Red Bubble's decision to remove contentious material from the site has come too late. RB is "damaged goods" now for me.. many seem happy to just carry on but I won't be going back.
The whole point of Red Bubble for me was the community aspect.. so when dissenting voices within that community were summarily suspended and even removed then for me that conclusively demonstrates the people who control RB have little regard for that community and it is time to move on. This was the clincher for why I left.
Red Bubbles print options were always poor you wouldn't go there for quality prints. It was the community of artists that made Red Bubble.. this episode proves to me that Red Bubble thinks it is bigger than its artists. It all reminds me a little too much of art.com and the way they treated their artists.
I do draw a very real positive from this episode and it is that artists acting together can make a difference... and that the vast online artist community has the power to change things for the better. Artists acting together are powerful they can make or break a site. So for me when the same artists find another site with similar interactive capabilities they will make that site successful.. and RB will be history. Of course there might just be root and branch change at RB but in my experience this rarely works.. and when it does what's left of the original ethos is usually lost. I don't invest in any one organisation the right to host the premier online artists community in my view websites must gain and hold onto that right. As I see it RB lost that right so for me it is time to move on.
Good luck to my friends who stay.. I don't have any problem with your decision.
Keep in touch.
I wish I had the cash and contacts to develop a rival site on similar lines.. any takers ?
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