Hey everyone.
I hope you guys haven't missed me too much. LOL
I've kept intouch with a couple of you, and thought to come back to the site on a casual note.
I always LOVED seeing your retouched versions of me, and always LOVED complementing you guys :)
So I thought I would return.
But before I go any further I would like to thank everyone who helped out on my Women's Studies project. We presented our work in a power point presentation and our final grade was 97%!
WOOT WOOT!!!
We really weren't after a killer grade, but to have the time to drill home how the media is infact selling an image to adolescent girls.
RetouchPRO's retouchers, and the media and SOOOooo different.
There's a difference between skills and talents, and stupidness and false hopes.
RetouchPRO is an amazing site, and if anyone has a second to practice their skills I would be thrilled to see your work on any photos I post.
I also have access to a new Digital camera. (What do you think of the quality)
I personally love how for once my eyes aren't stupid BROWN and that you can tell the true colours :)
IF you would like a larger version than what I have posted you can e-mail me at Jillian_Weedmark@hotmail.com
Thanks guys and have fun;
Jillian

Photos:

Photo #1 (http://img02.picoodle.com/img/img02/7/1/13/f_013i_6027m_7b45b563.jpg) This is a close up. I have yet to figure out how to work the timer... something farther away will come soon. I figured I'd get you guys warmed up a bit :grin:

88 views, no feedback.
Are these okay photos to work with?

You should probably use better titles than Jillian's thread every time ;)
...and say what you actually want from the thread.

Forgive me if this sounds cynical.
I would seem that you want the people here to do some more work for you.
This is a learning forum, we are quite happy to help you with pictures if you require assistance with styles etc. but not to do all the work for you.
Why did you remove all your pictures when you had finished with us?
No one else had the chance to look at them or even give their own interpretations.
I for one will not be working on your pictures.

Peter

1) A different title - what couldn't be more simple
2) I am learning how to do thing myself - thank you
3) Learning from you on what you did to the photos that I have would create guidelines
4) Privacy: The Girls in my WISE (Women's Studies Class) didn't want their photos up, Ben and my photos were personal (someone made a comment that was very out line) making me think that taking off the remaining photos would me smart.
5) This wasn't meant to make anyone upset. One person ruined it for the rest, and that's how it goes in life.
6) I'm sorry that you got this impression from me.
7) For those of you that don't see me as (using her own words) some demanding photo w***e than I would love if you could help me learn the techniques there are.

I just took two photos and thought that the bigger the better.
I would love to see what you can do, and see whether I can reach the same techniques you have. I'd like to keep things natural looking, but that's never been a problem.

I'm sad to have this type of welcome back... but really I guess I was asking for it not explaining myself.
Peter you're an awesome and talented person, and I'm sorry that you've felt this way for a while now, my appologies.
Jillian

if you are "learning" why don't you post a pic that you've worked on to show us how much you've learned :grin:

If you don't want to practice on the pictures then feel free not to
And I will be learning through other forms. I don't have the program right now, and I don't have any knowledge on this topic.

For those who would like to practice themselves, please feel free.
I would love to know what tools you used as this will be very helpful to me, and other users. I will be keeping everyone's photos up :nod:

For those who think this is a fighting match, bugger off! I've appologized, now let's move on.

This picture is better quality than the others you had posted. The camera phones just don't give a person much to work with.

If you want to learn, then I'd suggest finding a good college class (I assume you are in college). You will get the benefit of an instructor, hands on experience, and a wealth of tutorials to experiment with. You know the old adage, take one FUN class every semester to stay sane. Try it. You might like it.

