5.20.09
A few words to start...I am a very positive person. I never respond to negativity or anything like that because I'm just a happy person. YouTube is a positive place. BUILD UP your fellow guru. Appreciate what everyone has to offer. When you put yourself out there and JOIN in on this community, embrace everyone. Don't look at it as a competition or as a way to tear down anyone. That's so sad. Of course, we are in a place where free speech is embraced and of course eveyone is entitled to their opinions, but in my opinion, however you look at it, belittling others is not ok. We should be here because we enjoy what we're doing and want to share it with others, not to criticize. I'm here because I love helping others and have a passion for makeup. That's the bottom line.
Now to what inspired this post...
I saw a really disturbing video today sent to me by a friend where another person on YT was complaining about bigger beauty gurus. I know you guys will be curious if you haven't seen it, but I really don't think it's right to empower this person in any way because I think it was very unfair and uncalled for. She was more than entitled to her opinion, but so am I. It was sad because not only was she speaking of something that she may not have fully understood because the truth is, she doesn't know who really takes the time to answer all their messages or respond to as many people as they can. More importantly, she doesn't know what hard work it is to actually respond to every single message when you also have a job and a family outside of youtube. I wouldn't feel the need to respond, but I feel that it's not fair for you guys to be fed this negative information by someone who has no idea how many messages we respond to or who we reply to. I also think it's sad that some of you who saw the video were asked to start a negative dialogue and were encouraged to LEAVE NEGATIVE COMMENTS about OTHER BEAUTY GURUS in the comment section. So sad.
I really feel no need to explain myself, but I take offense when my subscribers are lied to or are being given false information or MOST OF ALL, being encouraged to be negative. Here are my thoughts...
When I had 2,000 subscribers, could I have done that, YES. Because I now have over 50,000, is that a possibility anymore?? NO. As sad as that is, it's true. Has my outlook and love for my subscribers changed?? NO. I pride myself on trying to answer most if not all of the messages I get everyday. I usually sit down every few days and go through them. Is it tedious? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT. Do I always have time?? NO. That would be like replying to an average of 100 emails a day, with AT LEAST a paragraph because you're giving advice and answering detailed questions. I do that because in my heart, I feel its right. I don't always have time to, and of course, that means that your question may not get around to being answered for a few days, or even a week, but that's just how it works, as much as I would love to be able to respond to everyone right away. Sounds cliche, but it's very true.
About twitter... There's a little feature some may not know about under settings where you can select your @replies settings. (EDIT...apparently twitter removed that setting...MAKES SENSE because who wants to see every @reply someone they follow sends? See the article here.) Let's pretend for a moment... Let's say you are following me, and a popular makeup guru named CHUCK (haha), because lets face it, CHUCK is awesome. Now, CHUCK and I are friends and follow each other also. When CHUCK and I reply to each other YOU will see it if you have your twitter set to show you only @ replies to people you are following (that's the default setting). Get it..??? So let's say I reply to someone that YOU don't follow. Then you wont see it. So you really don't see who all I send @replies to. Which leads me to believe that this person doesn't really realize who all is being replied to.
Can I reply to EVERYONE on twitter?? NO. Chances are if you follow me and reply to me a lot, I've replied to you. That's just how it works. Let's think back to earlier today... I send a tweet about my car and how hot it was (super important stuff...haha). Out of roughly 6,000 people, how many replies do you think I got that were along the lines of people describing a similar situation or something like that? A lot. Which I LOVE. I read all of them. Can I pick and choose one or two people to reply to? sure. Can I reply to everyone all the time....Certainly not. That's silly.
Also, today I tweeted about an issue I was having with YT. I got so many helpful responses from people saying that they had a similar situation. Crisis averted..haha. Twitter is such a cool thing. Anway, instead of @replying 20 people, I replied that I was not the only one and a quick thanks because others were having the problem too.
That's just how twitter works. It's impossible to reply to everyone. Unless you were planning on spamming out your whole twitter page with one word responses as well as the people who follow you if they see your @replies. Do I answer questions? Of course. When I see them or have time! Just like anyone else would.
You'll find that if you follow me on twitter, I'm pretty good about @replying most of the time. I just think that some people don't understand how crazy it gets. Not only that, but that my want to reply to EVERYONE is still there. I still want to help every single person that takes the time to write me. I honestly feel pretty proud that I try to be good at corresponding with my subscribers.
BOTTOM LINE... I feel no need to explain myself. You guys know that I appreciate you and how this stuff works. But I would hate for someone to be fed false information or to be swayed into negative feelings by one person on YT who doesn't fully have all the facts or know the situations of EVERYONE they referred to by inviting negative comments about beauty gurus (sickening). I love you all and I think you guys know that :)
*EDIT* 5.22.09
Thanks everyone for the kind words and support <3>
I know you guys are smart and can see through stuff, I just felt the need to respond and give my take on the situation since I'm in that situation she spoke of and I know how crazy things can get and how hard it would be for me to criticize anyone making videos on here that has a lot on their plate, ESPECIALLY after experiencing it myself. ...and that being busy does not equal being rude nor does it reflect how I feel about anyone :)
Thx for the love and support---Love you all. <3
