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"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they attack you, then you win."  While it is not clear who first uttered these famous words, they're often attributed to Gandhi.  [11]

I've been reminded of Gandhi's quote recently due to being forwarded two highly derogatory and misleading emails [reprinted below] that were sent to a FASO member by one of our competitors. The emails disappoint me greatly because   they were penned by a competitor who I've always highly respected and, at times, recommended.  In fact, I've always mentioned them when I've been interviewed in national art magazines as a good option for artist websites.

Unfortunately, they've now completely lost my respect and my recommendations.

The upside is that this competitor is definitely not ignoring FASO.  They appear to be caught somewhere between the "ridicule" and "attack" phase in the famous "Gandhi" quote, so it appears  we're on track to win :-).

My reaction to these emails, besides losing all respect I had for this particular competitor, was:  Wow! They really make it sound like FASO has no redeeming value at all.   Fortunately for us, our customer saw right through their falsehoods, and choose FASO anyway.   So while we don't believe in badmouthing our competitors, and we won't do it, we do feel compelled to examine their claims, first to see if they have any merit (they don't) [12], and second, to refute their claims, if necessary, since we don't know who else among our awesome members they have told such things. 

I'm not going to name the competitor, but will instead refer to them as "Company X".  I've republished both emails below.  Since they are spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) [10], we've noted each misleading statement with a footnote reference and the acronym "FUD" in green.  If you care to read our "response" to their claims, simply refer to the footnotes.

Email From the Owner and Founder of Company X to a FASO Member

hi [the FASO member's name], so sorry if I dropped the ball - i will forward this to billing@[company X].com. We will make sure that your site is deleted before the end of the 30 day trial.

I confess that I am also a bit mystified. I know our competitors and I believe we have a superior product - more features, including ecommerce and a degree of customizeability that no one has [FUD - 1] - and pricing that is $XX-YY/month (depending on whether you pay annually). This is less than you are paying [FUD - 2] - and you get traffic to go with it. [FUD - 2]  At FASO, there is only one way for visitors to find your website - through the 'selected' artists alphabetical directory (you are not one the selected artists, as far as I can see).  [FUD 3]

I would be extremely grateful if you could tell me why you have decided not to go with [Company X].  And if you change your mind, we will help get your [company X] site up asap.

I like your work and, if we need to do more to keep you, we will.

From a customer support person at Company X to a FASO Member

Are you paying for that site?  You must be aware that [Company X] charges a LOT less than FASO [FUD 1] and does a lot more [FUD 4]?  There is no comparison. Their websites are 10 years old and look it! [FUD 5] FASO does not even have search engines for visitors to FASO to find your site. [FUD 6]

You can use your domain name for your [Company x] site if that is your wish, just email FASO and tell them you want control of your domain.They cannot hold your domain hostage [FUD 7].

[FUD 8 Begins]
BTW, re the competitions they sponsor, you might like to read this item, http://www.[company x].com/newsletter/[rest of url]

[The actual url in the email linked to a page on Company X's website that said this:  

Online Art Competitions – Are they worth it?

Be careful where you exhibit your work. Look at where it is showing, who is looking at it and who is judging it. Having your artwork in an online exhibition can be a useless exercise or worse. It does not enhance your profile as a professional artist if the competition is essentially without real value or bogus.. A competition might be defined as without real value if it exists principally to generate income for the website sponsoring it. This can be in the form of an entry fee or some other fee which is justified by “free” entry to the competition. Be particularly careful if the artwork is seen almost solely by other participating artists. Ideally the website sponsoring the competition will be recognized as a serious art portal and will have visitors that are collectors and others interested in contemporary artwork in addition to artist traffic.]  [FUD 8 Ends]

OK, I don't want to sound desperate! [9]  I do wish you the best of luck. I will ask you to email billing to cancel, billing@[company X].com

[END OF REPUBLISHED EMAILS]

I'll leave our readers to draw their own conclusions.  As for us, at FASO, we're looking forward to the next phase where we win. :-)

Sincerely,

Clint Watson

FASO Founder, Software Craftsman, Art Fanatic

***********

Footnotes

[1]  FALSE CLAIM: FASO IS LESS CUSTOMIZABLE

QUOTE: The owner seemed to imply that FASO is not as customizable as his service claiming "a degree of customizeability that no one has."

Truth: FASO sites are completely customizable. If you want a from-the-ground-up completely custom design we'll put you in touch with a designer who knows our system and can design whatever you want. For minor customization, our staff can apply them for you, usually at no charge.

[2] FALSE CLAIM:  FASO is More Expensive

QUOTE: "You must be aware that [Company X] charges a LOT less than FASO and does a lot more?"

TRUTH:  It depends on the plan.  We have many plans and our cheapest plan is cheaper than their cheapest plan.  So we could make the same claim, but I wouldn't because our services are not exactly the same thing.  Our plans include many things theirs don't and, I assume, visa-versa.