Janet

Classes are a good idea.
But I don't learn from instructions. I teach myself.
Some of the more talented people in the world have taken the time (and the longer way) and taught themselves. I am not in school as I am rather ill. This week was my first time home in quiet some time. The rest of my time I was in IC or at the doctors office.
Thanks though for your suggestions, but I'm bed ridden for a while.

welcome back, jillian :)

first off, if you EVER receive ANY abusive, invalidative, snide, or offensive remarks, private messages or emails as a result of being on this site, then report it immediately to a moderator or to doug nelson. that sort of behavior is NOT conducive to the friendly, helpful environment we attempt to maintain here. dont EVER let those go. ALWAYS report them!

second, it is the policy of this site, as stated in the FAQs, to not do freebies. however, there is nothing that says you cant donate an image to one of the challenges or to the art forum for others to work on. it was one of the reasons i suggested to you before that you place your image(s) in the art forum. basically, it's a sort of gift that others may choose to work on or not.

and third, i too was a bit surprised you took all of your pictures down, especially the ones of yourself. i found this out when working on one of you for the art forum and went to post it and there was no longer any thread. a shame. i was rather pleased with the work and no thread :) i do understand removing the others. so, thank you for letting us know about that.

and fourth, i enjoyed working on your images, freebie or not, and i hope you post more. but in light of all that's occurred, you might try the challenge forums or the art forums as being a little more in line with the site policies, at least until such time as you are actively working on the images yourself.

and fifth, lighten up, folks :) many of us enjoyed working on jililan's images. her engaging, vivacious, and energetic spirit were quite enjoyable to many. and her payment was always a warm remark or joyous 'wow!'. to me, that's often payment enough :)

so, welcome back, jillian :)

Congrats on the 97% for your Women's Studies Project

Generically speaking, I did the following:

1. Pincushion distortion added to undo the barrel distortion look from such a close perspective.
2. Used shadow/highlight tool to bring up the shadows slightly (I like portraits with a little less contrast).
3. Curve that is slightly pushed down near the highlights to make them a bit less harsh and bring out textures there.
4. Some of the degrunge method followed by some healing to smooth the skin
5. Boost saturation of the eyes and hair
6. As is typical with many brands of P&S cameras (Canon comes to mind), the shadows lose all color information, so I copied/pasted the left eye onto the right eye and adjusted brightness to sort of match.
7. Color balance to warm things up a bit--also could use a warming photo filter.
8. Added a levels adj layer with multiply blend mode. Applied a radial gradient mask to darken the edges softly--brings more attention to the subject.

Bart

Craig:
Good morning Craig!
Thank you for posting here. It really started my day off with a bit more hope for this site. As far as the comments (from before) I just let them roll of my back. But, if they occur again, I won't let them slide.
I remembered this site as a positive and constructive site, and due to this I returned. Though things started off with a bump I have recieved LOTS of help (Kerry and Bart thank you both!). Getting back on my feet will take some time, so I thought to discover the world of retouching photos.
What program would you suggest I look into. As a beginner I'm not ready to purchase an expensive program. Just something to dip my toes in. I have a photoshop CD somewhere. It's about 2 years old and that should work. I never knew what all the honking buttons where. So perhaps today I will search for that CD and follow up with some questions on here later.
I will look into the art forum as I don't want to come off as wanting freebies.
Helping others with their skills, and aquiring (sp?) some myself is the whole point behind this.
Cassidy:
Thanks! We really worked down to the last second to make sure everything was running smoothly. And our message, and everyone's help made that 97% come true!
Bart:
Thanks for your addition to this thread. Your step by step instructions will be extremely helpful onces I get some sort of program running. What program did you use. And the photo itself is amazing! After reading what you did I can appreciate every step you did. Some suggestions for another photo would be great. I'm not handy with the camera really (it's new and has far too many buttons).
Everyone:
If there is a photo that you thought was perfect for retouching based on the lighting and the quality I would be pleased as punch if you could add the link to this site and I can attempt to get the same quality photo.
If anyone would like to practice further please don't hesitate. I always check the site for updates, mine and others. So it's up to you.

