About the Zibbet still closed forums

Yes...many of us have moved on...and have left a lot of time sucked wasted promoting energy behind us. Many however do have Zibbet to thank for bringing so many of us together in conversations and long lasting friendships that never would have happened had it not been for the failures up to this point of CEO's Jono and Andy.
When the forums were public...it became quite evident that the Ning venue that the Zibbet community is hosted on actually had a much more likelihood of postings being crawled by Google. I used to tell members that posting their images in the Ning community gave them much more likelihood of being noticed on-line.
Myself---no SEO expert....just knew that postings in the Zibbet Ning Community showed up when googling....and yet items from shop members that had been shared and tweeted over and over were not showing up. There was something posted about the way the shop listings in the links showed up and why they were not being crawled. Back then I was darned determined that a pretty large group of us could promote share and get Zibbet on the map.
I didn't have a crap load of sales for all the time spent listing and promoting...but considering that I did not have an on-line built in customer base and sold something like 200 plus items....I did a heck of a lot of sharing and getting my items shared----but big difference--- Zibbet had an open Community.
well people all have different sides of the story...but my opinion is that Pastor Andy pretty much reeked havoc in that community and stirred up a lot of problems behind the scenes in his little hidey holes....and jono knew what was going on but he was off doing another start up at his new day job and didn't have time to pay attention is all I can figure.
Okay....so flash forward to 2015 when the few die hards in the community are simply asking that the forums be made public again---they have pretty much come to the realization that their efforts are for naught so to speak unless they can get crawled from the Ning hosting site.
Jono busts in and says this----
Permalink Reply by Jonathan Peacock (Zibbet's CEO) yesterday
Hi all,

I understand the desire to make the forums public again. Unfortunately at this point in time, we aren't able to honor this request. As many of you know, the forums became uncontrollable and brought a lot of negativity to our members and our team a while back. We simply don't have the resources to dedicate the time needed to cultivate and manage an open forum community. 

We see the benefit of it and look forward to be able to do this in the future. 

We're sorry to disappoint.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
well here's my 2015 2 cents to add to yer statement Jono---
1st of all........IMO the forums became uncontrollable because the site is very poorly managed...and Andy had too big of an ego to just relax and let it be a real forum of people discussing ideas and all----
being that he is a pastor and having everyone agree with him most of the time "Oh yes Pastor Andy" kind of deal---I can see now where he might have had an inflated ego and uber control type of issues....and just because your religion is in the business of "planting" really doesn't have to carry over into your need to fertilize and "cultivate" a forum----but the social monitoring that ya'll did outside of that community before you closed it down---went waaaaaaaaaaaay beyond what was natural for any type of selling venue. Ya'll were like control freaks on Acid or something...I mean really..what good for your overall community did you expect to come from your actions?
You had crap loads of time to dedicate to monitoring your sellers actions outside of that little community....but now-------
No time to let them have an open forum.
Your downfall then..was trying to control too many things.
Your downfall is still that you are very nice people as long as people are kissing your arse and telling you just how fabulous you are.
reality C-H-E-C-K--....grow up---
let the community be a community.
You don't have to control everything.
The only thing you controlled when you muted booted lied about sellers and members of your community---
is that Zibbet lost the momentum that was building.
You killed it.
Jono and Andy----
don't be sorry to disappoint-------
crimeny---ya'll own that badge a thousand times over already don't cha?
wink wink.
Your die hard natives are getting restless---
and the fact that you do nothing about it---
well........
might mean that ya'll have already moved on and just raking in whatever $ is still tinkering in without any effort on your part.
You still owe those sellers who have stuck beside you all this time some sort of effort to help them make money.
They won't keep promoting forever and ever with no real views or sales to compensate them for their efforts.

#Zibbet people and some certain sheeples Can We Talk?

