My rollercoaster week with NFT platforms
The last two weeks in NFT time has felt like 2 years, but that’s a pretty typical feeling in the NFT community. I started in this space in March so it feels like it’s been a decade and like I just started yesterday at the same time.
I learn so much every day and as we all figure this thing out together, things rapidly evolve and change in the space.
One thing that’s been consistent for me is the NFT community. There are ups and downs with it as well, but that’s expected. The community is just people and we’re human. We have feelings, emotions, and are not perfect.
I saw all of that last week when I posted that I got rejected from KnownOrigin on Twitter.
I’m not a robot, I’m human, so I was feeling rejected. It’s not a great feeling, but I’m not new to the feeling.
In fact, it’s something I’m very familiar with, even from a young age, so my brain figured out a way to push through it.
How? Personally, it motivates me.
When you experience rejection from a pre-verbal age from your caretakers, you still need a way to survive, they are your caretakers after all.
In my case, my brain wired itself to basically “light a fire under my ass ” so that I could stay alive.
That has served me well in life beyond survival. When someone tells me I can’t do something, it makes me want to prove them wrong. I usually feel very alone during these times, though. This time I didn’t.
Why? The community support.
I was overwhelmed with the amount of support I got from the community when I posted about my rejection. I wasn’t asking for the support I received, but I didn’t even know I needed it. It’s not something I even knew to ask for.
But, I’m so glad the community was there for me.
Later, I posted that another platform, Makersplace, had extended an invitation and felt like I got raked over coals by KnownOrigin and other members of the community.
Why? Well I’m not entirely sure, but I know KnownOrigin is allowed to feel the way they do.
I know that for me, Makersplace reaching out was a great feeling.
I felt SEEN by Makersplace and honored they saw my raw talent. If you’re not familiar how I got started in this space, read my story here. tl;dr: healing trauma through art and owning my story
However, it was hard for me to focus on that feeling at first after someone tagged the KnownOrigin artist relations manager who called me unsettling for feeling my feelings basically.
The tweet they said led them to making that statement about a member of the NFT community was in another thread. I said I found rage spite motivational, which isn’t untrue and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
But that wasn’t what really upset me, tbh. It was the fact that KnownOrigin kept talking around a Mexican woman and just referring to me as OP on my own thread. KnownOrigin never talked to me or addressed me directly.
When other community members began to call them out though, they didn’t address me, they just took a screenshot.
So KnownOrigin went from rejecting me to attempting to SHAME me for expressing my feelings.
Implicitly, KnownOrigin is also sending a clear message to other artists not to express their disappointment for lack of transparency or frustration that no actual feedback is provided on how they can improve on the next round.
Artists should be able to say they’re upset about a rejection (and NFT platforms should be glad because it means we care) without fear of retaliation from an NFT platform.
KnownOrigin has made it known they don’t want to see that with their actions and inactions.
They want artists to remain professional like their artist relations manager did I guess. Or that’s my assumption since they have yet to actually answer anything or even acknowledge I exist beyond being an “OP.”
It tells me they don’t feel they did anything wrong or are not willing to own their part. We all fuck up and most of us learn from it. I know I realized I could have approached it differently and provided some actionable feedback to KnownOrigin. Whether it’s something they plan to do or not I’m not sure.
One thing I am sure of though is that I’m glad this happened. It showed me who the real supporters are and those just using community as a marketing strategy.
I also found a home on Makersplace who not only made me feel SEEN they made me feel WELCOME.
Next, I leveled up my art and dropped 5 amazing pieces of art on Makersplace.
But wait, there’s more!
Yesterday, Async.art let me know I was accepted to their NFT platform this and will be dropping some next level art soon.
So thank you for rejecting me KnownOrigin.
Part of history. Thankyou for sharing. Platforms behaving poorly will be remembered as such. Well done. <3 congratulations on standing strong and sticking to what’s right. Ps. Your art is amazing.
Thank you so much, Toppy!
Also want to add that while https://knownorigin.io chose to behave poorly, I have had the complete OPPOSITE experience with https://makersplace.com and it really feels like home there. I’ve seen them react to feedback and improve the experience in the short time I’ve been there.
Love this! I honestly have a hard time seeing any benefit in NFTs other than the community and seeing how these “bigger” platforms act just fills me with disgust and a desire to get together with a group of dudes to find these privileged retards. Thanks for sharing your experience, it really helps with remaining aware of what we’re dealing with to make better choices.
Thank you so much!
Oh and I do want to add that https://makersplace.com has been absolutely great. I think they’re a bigger platform looking to do right by the artist and willing to take feedback.