Jillian

Jillian, if you have a 2 yo photoshop, then that's pretty current, maybe do a bit of searching on the web for help and instructions, also consult the help file. Don't know if there is still a free 24 hour access to www.lynda.com (online progressive video tutorials), but that is worth a try once you get a program installed to have a play with. Some handy video tutorials can be found at http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
These are mainly photoshop oriented

New motivation to find that darn CD!
Thanks for your direction I'll be sure you get back to you on my progress
Misson: Find la CD

Jillian
Craig has given you some sound advice, have a look through some of the threads in the art forum there are some excellent ones there and should you post some photo's there you will get some great and interesting results, ( sometimes not always what you would expect)
I was also going to add while recuperrating you could have a bash at using some software find your old cd out and load it, or i believe Gimp is a free download ( ikroll is the expert on that one and he is very helpful) the time will fly for you then and you will have had fun into the bargain.
Also could i put a different take on what has been said previously Jillian may not have posted any "attempts" but if i remember rightly she commented on everything anyone done ( not many of us can say that ) and as she is not familiar with any of the techniques that may be a unbiased opinion ? seen from a different angle !
Ultimately the choice is ours to have a go at a photo or not
well i have chose to, just messing around with cspringers illustrated look again might get there one day :nod:
Jillian i think it happened before as well as now have messed around with the amount of beauty spots sorry

Palms

On the ... spot
Hey! This is a great version of the photo. I love how you kept the texture of the sweater I was wearing rough, and then smoothed out my face. I look like a diva! (That's a good need no need to fret)
I was actually made aware of GIMP 5 minutes ago and am all over the downloading process like a dirty shirt.
Art forum:
I'm starting slow in that section and just posted to see if anyone would be interested in playing around with some photos and so on. I think it would be a great learning experience and it's a blast to mess around with photos. I mean, hello! I've been playing in PAINT BRUSH all this time! That takes pactience and talent folks!
Anyways! I'm off to d/l some fun.
I'll be back on later inquiring about GIMP and what button does what :D
Thanks you guys! This day is so much better that yesterday!
Jillian

I don't know if you deserved the cold welcome you received or not but I will add my work here for now. I use Photoshop's Elements 2 so you don't need the latest and greatest from Adobe to make some great images. And the addition of two free plug-ins Impressionist and optic Verve Labs -Virtual Photographer greatly expand photoshops abilities.

Jillian, most of us all learned on our own, with some seminars or classes along the way, but you can't learn without DOING. Reading how someone here did something, or reading a tutorial (there are many of them on this website and all over the internet) doesn't help you learn until you actually open up a program and start practicing it yourself.

That only makes sense... I did mention that I'm downloading a could programs at the moment and moment's away from DOING!! Hold me BACK!

On the ... spot
Hey! This is a great version of the photo. I love how you kept the texture of the sweater I was wearing rough, and then smoothed out my face. Jillian

Thank you Jillian
i am another one who has learnt by "doing" and the best learning curve is right here on retouch, loads to read and believe it or not loads of people who will help you out with the even the silliest of questions

hope you enjoy gimp

Palms

Hi Jillian,

It's good to hear from you. I'm thrilled that your group presentation went to so well. Hope you feel better soon.

I'm among the many that have learned practically everything from RetouchPRO. Also took a few classes in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro from www.lvsonline.com to learn the mechanics of the programs.

Lorraine

A moment of everyones time to recognize the effort and hard freaking work that goes into retouching photos.
Last night I downloaded Gimp - I think I only have 8 more days of the free trail - and I SUCK! Horrible! I have no clue what I'm doing and am extremely unmotivated. :(
Practice makes perfect I guess....

No practice makes better, lots and lots and lots and lots of practice makes near perfect. ;) :nod:

There's a game some of us play here occasionaly it is called "what if" translated it means "what happens if i press this button or move this slider this way, or combine these layers " just have fun see what you can do using the "what if " method you learn loads that way even if it is just finding your way around your software

Palms

A moment of everyones time to recognize the effort and hard freaking work that goes into retouching photos.
Last night I downloaded Gimp - I think I only have 8 more days of the free trail - and I SUCK! Horrible! I have no clue what I'm doing and am extremely unmotivated. :(
Practice makes perfect I guess....