First of all because I used the "Can We Talk?" I am going to do a little upfront Joan Rivers Hollah ! with this little Rhonda ramble can we just talk here?
I almost hate to mention Joan Rivers in the same sentence as Zibbet because Joan is and was the Bomb.....and Zibbet could only wish to be the Bomb....instead of what I think is a huge B-U-S-T at this point.
Back in the 70's/80's.....my younger bro had a Go-Kart shop and I used to announce the races and some of the tracks would have me travel around to announce the I.K.F. circuit races. In one of their magazines I was referred to as "The Joan Rivers of the I.K.F. Circuit" and I was really honored to be compared to this wonderful talented comedian. I guess I have always had this rather strange gift of finding ways to laugh about the worst of situations. Sometimes we just have to call a spade a spade and see where the card lands.
Joan was/is an American Icon. Will truly miss seeing what she has to say next.
So enough said about that splanation I suppose.
What I want to talk about (yes again) is the Zibbet "you just couldn't make this stuff up even if you tried."
Okay.... so most people out there are of the same "Consensus" that being one---that most feel that the long awaited and anticipated and overblown talked about "Rebuild" has so far been a huge failure and B-U-S-T.... and they also agree with the fact that this "inappropriate TIMING" of announcing their new "Lifetime--get it while it lasts once in a lifetime offers" was almost a slap in the face to those who have patiently waited for so long for Zibbet to get this ball rolling.
We know that Zibbet powers that be removed all links to the Hub in the rebuild and any actual "sales links" --YEP---basically all links to finding how successful any sellers might be there.
What is really sad to me is that even though the Hub is a ghost town these days as was long ago predicted.....
Can we talk for just a minute here about one of the forum handmaidens who in my opinion has gotten waaaay toooo dad gum big for her britches?
Now just as a #ZibbetFlash for me.....
I recall this one certain poster who once went to a thread I posted about the fact that Zibbet Cheerleaders come in many shapes and forms.
This person went into the thread and thanked me and certain others and then went back and removed her posts because that is what you could do in those old forums....not sure if you can do it now.....
but seeing her do that made me realize just how wishy washy she was and is.
And that was waaaaay before I had my Zibbet Epiphany that it was time for me to get the Hell out of Dodge.
All I know is that from my own experience with this person that I actually used to respect....once I saw her actions on that one thread alone-----
I lost all respect for one who in my opinion is so wishy washy.
And that is my opinion and I am sticking to it here LOL!
Sad thing to me is that she is still there passing so much "judgment" about anyone in that hub these days who has a different opinion than hers.....
and I know from viewing her profile pics that she is a big gal ---(but shut the front door she has definitely grown some mighty Bossy Britches over there.) yes Indeedy! Amen!
And her "accusation" about some who follow others to other venues? Well jeeps....one must certainly hope that this Big-UN  will some day look in the mirror and call it for what it really is LOL!
I am posting this tonight because I know that many of the so called "Bad Humans" posts and threads and opinions now come up every time anyone might happen to Google Zibbet (if by some miracle they have actually heard of the venue LOL) Her lies alone in my opinion need to be kept in check. And yep that is why we are having this "Talk" here.
LOL!!!!!
For example....the thread over in that Hub regarding the crappy arsed Zibbet font.
Bottom line.... you do not have to have any sort of an eye handicap or illness whatsoever.
The fact is that most people who can see actually "SAW" that the font did not get "darker"...the Z boyzz did not fix that yet. I still have 20-20 vision with the help from my Optometrist Hee-hee.....
but the fact that the Zibbet font still sucks is not a Fanflamer issue.
It is not even a topic that needs to cause so much drama in those forums.
It is simply a fact and it needs to be fixed.
And it still hasn't.
That's a FACT.
And here's an even harder fact if anyone in that Hub chooses to look outside of that "Box"....most people in Cyberville are never gonna find Zibbet because at this point...
there's not a lot of advertisement or even unified effort from all of those so called "creatives" to share the #ZibbetLove.
The fact is that less than 20 people "Flashing" in that hub are not going to grow any venue any time soon.
And hate to break this to ya......
but if anyone new out there happens to for some unknown "miracle" land on the new Zibbet....if they can not read the font....they are gonna walk away and Pasadena quicker than ya'll can say "P-A-S-A-D-E-N-A"
And finally here's one last clue....to those of ya'll still in that Hub who are acting as formerly predicted here...like a group of Piranha's just waiting to take a nibble on anyone who offers up a different opinion than yours....wake up!!!! ( the very few still left there......)
you are chewing and eating away at whatever lifeline you think you still have there.
The Zibbet Flash group that is what? How many members weak? at this point is in my opinion.....still killing any chance for Zibbet to become something better and grow.
And if you would just let the small group of people still in that Hub simply talk about it without being accused of being some sort of #badhuman or equated to being some sort of workplace #massmurderers........
maybe just maybe.....
some still there spending lots and lots of time still trying to get their shops to work and load properly and to have their pictures look okay......
maybe some of ya'll wearing those Grand Poohbah hats if you would just shut up and offer some kind of support to everyone there.....
dayum.....
ya'll just might get a lifeline on that ship that is rapidly sinking more and more each day.
hint-hint :=)

#Zibbet drive by's and questions why

So I saw where someone was questioning why anyone would have the audacity to drive by the Zibbet Hub and post anything negative on their way out if they were actually leaving.
I'd have to say that why can't things there actually be a 2 way street just like the real world is?
Evidently some/most still there (as yes just as many predicted quite some time ago) there are very very few left there in that hub these days.....but the ones there still take it upon themselves to chastise anyone who dares to think differently.
Well here's the thing. 
Yep hate to break it down to some of ya'll there who think you are still fooling anyone from the outside looking in.
The fact that Jono is now "hiding" sales in the new Zibbet rebuild.....
well make no mistake that the fact that the ones there testifying that their sales are so great......
it really seems very odd that their feedback is a big fat Z-E-R-O. (In most cases) LOL!
We have heard the most reasonable explanation of why someone would "lie" about their sales is that they are simply making "faith" statements.
I.E.----if they say they have already sold butt loads of stuff that very soon........
they will have some sales.
But hey....
we all have dreams eh?
The real problem at hand right here and now is that so very few people have actually ever heard of Zibbet...and the only way to grow this into something bigger would be to have a large community of like minded sellers......
dayum cookie....
the last time I looked...there is not even a link to the Hub on the new Zibbet rebuild.
Then of course there is that big fat huge problem of search issues and site issues and Pay Pal issues and all of those things that would make a newbie potential buyer "JUST WALK AWay" before they ever even get started there.
And then.....in the middle of this flippin fiasco.....
the CEO's (minus the very mysterious yes Andy is still here but has seemingly disappeared mystery) dude.....well gosh....they come up with this new scheme of "Buy it now the Premium lifetime offer of the Century" where you can suddenly "GASP" now have your own stand alone as well.
But for anyone who has ever looked outside of that what is now seemingly Stepford community of like minded clannies.....
here's the real clue.....
wow just wow....
there are many many venues out there who are established and where people are actually getting sales and it costs the seller what?
OMG.....drum roll...
NOTHING!
here's only one for example that looks surprisingly a lot like the "new improved Zibbet"
but guess what?
The search function and the shopping cart function are actually functioning there.
And yep.....
all of that for
G-A-S-P.....
free.
that's right folks.
honest to goodness 
F-R-E-E.
http://www.storenvy.com/

gee kind of makes that Zibbet $299-$999 once in a lifetime LIFETIME of the century offer seem kinda moot at this point if you really walk around the web for a bit?
There's lot's to be said about fresh air if you get outside of the hub for a change...isn't there :=)

