From the Cambridge dictionary: curate verb US /ˈkjʊr.eɪt/ UK /kjʊəˈreɪt/ charge of selecting and caring for objects to be shown in a museumor to form part of a collection of art, an exhibit, etc.: You don’t own or control the images you get to see in Instagram. The people who posts them control them. As I said: you can curate your own collection, because you control what is in your collection. You choose or select the people you follow (and I hope to god you don’t follow me, btw) and you see what they choose to show you. If anything you would be correct in saying you curate your own Instagram account, and what you show others; but not what you see. But it doesn’t matter; I don’t know why I l’m even bothering with you. You’re some combative new jack user who signed up two months ago and you’ve posted slightly more that two dozen messages on this forum; most of which were arguing with and accusing long-time members here of being crooked or dishonest. I don’t give a hell about you. Welcome to my ignore list. And if anyone else here knows this persons IG handle and wants to share it with me in a pm I’d appreciate it so I can block him there too.
Yes, attack someone else and call them pretentious because you don't like their words. Play the victim Silence block and ask for info so they can block you elsewhere All while advocating for use of forums over social media. What an absolute joke
I'd prefer to be known as a 'discerning curator' than a 'needy collector', although I'm called far worse far more often! Prententious . . . moi!
no no, you’re sketchy or shady because you collect people’s contact information for crooked lottos- remember? Or maybe it was Scary? I remember when you were just plain ole “Scary Andy”
He gave us all shit when we were n00bs. I consider that separating the wheat from the chaff... people who don’t like skullbrain talk about it like we’re a den of maladjusted monsters like this is 4chan or Twitter comments or something. Skullbrain is mild by internet standards to my eyes. Mild. So when I see someone new pop up and start whining about how inhospitable we are, I just chuckle.
No fucking joke. The internet is a cesspool and this is a suburban neighborhood honestly. From what Ive seen from people who get flamed on here they come ready to talk shit because their stuff was on the fugly thread, or they got their chops busted and decided to cry about. Not often is it undeserved bullying I think.
Not even mild - Skullbrain is a goddamn spring breeze and sunshine beam! Seriously, this is pretty much the only place on the internet that I frequent that is just good folks talking about stuff. Granted, there's less "talking" than there use to be. And there are always a few exceptions to the "good folks". But most anything that gets interpreted by noobs as "unwelcoming", is just long-standing members attempting to keep the spirit of this place alive. Strangers disrespectfully crashing a party deserve to be roughly shown the door.
Same here, along with a few others that I’ve since grown into some pretty fantastic conversation, information sharing and friendships with. I grew up around a lot of gangs and less than desirable types. Whether you were kids tryin’ to hang with the big boys, or adults tryin’ to get in the cliques, it was a very “put you on your ass to see what it does to you” environment. Generally friendly, but if you couldn’t hang, you couldn’t hang. I adopted that mindset with others rather early on, and I see it lots of places and aspects of social dynamics, especially when I got into the hardcore scene. I didn’t view my entry into this board any different an experience, only a different atmosphere. Just because this shit is toys, doesn’t mean this place and the overall community isn’t somewhere you earn your keep in terms of stay. There’s a lot of benefit that comes with bein’ accepted here and it’s not far fetched to be treated with what I’d consider minor hazing and a “show respect and be respected” attitude. Like Phil said, it weeds out the shady types and fair weather collectors. I didn’t take any flack I caught early on personal, it just gauged where I was at with others. It also taught me a lot about how to conduct myself here, as well as being an upstanding contributor in and out of this board to the community.
skull fractures, quotes from one of the bones mister Pryor “I know that if I wasn’t scared, something’s wrong, because the thrill is what’s scary.” “The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is because vampires are allergic to bullshit.” “There’s nothing worse than being an aging young person.” “When you ain’t got no money, you gotta get an attitude.” “Everyone carries around his own monsters.”
