A big problem that is making everyone divided over the gift guides is the sense that if you didn't get in, you're just not a good seller. The admins are working hard, but they are undercut by their cheerleaders. If you want to seem fair, it's hard to do that when folks are telling people that they didn't get in because their photos weren't good, that they are whiners,etc. But it's hard for the admin, because they can't just tell those people to shut up, and be respectful of everyone's hard work. It causes people to be more bitter if they are assumed to not be working hard or to be malcontents rather than saying that the admin worked hard, but there were too many people who are good at things to put everyone in. When you say, you're just jealous, it's not helping at all.

Not to mention, the assumption that no one who isn't a top seller/in the guide/perfectly happy all the time promotes or does anything with their business drives me nuts. I'm not sure why you would assume that without at least asking, because there are a lot of invisible promotions that people do. I put my cards out at the library, post on craigslist, put my stuff on stylehive and the etsy mini blog. There's not a big banner in my store saying that I do this, but I do. If you're not on my myspace friend's list, or my mailing list, yea, you're not going to see my promotions, but that doesn't mean they don't exist