#Zibbet why not try some truth? It actually works in the long run

Wow...I talked in the post below about why it kind of makes sense why some at Zibbet would make statements that make no factual sense at all. Enough said about that one.
But statements from one of the CEO's like this
"As I mentioned in another thread where you asked the question, this is the number of open shops on Zibbet. Not all of these shops have active items available for sale for various reasons. "
Okay....no problem with the CEO saying that....the problem however is that there is no way to fact check what he has stated above.
There are a bunch of funny numbers and convoluted facts that this Zibbet team keeps talking about and yet....where can you fact check anything they have said for years?
The answer is basically "NOWHERE"
The answer is that if you happen to question any of their so called "FACTS" that you will get lied about and labeled a bad person etc. etc.----
but we know that already.
And why do things keep getting more hidden?
Well one might think that is only because the truth has been put on the back burner.
Hello? New Zibbet that everyone was guaranteed from the CEO and his new staff of hackers and hustlers....THEY guaranteed that everyone was gonna LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REMEMBER? LOL!
Why not just be honest.....
show how many real sellers with items for sell are there
show the sales that are being made there
(something that Zibbet has never felt comfortable with doing...)
instead they continue to try and wave another diversion every time some of the hard questions keep popping up.
Zibbet's recent newsletter...
(overly personal and DoWn underly businesslike)
OMG....play the guess the letter game...We are sooooooo excited about something we are going to announce.....
well here's a reality check there Zibbet CEO's...
with the exception of a very few of your remaining handmaidens there in the forums who are playing the Zibbet games and still posting many of those "faith" not "fact" statements......
the reality is that whatever mysterious amount of sellers you still have left on what has so far been an absolute fail of a rebuild....
they are still waiting for simple things like a site that will not time out while they are trying to list or fix things that are no longer working in the "new not improved as of yet Zibbet"
they are waiting for you to fix the dadgum BROKEN search there.....
there are a lot of things they are waiting for and a silly guessing game of what they are now supposed to be quote "SO EXCITED" about?
not this time.
they aren't excited.
FACT----
They were excited for more than 4 years over a flippin rebuild that has so far failed to produce Few FACTUAL  farting rainbows of excitement.
let's see some real seller numbers
and some real sales documentation.
The truth will set you free.
No need for diversion.
Many of the few non-handmaidens that you have left are growing weary of these played out games.
It's pretty simple
GET REAL Zibbet....
try that and see how that works
because obviously to so many out here looking
whatever you are doing now is basically BROKE beyond repair no matter how many "faith" confessions ya'll may be getting in that ghost town of a Hub these days.
wink wink

PTL I saw the light #Zibbet...by the way...do they hand out flash lights for their hidey holes?

One might think that one who has the absence of light would mean that there is only darkness to be found.
I however tend to believe that simply because one does not share your beliefs does not a dark person make of them.
Yes...there are sadly those at Zibbet who promote the message of "Get thee away from me person of darkness....anything you say can not be believed for you do not share the light we are casting out among our members" And yes it has been proven that maybe some of them don't come right out and say it to your face....but they are in their little hidden groups being told how to act and what to say. Pastor Andy at the helm of the hidey holes and even the one who was "supposedly" cast from her throne in the Z Hub is still calling the shots and directing a certain group of them on what to do and say.
A friend messaged me once about the Zibbet Hub and described the overall bunch as a "harmless group of Christian women sitting around knitting while paying games and supporting one another." And that's all fine and dandy if that were only the case.
I really believe that the reason the venue continues to lose more and more of it's long time supporters is because of the darkness that goes on behind the scenes. And we're not talking about some simple shady shit here we are talking about some serious darkness folks and in my opinion some of the most un-Christian like behavior that I have ever seen.
Some of them make it a point to go on public boards and adamantly proclaim that their Christian affiliations have absolutely nothing to do with the C3 church. And folks I strongly believe in the freedom of religion and the freedom to believe in whatever you want to believe in. Some would say..."Oh don't believe anything she says....she is a hater....she is trying to harm all Zibbeters." Wrong Wrong and Wrong. And honestly if those of us who are out here speaking out about our experiences with the venue were going to be afraid of the backlash and the real "Story starters"...we simply would have tucked our Zibbet feathers between our hiney and fluttered away to never look back on the venue. The fact is that many people did leave in silence and are still afraid to talk about it because they do not want to cause possible harm to their businesses. 
Many have wondered and wondered why a group that says they have nothing at all to do with the C3 would constantly support and defend the wrong doings of the CEO's and the members who lie about "cast off" Zibbeters. So I decided to link an article here because even if it is a long read and even if it was written way back in 2005 it is a pretty good over all summation of how they are indeed all tied together and why they are stuck like crazy glue on defending certain peeps while at the same time damning anyone who does not seem to be "growing" in the direction they have in mind for you. 
First of all I don't want any of ya'll Pentecostals to think I am dissing your religion by linking this article. 
You have a right to believe whatever you want to believe. It's just that for some reason there are certain folks in that Zibbet circle who feel that they can say what they want and do what they want and that doing so is a one way street. Newsflash....that two way street is getting wider every day..and we all know that bad people can be found in any group.
Okay so the most insightful thing to me about this article I am linking here is to take a look at the 

"Heavens Half-Dozen"group.

