Associating with "taboo" people in the BJD community?

I'm pretty sure I know which face-up artist you mean, and I haven't seen anyone receive grief for having dolls painted by her. She seems to have changed her ways a lot from her sordid past.

Most people in the community forgive people who've done some bad choices in the past, but have changed their ways.

Mind you, if it is who I think it is she has a reputation of sometimes not following customers' guidelines for how they want their dolls painted, but that's something you have to decide if you want to risk.

 

Yeah, but if you don't mind then that's fine Most of the bad stuff seems to be in her past, she has apologised for most of it and most people have accepted that she's changed a lot for the better, so I don't think you have to worry about what other people think. And even if they did, who you send the head to is ultimately your business. So I'd say go for it

 

I don't think it's more of a problem with how others will perceive you but it's more if you're morally ok with the decision to stand by someone who has wronged others and or and that you can personally excuse their behavior I say that it's your decision. From the taboo people I've known about though have never personally met, I've heard that many of them that take commissions or run business and have either mistreated their customers repeatedly or have all out scammed people. Some of those people have tried to apologize and make amends but this is a reputation based hobby where we put out trust into each other when paying for things or sending intellectual property, and thus people become 'taboo' when word gets around their hobby practices are less than ethical and could endanger others who want to work with them. That being said if you feel comfortable working with someone that has a shoddy reputation no one will fault you for it but knowing you are doing it at your own risk you may not receive much sympathy if you do so knowing it could turn bad

 

Just keep in mind that people with bad reputations in a community rarely get that way without a good reason. If you're determined to trust someone who has a questionable history, be careful. Find out WHY they have the reputation they do, and if there's a way to protect yourself should things go south, use it.

 

Leaving aside the reputation, I wouldn't give my money to a person who doesn't even respect customers...

 

Putting aside the feelings of others, you put yourself at risk when you deal with people who are known to have shady pasts. I say if you know a person has a bad past, and you choose to put forward your faith, your money, and your doll anyway and end up losing one or all three, well, that's your own dumb fault, and I hope a hard lesson is learned. Leopards rarely change their spots, so to speak. I would personally NEVER buy or sell to anyone who has a known reputation as a scammer, just out of common sense.

In your case, it sounds like this particular artist just ended up with a bloated ego, and it seems like maybe she regrets it and changed her ways. And even if she didn't, well, if you don't mind that you won't necessarily get what you pay for, and want to send your doll off to her anyway, then go ahead and do so. You're the only one who can make that decision.

 

I have no issue how you spend your money so I wouldn't care who did your face-up. I wouldn't use an artist who had bad reviews because I would be scared they'd disappear with my stuff. That's a personal choice, not a reflection on your rep. You want to risk it, do it. It's your money.

 

It's completely up to you. If said artist is the person I'm thinking of, I wouldn't trust them with my money or my dolls, however.

 

I don't know if I would commission a faceup from someone, but I have bought clothes in the past from people that have drama surrounding them (It never occurred to me to look them up in the hobby, I just bought stuff that looked cute on etsy lol). But with buying items, you are protected by paypal/etsy (even if it can be a hassle). I don't know who you're talking about, but I'm not sure I would entrust one of my precious dolls to someone I don't trust completely. There is just so much more that can happen with a service like that.

 

How thick-skinned are you? The folks here on DoA generally act decently, but if you're found associating with those of ill-repute, your name might show up in other places being dragged through the dirt because you interacted with the wrong person. You should decide if you care about that.

 

Who you choose to do business with is your business, but you should ask yourself if your support will enable this person to scam or cheat someone else. If so, are you OK with that? People don't get bad reputations for no reason. I wouldn't send my doll to any faceup artist that didn't have a stellar reputation because I don't want the heartache of having a doll stolen, nor do I want the headache of pursuing legal action to get my doll/ money back. If you are prepared to take that risk though then you go right ahead. Everything might turn out just fine, or you might get scammed. Be absolutely sure you're willing to risk losing your doll in order to have that one specific artist work on it. For the record I have no idea what artist you're considering or if they outright scammed their customers or were just shitty to them. Either way they wouldn't get my money no matter how much I like their work, but I don't think people will tar you with the same brush so to speak if you do decide to commission them.

 

As someone who is very new to the community, is there like an 'avoid' list or something like that? So newer members know who to avoid and why? I only joined on the 10th of Feb (which is roughly when I got into BJD's) so I have no idea about the people who should probably be avoided :/

 

The Mods post warnings about large-scale scammers in the DoA News forum: Den of Angels News. You can also look at the Problem Transactions forum and make up your own mind about the members involved in the various problems: Problem Transactions. On the positive side, you can learn about members' history with Marketplace transactions in the Feedback forum: Individual Feedback Threads.

Beyond that, just be aware of how people behave on the forum, and trust your own instincts. If members' posts make you question their reliability, politeness, or maturity, then those may not be people you want to do business with.

 

Thank you for the information! I shall take a look!

 

I think everybody is entitled to choose who they want to buy from and how to spend their money. If a friend is planning to buy from someone who has scammed me personally, I will warn them about my experience. What they choose to do beyond that is their choice. That being said, if someone chooses to be close friends with a known scammer, then I'd feel like if they don't mind that their friend is stealing from others, then they probably don't have great moral or business practices either, and I wouldn't trust them enough to buy from them.