I know this thread somewhat quickly devolved into something else, but we've had this conversation across various discussions here (general maker threads, state of collecting, etc.) but it genuinely makes me a little disappointed to see the effect that outfits like Instagram have had on the collecting of sofubi [see: anything] as a whole. I think there has always been that undercurrent of the platform to use it for social peer [i.e. self] validation, one-up manship, and toy begging, all of which used to be basically confined to things like KR and SB in pre-social media periods. But it is sad and - at least to me personally - annoying to see that this has become by and large the basis of toy posts on IG, with the undercurrent gradually becoming the majority, and thereby also having the effect of stifling out the real content (or wheat, to to use the analogy above). It sucks on a number of levels, for one you are really hard-pressed at times to find something of interest, as you have to sift through so much inane garbage (and might likely get turned off before you ever do get to the intended target), stuff that you might not be aware of is much harder to discover for that same reason, as 'treasure' is piled high around it with so much shit, that also has the effect of trickling in to those good areas by association, and also because, as a whole, any outsider coming in now is only likely to see the more hyped/overpopulated threads, which invariably also bring in the highest degree of toxicity with them, and - controversial opinion, maybe - tend to be the furthest from the origins of this hobby. For sure I will raise my hand here and say there is a not insignificant portion of this grip that is just an old man shaking his fist at the sky; I acknowledge that things change, and believe it or not, do accept it. But that doesn't also mean I can't reflect with a bit of melancholy on how this has affected the hobby, and that state of the community as a wider whole. Don't get me wrong, there are of course some immensely positive aspects to social media. But I don't think we can kid ourselves that it has had an effect on how we collect now, and has even permeated the way (and content) of other things like this very discussion board. So this brings me back to why I wanted to re-up this post in the first place. It recently came to my attention - albeit not with any great degree of shock - that the 'winners' for a lottery I entered were selected based on their IG profiles. I get that this happens, but was just particularly surprised in this case. This was from a more 'classic' toy maker, and one from which I didn't think this was a measurable aspect (e.g. unhyped, traditionalist sofubi). Bit of background is that, while I do have an Instagram account, I rarely use it, mainly just to peruse, and really actually stepped back completely for over a year or so just because it was causing me more grief than pleasure. So I don't actually see much in the way of 'new' toys, which is generally fine. I a sadly missing out on some great content, but as I am focused mainly on vintage toys, I have other avenues for sharing with my fellow appreciating fans. I was tipped to this new release by another toy friend, and lottery entry was by email. I realise that in 2022 a lot of toy makers are asking for IG account IDs (the primary reason I set one up). I always interpreted this to be as a 'check', one to have a bit of a log against rando anonymous emails, but also for tracing when some über popular toys get selected just for flipping. In any case, I only ever saw this as a category field entry, same as phone number and address. So to get to the just of the matter, I gathered post-entry for this toy that the producer was judging entrants based on Instagram. e.g. if their 'presence' suited him, and he deemed them worthy, they could get a toy (or maybe just warrant an actual entry, I have no idea). If that is the case, I have to say I am really not too keen/happy with it, as I don't feel anyone should be 'excluded' just because they don't really use social media. People are free to sell to whomever they want to, of course, but I guess what I am trying to say is, just don't call it a 'lotto' then, as really there is some selection, too. Anyways, I've said loads about this stuff before in other threads, but I do think there is value in discussing and taking a poll of general opinion. I won't name the company, as maybe I read this situation wrong, but in any case I think we are all aware this is something that happens currently. Should the name 'lotto' just be dropped? Do prayer hands and begging really warrant rewards with toys (well, we know with some artists they do)? Should your posts be all about that one maker you are trying to win a toy from, even if you have loads of other stuff? Basically, no one can control or tell you what you can post there [within civil reason], but the fact that people are using it to judge and assess worthiness is a bit off. Surely if you put in an entry, your money is as good as anyone else's. Anyways, not trying to make this personal or frame this as a complaint post. Genuinely just want to spark some interesting debate on the board, as it's been a bit quiet with proper discussion.
Yep, this sort of thing is another reason I've pretty much stopped buying Sofubi the last few years. The main reason was because I was starting to be constantly outbid on everything, and places like Mandarake started taking the piss with their pricing. But yeah, the reliance on Instagram and more and more hoops to jump through was annoying me as well. I'm just hoping that the prices will return to more reasonable (or at least not gouging you) levels in a few years, because I'm not done collecting Sofubi yet. In the meantime I've just shifted my focus to other types of toys, and I can still enjoy the Sofubi collection I've already got. I've not sold any of them, and I doubt I ever will.
I don’t mind providing my IG so makers can weed out bad apples and flippers but I do think it can exclude a lot of people from being able to participate in lottos. I’m lucky in that I only really use it to post pics of the daft stuff I make and my toys so I don’t mind having a public account but if I shared family stuff or personal info I’d be less keen on that and would prob have a private account which would then stop me from entering most lotteries as they want a public account. I draw the line at certain things though. I don’t like the ones that need you to provide photo ID or that need a million prayer hands to stand a chance. I also have a personal rule that I don’t post pics of toys while lotteries are open as that seems like I’m only posting to improve my chances and I’m not into that.
I ask for IG and SB mostly so I can associate an account with the winners, but it's not required. It's cool to see the people that always comment and are psyched on what I make, finally win after trying a bunch. It also helps me toss any entries received from dickheads. One shitty thing with IG though, is that if you're not on it at all, you probably wouldn't even know about the lottery or shop drop. I don't really post the info anywhere else and blogs don't post my stuff haha.
I mostly stopped* buying toys before I left IG, and maybe a bit before sales really shifted hard to IG. So I don't really have a dog in this fight. But I wholeheartedly agree that the dominance of IG has made skullbrain worse. I don't mean that the people or interactions have gotten worse, but that the content here has really suffered. Even though I wasn't interested in buying toys, I still really enjoyed seeing all the pics and discussion of new releases. *I did intend to buy at least one of each new sculpt from Star Case. I'm not sure if they sell through IG lottos or not. I rarely see posts about new releases from them here, so mostly it's out of sight, out of mind. If I were more looped into what they're doing it would be a real shame if they required me to have an IG account just to buy their toys - at this point I'm more committed to being anti-Zuckerberg than pro-Star Case. My loss I guess.