They are at the bottom of the article.

You will see Pastor Andy's boss and find that there is indeed a "connection" with the C3 and other affiliations with many of the religious Zibbeters who adamantly exclaim that there is no connection whatsoever. Also most eye opening are their political connections and the bank who is behind the funding of a lot of these start ups and venues.
http://www.trinityfi.org/press/GodsMillionaires.html

Okay.....the thing that surprises me most of all is why on earth didn't Zibbet simply promote the fact that they are a religious venue and run with that? Instead they took the path of denying that religion has anything to do with it and yet..they let their beliefs and convictions reap havoc among the Community Hub and beyond.  If they would have simply embraced this like mindedness (and they still could) the sellers there would certainly be reaping the rewards of many many buyers who choose to support sellers who sanctify their beliefs. The last time I looked Religion is big business folks. wink-wink.
However what is bad business and what doth a Bad Human make indeed...is a forum filled with handmaidens who create lies and cover ups against their naysayers. That's right folks. Cruise on in to that nice little Zibbet Hub where everyone is so friendly and welcoming. But if you dare to ask the wrong question or you are falling out of the like mindedness drivel...you will then find out just how nice some of them truly are.
Oh but to hear their side of the story.....they are simply being picked on and attacked by a group of bad humans and haters. Thanks to social media.....the rest of the story is out there. And it really doesn't matter who's side you are on.
The only thing that matters here is what you truly believe.
And speaking of social media I saw a quote today that I really liked.....
We never "lose" friends, we just learn who our real ones are."
Peace ya'll.

Do I still have friends at Zibbet? Yes....imagine that for a second if you will LOL!

Some would find it rather ironic that I still have friends at Zibbet. I have been rather vocal after all :D The fact is that there are a lot of people out there who have many of the same thoughts and feelings that are being vocalized but they have remained silent because they do not want to have a possible negative effect to their on line shops.
I get that and I also respect that.
I guess I would have to say to some of the people there who think "Why don't they simply leave if they don't like it and stop peeing in our Cheerios?"  I find the answer is ----That many of the people vocalizing their discontent probably still have the feeling that they got their lunch pail crapped in and are trying to rid themselves of the baggage.  There are always 3 sides to every story and muting people in one place simply means they will take it somewhere else to talk about it. A lot of issues could have very well been squashed in "Chit chat"...but we know that didn't happen :D
Quite interesting when Zibbet chimed in on Twitter and said that they had picked up some haters along the way because they are such a successful business.  What they still fail to comprehend is that a huge group of those so called "haters" actually were once very fond of the venue and extremely supportive.
So my leetle cartoon postcard from the edge parody below....I actually thought twice before posting it on the blog.  Is the image in poor taste? Absolutely.  But that is the whole point of the matter. (For those of you who may have missed it). There is a group of people in those forums who obviously condone any and everything the CEO's do.  They obviously think it is perfectly okay for the Zibbet management to put up a cartoon and make fun of an entire group of people on their business black board.  So me putting up a cartoon on my blog board should not be any different than the actions they are condoning.  Although I would have to say that I poked fun at a very small group of handmaidens within that small Community Hub.  But the fine folks at Zibbet Management chose to poke fun at an entire race of Aborigine people.
Yep some would say "My baaad" but the overall bigger picture that some of ya'll in that Hub seem to conveniently overlook time and time again............................
the BAD actions and reactions of your CEO's there.
Now say what you want about Rob Kalin the founder of Etsy.... but the bottom line is that he managed to build up the venue from within his community. That's where it all started.
Zibbet on the other hand manages to collapse the site from within the community. They have attempted to build on a premise of false promises and deception and that does not make for a good foundation.  Then when they promote and condone the type of behavior from the "Hidey Holes" and the handmaidens running the forum....what of course has happened?  Their soap box is shrinking.
I saw a quote once that said something like "It’s nice to be the biggest fish around, and an easy way of doing this is to shrink the size of your pond. "
And it has been quite amusing to see as one person leaves the Community the next person step up to the Ram Rod plate and start getting bolder and pushier and bossier as the days go by.
But here's the thing that some of ya'll there should really be concentrating on.
The real problem with the Zibbet failure is not the people out here voicing discontent with their Zibbet experiences.
The huge problem is the SILENCE folks.
The lack of interest or support. In essence the very thing ya'll are gonna need if you ever expect for the venue to grow and be successful.
Click on all of the shops that are Empty, on vacation, or have simply been abandoned. There's your real problem Handmaidens.....nope it's not the one's you call "bad-humans and haters"....it's the ones who simply don't care.
The huge amount of people who have been there done that and have simply filed "Zibbet" into their box of "Meh" and have moved on to never return.
You can promote until your little finger tips are blue and blistered but the fact is that seeing huge "bot" views from Twitter will hardly sprout into butt-loads of sales. The only way for the venue to ever be successful is for it to grow from within the community..... and at this point some of you ram rods (and Ram Rods in training) are still doing a great job at splitting what's left of that community completely apart.
Say I just realized that Thursday is
Bad Human Hug Hollah Day! hee-hee
Carry on

What some people think about "loose" and howz that Gerbil in yer butt feeling today? #Zibbet

