Another off topic day.

Today I want to talk about my experience with trying to fit in with a new group on Facebook. A group of . . .

As many of you know, I've started selling things that I have mostly thrifted or purchased on sale for some great deals. Vintage, retro, new, clothing, purses, shoes, electronics, toys, anything that I know someone else will enjoy. 

The above photos are just a very small example of what I currently have for sale, or have already sold. 

I love doing this! 

I love finding and saving wonderful things and passing them on to others. And a little extra money never hurts. 😉  

I would love to say I know something about everything I purchase or am looking to purchase. I don't. LOL But, I am learning. There is of course great information online. And I love researching the old school way. Yup. Books!

  

  

And those are just for glass, ceramic, and porcelain items! I have a lot of different ones that I thrifted, of course.

Slightly off topic of the off topic:

Many of you may know I'm a germaphobe. What?! 

How is it that I can thrift, and read used books? Hand sanitizer, and surgical gloves! 😀

Okay, back to the resellers. I follow several of them on YouTube. They do shopping videos of thrift stores, yard sales, estate sales. I have learned so much by watching these videos. They've truly been study aids for me. With all that being said, I don't like some of the reseller/Youtube personalities. A few of them I adored watching and still do. But, the more popular some of them became, the more they became, hmmm, better than thou. This makes me sad, because I use to enjoy watching most of these people.  Now I watch some of them simply for the learning aspect.

Several of these resellers have Facebook groups. They started them to help others to have a place to ask questions. Somewhere to learn and share information. Somewhere for like minded people to talk about what we do.

I've joined a couple. I learn a bit from them as well. A couple of days ago, I submitted a post to one of them. I posted a photo from Marketplace of a suspicious looking piece. The piece itself looked fine, but the way it was marked on the bottom just didn't seem right.

So, I posted the photo and asked if anyone saw what was wrong with it. I didn't say what I saw wrong, because I wanted to see if it popped to anyone else. 

I was flooded with questions and comments like, "Did you research it", "Pull the felt back from the bottom", "I don't get what you're asking". I answered all of them. A couple hours later when I went to answer another, I saw that my commenting rights had been turned off for 72 hours. ?!?!?! Seems like I had broken a rule. 

I messaged the admin who has suspended me, or as I think of it, put me in a time out. She said the reason was because according to the rules, you can't ask for help to purchase an item. You must own the item before you can ask for help. First off, I didn't ask for help purchasing an item. I shared with them an item I felt had been falsely advertised, and I thought it could be a teaching moment. Second of all, why would you have a rule that says you have to purchase the item before you can get help. Wouldn't that be a little late? Seems like her answer to my what-on-earth-did-I-do-wrong question answers that. She informed me that she and others had spent close to 9 hours researching the piece for me. ??? Did they even read my question Cause I really feel they didn't. 

 

So, I replied to her message to me, which contained much more about my rebel post than I have told you, and let her know how mistaken she was about my question, and to set the record straight that I am 54 years old, and know one has a right to put me in a time out. And I told her I would be leaving the group because it was not a place I wanted to be.

All of that leads me to this . . . 

The cozy community rocks! Never ever was I once treated poorly. It's been open arms all the way! And they set a high standard for other groups and/or communities.

How about you? Have you tried joining any other groups centered around other interests of yours? If yes, how did it go? I'd love to hear about it.