The Facebook debacle & other issues

7 hours ago, Moonsour said:

HIPAA wouldn't apply because it's impossible to volunteer your own medical information without your permission, and also Danny is not a healthcare provider.

I was thinking more if Danny was collecting and storing formal proof that someone has a specific medical condition.

Just so it’s clear, my point was I doubt he is. 

Edit: Had a chance to go back and check. You are correct that he’d have to be a provider for that law to apply, so if you did provide confidential medical information to him HIPAA wouldn’t protect you.

4 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I was thinking more if Danny was collecting and storing formal proof that someone has a specific medical condition.

Just so it’s clear, my point was I doubt he is. 

okay i re- read the blurb in insulin pump section on smartiedoll.jp    and it says something about leavin a diabete's story in the note w/ order. 

19 minutes ago, DollyDearest said:

okay i re- read the blurb in insulin pump section on smartiedoll.jp    and it says something about leavin a diabete's story in the note w/ order.

Yeah, I doubt that would run afoul of any medical privacy laws. 

I know I said in my introduction post that I sold my Dollfie Dream, but I sold her because I couldn’t bond with her and I stained her by accident then I got obsessed with Smart Dolls lol.

There are times where I want to sell my Smart Dolls and switch to a different vinyl company like Volks or Obitsu, but then I start to like Smart Dolls again. I don’t really like the smooth busts and the flat faces.

I wish Danny would bring back the headlights busts. I kinda want to hybrid my smart dolls and put Dollfie Dream heads on them because I like that they don’t have flat faces like a pancake lol.

Also when Danny announced he was releasing those prototypes again, I was kinda annoyed because I thought he was done selling those. I mean I could literally buy the same doll and copy the faceup so it’s not even worth the $850+ Also I don’t like that he bans people for no reason and he only likes the people who have been spending a lot of money, it’s like he doesn’t want new buyers.

I just wish he was like a regular ceo and not so involved in the company like when I look at my girls, I can’t help thinking of him, it’s more about him than the dolls in my opinion.

On 12/16/2021 at 5:51 AM, bubblysoda said:

I just wish he was like a regular ceo and not so involved in the company like when I look at my girls, I can’t help thinking of him, it’s more about him than the dolls in my opinion.

Honestly, this is my issue. There's a Smart Doll I've been pining for for a while (and I'm not going to list it here in case I decide to pull the trigger someday), but I just can't make myself separate the art from the (over-involved) artist. At least, not enough to drop half a grand on it when I know the kinds of things he has said and done over the years. It's sad! I'm a fan of a lot of collectors and creators who focus primarily or exclusively on Smart Dolls, and it's a shame that I can't bring myself to be a part of it, you know?

Looks like DC's banhammer struck again. He'd announced about giving those cochlear implants away for deaf customers, but a deaf customer reported on a FB group that she'd actually told him that the implants are really very negative in the deaf community because there are a lot of issues with them and they don't work that well, etc...

And he actually blocked her and most likely banned her from the site.

I mean.

Damn.

The NERVE of that guy. Talk about going off on a power trip. There are sooooo many choice words against him I'd like to spew right now...

I saw the post in question where that user was talking about it. (A screenshot of it, anyway). If that user is ok with it, I think it would be worth posting here to have the incident in their words. I found it all very disappointing. Now…I’m not even going to pretend I know a lot about the deaf community, so I don’t want to act like I’m speaking for them. But even with what little I do know, I’m aware that there is a degree of controversy surrounding cochlear implants. If even I know this, I’m surprised he wouldn’t have done a little more research…? I’m very surprised there doesn’t seem to be much input from the deaf community on this item. This came up in a discussion with some friends about it, but it definitely seems more like he isn’t actually making these for the people they represent compared to people interested in the ‘aesthetic’ of the disability. I also can’t help but wonder if him favouring the cochlear implant over a hearing aid has less to do with representation and more to do with him thinking they looked more ‘cool’ and cybernetic, which is a bit…hmm. 😕

