through it and literally typed whole sentences from it on her FB acting like they were novel ideas she came up with, and she went through it in chronological order of the book and all the steps I suggested she did very specifically to a "T" but she is the world's best mermaid and totally got there on her own.

One day I'll make a great post like Melanie did about Kat with my experiences with Melissa. They are two mermaid peas in a pod IMO.


And that's the person who inspired me to be a mermaid... 'Cause I want to raise awareness for the oceans and creatures living in them... Sad.

[Mermaid Adriel]

Glad to see there's someone who thinks like me. I have nothing against Melissa, mind us, but sincerely I think she is a mermaid just for business, to get pubblicity, like the way she appeals herself "the best/first/world's leading mermaid". I think that's conceit.

btw, there a thread about her here http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5224-What-does-this-mean-exactly&highlight=leading

[Mermaid Momo]

I think her photo in mermaids in mythology wasn't heavily photoshopped. ( the one that was taken of her at the FAE booth when the magazine launched. You may be able to find it online somewhere)


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[Mermaid Cascada]

This may be none of my business but does anyone else wonder how she even affords all those tails? I'm pretty sure most of them are the advanced design so they're around $5,600 not including shipping. Even if they're the basic design they're around $3,700, again, not including shipping. I'm pretty sure she has more than ten (I counted twelve and I think I missed some). Like, is she getting discounts or what? I'm just curious because I'm pretty sure she just got a new one too.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=541233942580067&set=pb.184952671541531.-2207520000.1397406446.&type=3&theater <-- In this pic there's nine, but she's gotten new one's since then.

[AniaR]

hate to break it to her and everyone else, but no one gets famous being a mermaid. To us in our community there are well known mermaids. but they aren't known by name in the film or tv making world. even eric with all his "fame" isn't known by name outside his fanbase. it's always "the mermaid guy" or something of the sort. but I think a lot of people have delusions about being famous this way and I think it's why our community attracts certain personalities too.

[PearlieMae]

Also, despite what you might think of a certain mer's practices or attitudes, I think it is highly inappropriate to speculate about personal finances.

I looked at the photo, but I didn't see anything that said those were all her tails - then again, I didn't dig any further than the photo.

[Merman Arion]

I would say (I'm confident enough) that these tails belong to her since Mike has a mold of her body. I read it somewhere in a thread but I don't remember which one.

in this video, it's a tight fit with each one of the tails.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzL3zvFqjYo&amp;src_vid=F0GN3RoEssI&amp;feature=iv &amp;annotation_id=annotation_10119799

[Mermaid Wesley]

... is some of that footage reversed? that looks really.. creepy....

[Mermaid Cascada]

Also, despite what you might think of a certain mer's practices or attitudes, I think it is highly inappropriate to speculate about personal finances.

I looked at the photo, but I didn't see anything that said those were all her tails - then again, I didn't dig any further than the photo.

If this is directed to me, I apologize. I wasn't trying to step on anyone fins, I'm just curious. I'm pretty sure they are her tails, she uses them for her traveling team. And during an old interview she says she has 6-7 tails and counting. Again sorry, wasn't trying to be rude. Also I asked because based on the comments I think others may be thinking the same thing. I'm not trying to start rumors or anything -.-

[Anahita]

... is some of that footage reversed? that looks really.. creepy....

Yep, She reverses stuff all the time. I'm not sure why. I'm sure there's some reason why she does it a lot in her films. But it creeps me out, too.

[Mermaid Wesley]

I mean it does make it look like she can move the tip of her fluke like a real mermaid but it also is a bit... eerie....

[Anahita]

I mean it does make it look like she can move the tip of her fluke like a real mermaid but it also is a bit... eerie....

Except that even fish and cetaceans don't move that way (that I've witnessed).... So it looks more unnatural than, say, just playing her wriggling in the tank like normal. Which is probably why I'm creeped out by it, because it looks so unnatural.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yeah... *shiver*

[shimmygoddess]

It is really sad when people have to steal others ideas b/c they are not creative enough to come up with their own. Its even more frustrating when they have a following and not matter what you say or even when you have proof, noone really cares. People like this are every here and unfortunately that is never going away. What Raina said is right too in the regards when she stands up to them, they accuse her of lying, or possibly just turning things back to make her look at fault. Had my fair share of this problem over the last year and I now I just say fuck it. Just continue to be fabulous!!

[AniaR]

now I just say fuck it. Just continue to be fabulous!!

Me too. I'm pretty much over trying to convince people, they can find out the hard way. Melissa really stepped on both me and Raven, we helped her get started, taught her a lot, Raven even got her gigs. While I was helping her and she was being nice to my face, she was bashing me to other people behind my back saying she only kept me around cuz I knew my stuff.

