My friend Angie, (she posts as 1Thunder), is very new to fractal art. She brings joy and enthusiasm to her craft that makes it a pleasure to work with her as she learns and stretches her vistas. This woman is flying through fractal programs and Photoshop without one lesson, doing things it takes most other people years to learn. Her natural eye and innate gift is as rare as it is a delight to watch. She is growing and changing with every image she creates, constantly learning, finding her own style and voice.

So it is with dismay and not a small amount of anger that I learned that someone here on Renderosity, some sniveling little anonymous coward, messaged her privately to scold her for "not being original" enough, to stop "copying" others, opining that she had yet to produce something of substance. What possible reason could anyone have to do such a thing? Such smallminded, bitter, petty malice is stunning anywhere, but when it rears its fanged head in an art community, you have to shake your head.

It's not bad enough that Renderosity has lost some quality artists due to the fiercely competitive nature of this place, those abominable, valueless ratings and profusion of crappy, big-breasted Poser fantasy dolls flashing on top of every page, but now we have a creep messaging and chasing off people who are undoubtedly more talented than this person could ever dream of being.

Take a bow, creep. I hope you're proud of yourself. I don't blame you for remaining anonymous. I would, too.

Mindy