I’m really curious to know the opinions of other people in the deaf community about this. I didn’t see what the person in question said to him and whether or not they were truly rude (although tbh it seems like anything other than grovelling is rude to Danny-sama, despite how much he likes to go on about treating customers as equal to him) but it’s disappointing that it couldn’t have become a legitimate dialogue and they just got swatted away instead… Even if he had replied ‘that’s not what I heard from the customers with cochlear implants’. It just feels like ‘your experience with your disability doesn’t align with what I’m trying to market, so go away.’ I doubt it’s the last incident like this we’ll see.

edit: It does kinda irritate me that both he and most of the commenters and even the supportive message he shows from someone happy to receive one, seem to use ‘hearing aid’ and ‘cochlear implant’ interchangeably when they aren’t the same thing, with one definitely much more controversial than the other… I think this is another instant of him being well-meaning (nothing wrong with that) but reacting poorly to critique (lots wrong with that), but it’s worse than usual when it’s critique coming from one of the people he’s supposed to be representing and showing support of with this item.(tons wrong with that)

Edited December 30, 2021 by Monty

This. His behavior just makes it seem like he’s only “supporting” these communities because it makes HIM look good, not because he actually cares about any of it. If his sudden interest isn’t 99% self-serving, I’d be really surprised. 

My first thought was that he's written that customer mail himself. I have no proof or anything like that.
But the way it's written and his track-record, it is my view of him. And that's just sad

Just wow, DC.   "nuff" "said"

I'm not going to assume he wrote the email himself, but one thing which seems obvious is that he shared it now as a response to the fan who wasn't happy and to deflect whatever potential criticism he could get based on that. Seems kind of bad to respond to criticism from one member of a community with an implicit "the REST of your community likes it just fine, look, this one is crying with happiness because of me! you should be too," but idk

5 hours ago, Monty said:

But even with what little I do know, I’m aware that there is a degree of controversy surrounding cochlear implants. If even I know this, I’m surprised he wouldn’t have done a little more research…? I’m very surprised there doesn’t seem to be much input from the deaf community on this item.

I looked it up, and at least based on what Wikipedia is saying I’d be surprised if the community spoke up. Even if we don’t agree with someone’s decision to undergo a medical procedure, I believe the overwhelming majority of people recognize medical decisions as personal and that they belong to the individual in question and not with a collective.

@BeyondTime, I urge everyone who is curious on this matter (why these implants are controversial), to please read this short bit, https://www.startasl.com/cochlear-implants/ or a bit longer, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6913847/ . I was going to try to summarize it myself, but I think it's better to just link a resource instead. It's not a long read, and even skimming will illustrate the controversy surrounding these devices and just emphasize how if Danny knew anything about these implants, which at least in his post he knows the technicals, how did he miss all this ?

Edit: Forgot to mention, and the link features this but: another great source of controversy is that these devices cannot be removed, unlike a hearing aid. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by dunceclown
Forgot to mention a large source of controversy

2 hours ago, dunceclown said:

 

@BeyondTime, I urge everyone who is curious on this matter (why these implants are controversial), to please read this short bit

I got as much from the Wikipedia article, and read a bit about how the devices work, plus about a similar type of hearing implant that attaches directly to the brain stem. Needless to say the latter aren’t opted for very frequently. 

My point was couched in very broad terms in order to avoid getting into points that would break the forum’s no politics rule. It’s perfectly fine to discuss the controversy as it relates to SmartDoll, but I wanted to avoid opening a debate on the controversy regarding the implants itself.

8 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

I got as much from the Wikipedia article, and read a bit about how the devices work, plus about a similar type of hearing implant that attaches directly to the brain stem. Needless to say the latter aren’t opted for very frequently. 

