Apparently I'm known to "harass artists" according to an artist I recently contacted: https://1drv.ms/f/c/b78c654f6c43645.....N2NVdSwoLv0aqY

This was many years ago. For context, it was a badge commission I commissioned back in April-ish 2022. Got some sketches on 4/13/2022. Cool.

Then silence. I completely forgot about it to be honest until much later after I rediscovered that email. I used to not keep track of what I've ordered that well and it was a stressful period of life so it happens. I'm much better about that now, and it's an email I didn't really use any longer after 2023. 100% on me on that regard.

Well, I rediscovered the old email chain January this year. I emailed the artist about it about the reason as to why and got that reply above. Personally I expected to be ignored given how long it was.....

I then remembered a refund with a short message of discontinuing the commission basically stating they were unable to do the badge. No context as to why, which is their right. All this came back to me after I replied given how long ago it was. Paypal doesn't keep records this far back unless you request them, and it doesn't come with any comments if you do. Just transaction entries. But that reply.....I wasn't asking about a refund. Nowhere did I say I was asking about the refund. I wanted to know why it didn't happen. That reply is exactly the fucking reason why I ask. I am not going to protest you didn't want to do it. What I am fishing for is information as to why so I can go deal with the problem if there is any so it doesn't happen again.So why am I speaking about all this? Why does this "bother me"? Why do I care?

It is an artist's right to not work on commissions, deny commissions for any reason, refund appropriately of course, etc, etc. I 100% am on board with that. What I am not onboard with though is the blatant fucking lie that I "harass" artists. I NEVER have. I NEVER will. Reputational damage online these days in communities like this can effectively end your ability of participation in it, even if it is a lie; people generally don't go looking that deep into situations and just accept surface level statements as truth. And there is nothing you can do. There is no way to actually improve your reputation either because people are generally cut throat these days. Once you're considered "toxic" regardless if it's a lie, that's it. It's over. There's no repairing those relationships, and those records are permanent.

My standard as of 2023 is unless there is a per-determined time communicated of completion or a relatively frequent WIP schedule, I will poke an artist once a month. Before this time it was just sort of whenever I remembered, which generally was around 3 - 6 weeks roughly. I have since improved with record keeping because I've literally forgotten commissions I ordered, and there has even been a time where I had a commission done and the artist never sent me the final product. Just uploaded it to their gallery and that was it. It boils down to: people are flawed. It happens, it's ok, the sun is going to rise the next day.

So record keeping on purchases like this it was. I do this checkup once a month (unless otherwise stated between commissioner and artist) because:

1. That's very reasonable communication schedule and once a month """"harassment"""" isn't harassment. It's an ask for an update. You're running a business with customers. Tell me a rough schedule. It doesn't have to be perfect. I've even had artists literally forget about artworks they were working on for me unless I poked them (this is rare thankfully but it has happened). I am not even asking if the art is done, just an update. If there's nothing to update, say so. Cool. Literally the act of replying is just basic acknowledgement that things are still progressing, which is all I really care about. I've been commissioning artists for around 14 years....I've seen it all.
2. I want to catch potential errors before an artist goes too far ahead.

I've had enough disappointing commissions that I've never uploaded due to artist mistake and they were too far in the process to fix. The only exception from that simple policy is very cheap art or free art which I don't even bother them, feel free to improve your skills with my characters, have fun. But when I am paying a fair chunk of change for a product though, I expect it to be done right or at least fairly close to that based on presented information. That's a reasonable ask.

I checked Artists Beware for any records of me on all my aliases and there's nothing. So I don't know where this came from, but I frankly don't like false garbage being spread about me. At all. Granted this was 4 years ago so it likely has blown over. I hope it was just a one off thing, in which oh well. They're going to believe what they believe regardless. I won't be replying to that email again and sticking it in a "completed" folder I have in that email. Closure was given, but unfortunate that I will not be allowed to commission them ever again. They're very good.

Please do not go contacting them about this if you somehow figure out who it is. Leave them be, it is their right. It's just something I wanted to bring up.


Tl;dr Go fucking read. It's less than 5 minutes. If you can't be fucked to do so, read below:

It is an artist's right to not work on commissions, deny commissions for any reason, refund appropriately of course, etc, etc. I 100% am on board with that. What I am not onboard with though is the blatant fucking lie that I "harass" artists. I NEVER have. I NEVER will. Reputational damage online these days in communities like this can effectively end your ability of participation in it, even if it is a lie; people generally don't go looking that deep into situations and just accept surface level statements as truth. And there is nothing you can do. There is no way to actually improve your reputation either because people are generally cut throat these days. Once you're considered "toxic" regardless if it's a lie, that's it. It's over. There's no repairing those relationships, and those records are permanent.