Could you show us which website you downloaded it from Jillian because GIMP software is free and if there is a website charging for it, they should be reported.

I went to download.com and typed in GIMP I had to download to things to make the program run..... well see what happens.

>>>>>>I think I only have 8 more days of the free trail

Sounds fishy to me.

Where's the Photoshop CD?

Adobe.com - you can download any of their products for a full month, full version.

I think JW is playing everybody like a violin.

Very Fishy.

On the 22/11/06 in the Women's Studies Thread Gillian Wrote

Blown out of the water!
Hey guys - the whole group is here and we just want to thank each and everyone of you for helping us and taking the time to work on this project!
We will be still looking on here for any other submissions as we don't present until DECEMBER FIRST (1st). But - as it stands right now your photos have made a great presentation and we have you guys to thank for it!!!!
You work is amazing and the time that you've taken from your days has gone to a great cause. We will post our final mark on here as soon as we get it.
Thanks,
Jillian, Jenny, Amanda, Anne, and Amanda
__________________
Jillian

source
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:8KRKyHO4GqoJ:www.retouchpro.com/forums/139686-post77.html+Jillianweedmark&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=26


In post 5 in this thread Gillian Wrote

4) Privacy: The Girls in my WISE (Women's Studies Class) didn't want their photos up, Ben and my photos were personal (someone made a comment that was very out line) making me think that taking off the remaining photos would me smart.


But one of the photographs is still on the net here

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4162/jennyhps0.jpg


Ken. :confused:

A moment of everyones time to recognize the effort and hard freaking work that goes into retouching photos.
Last night I downloaded Gimp - I think I only have 8 more days of the free trail - and I SUCK! Horrible! I have no clue what I'm doing and am extremely unmotivated. :(
Practice makes perfect I guess....

Jillian -- everything is hard at the beginning when we don't know how to do it.
The only things that are easy to do are the things we've already learned how to do well. You have no need to learn to do retouching or to learn GIMP or Photoshop -- if you want to stop before you try and go do other things instead, that's completely up to you -- you know where your interests lie. If there's a reason that you want to learn to work with photos, then just take some time and start to learn one thing at a time with the program. When you start learning it and knowing how to do that, move on to a second thing. It's just like everything else you've learned to do in your life -- it's hard at the beginning and gets easier -- when it gets easier, it gets to be even more fun.

Oh, and GIMP from download.com is free -- no trial period.

CJ Swartz:
Well, the reason I felt I should start retouching is because I didn't want to come off as just wanting to see photos being retouched.
I love commenting on the photos (the ones I share and others) that's where my passion is.
I will sit down with anything and learn how to do it - even if my heart isn't in it 100%. Because, I feel with time, my heart will follow my actions (if you will) and I will produce at 100%.
But for now, I'm at -100% lol and just starting to love retouching.
Until then, I will try and provide photos to comment on, and oggel over :)
Take care everyone and thanks for your wise words CJ Swartz

joey florio:
Where can I even begin.
Something so short, like your comment, has dug so deep and was extremly uncalled for.

So, I think that it's time that I set things straight.