My point was couched in very broad terms in order to avoid getting into points that would break the forum’s no politics rule. It’s perfectly fine to discuss the controversy as it relates to SmartDoll, but I wanted to avoid opening a debate on the controversy regarding the implants itself.

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to make it political! I just thought that it was a good idea to include resources written by members of the deaf community for those who weren't familiar. I'm sorry if my response came off as rude!

Edited December 31, 2021 by dunceclown

4 hours ago, dunceclown said:

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to make it political! I just thought that it was a good idea to include resources written by members of the deaf community for those who weren't familiar. I'm sorry if my response came off as rude!

It didn’t, I was simply explaining where I was coming from in my earlier post.

I know/knew a few deaf people and if there's one thing about the deaf community which is clear quite quickly, it's that it's not a monolith. Mostly for that reason, I think it's crappy that the poster got banned. 😕 

I may be a little grumpy because my life is an accessibility nightmare, and I'm very tired of dealing with people who don't understand my disability right now.

On 1/1/2022 at 6:44 AM, Katsudon said:

I know/knew a few deaf people and if there's one thing about the deaf community which is clear quite quickly, it's that it's not a monolith. Mostly for that reason, I think it's crappy that the poster got banned. 😕 

I may be a little grumpy because my life is an accessibility nightmare, and I'm very tired of dealing with people who don't understand my disability right now.

Exactly, the fact any given community isn’t a monolith is why I feel that Instagram post by him which seemed to be implying “um the deaf community ACTUALLY loves what I’ve done”, when its timing means it was a response to another deaf buyer having some negative feedback, seems the opposite of a conscientious response.

My own silly mistake. My apologies.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Mandie
correcting my mistake

2 hours ago, Mandie said:

While she might be busy, I'm sad that she never responded to the claim that accounts are deleted after a year of inactivity. I purchased one item all the way back in 2018 a year before I ordered a Smart Doll from her and then more than a year of time went by when I made my last order. I could have sworn I had logged in last year at some point to look at something in my account too and it was still there at the time.

 

Well, it's a plausible site policy, but... you must write somewhere on the site rules/conditions/etc that a customer's account will be deleted after a year of inactivity and I have found no trace of this rule anywhere on the site.

26 minutes ago, Testament said:

 

Well, it's a plausible site policy, but... you must write somewhere on the site rules/conditions/etc that a customer's account will be deleted after a year of inactivity and I have found no trace of this rule anywhere on the site.

 Neither did I, and I searched for it after Iris responded to me the one time.

My last order with fabricfriendsanddolls were around 2019 and my account is also gone. So while I do think it's weird for accounts to be deleted from the database so soon that way, I don't think it has anything to do with being banned from CultureJapan. Maybe someone with expertise with website and database know-how can speak up.

I do not think it has anything to do with Danny. I think it is just website issues.  I have bought a number of different things from FFD and I have had problems logging in a number of times and have had to reregister more than once. It is like the system just never kept my information for very long.  I am not sure what the problem is, but it is not just you thankfully.  I would be very sad and disappointed if Iris gave in to something like DC’s ban list. I think it would be illegal in the US anyway.  Much of the stuff he pulls he would never get away with here.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Misheru

1 minute ago, Misheru said:

I do not think it has anything to do with Danny. I think it is just website issues.  I have bought a number of different things from FFF and I have had problems logging in a number of times and have had to reregister more than once. It is like the system just never kept my information for very long.  I am not sure what the problem is, but it is not just you thankfully.  I would be very sad and disappointed if Iris gave in to something like DC’s ban list. I think it would be illegal in the US anyway.  Much of the stuff he pulls he would never get away with here.

Lawd i hope so. 

There's definitely some issue with their website. Every time I log in after being auto logged out the site tells me it has no record of my account.  I have to re-register and I get a whole new email welcoming me to FF&D.  I keep meaning to ask them about it.  Wasn't sure if it was just me - something with my browser, etc., but it looks like it's not just me.