Freebies With Strings

We all have pet peeves; those little annoyances that drive us up a wall. These differ person to person, but I have tons of them. Here at the blog we are attempting to designate weekly themes to consistent days so that our readers can hopefully contribute. If you have a pet peeve that you would like for me to cover be sure to leave it in a comment and I will do my best to embellish on your particular irritation.


Though our site and blog are digital scrapbook based, your peeve can be about any subject. For example while trying to make a decision concerning this first post, my thoughts have ranged from public school holidays and their frequency; to Kirstie Alley and her continual need to call Jenny Craig...you get the idea.


My husband deserves the credit for this weeks pet peeve. NO, I'm not angry at him, and the peeve isn't something that he does or does not do; though I feel certain that we will cover that territory ..LOL. His idea probably stems from living with me any hearing my angry complaints concerning what I call "freebies with strings".


The dictionary defines the word free as "without restriction, obstacles and interference".
A freebie at least in my opinion, should fall loosely into following those guidelines. How many times have you not so patiently waited for a file to download, ONLY to find that wonderful thing we refer to as a TOU? (Terms of Use). As a designer I fully understand the need to set loose rules for the few that are blatantly going to abuse your gift. However, many go OVERBOARD; and it seems to be more frequent than not.


Gift is defined as "something given voluntarily with nothing in return". I do not consider a freebie with so many rules that an attorney is needed to explain to me what I can and cannot do with a cookie cutter tag, FREE! I wish someone would enlighten me about how I can possibly add a link in the scrapbook that I am making for dear old Aunt Suzie. I suppose I can always add a list of credits on one of the "freebie" tags and paste it in like a table of contents :-)


If I have to provide a link to someone in order to use their "freebie", I consider that a trade off or business transaction. I do not like feeling as if I have been taken advantage of; and advertising a freebie with strings leaves me with that opinion. At least have the courtesy to post the rules in plain sight so that I don't have to waste my time downloading a file that I cannot possibly use. It reminds me of high expectations on Christmas morning when you open that really big box under the tree only to find the gift inside is a new laundry basket...uuugghhhh.


We digital scrappers are image fanatics. Our hard drives are continually moaning with overload and we add and delete at a terrifying pace. How in the heck am I supposed to remember where and from whom I received a particular image...hmmm..I check the date; oh goodness I have had that image for three years..now what site was I visiting on July 18, 2005? You get my drift. I do not keep TOUs. They take up valuable space that I could use for that next freebie that I cannot possibly scrap without!


I spend a lot of time downloading and deleting. I unzip, read the terms and more times than not the entire file goes immediately to the recycle bin. I do not visit the site again. I somehow feel that I have been duped and it leaves a resentment that is slow to subside.


I fully understand stating personal or commercial use, but can't that be the extent of it? Aunt Suzie doesn't even own a computer and I doubt if she is going to care that the little flower in her scrapbook was provided by a no name artist in Alaska. When I purchase scrap supplies at my local Wal-Mart I don't have to provide a linking strategy and credits back to the designers and suppliers in my scrapbook; nor do they require that I register and give them my personal information and blood type!


I feel that I have thoroughly ranted on this particular peeve, but just so there are no misunderstandings let it be said that I HATE FREEBIES THAT AREN'T FREE. I'm outta here. Have a good week and be certain to leave your own peeve in a comment :-)


Deb Adams