You know that certain story about the certain actor who had a gerbil stuck up his butt and had to go to the emergency room to have it removed?...........................
well that's the certain kind of  uncomfortable feeling 
I would "picture"some of those Z handmaidens must feel every time another Zibbet truth comes out or every time they lose another one of their faithful forum followers.
Uncomfortable  indeed!
I can't imagine any other reason they would continue to enforce the farce that is right there if one simply chooses to connect the dots.
Many many sellers who have left that venue worked so gosh darn hard promoting it and their fellow sellers at the time there.
With little to no success.
Now some of the statements they (heavenly Handmaidens) are making about how Zibbet is now a vital marketplace and that Etsy is dying and has already seen it's hey day  is laughable to say the least.
I would think any one who cares to follow the dots
 (without even trying to connect them )
would first look at the founder of Etsy and his original mission which was to truly create an independent seller maker market.
The Zibbet founders?  Well one might look at all of the links and see that they pretty much like to create start-ups with the hopes of selling them to investors. Yes it is a fact that  Etsy did see huge growth and changes once the venture capitalists came into play..... but most have come to the realization that Zibbet will probably never get interesting enough to capture the investor interest.
Bottom line
(#Agent Gerbil whisperers)
PPPPSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTT......

They (Zibbet) already blew the chances of that.
And it would take a miracle to ever get the huge influx of sellers or "believers" that already came saw and left .
Hello?
there are no other venues to draw disgruntled sellers from....and your pool of leapers from Etsy has already dried up.
I guess that is the only thing that has really died at Etsy.
Any type of enthusiasm for Zibbet whatsoever.
(And there never was much in the 1st place)
And people in those forums who want to talk about "Oh we have new members signing up and are growing"  certainly don't want to talk about that Elephant in the Zibbet room...........Namely~~~~
All of the people who left the venue in droves after flooding the site last Fall.
Why did they leave?
They were not selling enough to compensate for all of the time they were wasting there.
And of course there were those who did not want C-3 ties to their business.
And those who promptly left after they witnessed just how professional those in charge were when it came to handling any type of influx of sellers.
And those who finally simply heard enough excuses and back peddling.
Of course there are also those who had quite easily connected some of the dots and woke up one day and realized that it doesn't matter what may (or may not)  happen over there now.....
they have already seen enough of Zibbet past that they have no desire to be any part of whatever the future may bring.
Yes... there are still Some who think it may still actually happen one day .
(A true Zibbet Revival )
Baby steps.  Little Baby gerbil steps and all.
So I guess one of the questions for today would be
Would you rather ("quote" from another seller)
"loose your banner"?
or "quote" (from me mahself and moi......)
"Would you rather act like you had an uncomfortable gerbil running loose inside yer butt and you didn't quite know what your next slim shady sideways shift will be?"
Cheers to correct shifts and balances :=)

#Zibbet reflections....#Etsy testing #c-3 #under the surface

I support freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
Awhile back a certain person got caught with his twitter tweet pants pulled down and it was linked to his Zibbet Ceo account.

Controversy abounded and rebounded but because I had no relationship/knowledge of the Andy in question.... I remember this question....from that C-3 controversy

6. Is Jonathan a Pastor in a C3 or City Harvest or other affiliated Church?
No.
the answer was indeed "NO"
but anyone who cared to look could easily find this.....

The mates, who met through a church group in south-west Sydney, initially wanted to create a marketplace for fine art.

http://www.brw.com.au/p/calling_all_angels_zibbet_seeks_5c3fzw7wAHkwTx18wj5h6O

no....Jonathan was not a Pastor but yes.....the church that him and Andy had/have in common indeed seemed to be the tie that bound them.

But acting like one did not have to do with the other was perhaps a misconception.  Damn... I would have much preferred them to have been old grammar school chaps
just sayin'....................

and would like to state again that I feel the venue currently does not have much to offer in the way of sales for vendors there.  Those who are currently fed up with all the testing that Etsy constantly does would be better off to consider a stand alone and spend whatever time you have to get that going.
Time...... you can never get it back.  

Comparing Zibbet to Etsy and Why The Etsy Testing should get me all riled up but doesn't much these days

I am writing this post remembering back to the day when I was a self titled "eBayaholic".....I lived every free moment I had buying selling and sharing on that site I once loved so dearly.
Flash forward to when John did this kind of stuff
In 2007, eBay's then soon to be named CEO John Donahoe complained about eBay "looking too much like a flea market." 

Prior to this change I could have seriously spent the rest of my spare time being happy at eBay and continually telling everyone I knew about how fab the place was.
But A.J.
(after John)
took the helm
people scattered all over the place and one venue that certainly benefited from that was Etsy.
I'll never forget how lucky I felt to have found that venue after the bull chit that had been pulled at eBay. 
Then what happened?  Well the venture capitalists came calling.... and Etsy....started changing.
I honestly don't remember what the 1st thing was that made me think WTH? how dare they? and prompted me to put the shop on vacay.  I soon got over it and do remember finding Zibbet later on because of over and over reseller issues and questions about where was Etsy really headed and then Rob was out and Chad was in and all of that stuff.  I missed a lot of it. 
After all I was happily promoting and believing in the new site I had found and was so patient just knowing that this was the place with the best integrity and intentions and where I wanted to grow my on-line business.  And I was happy to wait. (And promote and promote and promote in the meantime)
So flash forward to the October Etsy fall-out when they not only changed the feedback but also changed the definition of handmade......
This lead to a huge influx of new Zibbeters and I can't tell you how much I was truly excited that Zibbet was finally gonna take it to the next level! Whoo hooo! Let's go let's go let's go. I mean I was seriously gung ho and in let's get er done mode.
There was such an exodus that articles like these came about....

http://www.brw.com.au/p/entrepreneurs/how_zibbet_got_new_sellers_customers_6NsNxQaBZqg3410B3SqPKN

and I was kind of thinking to myself when I saw this article that I hadn't been hanging out in the zibbet forums much because not a whole heck of a lot was going on for a long time there....
but I was wondering who was the guy sitting next to  Jonathan in that pic?
Well.... if you have read my blog posts you might see that I finally found out who Andy was LOL!
but I would think that by
now ya'll by this point have noted the statement from that article linked above that quote
(yes quote) 
Zibbet is now targeting $1 million in revenue within the next 12 months and will next week officially launch a bid to raise $300,000 from Australian-based angel investors. 

