I  am really tempted to use their Instagram profile names, but that would give them more attention than they deserve, and probably the one thing they are seeking.  Lets just say there are plenty of them and after a couple of days of whack a mole, I disabled comments and realized that a reply is warranted, but also it is needed with the growth in this movement, which is utterly ridiculous from the start.

To these easily manipulated souls, they have been convinced to parrot the phrase:  AI Slop, even try to use it in a sentence if they can, most fail, but they do usually slip AI Slop in somehow.  Who are they and where do they come from?  I know who the ones that commented on my instagram video are, but I have not gone in depth to find out their source of inspiration--a subreddit or discord server, a FB group or page, It really doesn't matter, the fact that there is an organized group of these aholes somewhere deserves to be public knowledge.  You need to know that when you see or read their comments, anywhere, they are not legitimate complaints about any specific image or store, they are a part of the ongoing mis-information campaign that surrounds Diamond Painting as a hobby and is so intertwined in the history and lore of Diamond Art in general, much of it is now accepted as fact, even though it is entirely fabricated.

Because Diamond Art/Diamond Painting is a hobby/craft activity and not a competitive sport or regulated and organized product or service, it is, by its very nature without rules, guidelines, usage limits and mandatory components or instructions.  To insinuate that any image that appears on a diamond painting canvas is only valid if it is a reproduction of a piece of art, created by the hand of a human artist using traditional media--watercolors, acrylics, oils, pastels, pen and ink, etc. is laughable. Digitized only for the purpose of reproduction on a canvas, it must remain true to its original brushstrokes by the artist when it was created.  The artist would therefore, as copyright owner of the image, be paid each time the image is sold in the form of a diamond painting kit, in a lump sum for the rights to reproduct the art on canvas in perpetuity or for a limited number of copies--they get compensated for the use of the image.  Anything less would be considered unlicensed art, it would be considered stolen art or based on the source, AI Slop or some other phrase or nom du jour that these cretins get fed in their lair. These psychopaths are applying emotional blackmail to the image selection process of each person that enjoys the hobby and they have no idea of the validity of their claims.  No idea that it is all bullshit.

To target my instagram post in rapid fire from multiple individuals over a brief period of time, points directdly to some kind of alert system to rally the gullible to comment or spam a post somewhere that they decided needed to be slapped down.  Umm, if I disable comments on the post, it all goes away, but if I allow posts, hide them and then eventually disable comments, each one still counts toward the goal of interactions on my posts, so thank each of you for that.  hidden or deleted, the interactive activity remains. Those users are now blocked for a while until I find their source and can get it taken care of, and then I may share their identity with the source of their inspiration.

Who benefits if AI art is forced out of diamond painting?  The companies that produce kits that use traditional artists primarily, who invest thousands, perhaps even millions in contracts for licensing and publication, with one common trait, they have deep pockets.  It costs very little to send one of your minions to a subreddit or a discord server to stir up shit.  After just a few days, you would be able to summon a response to a post like mine in just minutes, enough to be annoying and to spread the gospel, but why?  I am not sure that a club of mean girls could be misinterpreted as a diamond painting company, and since it is not intended to represent one, it is a good analogy of how they are operating, in plain sight and have been for years on varying topics from drill facets to rendering styles, to licensed vs. stolen art or sources of art from AI to crayon drawings.  All of those topics are very publicly discussed and very publicly endorsed by enough people of influence that they become fact, whether they are or not, and each of those topics are subject to the same merit test as the AI  Slop brigade:  I'm going to make this bold and in its own paragraph, just to make sure people in the back can read it--

Because Diamond Art/Diamond Painting is a hobby/craft activity and not a competitive sport or regulated and organized product or service, it is, by its very nature without rules, guidelines, usage limits and mandatory components or instructions.

As a diamond painting consumer, before getting into this shitshow (said lovingly, I would never disparage the hobby at its core), my first passion was images of Boston Terrier dogs, I had 2, they were a perfect subject to duplicate and hang on my walls.  I would hit a store online, search for Boston Terrier and then Dogs just to catch the ones that weren't tagged or indexed, and I bought every one that I found, didn't matter where it came from, I ordered it.  At some point I ran out of Boston Terriers, there were no more to be found, I personally started playing with AI  to see if I could make some Boston Terrier images and have those made into diamond paintings by a company or factory.  I first ended up with my  own Boston Terrier Stained Glass image in early 2024.

If a stained glass artist has a similar design they have availble and are willing to allow that design to be made into diamond paintings, please get in touch with me.  I have no issue with paying an artist for their work, if I am made aware of a piece that is not available from any source other than AI.  The only stipulation, and even if the artist uses AI in the creation of the design, I want full disclosure at the start and it would be published with any necessary description of the creation process.  It just needs to be the work of an individual that can show me the "carfax report" of the image source.

Boston Terrier Stained Glass is one of the original images that was available until late last year when it finally sold out, I have one copy, and I can make more or re-release it during an anniversary event, hint, or black friday issue, hint, or it will just be my personal momento of the humble beginnings of the store.  There are dozens of my images available now in the store and I have no intention of removing them or hiding their AI roots.  I very seldome publish an image without extensive edits and adjustments with traditional software, so they are actually unique and based upon but no longer an AI generated images on face value. Now, back to the bad guys.

So the mean girls club can operate quickly and when sent on a mission, they can continue the mission to a full blown campaign with a purpose of writing the narrative around a subject or process or component or technique of diamond painting to make it the defacto truth on the matter.  There seems to be that kind of effort behind this one, it is an outgrowth of the licensed vs unlicensed art campaign, but if someone attributes and compensates a digital artist that uses AI in any form, it would pass the license test and would therefore be acceptable, so that had to be stopped -- AI Slop seems to be the answer.

I don't know who is coordinating the mean girls club, there are several possible entities, or even a cooperative effort of more than one to give cover to each other, with so much money on the line, there really is no way of ever learing their identity -- unless one of the mean girls realizes that their efforts are manipulative and based on nothing and decides to be a whistle blower.  If you are one of those, come talk to me, I'd love to hear your story and if retold, would give you complete and total cover for perpetuity.  I have no issue with naming names of those who try to manipulate the diamond painting community to their own financial gain at the expense of the community that just wants to diamond paint the images they like without the guilt or expense being piled upon them.

Just stop it, slop heads, it really is not in anyone's best interest except for your cowardly leaders'.  I am tempted to allow comments unmoderated, but because those comments would add nothing to the conversation, I will moderate them and publish comments that provide some kind of legitimate information to the discussion and perhaps ways that the community can fight back againist the mis-information and allow a free choice hobby to remain a free choice hobby without meddling by big money players in the business.

If you get it, please share this post.  If you agree and hope they leave us all alone and let us enjoy diamond painting images that we choose to paint.  I will say this again, and have said it many times before, I did not open this store to make money--I am retired--and becoming less retired with all of this crap, but the purpose is to bring more diamond painters into the community, gay men is a focus, but anyone that is looking for images that they don't see in other places, images that don't seem to merit the time or effort of a traditonal artist to create or another store to provide -- bring me your requests, those are my people, those are the ones that I hope get to help them enjoy the hobby.  All of the others that have become friends and loyal customers know this and can attest to that goal and just exactly how I prove it every day.  It is different here.