"Who's that walking over MY bridge?"

Hello!
This is Trip Trap. It's a papercut design we created at the beginning of last year as part of the fairytale collection. Like it? Well, it's really only here to illustrate part of the reason for this blog post and to include a tenuous link to papercutting.

TROLLS.

This here troll is particularly big, fat, mean and ugly as are trolls of the virtual kind that roam the internet. I am currently experiencing trolls of my own, and have been for a large part of this year. You may have noticed a few on my Facebook page and Instagram threads. Yes, there are a few people who have genuine things to say and they do so with honesty and are pretty delicate because ultimately they aren't idiots, but people with a genuine difference of opinion. These people are not who I'm here to talk about.
There are a group of people currently roaming around our wonderful little crafty community who last year sucessfully managed to close a friends Facebook business for a year after trolling her, her business and her disabled children to the point of breakdown. The police were involved. It was nasty. I know because I stood by her throughout - and now they have turned their attention to me.
Have you seen on some of my posts the people who are in uproar? Commenting on how I ought to be ashamed of myself ? Have I committed a crime? Nope, I swear. I cuss and I make little papercuts that are sweary because they're fun and I enjoy making them and people LOVE them. Someone yesterday posted a photo of me holding my new mug (present from my staff, thanks girls!) with a swear word on it. They created the hashtags #dontshophere and #disgusting proudly announcing that they'll "show people what I'm really like".
This person has a fake account. And a broom handle up their arse.

(Image from jokeallucan.blogspot.com)

I knooow that these are all things that some people may not like, but the complaints are coming from new accounts just created that day and accounts who only have friends who are also trolling me.
I've been reported to eBay and investigated for shill bidding (found innocent). People are buying my pieces and pulling out of the transactions. They are really going for it, the saddo's.
There's even a page that specifically makes up controversial statuses that are directed at me (I can hear them now, outraged saying "it's got nothing to do with PP, WHO does she think she is?!"). They get a lot of backing from people from the papercutting community and their friends because once one person speaks out that I'm overpriced and uncouth then lots of other people (namely a few other start up papercutters that wouldn't know the tax man and what employing people is like, not to mention a little thing called supply and demand) speak up too and thus a hatred of all things PP begins. It feels good to rip it out of the sucessful ones. I know because I call a fast driving Ferarri driver a knobhead when he overtakes near a bend. He's probably a really nice guy and I wouldn't have said anything if he was driving a Ford Cortina.
I know for a fact that these people (or their friends, may I add for legal reasons) are the same ones who are setting up fake accounts and trolling me. It actually gained their page over 1000 'likes' one weekend for people showing them support because they pretended that I bullied them.
All the attention is waaaay cheaper than advertising.
Report them to Facebook? Well, they have fake accounts so there's no point.
Sue them? Yes, that went reeeally well last time. (Big bad Ltd Company sends nasty bully letter, oooh how very dare they!) Facebook uproar in their favour.
Ignore them? Yes, I do try. It's not great for the creative flow, not to mention the black dog. But they won't win and they certainly won't bring me down. They can muster as much support and hatred for me as they like because I still have over a hundred thousand firm supporters and people that genuinely love what I do and love ME and my crazy little corner of Facebook, warts an' all. I still have a wonderful, supportive and loving family and I still have hundreds of orders per day and I contribute to the economy by employing people who like to spend their wages on buying me mugs with swear words on.
So, this post will cause some controversy I guess. It's here for two reasons. The first is to send out a message to people that things are not always what they seem - and to take what they see online with a huge pinch of salt and choose who they support carefully.
It's also to say a big FUCK YOU to the trolls. You won't win and I feel sorry for you that you feel that you have to do this. Your life must be seriously lacking to carry around so much bitterness and jealously for someone that you don't even know. Put your efforts into helping people and working hard instead and you may even find you like yourself a little more.
Follow me on Instagram 'paperpanda1' to get a wee insight into my life and "what I'm really like" hee hee, or Facebook (age rated 18+) 'Paper Panda', the one with the big fat blue tick for *success* ;)

I'm off to have a lovely day, cheerio!
P xxx