Dear Friends,

Hi I got this from a friend that got it in his email box... I think you would want to know and respond. The emailer is ............................ This person may or may not be paul Johnstone.... but that is the name he is going by.


Hello there, My name is Paul I am from Texas I am 12 years old I am a balloon twister like you I was wonder if you are will to share with me any balloon twisting ideas on pdf with me and I will with you long as you don't tell anyone where you got them from and I will not tell anyone if you don't and this is what I have... and what do you have please let my know..

Jeanine Von Essen, Jean's stuff volumes 1,2,2.5,3,4,5,6

Bonnie Davis, Wearables Volumes 1,2 - A Bit of Bling
, Thunder Thighs, 2fers, Sitters, The Flower Garden, MBD2 Bash Notes - By Bonnie Davis

Sabina Kellner, Loop Technique

Petra Meijboom, Heart figures

Tonya McNeill, Adjustable hats, More Ajustable hats.

Steve Majes, The tricky twister, book one

Patricia Bunnell, Lecture Notes from Europe

Thelma Levett, Nice and Easy,Two And A Bit Volume 1, A little bit more
Twistina’s Five Minute Balloon Delights” Volumes 1,2 , Something For Everyone..

Ballooms - Balloons That Bloom! Lifelike Fantasy Flowers The Twistina Way.

So what don't you think my mom buy those for me and in the attachment you will find something there for you I hope you like it and if you are wondering where I got your email I got from your website and Balloon Hq.. Thanks for your time Paul.

I have deleted the email address at the moment from the above post for hopefully obvious reasons.

I haven't had this one but I had something similar last year (or perhaps the one before) about this person who has set up a file sharing site for balloon instructions

I have a few thoughts about this:
1) I don't believe for a second that this person is a 12 year old. One of us whose PDFs are being so blatantly traded was contacted last year by the same person in a similar manner and last year he also claimed to be 12 years old.

2) The person doing this knows what he is doing is wrong - otherwise he wouldn't state "...as long as you don't tell..." when trying to convince someone to trade more instructions with him. Also, this isn't about sharing designs with friends (which I'm more than fine with). This person didn't even know the person he was offering the entire content of my CDs to.

3) As a whole, the balloon community is one of the most ethical, kind-hearted groups of people in the whole world and I know that the vast majority (as in 99%) of those who have purchased instructions from me would never break my trust by passing on the entire contents of any of my CDs to someone else like this person is willing to do. The only reason I no longer believe that no one would break my trust is that apparently someone(s) did trade my CDs with this supposed Paul Johnstone since neither he nor his mom ever purchased any of them personally.

4) I would like to thank those involved in this "trading" for jeopardizing my livelihood by giving away what I use as a source of income to make ends meet (which is increasingly harder to do in today's economy). Every time you have given away one of my CDs you have robbed me of a potential sale. Thanks a bunch! (NOT!)

I would never book one of you to do a party for 12 kids, then invite 50 kids, work you 2 hours over time, and expect you to twist for the same original price. Nor would I book you for a party and refuse to pay. Nor would I walk into your day job and try to convince your boss that I needed a portion of your paycheck this week more than you did - After all, I probably need the money more than you do and I'm sure you wouldn't mind working for less just this once, right?

5) For those reading this and thinking I'm only upset over the loss of potential sales let me assure you it isn't all about the money. Yes the income generated from my CD sales is important (necessary) to me but it's not the whole reason I'm irritated. It's a matter of respect or lack thereof for what I do that this person and those he is trading with is showing me. They are essentially saying by doing this trading that even though they may be using my designs to earn income for themselves that the time and effort I put into producing these CDs so they can is worthless. Gee, feeling worthless makes me want to buckle down and work even harder on another CD--- NOT!

Bonnie, The Balloon Lady

Bonnie don't let it get you down. There are plenty of us out here that save up our spare cash to be able to buy these instructions from the designers direct. I also wonder if he has actually gotten anyone to "share" with him.

As you say that name is probably an alias and he may not even be what he says he is. He is quite probably a con artist looking to make a quick buck so he has listed a few instructional DVD's he can easily find the names for reached out to all the twisters he can find and is hoping they will be stupid enough to send him copies. I chose to believe that this person is not a twister and that he has yet to dupe anyone into "sharing" with him as I don't believe the twisters I know would do something like this - I certainly would not.

Well I am with Bonnie
I noticed with surprise that even my latest ebook Something for Everyone is amongst the pdfs offered and that is somewhat surprising considering I have only sold a few. Well to the person who bought it from me and then decided thay had the right to share it let me warn you that the list of potential offenders is short. Hope that wipes the smirk of your little ratty face! I am looking into it.

I am considering not doing any more ebooks. As with Bonnie it isnt all about money. Its knowing it was worth spending all that time doing the work on it. The idea that people will just take it and trade with it with no consideration to the work someone else put into producing it is gutting. So maybe it isnt worth putting the time in any more. Why should we. Bonnie, Tonya, Jeanine, Patricia and Sabina are all feeling as upset as I do about this. Ok I get on my high horse when I feel people are taking advantage. No one can say I don't share but it is my choice who I share with and no one else has that right. No one else should make the decision to share my or other artists work. if you take advantage of us we wont share anymore. I like to think Bonnie is right about most people being honest and not being involved in this sharing but to those of you who do - shame on you. You are damaging the industry. BIG TIME.

An Idea....

When you make you PDF put in an identifier name or unique number in there.

Ie: This is sold to Joe Smith and not for redistribution.

You could have this in the footer / header or better still as a watermark with your web address.

Fuzz

I expect people to try and rip of major cinema hits and chart topping games / computer programs (i don't condone this, but expect it)

But ripping off balloon twisting instructions???? REALLY??? OMG

The only sort of people that would use this sort of software / instructions, i would have thought, would be likeminded, friendly twisters.
I am amased and ashamed that someone into twisting would be so tight as to not put their hand in their pocket and ultimitly support the industry (which lets face it, needs all the support it can get, its hardly the most lucritave industry in the world!) [unless you run an online shop/chatroom in which case i'm sure you're sorted!!! ]

SHAME ON YOU

This issue in no way effects me personally. I don't create instructions, or distribute them but I can totally empaphise with the likes of Thelma who are just trying to get by.

from the list of instructions that this 'paul' feller claims to have, are most of them american?

just an idea why don't you try between yourselves to find the common denominator i.e. make a list of the initials of every one you have sold instructions to email that list to say for example Thelma who could then compare all the initials (& deduce my dear Watson lol)
who the villain is as i say just an idea don't know how practical this would be
& there might be more than one person who's bought all the instructions on the list but I'm sure you could still work out who it is
Dennis

If the person has been doing some trading with others I expect it will be difficult to track down but as Thelma's CD is the newest then this would possibly be the easiest route to follow, that is as long as they actually have this? It could be all fibs? and someone trying to get a reaction form the world of balloons.