The Facebook debacle & other issues

5 hours ago, Wasabi said:

note: I am talking about recent events, not the bans that were discussed a good ninety pages ago). 

There have been recent bans for negative comments, but not necessarily from comments made in this thread. The original comments this thread debated were Facebook group comments. I can’t recall which incidents made people conclude that Danny was reading and responding to this thread, but there was some correlation between our comments and his responses awhile back. 

To be sure, we aren’t big like Facebook or Instagram, but AFAIK we are the largest vinyl doll forum in the West, and the West seems to be Danny’s primary market. Given that Danny offers people freebies for turning in people who break his rules, I am sure this thread has been repeatedly brought to his attention by his fans. 

AFAIK @QueenAnna is the first example of someone buying a doll, posting in this thread, and then having the order promptly canceled. According to her bank, the transaction cleared, so um… no fraud block. Danny isn’t communicating with her either, so based on the guy’s own well documented pattern of behavior it’s perfectly reasonable to conclude that she is likely banned.

It could be possible that if one doesn't follow his 'how not to be blocked for fraud' instructions impeccably, despite it being perfectly reasonable to not want to do an international bank transfer, he decides that person is 100% fraud, banned forever, wtf. 😕 Even if the money has gone from your card or PayPal, and you're risking paying double for a doll. I don't know where QueenAnna is based, but some Japanese companies I've ordered from are basically 'no PayPal from x/y/z countries'. No idea if this is one of Danny’s hidden rules (like don't mention other dolls on the purity test, never resell your limited dolls, etc etc)

Although if she's in the USA, Japan, or Europe, then it's the thread. 😕

26 minutes ago, Katsudon said:

how not to be blocked for fraud' instructions impeccably

Do you have the link for those instructions?

The basic problem is that her transaction was reversed after posting and not at the moment of the charge. In banking fraud that’s pretty much an eternity, so it’s hard to imagine a fraud system that would allow a transaction and then ask for a do over even 5 minutes afterwards. 

25 minutes ago, Katsudon said:

It could be possible that if one doesn't follow his 'how not to be blocked for fraud' instructions impeccably, despite it being perfectly reasonable to not want to do an international bank transfer, he decides that person is 100% fraud, banned forever, wtf. 😕 Even if the money has gone from your card or PayPal, and you're risking paying double for a doll. I don't know where QueenAnna is based, but some Japanese companies I've ordered from are basically 'no PayPal from x/y/z countries'. No idea if this is one of Danny’s hidden rules (like don't mention other dolls on the purity test, never resell your limited dolls, etc etc)

Although if she's in the USA, Japan, or Europe, then it's the thread. 😕

I’m in the USA, I used to have my location on my profile, but then I changed it 

49 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

Do you have the link for those instructions?

The basic problem is that her transaction was reversed after posting and not at the moment of the charge. In banking fraud that’s pretty much an eternity, so it’s hard to imagine a fraud system that would allow a transaction and then ask for a do over even 5 minutes afterwards. 

Nah I mean that as being one of his hidden rules that gets weaponised to root people out. Like the purity test and junk. It's a test of how compliant someone is. (Edit for clarity: I'm mostly talking about Danny asking for the money by bank transfer, before the ban was proper. It's suspect and looks like a test, because I've never had fraud queries from vendors, only my bank. So it's definitely a Danny problem.) He claims to get so many fraudulent orders, it's astounding! In twenty years of online selling, I've only seen one instance of dodgy behaviour on my co-owned shop. In a likewise niche hobby, I don't find his fraud claims very credible. 😕

I sadly don't doubt being on here would be enough reason to get hit with the Danhammer. Sorry, @QueenAnna 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Katsudon

3 minutes ago, Katsudon said:

Nah I mean that as being one of his hidden rules that gets weaponised to root people out. Like the purity test and junk.

Ok, got it. Sorry, I was thinking maybe he had a guide to placing a proper order or something and we could review it to maybe figure out how to get people around their order issues. As critical as we are in this thread, that doesn’t mean we can’t have other threads to help people get their dolls when the doll they want is a SmD.

I'm curious: It's thrown around a lot that SmDs are primarily bought by parents for young children (in this forum, by DC, on the SmD website, etc). But is there actually any proof of that? I don't think I've ever seen a parent post on forums or social media saying "Buying/bought this doll for my kid!" or "I'm looking to buy this doll for my kid, what are owner's opinions?" or "This expensive doll broke what do I do now?"

I may just be on the wrong social media groups but as far as I can tell any SmD owner I've seen is a teen at youngest or an adult, not the young kids that are on the banners on the Smartdoll website.

 

9 minutes ago, whisski said:

I'm curious: It's thrown around a lot that SmDs are primarily bought by parents for young children (in this forum, by DC, on the SmD website, etc). But is there actually any proof of that?

 

I have never for a moment believed the claims about Smart Dolls being purchased for children to be true. It is possible that some people claim they are buying the dolls for children because they are embarrassed to admit they are buying dolls for themselves.

Newest doll essay is just the NPC meme but unironic. I can't make this stuff up.

I think there are probably some parents buying for kids, but not as many as it's made out to be. 

Although if he keeps banning actual collectors they might end up being the majority. (I just assume he's more lenient on them for reasons.)

14 minutes ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

I just assume he's more lenient on them for reasons.