But I'm happy with my mermaid career. I work constantly, I make a living, I'm not in debt from it, I've gotten to do cool things I woudln't have gotten to do otherwise, I use my education, and I meet cool people! I may not be the world's most/best/first whatever hahaha but I'm cool with that. It's not a contest and FB likes don't determine your success. From what she posts on fb it really seems like a bunch of us work a heck of a lot more than she does.

[PearlieMae]

If this is directed to me, I apologize. I wasn't trying to step on anyone fins, I'm just curious. I'm pretty sure they are her tails, she uses them for her traveling team. And during an old interview she says she has 6-7 tails and counting. Again sorry, wasn't trying to be rude. Also I asked because based on the comments I think others may be thinking the same thing. I'm not trying to start rumors or anything -.-

I didn't mean to be abrupt, I just wanted to nip that train of thought right away. We can see how she behaves, but ec can't see into her bank account. Maybe she comes from money, maybe she works a couple of jobs, maybe shes in severe credit card debt. Who knows? I just didn't want the conversation to go "there" without evidence to back it. :)

[Elle]

Personally I think reversing the footage makes it looks like the tail has a mind of it's own, or it's trying to run away or something

[SeaGlass Siren]

"swim away!"

[MermaidMichelle]

It certainly appears that some of the footage is indeed reversed. When I was first learning about professional mermaids, like most others here Hannah Fraser came up first followed shortly thereafter by Mermaid Melissa. I'm sorry to read all of this about Melissa, but then I always strongly suspected as much simply from her approach/attitude; Raina just seemed/seems so much more real.

[AniaR]

I appreciate the validation but now I feel dumb I don't want this to come off like I think I am any better than melissa. I just get frustrated and admitidly resentful after our history and seeing what she gets away with.

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[Mermaid Amelia]

Haha the reversed video is hilarious! It's like her tail has a mind of its own! I think It would have looked much better if she just left it alone (forwards).


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[Mermaid Wesley]

Raina, don't worry, you don't sound cocky at all. You're fine :)

[MermaidMichelle]

Quite; I stated my opinion of my own free will.

The "big four" professional mermaids of whom I learned were (in order of my learning of them) Hannah Fraser, Mermaid Melissa, Mermaid Raven, and you, Raina. I think it speaks volumes about your personality that you and Raven are still close friends and that you spend so much time here helping those us who are less experienced with mermaiding. :mermaid kiss:

[Theta]

Not to glace over the surface things, but that makes it seems like it's blondes vs. brunettes! ;)

[Mermaid Amelia]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/18/uhu4eryr.jpg
I'm blonde so saying as a joke here guys haha


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[Mermaid Amelia]

What about Raina, I thought she was a natural red head?


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[Winged Mermaid]

Raina naturally has auburn hair but she dyes it to kick up the red and/or refresh the color since the chlorine fades it so much.

Me, I'm a faker ;P

[AniaR]

the chlorine kills my hair :(

[Mermaid Melusinah]

All those professional mermaids seem to be really not great people. I've yet to hear anything bad about linden (in fact my almost uncle met her and says she's super nice) and of course not you, Raina, but it seems like fame-hungry buttheads are dominating the mermaid business. It's sad.


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In all fairness I have actually had the chance to have a phone call with Kariel. She really is a sweet and kind lady. :)

[AniaR]

Yes Kariel is great I dont think anyone said otherwise :p

[Merman Arion]

What about Dana mermaid? I follow her on Facebook, she seems very nice too :)


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[Mermaid Wesley]

Oh I wasn't trying to say that all the ones I didn't mention are nasty. I definitely don't know every pro mermaid at all.


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[Nicky-Katz]

I'm following this discussion for a while and there is something that bugs me about it. Those who were mentioned may not be the best persons ever, but still. I was inspired to be a mermaid by Melissa. Because she claimed to care for the environment. Now it turns out, she doesn't. I'm still a mermaid. I still care. I'm upset abut the fact Melissa lied to me. I'm offended personally. But I'm still swimming. I'm still here! In a way I think that indirectly she did a good thing by inspiring me. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, nobody's perfect. And if a person does bad things... well... I suppose, the thing that bugs me here is such talks. I feel like... as if it were talking behind their backs. Even a bad person does not deserve this.
I do not mean to defend anyone, I just need to take my thoughts out about it.

On the other hand, there are so many nice merfolk in the community, so that it's just not worth it to spend time to be offended or whatever by the bad ones. It might be naive, but that's just the way I think.