I think it's ridiculous to base a 'lottery' on an evaluation of the entrants' IG accounts. That's a popularity contest, not a lottery. Just sell to your buddies on a private list and stop wasting everyone's time.
I think this is a fair call to make. If you really wanted to show that the results were randomly selected, there could be a live online number draw, or a ticket pull video. I've seen a version of this from in-store lotteries where they post the winning results on their IG. Piggybacking off of this, I have two rather private friends with public IG's, who just want to collect various sofubi from the artists they like or follow. And it kind of sucks that, they're just not a slave to social media, constantly posting, especially when it comes to toy collecting. I'd argue there's barely any toy photos on their pages. So when it comes to the opportunity of supporting said artist directly, via lotto, they are more likely to lose to other IG accounts, and feel less inclined to even try every time they lose. There are a few artists who do this by selecting entries through DM, I think it walks a fine line between fair and unfair. Losers will cry for cases of favoritism, but I see the allure of taking care of returning customers, especially after many years. At the end of the day I suppose it's up to the individual artists. They don't owe us anything for the endless amount of prayer hand emojis or spectacular photos of our collections. Of course I want to root for a fair system, one that is completely left up to chance. I love hearing, "I won my first lotto!" and seeing people genuinely psyched to get a piece at retail directly from the artist. Hell, I love when people win a lotto for a second time. I also don't like hearing how many losses people are bitter about, and how that the artists almost owes them something for their losing streak. "You get what you get, and you don't get upset" is something I was raised on.
^^ Yep, totally agree with all those points Nicky, and exactly why I wanted to make it clear this was not about calling "unfair" or whinging - I really just want transparency. And at the same time, I also think this is a valid conversation to have here, less about the lottos and sales methods people decide to use (it IS up to them, and there is no perfect system), for the precise reasons that it actually affects what goes on on this board. Like @---NT--- posted above, I very much directly see the impact on the community and SB posts, particularly the last 5 years or so since the social media market [for sofubi] has really exploded.
Tying it back to the title of this thread, me and @akum6n, we actually each got a solid deal by a fellow skullbrainer on IG. I enabled post notifications for this particular account who's known for posting sales whenever at any point of the day. And it's a private account, so that's a perk, but that can also be a case against needing social media to benefit from collecting.
The effects of ig on toy collecting is undeniable. I started collecting before ig was much of a thing, then stopped for reasons and came back to it a few years ago. I directly got that I needed an account and created it. I m wondering how people do with their lotto too. I can imagine a lot of different ways to decide who get to buy a toy. Either giving some to best clients (because they support them since the beginning) and some to others (to keep growing the followers base) or check who’s popular on ig or take the best pictures or something and give them more. I think it’s all valid. Issue is the secondary market and professional resellers which is something going on everywhere. I’m trying to buy a second hand couch at the moment only to discover I was in competition with flippers there too. Flipping shit is a job now. Sucks when you’re buying shit, pretty convenient when you need to get rid of stuffs. Coming back to us, it seems like a good idea to ask for an ig account to the extend that most of the toy world works with ig and if you have an account with toys you’re more probably a collector than a flipper? Plus i don’t have much problem with toy maker wanting their toys to end up in beautifully curated collections by people taking gorgeous pictures seen by hundreds or thousands of people. I get the frustration about losing lotteries. I never get lucky with a few makers/brand I m following now for years. One in particular I only got toys from on secondary market. But then I also manage to spend way too much on plastic dolls anyway. This year I decided to not buy anything… I am still buying one toy a month and two last months (I manage to bullshit myself into doing that by calling one a bday present). Not really a point here, just rambling with you all.
Continuing on my rambling as I got some more thoughts while walking to a nearby caffe. My understanding is that most toy makers are working alone for their brands. Meaning they are alone (sometimes with the help of family members and friends) responsible for all parts of their business. I see that as particularly stressful especially is selling dollies is their way of making a living. How I see IG is as a way for makers to externalize some of the burden onto their fans/collectors. Namely getting their fans to do some of the marketing for them. Some do that better than others, more consciously than others, caring more than others … but it’s pretty much what IG is (not only for peeps selling follies, most of IG is that, whatever your business is). Makes sense to me that toy makers would reward people doing good in that regards. It’s also makes IG a very different beast as how I (most of us?) approach SB, which is more like a lounge for everyone to talk shit about our hobby and other stuffs, no matter your place in it. Ok I’m happier with this post as a contribution to this thread. I’ll go back to my coffee now. (Coming soon in another thread: geeking on coffee making)
So I agree mostly with everything you said, but I have to ask- in regards to IG accounts, if you have a “family picture” style account, but also want to post toy photos… just start a second account. I think IG allows up to four concurrent accounts. I have my main account (mostly soft vinyl toys), then an account for Following music and guitar-related accounts, and one for non-soft vinyl toys. Separating them by interest really helps when it comes to the “explore” section. I don’t get guitar posts in my toy account and vise verse. And by extension it doesn’t mean someone who Follows my toy account will get random guitar posts popping up either.
I’ve been trying to be more pro-skullbrain recently. Posting new acquisitions here as well as ig to help promote discussion or at least maybe a reason for folks to visit most often.