1) I just got home from the hospital where I was being tested for cancer.
2) I spend about 30 minutes a day quickly checking Retouch for any new threads and checking up on this thread and the remainder is spent with my family and getting better.
3) Furthermore, Retouchpro brightens my days when I can take a photo and post it up here to then see it transfered into someone who isn't sick and constantly scared out of her mind because of her health.
4) I have not brought this up to even the people that I am close with on this site. Quiet frankly I still think it's no ones business.
5) However, I found your comment "I think JW is playing everybody like a violin." to be extremly offensive! and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
This goes for everyone. If you can't hold back your comments that may be read the wrong way by myself or others, don't post them on this thread. Instead post them in an e-mail to Doug. I would love to hear what he has to say on your point of view, as well as mine. I think that the statments that have been made are just. In no way shape or form am I here for freebies. If you take the time to read the entire thread not only might you eat your words, but you may discover that this thread as been made for people who are looking to practice their techniques and that's that.
6) Furthermore, I have good days, and I have bad days. And today is a good day. Why's that? Because I went downstairs for the first time in three days. Getting up is a task. And if you're about to levy some comment about me being able to take photos of myself, the photo that I posted was from November before things took a turn for the worst. Retouchpro is not my life, and I have other things like spending time with my parents. Finding a CD is the least of my worries as I was able to take a second a find GIMP which will be the beginning of any retouching that I do. Retouching is quiet the task, and making the time for it will come with time.

Lastly, I stongly suggest that you avoiding commenting on this thread as it has made me extremly upset, or that the next time you do comment I STRONGLY suggest that you think about your words and their implications.

Next:

Very Fishy.

On the 22/11/06 in the Women's Studies Thread Gillian Wrote
blah blah blah
source
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:8KRKyHO4GqoJ:www.retouchpro.com/forums/139686-post77.html+Jillianweedmark&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=26

In post 5 in this thread Gillian Wrote
blah blah blah

But one of the photographs is still on the net here

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4162/jennyhps0.jpg


Ken. :confused:


Ken:
I am shocked to see that you can't spell my name right in your flurrly to prove ??? what?!

The fact that a photo is still up disappoints me. I will e-mail Doug about this.
The fact that you are accessing my old threads and that you're not a MOD has rubbed me the wrong way, and kind of freaks me out. What is it that interests you about these threads? Kindly sum up the point that you are trying to make, as after joey florio comment I'm in no mood to guess what is trying to be said.

Lastly...
My mood isn't the best right now as the above are examples of what I don't want to see on this thread. My intentions were not to cross the line. But obviously my previous comment "bugger off" if you can't say anything constructive or poliet has had no effect.

I will continue to post on this site, but let this be the last time that I take these types of comments. Any others will have the attention of the MOD or Doug.

Jillian
It seems this thread is getting a bit heated. NO ONE has the right to make some of the comments written here. If I am the person who has inadvertently started all this I apologise.
I think it is now time for everybody to leave this alone, if you are trying to force Jillian from the site, it is not up to you, it is up to Doug or Jillian herself to decide.

Jillian have a look through the tutorials section there are some good one there for beginners. Also Google for some free plugins for Gimp, these will give you a kick start into getting some fair results fairly quickly. You can then tweak afterwards.

I was really rubbish at this sort of thing when I first found this site, but have learnt hell of a lot here, the people here are excellent at what they do.

Don't be afraid to post anything at all, it will be treated properly, any criticism would only be constructive to help you get better, not to put you down.

Peter

Peter:
Thank you for your encouraging words. I'm going to bed. It's only 6:30 but I've had a rough day.
Tomorrow I will set a goal of looking for a plug-in. I would like to someday included some retouches myself. But what I'm producing is embarrassing.
Good night and thanks again for your supportive words,

http://www.si.edu/resource/Faq/nmah/stradv.htm

Hi Jillian

I am shocked to see that you can't spell my name right


Please accept my apologies for spelling your name wrong.


The fact that a photo is still up disappoints me. I will e-mail Doug about this


The photo has nothing to with Doug or Retouch Pro. The picture was uploaded to Imageshack. And you posted the link

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:alL608q8PC4J:www.retouchpro.com/forums/139363-post45.html+Jillianweedmark+jenny&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2


The fact that you are accessing my old threads

I just used Google :grin:


Kindly sum up the point that you are trying to make


Jillian.
My point was that there seems to be no reason for deleting the 'Women's Studies' thread as your friends seemed to be quite happy about it being there.

