There used to be a time when I couldn’t go an hour without refreshing Apartment Therapy. It was so easy - I had to sit in front of my computer for work, literally all day and many times, all night. While I waited for a scene to render, or filter to finish being applied, I would pop into my browser and CTRL + R - tada! new content from the design blog Rock Star!
Once I started working on the show, my design blog intake was totally cut off. No down time for the internet what so ever! Since I got my life back in August, I have had a lot more time to spend on the internet again - however now, I’m spending most of my time on Etsy or 1000 Markets. Poppytalk and Decor8 feature so many more independent artists and crafters that my time is better spent there, rather than looking at the same Eames chair next to the same craigslist found mid century credenza.
I do believe that AT has its intentions in the right place, but the community there is a little off its rocker. Recently, Apartment Therapy announced its Homies Award for best blogger for several different categories. As soon as it was posted, the comments started pouring in and the nastiness began. And soon after that, many of the bloggers who were supposed to be celebrated, were thinking of throwing in the towel all together.
I won’t repeat the things that were said there, but they were uncalled for, out of touch and just down right mean. I cannot understand it, but it really isn’t anything new for the AT crowd, which often is exceptionally critical of everything, but especially user submitted content. They are especially cruel to contestants, and even though I wasn’t treated too badly when I was being consider for 2007’s smallest coolest apartment in NYC, I did notice that there some wildly out of control commenting going on elsewhere in the contest.
In response to all that has happened on AT recently, Holly Becker has made a pledge to be more positive this year and I am joining her in this endeavor. The winter months are always very hard for me as I am prone to Season Affective Disorder, but I am going to stand by her and anyone who wants to join us in making 2009 a year to remember. If people confront you with negativity, you must ignore it and keep going in your creative pursuits.
Julia Cameron talks about this a lot in her book, The Artists Way, describing such negative people as being jealous because you are pursuing your creative dreams and they are merely too scared to do so themselves. The internet can be a wonderful and supportive place - binding people together that would have otherwise never met. However, often times it can be severely inhuman. We must remember there is a person sitting behind that monitor typing those words which you are reading - a person with feelings, hopes and fears - a person just the same as you.
Before you snidely and unthoughtfully leave a comment this year - please try and remember to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Possibly the most exciting thing that has come of the experience is that our shop, along with several other shops from the 
