'You don't use your Character/Design Hoader/Price'

I have many characters and designs, roughly 30+ from ones I made myself, some I bought, some I traded, and some given to me. From those I have 'fan made', original, and closed/open species characters. Every single one of my characters have a typed up Bio, proper ref, and own folder on my computer. Every single one is properly 'cared for'. I commission art all the time to 'care' for my characters and support the art community, I draw my characters all the time from doodles at work to drawings privately stored on my computer (I only post roughly half the art I make online), and even if I didn't 'care' for them in this way these characters and designs belong to ME. I can do (almost) whatever I wish with them.

I have gotten a lot of "You are hoarding characters/You don't use your characters!" and "Leave some for the rest of us!"
It's extremely rude to assume someone doesn't care for their character(s) just because they don't have the time or means to draw them every second of every day and even ruder to assume they are a 'hoarder' when they have what people consider 'a lot of characters'. Most of my characters were bought or traded for especially the species ones such as my mantibabs, water dogs, ren fair, sushi dog, etc and at one point everyone in the entire community had an equal chance of acquiring them.

Another common phrase I hear A LOT is "I don't have enough money/You are rich/These characters are too expensive."
I work a full time 40+ hour job, I save my money, and I budget my money. Regardless of your age or situation you are capable of doing the exact same thing to some degree. Art is also a luxury and many artists want some form of payment for their work and creations, which is completely reasonable, and usually that is money. People do not, nor should they be expected, to give out their work, time, and creation without some form of compensation. Many of the characters I and others own that were bought were on commission or for auction for a VERY fair price or starting bid and were available to nearly every single user on this site at one point. People fairly bought or bid to acquire that character and yes, sometimes that price may seem 'high' to others but bottom line is it was offered for a FAIR price to begin with.

Which brings me to my last point.
An artist should NEVER feel guilty that their work is sought out for, demanded, or bought for a good price.
This is THEIR art and as a community built upon ARTISTS shouldn't we support these ARTISTS for doing well with THEIR art?
Shouldn't we be happy they are succeeding and even living off of what they love?

Because that is not what I see half of the time.
In nearly every single Auction or Commission journal I see extremely rude, unwanted, and unnecessary same few comments of:
"This is too expensive/Not worth this much!"
"This design/species is unoriginal!"

Who the hell are YOU to judge what is worth this much and that so and so is unoriginal especially ON THE ARTISTS OWN DEVIATION/JOURNAL?
"Freedom of speech/I'm just giving my opinion/I'm giving critique/It's a public forum!"
None of these statements are any form of an excuse to be a rude asshole which is exactly what you are when you make comments such as these ESPECIALLY if they are not asked for. This has been said a million times but all you have to do is ignore, walk away, or keep it to yourself. When you post comments like this how do you think it makes an artist feel because I guarantee it's not a positive feeling in the least bit.

SO
The entire point to this journal and the bottom line is:
Think before you post because those words mean a lot more than a few pixels on a screen.

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