A lot of Retouch Pro members put a lot of time and effort into that thread and I should imagine that they will be very disappointed that their work was deleted.
The whole point of Retouch Pro is that threads are left here for other people to learn from. If everyone deleted their threads there would be no site and no Retouch Pro.

Anyway as Peter says

I think it is now time for everybody to leave this alone

I agree. :bigthmb:


Ken.

I choose to cut the pieces out that didn't look like I got the crap kicked out of me. this is a horrible attempt but i stayed up trying to get something to show my worthiness - lmao

Well, Jillian, it looks like you have some more reading to do.

I used healing brush with grain pattern, patch tool, cropped, changed perspective with transform, dodged/burned on overlay layers, painted on color layers, and probably a few other things.

Very nice work, CJ.

Jillian, you first attempt looks pretty good to me. You should see some of my beginning work -- nah, I wouldn't want anyone to see that. :)

I liked the photo you posted, and just tried to do a simple retouch on it rather than make it artistic.

Lots of color correction.

Smoothing with the Neat Image filter on separate copy of photo, lowered opacity of that layer.

More hand painting to even out colors -- color blend mode layers.

Cloning to remove some of the beauty marks.

Worked on pores around forehead and nose with blurring and blur tool. Selected those areas and worked them on separate layers.

Level adjustments to lighten left-facing side of face.

Lorraine

Jillian, didn't realise you had deleted threads, a little disappointed given the time invested to help you

I didn't keep track of who did each retouch, but here is the work that was done in the previous posts

con'tcon'tcon'tcon't

and the last couple photos

sorry, coulnd't resist :)

Here are the photos that many of you have been wondering about. Thanks to everyone who did help. Best of luck to everyone and their photo retouching.

I will not be participating in this thread any longer. Thanks

Ok Already!!!!!!!!!

Did I miss something here, as this looks like a new member being hounded off the forum :sad:
I can't see any justification in some of the things being said here :scared: Yes I can see some people could look at Jillian's thread and think she wants freebies. But I personally don't think that is the case here ;) I've had my disagreements on here, but this is just looks bad for no reason :cry:

If I'm missing something, then so be it :nod: .

When she gets what she wants, she's all sugar and spice. When she doesn't, well, you saw that temper tantrum.
*Master* manipulator. Classic narcssist.
Now, I'm leaving.

With a grand total of 7 posts since Oct 2004, I hardly think you are in any position to point fingers at someone for lack of contribution to the forum, or what they have contributed. She offered up images for people to use. May be they were in the wrong section of the forum/site, but it looked like a genuine enough offer to me. We all have to start somewhere on forums, and each forum has different rules to follow. The info was given by Craig on where the images should go, so that should have been the end of it. May be you would like to also punish the 23,880 members of this forum who have contributed absolutely nothing, not even a single post. Or the may be the 25830 in total who have made 2 posts or less?

With a grand total of 7 posts since Oct 2004, I hardly think you are in any position to point fingers at someone for lack of contribution to the forum, or what they have contributed. She offered up images for people to use. May be they were in the wrong section of the forum/site, but it looked like a genuine enough offer to me. We all have to start somewhere on forums, and each forum has different rules to follow. The info was given by Craig on where the images should go, so that should have been the end of it. May be you would like to also punish the 23,880 members of this forum who have contributed absolutely nothing, not even a single post. Or the may be the 25830 in total who have made 2 posts or less?


Chris, you have a great website and an obviously generous heart, but sometimes people are not who they say they are.

I'm standing up for Joey here, and rather than PM this to you, it may be important for others to read, as well.

2 of the retouched photos that Jillian just re-posted today can be seen on her Myspace along with the flattering comments. I saw them a few minutes ago. Those 2 photos are the only ones on her public page that have comments from readers. No where is credit given to the retouchers. Perhaps permission was sought and granted to publish the retouched work with no credit, who knows? If I were the one posting the photos I would have posted credit to the rerouchers and a link to here. There are people here (I'm not one of them) who do retouching for a living and might want the work opportunity.