[3] FALSE CLAIM: FASO Doesn't Have any way to direct traffic to your site

QUOTE: " At FASO, there is only one way for visitors to find your website - through the 'selected' artists alphabetical directory "

TRUTH: The directory is not just selected artists, only the first page of it. (Same on Company X's page by the way). If you click on any letter you can drill down and see every single artist member we have. And people do that too.  But that's not the only way, we also have the FASO Daily Art Show which sends traffic to member sites and is emailed to over 33,500 people every  day. We have a search box on our site. We have the FASO Featured Artists series of blog posts.  We feature BoldBrush Competition Winners in Informed Collector.  We share FASO members' art on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. Now maybe our competitor didn't know all these things. That's why you don't badmouth your competitor, it can make you look ignorant.

[4] FALSE CLAIM:  FASO Does Less Than We Do

QUOTE:  "You must be aware that [Company X] charges a LOT less than FASO and does a lot more?"

TRUTH:  Again it depends.  We do many things they don't do, they do things we don't do.  It's a strawman argument.  The real question is do we do what YOU want and need?  If so, go with us.  If not, go with the company that does.  And, before seeing these emails, I would have been happy to recommend Company X to you if they offered what you needed.

[5] FALSE CLAIM:  FASO Only has 10 year old templates

QUOTE:  "Their websites are 10 years old and look it!"

TRUTH:  Um, we just released html5 templates designed in 2012 like this one, we have two more new templates designed and about to be released, and we have developed a schedule to release new designs monthly starting in 2013.  We also have designs from 2010 and 2011 which many of our clients use and are certainly not 10 years old.   Our sites are also all responsive and mobile-ready. It is true however, that if we have a client who LIKES their old template, we don't force them to use something else.  I know plenty of clients who have been selling art for 10 years from the same template and are doing very well, thank you very much.  We'll support whatever helps you sell art.  "Old" doesn't always mean "bad."  

[6] CLAIM:  FASO Doesn't Have a Search Feature

QUOTE:  " FASO does not even have search engines for visitors to FASO to find your site"

TRUTH:  Umm, yes, we do.  It's located on the upper right (the normal position for most sites) of our home page and has been there for years.  This is just flat out wrong and one look at our home page would have corrected their misconception.  Here's an example search for Kevin Macpherson:  http://faso.com/search/?q=kevin+macpherson

[7] CLAIM:  An Implication that FASO would Hold Your Domain Name Hostage

QUOTE:  "email FASO and tell them you want control of your domain.They cannot hold your domain hostage."

TRUTH:  Well technically this one is true, we can't hold your domain name hostage. It's just misleading and trying to spread more FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).  We have NEVER held anyone's domain "hostage", and we never will.  There's no evidence that we ever did or ever would.  We are a domain registrar and host many domains (even many for sites that aren't hosted with us) and have some awesome features if you'd like to join our Managed Domain Plan and keep your art site elsewhere.  But the implication that we would "hold it hostage" was just unnecessary and thrown into the email simply to imply that we might try.  We won't, don't worry.

[8] CLAIM:  Implication that the BoldBrush Contest (and possibly other contests we host) is "a useless exercise or worse"

QUOTE:  "the competitions they sponsor, you might like to read this item, [a link to a url on Company X's site which says among other things:] "Having your artwork in an online exhibition can be a useless exercise or worse."

TRUTH:  They mention our contest and then link to their own website (as if linking to some authoritative source) where they published some FUD that they, themselves wrote.  They discuss being careful about contests that exist only to make money for the contest owners, or that don't have art collector traffic, or that don't provide any real prizes or good exposure for the entrants, or that are only seen by the entrants.  Fortunately the BoldBrush Art Contest doesn't exist to make us money (All entry fees go to prize money and judging fees and a few expenses, we sometimes even don't break even, we do it because Sharing Art Enriches Life), we do have great collector traffic, we offer great cash and non-cash prizes, we've attracted many world-class judges such as Jeremy Lipking, Kevin Macpherson, and Eric Rhoads (publisher of Plein Air Magazine).  It's a fantastic contest.  Since they mention the "competitions they sponsor", I should also point out that we host and sometimes sponsor two other contests:  The Oil Painters of America (OPA) Associate Showcase, and the Raymar Art Fine Art Competition.  Surely they were not implying those were not legitimate art contests.  But again, if you don't research things before you make claims......it can lead making ignorant or false claims.

[9]  It does sound desperate.

[10]  "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" (FUD) is a term used often in the software world.  It gained prominence in the late 90's when Microsoft was accused of spreading FUD surrounding the use of open source on servers, specifically, they appeared to be attempting to make people afraid to use Linux.  Obviously, their FUD didn't work.

[11]  Hat tip to Optimizely for giving me the idea for the "angle" from which to approach this topic.

[12]  The reason the FASO member shared the emails with me is that I  respected the competitor and thought that their "critique" of FASO might bring up valid areas of weakness, that we could address, fix and make stronger.  I was shocked and surprised to find nothing but a slam-fest.