I've had a thought pondering the last couple days. These last 4 years have really torn our country apart between Covid & politics. People haveforgotten how to be good humans with one another. Certain public figureshave certainly not helped with that either. Our world has gotten crueler in manyways we can't deny this. In a way, its like after 9/11 and how many turned against people of Arabic ethnicity/faith & blamed them for the actions of other people. Now, its become a world where if people are not like you, then they are evil & horrible or wrong.
I say all of this because I see it to a degree in the PSP community.Drama has always been part of the community in one way or another. Yet,the drama that occurs now (esp with AI) seems to be so much worse. Our community is enduring bullying over weather we accept or totally deny AI. Yes our community is in midst of change with AI & the rules are still to come. This is nothing new as the same thing happened when the Copyright movement started. I was around to see the birth & growth of that. Yet even then, the meanness that we see now was not around. PSP is suppose to be an escape from reality. A community to share our creativities among friends worldwide. Yet the bullying that is happening in the real world has become a part of PSP.
We can't let this destroy our community. As a tagger myself, I already feel the joy slip away a bit. Yes absolutely we should support the artists because without them, we don't have this world. But judging and turning on friends, designers & taggers, does not need to happen. Why must we convince someone to think like us so much? Just like life, its our differences (Provided they are not harmful) and uniqueness that makes us well us. But just like certain aspects of the real world, if we dare think differently than some, then we are torched and put on blast. We are made to be wrong for thinking with our own mind. I've never seen the community so split apart in my many, many years of being a part of it. This needs to change. Period. 
I've noticed a shift or a change in the psp air & discussed it with hubby tonight.I've been in this community for 20+ years.
I watched the Copyright aware aspect of itcome & change the landscape of it. For many, many years I've built up mylibrary of tubes & scrap kits. And I do stillenjoy creating & designing using them.But, my life outside of here has changed.For a long time, psp has served as a creative & social outlet for me. I've made some close friendsover the years. But I am realizing that this is nolonger dominating my priorities as it once did.I'll always be around in one way or another.I'll always dabble in the creative side of psp.But I am finding myself no longer needingnew tubes. Its no longer a "must have"for me. Yes I'll buy some because I want too -but I no longer need to. I am findingother things are becoming more important to me.For now, psp is becoming more of a hobby.I'll always be around in one way or another.So stop by from time to time - see what I am up too.As you know, my blog is full of things here & there.
I've been in PSP tagging for a very long time.I've seen the copyright community of taggingbuild & grow. I've seen stores & taggers alikecome & fade away over time. I sit here tonight wondering what happenedto taggers caring? Certain images are off-limits.Especially when said images are actually being charged for.Free celebrity tubes or well known resemblance onesare another story. The free ones have a grey area.When Arthur Crowe started doing celebrities initially,there was outrage. It calmed down once he put them freeor as bonus tubes. Like I said grey area.CDO had to remove Twilight tubes at one pointby an artist. They apologized & admitted their mistake.Sure celebrity tubes have come up here & there in psp.The community has artists from around the world.I'm not referring to the ones such as Bettie Page- whichis often used. Often, she is one that is allowed to be created.However that may depend on the artist. Olivia for example had permission to create art of Bettie and later tubes.Special copyright was needed for those tubes. Not every country has the same copyright rules as another.But that means or should mean, its up to us taggersto set a better standard. Yet, it seems like our morals in a way have gone out the window.I sit here seeing taggers creating tags usingan image that I know can't be legal to use. How can we help the newer taggers learnthe rights & wrongs of copyright awaretagging if the older ones are breaking thevery rules we are trying to teach them?I'm not saying every tagger is guilty of this.Of course not, but why are we as a community so eager to accept, buy & tag imagesthat should raise red flags to us? I know we are surrounded by social media& artists & taggers are heavily influenced by it.Yet there needs to be a line drawn - a boundarythat our community will not cross. We've lost that boundary.