No laws were broken but I see this as an issue of trust and possibly betrayal of the trust that almost every one here wants to extend to another member. Joey caught on to this pretty early it appears.

Maureen

Well if I would have known an image was going to be used on her myspace account, I would have ripped her head off too "NOT" . Come on guys, she posted some free material for anybody to work on, and used 1 or 2 of the (LOW RES) results on her myspace site. It's not as if she's making or gaining anything from it. We are talking a myspace site here, not Vogue :depressed
Do you honestly think I would comment without checking things out for myself. I had seen all the posts here, sites, other forums and msn profile before saying anything. I'm not as dumb as I look :grin: :grin: :grin: as a few people here have found out.
Ever thought that the creator of the images, may find it a complement to have it used (with or without credit being given) ? I share my photos, and although credit would be nice, it's rare I get it. But I can sit back proud as punch that one of my photos had value to someone.
Like I said before, jillian has at least contributed something to the forum. Where as 10's of 1000's of others give nothing at all. Everybody is entitled to their opinion on another member. And if those of you that feel someone is using you to get freebies (or what ever,) you have the option not to help them.
Think it's about time people chilled out a little. I know my Guinness is chilling me out right now :grin:

well, i am appalled at such an ill treatment of a member of RetouchPRO, at least by three people, ying, joey and miguel. what seem to be otherwise good, contributing members, suddenly became snide, vindictive, rude, and aggressively cruel individuals. this always amazes me when i see it.

jillian came here, posted some images and asked for help. and folks helped. no one that i can recall in those first posts made an issue, or at least much of an issue, out of this request. good work was done and jillian always responded with courtesy and enthusiasm. i do recall that i mentioned she shld post in the art forum so as to avoid any controversy with the site policies on 'freebies', which she did.

her project was finished and jillian went away for a while. she returns and meets with vitriol from three people, which seemed extremely unwarranted. that jillian may have broken some rules on the site was rather minor. that she had pulled her posts was surprising, but certainly not warranting such cruel remarks as i've seen here. that she may have posted some images done here with no credit given is disappointing, but hardly earth-shaking and deserving of such an abusive response.

that jillian may or may not have other faults is irrelevent and certainly not deserving of such a public, personal bashing. and it's the personal attacks that i find most disconcerting here. had some action been criticized, fine. had a site policy violation been cited, fine. but attacks on her person or anyone's, will always be met with the same way. YOU end up as the 'bad guy', not the one you're attacking. ying's post i simply deleted and sent a copy to doug and other moderators. doug can do, or not, what he chooses with that one.

and i'm not here to censor anyone. i hate playing 'internet cop'. but personal attacks, invalidations, flames and all that ilk will always be deleted, with copies sent to doug. if you have an objection with someone or someone's posts or wish to note some policy violation, i expect it to be done in a civil manner. even criticisms of an action or work can always be done in a civil manner. there is no need for cruel, snide, overt or covert remarks and hostility.

so, the choice is yours and always has been. treat others with at least a modicum of courtesy and you'll be treated the same by me. treat them with derision and ill manners and you may find yourself being seen as the one that needs attention rather than the one you're posting about. so, i'm really not telling you how you must act; i'm just saying that certain actions will warrant certain responses.

now, i no doubt dont have all of the story on this either. likely there have been pm's or emails i'm not aware of. and if anyone cares to share some of this with me, send me a pm.

i will also leave this thread open for a couple of days and then, likely close it.

and just to add a bit of irony to this, i'm surprised no one even picked up on the jillian project itself. here was a person going to do a bit of a tattle-tale on retouching and asking retouchers to do the work. had you attacked that, i would not have minded so much. but the vehemence of the personal attacks just could not be let go. so, say your piece, if you wish, but otherwise i'm closing this thread.