Okay.....this and many many other reasons are now why I would not recommend for you dear on-line seller hoping to vend your wares... to abandon Etsy and place your egg in the Zibbet basket.
At this point it doesn't really matter what they have done or will do.
What does matter is that some of you out there in my position who are looking for another place to land because you are unhappy with Etsy changes and/or testing....

you might want to reconsider thinking about Zibbet as an option and save yourself some wasted time.  They have already noted that they were shopping the site to Angel investors (who evidently didn't take the bait by the way)
Bottom line is that if Zibbet finally ever does become successful.....
they will go down the VC funding path.
It has been well documented that they were already looking for it.

At the end of the day.... does Etsy doing another dad-gum test seem frustrating and does it piss me off sometimes/most of the time?
yes...and today I would have to say also no.
They have investors to answer to who are looking to make $ and to continually make improvements to the site.
I sometimes do picture those tech testers just pushing buttons to screw with peeps just because they can....
and yet at the same time I would say this...
when Etsy does a  test....
they are not testing whether or not you like the test...........
they in fact don't give a care whether or not you like the test.
and I know that now.
What does matter is this...
unless you plan on leaving for good......
it does not benefit you to waste any time feeling angst about whatever test they are currently performing.
Setting up your own stand alone and promoting that until the cows come home would in my opinion serve your time much better than fleeing to a site that promises you one thing but at the end of the day if they ever become successful will sell-out.
They were already shopping to sell-out before anyone wanted to commit to a real investment.
Unless you know of a proven venue other than your own stand alone to run to..... don't waste your time putting eggs in other baskets.
At this point in my life I don't have a lot of time to waste.... and although the friendships and relationships I made with people I met at Zibbet were worthwhile....
I would still say if you are looking in the long run to find a permanent place to land
Pasadena on Zibbet.
Just my opinion
and at the same time found a lot of fabulous peeps in my time there so I will always wish all those trying to sell something there the best!
Happy Memorial Day Weekend and peace ya'll!

Google Ning and a #Zibbet closed forum

I'm sure some of ya'll have already considered this.
Surely you have. Maybe?
One of the aspects as far as we can tell about a closed Ning forum is that Google does not crawl it anymore.
One of the things I used to really like about the Ning Hub is that even though for the past several months there seemed to be fat chance of Google sightings of Zibbet items...... it seems I could still find Google images from items that had been posted in the Zibbet hub.  
Some people do Google searches keying in their shop name or exact titles or do not do it incognito (meaning that Google is going to show them what they have already been clicking on or are most likely going to want to see. ) In order to really see what others are seeing.....go incognito 
no.... I did not say GO commando! ....pull yer panties back up :=)
If Google is no longer crawling the Zibbet Hub is it useless to promote and show me your whatevers?  Well not exactly..... 
as long as there are several people sharing what you have shared there on other social media.... it has a chance of being crawled and hopefully linking back to your shop.  But up until they closed the Zibbet forums......
in my own opinion....
I always felt that posting pics in the Hub was your main chance of Google finding your Zibbet listings.  It seemed they were indeed crawling the Ning hub even while many found their listings on Zibbet were not showing up on Google.
And I am not saying that if you list something on another venue that you will easily get found on the front pages
but what I am saying is that if Google is not crawling a site.....
you might be better off spending your spare time promoting your items on the other social medias that Google is in fact crawling.
If you can figure out a better way to get more people in the Hub to share members' items.....
then the chance of selling will be much easier than it has proven to be for many. 
But until more members are there sharing lots of interesting listings.....
the last time I looked there are not a lot of buyers in the Community 
Well let me rephrase that.....
for some there...the only sales they have made so far were from Community members.
But isn't the object when you list your wares on the net to try and get them out there and seen in the Big world?
So....
I still think that at the end of the day.....
this closed type of situation absolutely benefits the CEO's and not the sellers.
They might be doing away with someone who might discourage a seller from buying a premium membership
but at the same time they do not seem to have a care that they have blocked potential new sellers and buyers from joining in on all of that fun in the first place.
Closing up the hub seems a bit drastic one would think
because
After all...they could have moderators who could very easily remove whatever posts are not to their liking.
They could even very easily remove people who say things they don't like being said
Jeeps they were already doing that quite well weren't they?
And everything that has already been crawled has been cached by Google so it will still be out there when people search.
But making a forum private means exactly that....
they have shut it off from some of your potential buyers.
It's nice to share with Community members what you have recently listed.....
but if the intention is to list and also sell something..
a closed Community kind of shuts off your chances of the item being seen unless it is shared elsewhere.
A lot.
And then some.
And then a lot more
Happy sharing.

Maybe they've finally figured out how to get Zibbet trending on Twitter!

