Blythe 105 is part 5 of a 5 part series directed towards people who are new to Blythe. In part 5, I talk about the do’s and the do not’s in the Blythe hobby.

—

When you have a hobby that’s primarily women, the cattiness and the claws can come out from time to time. Actually, that’s not fair – not all women are like that (and the hobby is not all just women either). When you have a hobby that’s just full of people, cattiness can occur (from the women or the men involved). While it’s generally a positive, friendly atmosphere, people are human. We’re all human and we all make mistakes, tone and meaning is loss on the internet in text and we draw our own conclusions. That isn’t to say that all people end up drawn into the cattiness of spats, but some people do. Either because they’ve become directly insulted or because they’re friends with someone. Next thing you know, it’s like a part of the movie Mean Girls, only with doll collectors.

Image from sxc.hu user takje.

It can be hard to avoid the drama, and getting sucked into it is so easy. I would recommend to you the following tips of staying out of the drama (and staying out trouble):

• If you’re not directly involved, stay out of it. Yes, it’s great to support friends, but you don’t need to bash someone else to do it.
• If it’s not something that you would feel comfortable saying in from your grandmother (or someone else that you wouldn’t say nasty things in front of), don’t say it at all.
• If it’s something that you wouldn’t want someone to say to you, don’t say it.
• If it’s something that you would not be willing to say to someone’s face (and not hidden behind a monitor), don’t say it.
• Remember that every story has multiple sides: the sides told by the people involved and thetruth.

The internet is so easy for people to misconstrue things, because we don’t get the “full story” out of what someone is saying when it’s just text. It’s different than if we’re able to talk to someone in person – we can see their body language, facial expression, the tone in their words, pauses for emphasis. You lose all of that in text communication and it’s easy to misread sarcasm, a joke, or just simple facts. Always be careful of that when you’re writing something on the internet, and don’t take offensive if someone misreads what you say – simply correct the situation before it gets into a big mess.

And with that, you are now done Blythe 105, which was the last section in this mini-series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions for future mini-series, you can email me or submit a suggestion!

—

Want to learn more?

• Blythe 101: A Guide for Newbies
• Blythe 102: Commonly Used Abbreviations and Words
• Blythe 103: A Guide to Forums
• Blythe 104: Meets and Conventions
• Blythe 105: The Undramatic Class– You’re reading this!