Thank god I'm not the only one who thought this was a disgusting way to treat a new member of a forum, who has done nothing to warrant it :nod: .

I can scream, shout and fight with the best of them on forums, but this was unjustifiable in anybodies book.

Craig
Close it now this is over with I hope - not good reading at all, and not in the spirit of this site.

Peter

I rarely post here but I've been reading here for 4 years and I've always been impressed with the community here.
I posted to this thread because I thought the good people here were being taken advantage.
If JW wanted some free retouching, why not ask?
It was all the excuses and what I thought was untruths about GIMP, 8-day trial, Photoshop CD, download.com, plug-ins, being bedridden.... Every post was to me another whopper.
I saw good folks trying to work with this person and I thought they were being conned. This was so obvious to me. That was my "violin" post.
So, that's why I posted the way I did.

Thank you for explaining your intentions joey, I now have a somewhat better impression of you.

Your intentions may have been good but you went about things in a very degrading fashion.
As a result I viewed you in a very negative light.

As a six month member it was very clear with the first 4 or 5 post by long time members that this could be an iffy thread in which to contribute. It should be up to each and every member to decide if they will give someone who has done things that others question whether or not to interact with them.

I have felt the anger, believe me! :mad: It is hard to hold it back sometimes.

We have the right to feel the anger, but we are guests in someone else's home, and we are in public -- even though we are sitting home alone in front of the computer. We are allowed to state the offense; we are allowed to state that it was inappropriate behavior -- but we have to try to say it in an appropriate manner because we are in public, in someone else's home.

But we can mutter to ourselves what we really think. :devil: (mutter, #&*%!, mutter, mutter)

The OP keeps checking in to see the number of views tick...tick...tick upwards. Attention was desired, and attention was given.

But the rest of us are still doing what we love to do, and enjoying it -- that makes me less angry. :grin: :wavey:

I find this all a little bizarre. I'm all for protecting members of any forum, and looking out for each other. But what I see here is an assumption that a few members think they know a person, after only a few posts. Or that a few members have taken the time to do research in to a new member, in order to try and prove a point. Now I admit I kept my gob shut in this thread, until I had looked in to it myself. I checked out Jillian (not just here, but on many sites) and found absolutely nothing that would make me jump on the band waggon and hound her off RetouchPRO (and that is exactly what is happening here, nothing more, nothing less). In fact I found quite the oposite to what some people are saying about her here.

No matter what faults someone may or may not have is not an issue here. Online harassment on a forum (that is supposed to be a friendly) is the issue. If anybody had a genuine problem with Jillians posts/attitude/things she said/things she did, there is a report to mod button or PM system. There you are free to voice your personal opinions/concerns, without starting a public lynching.
I've started off on the wrong foot on many forums. But in most cases I've been pointed in the right direction. On one I became one of the main contributers to it, despite having a really good screaming match with the forum admin when I first joined.
If Jillian was such a user and abuser of public forums/members resources, and was only out for "attention" , why is it that she is a valued member of other forums and acts as a mod?
The saying "Two sets of eyes is always better than one" comes to mind. What some people see in a person, may be different to what others do.

This thread could go on forever with each individual reiterating and defending their stand on this matter. I have my own opinion on this matter but have kept it to myself for the very reason of what has happened here. If you think someone is using the forum to their own end, you don't need to participate...ignore it or report it. There are those here that are glad of a few pictures to be able to work on...let them. If that person keeps coming back over and over (and this is how this assumption came about Jillian, not that I'm saying she is a user mind you!), so be it...people should report it.

What I'm trying to say is let it be now and let this ugly thread die away...please.

yup. the thread is beat to death. i did want to give anyone a chance to respond to my post, but i think that might best be done by pm now. let's get back to the business of RetouchPRO.

i'd appreciate this whole thing not be re-opened in another thread. just pm me if you really feel compelled to say something else on it.

thread closed.