First of all..... full disclosure.... I borrowed that title phrase from a friend of mine.....and it made me laugh but so ironic that you just couldn't make this chit up even if you tried kind of thang.
(I'd also add that this made me think of Kamikaze Zibbet Style)
Did the admins at Zibbet drop zeee bomb or pull the plug on the ship?
They sent someone in to say she was tired of being tag teamed picked on and mistreated...or whatever that was....
and fact is most people in the cyber world kind of look at this one as the pouncer and bouncer over there in the Z hub who tells everyone else about how vile and viperish they are acting.
whatever...
 the side bets are
#1-this Zibbet handmaiden has already served her purpose and people there are tired of what she keeps saying....
#2-Andy and Jon sent her in as a sacrifice for the venue to create some sort of NON drama about supposedly being "attacked" and now she really is outie there.
I mean I know all about Kamikaze Pilot situations so I'd say if she is really gone...that dive she took without the helmet deserves at least a couple of seconds of internet fame hey?
The night the lights went out in Georgia (insert Zibbet hub)...insert they hung an innocent man with (someone said they got hung but from the outside looking in appeared as though not so nicey was always in fact kind of hung on herself ) and yep....maybe had a secret kind of love thang obsession for the powers that be... but hey....pure speculation on that handmaiden obsession speculation that keeps circulating out here in cyber land.
So long story short.....
Because we all know how RUMORS get started over there and some really need to be taken with a grain of salt kind of thang...
anywhooo
they evidently closed the hub after shutting down the "rebuild thread"
What is it about this rebuild forever and ever question that continues to cause so dog gone much turmoil and angst over there ?  Well awhile ago (key phrase "awhile ago") someone said something about how they could have already rebuilt the elusive rebuild at this point. Seriously. They really could have.
And why beat around the bush?
Why close off a forum to all new people landing there?
Why do that kind of thing to sellers who are promoting that venue until their bush is blue and dragging? They have busted their bush promoting a venue and working on their shops and basically 
BOTTOM LINE BUSTING BUSH....
for what?
Oh bright idea....
CLEVER
(NOT)
anyone who googles Zibbet
now has to sign up 
when they land in the community to find out about it?
Damn cookie.....
beat my bush and shut the front door
the last time I looked the only people who would actually sign up for anything would actually want to view the "community" or whatever it was called before they would sign up to see anything at all.
Sellers just got another shot in the foot before they had a chance out of that rebuild gate jump start so many were still hoping for.
Placing more restrictions on a site that is already not being seen and where sellers are not getting sales because of little to no traffic?
Who thought this one up?
I would have to place my bet......
not on those 2 new site techs (they said they hired.)
Most people would realize that the way to get business is to make it as easy as possible for people to become acquainted with said venue.
And the day when Ceo's and what is left of the certain group of forum runners decide to get all pissy pants and say
"Boo hoo you have to be a member before you can see what is going on around here"
Damn.... that kind of stinks like more hidey holes and behind the scenes kind of things that in no way shape or form benefits the sellers there who are trying their darndest to sell their wares.
But the $79 or is it $89 now dollar question????
Who does it benefit?
Yep this kind of move (in my opinion) does indeed benefit the CEO's who are in the market of selling Premium seller accounts. And Ceo's who by the way do not currently benefit from Final Value Fee sales from Sellers there.
And some of those people out there who continually want to call some people vile and vipers and all of that spam....
for simply questioning the Zibbet plan and actions up until this point.
I still stick to my opinion and say that there never would have been a problem in the first place if people would have simply admitted their mistakes and been honest.
Seems that when that huge influx of sellers came last Fall and gave that Premium seller $ because they truly believed in the heart of the venue......
many of those experienced ones who could have truly brought the site to the next level...
bottom line
they came
they saw
they left
yep.... I said it awhile back
the momentum has indeed left the building.
But I will say this tonite
this recent "closed community" move
well.....it further kills any chance 
of more sellers 
or Buyers (GASP)
to land in the first place.
And tonite.....
yep they might have finally figured out how to get Zibbet trending on Twitter....
and it was because a bomb got dropped in the forums
not due to a Twitter bomb
gotta go clutch some more of my pearls peeps...
seriously best wishes to all sellers still doing their damndest to try and sell something there.


Jonathan Peacock (Zibbet's CEO)replied to HeirloomAngel (Angela)'sdiscussion Forum Visibility

"The Community Hub is currently closed to members only. Any Zibbet seller is welcome to become a member to view and participate in the forum (participation is not required).Any sellers that have been suspended from the community for misconduct will…"

Questionable respectful behavior and no wonder so many rumors get started at Zibbet

I thought a bit about posting this because combating negative energy is often  a time suck regardless of how good your intentions are.
I just have to say that after thinking about this... the situation kind of reminds me of that old "telephone game"....someone whispers something in someone's ear and it gets whispered to many others on down the line and the outcome of the conversation is nowhere even close to what actually happened.
There are a lot of "rumored" whispers over there in the Z forums.  Certain  folks are pretty good over there at saying things like "I heard" or "I suppose" and then suddenly it becomes "Fact" after a few others repeat and add to the story.  Not sure why this happens. (Although if I were a betting woman I'd have to place a bet on the fact that from my own personal experience...the most gossipy judgmental and "slam talking" groups of people I have ever known seem to have been gathered in certain congregations on Sundays....if you get my drift) wink-wink.  
Yep there I said it.... I would have to think that a certain group of ya'll over there simply like to gossip and there's not much happening there so things naturally have a way of "making themselves up".... Now when you add to that mix a certain CEO who likes to hang out in the hidey holes and encourages the behavior of changing up conversations....this fact simply makes the whole rumor mill get even bigger and BOLDER.
Okay....let's just use this for example.....
a certain person made a thread the other day about respect....
I then made a blog post here that had a couple of comments from her thread and someone else I know also had a conversation with this same person on Twitter.  Now as far as I could see..... there was never any ill will or malice towards this person at all. 
And there-in lies one of the problems as far as I can tell.
Whenever someone says something negative about Zibbet or simply questions things that are or most often are not (happening).... certain people over there in Zibbet land take it all too personally.
No one is out to get them.  But the paranoia seems to have risen higher than the tides.
So the one from the respect thread made some comments about a person bidding on her items elsewhere and blogging about it.  Well... I didn't blog about bidding on her items....but when I checked eBay I searched through my pages of bids and found where I had bid from her shop there.  And since she had stated that someone was blogging.... I thought she may have been talking about me....so I sent her a message on eBay and told her shame on her for ever insinuating that malice was intended (if she was talking about me.) Did not get an answer back... so maybe she wasn't talking about me and didn't have a clue what I was referring to. But it bothered me if she was in fact trying to create drama where there was indeed no drama whatsoever.
And the reason why I considered that she might be some sort of a drama queen fabricator (because I really do not know this person)....
anywhoo she had also stated in her thread that..