[Winged Mermaid]

Honestly with how much dislike I've seen towards Melissa and Kat on other sites, this stuff is tame. I was kind of worried when people brought them up in this thread.. I was expecting some huge blow up and lots of super nasty comments.. but people were actually pretty mature. Also the reason this thread exists in the first place is to vent so it doesn't end up in some huge blow up on other parts of the forum.

Honestly if you're really involved with the community, it's impossible to avoid people that you don't like or don't agree with. I got add ons to my FB that literally remove certian people's posts from my feed, so even if a friend shares content from the people I have on the "block" list I still won't see it in my feed. But stuff still comes through via pages that steal photos and don't tag them (thus why it's not picked up by my block list) and also on every other social media site. So sometimes people do the best they can and avoid and abide by "If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"- but the convos here about those two was mostly built up stuff that people had been hanging onto for a long time. Sometimes you just need to blow off steam, or risk boiling over (and that's just an ugly mess).

[PearlieMae]

Iona :clap:

Nicky, I'm sorry that your inspiration had ultimately disappointed you, but I am glad that you have chosen to rise above it. The fact that you feel bad that these people are being talked about behind their backs is a testament to your higher standard. But like Iona says, this is the place to confront these issues and feelings. They have both (Kat and Melissa) shown themselves for who they really are, and I, for one, am glad to find out that I am not alone in my impression of them.

[MermaidMichelle]

Hear, hear! I agree wholeheartedly; to paraphrase the Pope out of context, "Who are we to judge?"

[Mer-Crazy]

Oh wow. I'm kinda glad my mermaid inspiration (Raven BTW and Raina too to a large extent) has proven to be a true creative genius and wonderful person. I'm honestly not sure how I would have felt if the person I looked up to as a mermaid role-model turned out to be not as godly as I see them... I think you handled the situation so maturely Nicky-Kats so kudos to you! If I knew how to do the clappy smiley I would.

[AniaR]

I think, we're all human. I def upset people totally accidentally. And I have met my idols and have them turn out not to be great people. I think it's important we all realize people are just people. For me it's just a bugger because of all the fakeness. That's a choice, not really an "I'm having a bad day" accident.

[SeaGlass Siren]

^ i've been there and also seen it. met a bunch of people who were really not all that great. its like seeing this really amazing bottle of juice, but once you drink it you realize it's just a bunch of artificial sweeteners.

[Mermaid Melanie]

I don't see it as talking behind backs - its an honest open place to express your feelings or experiences - in my opinion these sorts of people need to be pointed out because they shouldn't get away with being manipulative and nasty - I might add that even when I called Kat on her bullshit she still lied to me, when I was trying to be honest - blaming a friend for things, when i confronted that friend she was gobsmacked that Kat had lied about her reasons for trying to sabotage a job I had and blamed it on the other mer - so even when faced with an honest conversation some people are compelled to lie and manipulate. These are crazy people that other people should be made aware of in my opinion!

[AniaR]

Melissa knows exactly what I know about her and what I think about her and she's had no problems talking about me to anyone who doesn't like me. I dont really feel like talking publicly is talking behind backs, lol and when people behave publicly, I think we can discuss it publicly.

[Mermaid Melanie]

Yeah exactly, I guess there are people who think they can behave however they like and get away with it...and for the most part they do, but once you piss off enough people sooner or later everyone will know what you are really like...and if you don't want people to think that way then don't act that way

[AniaR]

and if you don't want people to think that way then don't act that way

This. How many times have I heard Raina needs to keep her big mouth shut? How about PEOPLE NEED TO STOP BEING TOTAL ASSHOLES IN THE COMMUNITY and then I'll keep my big mouth shut. I will be HAPPY to keep it shut ;) when people stop stealing from each other, stop threatening each other, stop intimidating clients, and stop outright lying... I will keep my big mouth shut :) By eating a whole cake that says YAY THEY STOPPED.

:D

[Starfrit]

I hope you'll be willing to share that cake, Raina! :D

[AniaR]

I think it'll take a while ;)

[SeaGlass Siren]

DID YOU SAY CAKE?

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs51/i/2009/325/9/e/CAKE_____by_mightyfilm.jpg

[Merman Arion]

Did you say CAKE? ;)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/19/ejamezam.jpg


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[Merman Arion]

Wrong cake? Lol :lol:


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[shimmygoddess]

This. How many times have I heard Raina needs to keep her big mouth shut? How about PEOPLE NEED TO STOP BEING TOTAL ASSHOLES IN THE COMMUNITY and then I'll keep my big mouth shut. I will be HAPPY to keep it shut ;) when people stop stealing from each other, stop threatening each other, stop intimidating clients, and stop outright lying... I will keep my big mouth shut :) By eating a whole cake that says YAY THEY STOPPED.

:D

Truth!! totally agree! People dont like when they get called out on stuff.