Parents probably aren’t participating in social media involving their kids toys, and I think most of the drama is around social media. If I understand the history correctly, Danny started out as a vlogger and I get the impression he lives for the social media interaction. 

Yeah, I don't believe parents buying for toddles is a majority. Pre-teens might not have access to their own account so their parents are handling the purchase, and most likely the e-mail "approval survey", so said parent might just fill in how they are purchasing the dolls for their lil-baby.

He does (or did, in the past) give dolls to kids to "stress test". So, you know how it is... A kid got their hands on a cool new toy, their friends will want one too. Snowballing that for a bit. So I think he's managed to rope some in that way.
And that explains the unsettling kid images on the site - "here have a doll, and kindly send back a pic of your kid playing with it!", most likely.

give enough rope.    huh, what an interesting question.   yea, i always wondered that too!    cause i see those banners with lil bitty babies in their lil baby tights   staring up at Mirai   like hi! are you a fairy?!  😄 

1 hour ago, BeyondTime said:

Parents probably aren’t participating in social media involving their kids toys

Oh, you'd be surprised in the American Girl Doll community. There is one woman there who is absolutely unhinged and is constantly doxxing her family.

3 hours ago, apag22 said:

Oh, you'd be surprised in the American Girl Doll community. There is one woman there who is absolutely unhinged and is constantly doxxing her family.

what's the reason for her unhingness? 

Truth be told, on Facebook there are plenty of parents and relatives in general who got smd's for their children, nephews, nieces, etc. 

I personally saw several posts of people who got the dolls for someone else in their family (usually children or teens, never seen this happening for kids before the age of 6).

 

This said, I agree with @Wasabi's comment. The drama is enough already... let's just hope things get better and enjoy the (pretty) dollies, maybe?  

20 hours ago, wishbearstar said:

what's the reason for her unhingness? 

i like.... dont even know where to begin. to start she is hella transphobic and got caught blocking LGBT AGIGers, is constantly putting her family into financial uncertainty because of her AG spending, asked etsy shops to donate clothes to her daughter's 70th doll and got mad when the etsy shops said no.... those are some of the big ones that I think about a lot lmao. She also got caught buying things, playing with them for almost the 2 year warranty AG has, then exchanging it for a new release. The list is so long of the absolutely absurd things she's done that I only have the bandwidth to talk about a few of them. My biggest issue is her daughter is clearly miserable in all the IG posts, but the mom insists that she is happy and loving "staying a little girl in the dolly world (she's 11)

Is it just me or is chaos getting more and more ridiculous? $300 for some lame bundles of cast off products, $300 for an uncut body with no frame, etc. I'm also wondering why their production capacity is suddenly so limited. 

12 minutes ago, magique said:

Is it just me or is chaos getting more and more ridiculous? $300 for some lame bundles of cast off products, $300 for an uncut body with no frame, etc. I'm also wondering why their production capacity is suddenly so limited. 

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone... getting rid of trash and making money at the same time.

Remember the rule about no insults, and it applies to people from other forums / walks of life. 

6 hours ago, apag22 said:

i like.... dont even know where to begin. to start she is hella transphobic and got caught blocking LGBT AGIGers, is constantly putting her family into financial uncertainty because of her AG spending, asked etsy shops to donate clothes to her daughter's 70th doll and got mad when the etsy shops said no.... those are some of the big ones that I think about a lot lmao. She also got caught buying things, playing with them for almost the 2 year warranty AG has, then exchanging it for a new release. The list is so long of the absolutely absurd things she's done that I only have the bandwidth to talk about a few of them. My biggest issue is her daughter is clearly miserable in all the IG posts, but the mom insists that she is happy and loving "staying a little girl in the dolly world (she's 11)

sad, very sad.  

Posting here to ask about a thing posted on tbc, and as tbc is kinda unreliable as hell, I wondered if there was any stock in it. Basically, someone said Smart Doll faceups rub off, particularly the blushing. Has this happened to anyone? Or is this just more debacle?

I'm thinking that if it's a risk, then I'll just pick up an SD sized face protector. Because people don't go outside with their bjds' faces unprotected, so why risk it with my Smart Doll! 🙃

Edit: if it was posted somewhere more reliable I'd dignify that question with a thread of its own. But seeing the fallout from the mold thing on there makes me think this is not necessarily the most reliable of sources. Also I'm guessing it's more likely to effect people who take their dolls out and about, because of the friction of doll-on-bag.

Thanks my lovely wasabis! 😘

(Note for the uninitiated: tbc = true bjd confessions)

Edited August 23, 2021 by Katsudon

2 hours ago, Katsudon said:

I'm thinking that if it's a risk, then I'll just pick up an SD sized face protector. Because people don't go outside with their bjds' faces unprotected

Resins are much more prone to that, to the point that Volks recommends using a face protector when dressing the doll. 

AFAIK it takes more work to get a SmD face up off as compared to a DD. 

Edit: The question might be does the person who reported a face-up rubbing off like to touch the dolls face? That would rub it off for sure given enough contact. From day 1 I knew you never touched the face - thanks to watching YouTube videos about DDs before my first doll Kos-Mos arrived. Some people wanna touch though. 

A lot of folks here have had dolls a long time and not had their faces rub off. 

Kos Mos?

3 hours ago, wishbearstar said:

Kos Mos?

Yes, from the game Xenosaga.  https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/dd/model/ddb-clm-0079.html