Posted by Norm Lanier (15.235.153.98) on May 03, 2005 at 11:10:53:
In Reply to: Thank You Adam posted by Eddie Allen on May 02, 2005 at 15:19:12:
Ok folks I'm sick of this BS. I try to keep my disagreements with Eddie private, unlike Eddie I don't use my web site to publicly attack my competition, my customers deserve better then that. Yeah Eddie lets tell the truth. Poor Eddie, everybody is so mean to him and he's so nice.
Let's go way back to Sept. 2004 when you started using your website and eBay ads to attack me with statements like "Don't be fooled by cheap imitations" "inferior quality" and "Bigger is better". I gave up on using my website as a soapbox for my gripes with him. My customers don't give a dam and I only made myself look bad. He has repeatedly used his customer feedback to attack me
"I just wanted to drop you a note about the competition you mention on your website. I assume you're talking about XXXXXXXXXX.com (Worm's site), and I have to tell you, I don't think you have much to be concerned about. On the sole basis of their offerings, their transformed images, even on the web, are for the most part cartoonish and cheesy. And their small size makes them seem more like a novelty postcard than a quality prop. No one is going to see a little 11X14 picture on the wall and be fooled into thinking it's an antique portrait. (Eddie's Note: I have since added 11x14s because there is a demand for it and they have been selling well. Worm says I copied him by doing this. Funny, I didn't know he invented the 11x14!) It also seems they're having a major problem with some of their images where things should be disappearing, yet they leave a halo that never fully goes away. Much like the problem you encountered with Aunt Bertha. (Eddie's note: She was offered briefly but withdrawn because I felt she never worked properly). The difference it seems, is they're OK with selling these even though they don't really work. I mean, if I can see the halo in a low res video clip, imagine how noticable it must be in person! Plus, on a personal note, I think it's pathetic when a company has so little confidence in their product that they feel the only way to sell it is to put down the competition, as this website (Worm's site) does frequently in their FAQ section. (Eddie's note: I don't want to put anyone down either, but since this guy started it I will defend myself as necessary. If telling the truth is a put-down, then so be it). The portrait I bought from you a few months ago is exactly the opposite of all this. It's the perfect size to pull off the intended illusion and the transformation is unexpected, beautifully realistic and exceptionally smooth. I work in an advertising agency with art directors who are no strangers to (this process), so of course when I hung it in my office they knew how it worked right away. But to a man, every one of them commented on the exceptional clarity, quality and production value of your work. And coming from these people, that's high praise.
(Eddie's Note: I had removed this quote in order to try and be less adversarial, but since Worm has started his sniping again, I am more than happy to repost it for you).
Again I have plenty of customer comments about you also but I choose not to display them because unlike yourself I don't have to make you look bad to feel good about myself.
I really love this one Eddie it shows how really insecure you are. The following is on Eddie's site
"Worm has been sending out e-mails that continually try to bash my product, I figured people should read this. Worm tries to belittle my work by saying that all I've done is "slap" some fangs and glowing eyes on my characters to make them scary."
And here is what was posted in my newsletter about my new Phantom Ship that Eddie is referring to
Let me be honest here, relatively speaking, slapping some fangs on a picture and making the eyes glow is pretty simple. It's also pretty boring. When I was first getting my feet wet doing this sort of art, it's what I did, Mary, The Count and Florence. As I pushed myself my work started to become more complex with complete back stories that added an extra dimension to the characters. Now I've added another dimension to my work by doing Haunted Paintings. Inspired by the Ghost Ship Painting in The Haunted Mansion I am proud to introduce The Phantom Ship.
This statement is about how I have grown in new directions, plane and simple. If Eddie is so insecure as to think this is a personal attack then I cant help it.
Eddie has repeated gone on several boards and attached ads for his site to threads I started about my latest releases. All of these post by Eddie were removed because the moderators agreed that if Eddie wants to advertise his work he should start his own thread, but here's Eddie's spin on it
(Eddie's Note: Those moderators are censorship-happy and they live to suppress the truth. There's no way to have a fair debate on there, so screw it).
There is nothing to debate, if you want to advertise your site then start your own thread.
I've tried to be nice to Eddie and he just won't stop. Here's Eddie's response to an email I sent him suggesting ways he could improve his site. One of the main suggestions I made to him was to post prices on his site and buy it now buttons because there was a lot of confusion about how much they cost. Here's Eddie's response to my e-mail
Hello Norm,
Thanks for taking the time to write me. I agree with you that everyone's criticized everyone enough at this point and that it's best not to get caught up in it. I am removing that coda from my future ads and I hope we can get along and sell to our respective customers in peace. I have since put my prices on my website so there won't be any confusion for my customers.
Thanks for the "olive branch" and the helpful selling tips. I really do appreciate it.
Have a Happy Halloween!
Sincerely,
Eddie Allen
Here's what Eddie currently has posted on his site
(Eddie's Note: How did you ever try to be nice to me? You were a jerk to me from the day you launched your copycat site and lied to everyone about my prices, saying they were higher than they really were. You were never a friend of mine and you never will be. If you ever took business away from me it was only because people didn't know my site existed or because you told them falsehoods about me and/or my product. By the way, I feel very sorry for you. Your portraits are bewilderingly lame and you can't even see it).
I sell my works every day on eBay and my site and yet you won't find one comment about Eddie on either. So how is it that I spread falsehoods about you to get them to buy from me?
Then here is one that I really love, "I also do not think their work is very good and it galls me that they have adopted the black oval matting that I was using first."
Eddie It's called a vignette. A good majority of the photographs from the time period we are ALL working from were shot with a vignette. It's not something you invented. Again this is a fact that you know and yet you choose to try and make an issue out of something that doesn't exist.
Also Eddie briefly had a comment on his website stating that me and another party had persuaded a vendor to drop Hauntedmemories products because we lied about Eddie. The truth of the matter is that Eddie went to this vendor that sold both his and my products and told that vendor to either drop me or Eddie would stop selling to him. Eddie quickly removed this statement from his site when that vendor threatened legal action and Eddie knew it was a lie.
Check out my site www.hauntedportraits.com and look for slams on my competition, or go out to any of the forums and try and find post where I've slammed either Eddie or his work. They don't exist.
I think Eddie does good work and did he inspire me try and do it myself, yes. So Eddie get over the fact that you have competition, there's going to be more. No one is impressed with your childish rants.
Norm Lanier
www.hauntedportraits.com