Make no mistake, THIS is the kind of behavior that has driven people to silence; the fear of retribution; NOT posts like this one. Take note: I am not the first person this has happened to; I am simply one of many. In November, I watched a very helpful and knowledgeable member of this community get attacked and drug all around the forums (called names, cursed at, etc.) for a completely innocent comment that was twisted beyond recognition. (After all, if you repeat something enough, people believe it, right? Pay attention, because this is the pattern: Twist, attack, repeat...repeat, repeat, repeat...) Not long after that, another member was flat out accused of being a liar because of wanting to start a private group where she could talk openly about health issues and everyday life with her friends, without feeling as though she was under a microscope. I know for a fact that this person had every intention of starting that group, as she and I had discussed it prior to her mentioning it in public. After that attack, she would not open the group. She was attacked via social media, blogs and other website forums until she had to get an attorney involved. In the end, she too left the community and the site. 


Okay..... now maybe there was a big bunch of drama that I might have missed in those forums.  But who was attacked and drug all around those forums and cursed at?  Seems a bit over dramatic to me...but like I said maybe I missed this "drama".

 I would really like to see some proof of the cursing and attacking and dragging tho. I really would.  Because in reality this could very well simply be something that never happened in the first place....perhaps it could be those gossipy gals playing that telephone game of---make something up and pass it on to others but 1st add more to it assumptions "Maybe" "I heard " "I suppose" "someone supposedly said"  kind of carp that they seem to do so well.

Gheez I don't know what the deal is with that stuff ^^^^^^

I do know this.  I know who she is talking about in her second "example"....  and this is what most people who can actually see and read out here in cyberville saw.....

the person talked in that thread about her "personal reasons"  for wanting to start a "private" group.  But the real deal was that the thread was actually started because word on the street had gotten out about how the CEO Andy and the handmaidens were in that private hidey hole plotting and talking about other forum members. That was a fact that had several screen shots long before they made that little hidey hole public for a bit until they realized they hadn't quite purged and cleansed it enough.

But no worries..... the secret was already out and the "private group" thread was started and had nothing to do with the person mentioned above...nor her desire to start a private group to talk privately about her illnesses.   

And this to me is the biggest bunch of carp "speculation rumor" that I saw in the above statement from the person who made the statement above.....she said this....

She was attacked via social media, blogs and other website forums until she had to get an attorney involved. In the end, she too left the community and the site. 

WOW just wow!!!! are you really serious?  Because the last time everyone out here looked..... the person you are talking about actually left Zibbet because she became aware of the fact that the CEO's had knowledge of a certain forum member and what they were doing behind the scenes.... you know the one who was "attacking people" and actually saying mean things?  The CEO's did nothing about this persons' behavior until it became so public that they had to do something to save face....they were given ample opportunity to do the right thing and chose to do their own thing instead until they finally had to do something.  Now that is a fact.

 Take it to the bank F-A-C-T.

The person you are talking about left Zibbet because in her words "Her eyes had been opened"...she was extremely disappointed to learn that this was how they operate....and she left to open up her shop on another venue because she had business ethics that were not being met at Zibbet.  To say that she left because people treated her unfairly is a dirty down right lie. How someone thinks they could spin this situation and make it a whole new story is beyond me.  The person wrote about it in her blog....her posts have had screen shots and shared. Her words are still there on her blog.  She left the venue not because she was attacked.....HELLO?????

She left because she opened her eyes!She stated that "I left because I did not want my business associated with Zibbet"

I myself had never really had much interaction with this individual.  But I really felt sorry for her when she took that stand and at the same time I gave her PROPS!  I sensed how hard that must have been for her to leave that supportive group of friends behind. But she did it because she has morals --- I reached out to her on her blog and ended up purchasing a baby set from her new venue.  Gee....did I spend $60+ dollars out of spite and malice? Nope...I bought from her shop because I was proud of her for not being afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

Oh but now someone can go to the Zibbet forum and make up a whole new chapter?

WJW

now at the end of the day...we as on-line hand made vintage and supply sellers do support sellers on all venues.

Bottom line is that just because we do not support some of the actions from the CEO's or paths that the venues have gone down.... this in no way shape or form means that those of us out here who voice our opinions are trying to hurt individual sellers.  At the end of the day.... we do this in hopes that we are offering our opinions to save others time and money and in the long run actually help them.

Of course this is just my opinion.

Hope ya'll have a fab weekend and Happy Easter to those of ya out there who celebrate this Holiday!