When artists attack

I don't usually friend people on Facebook that I don't know. I'm not interested in having 800 friends and I really just use it to keep in touch with friends & family I don't get to see as much as I'd like, but lately I've been "friending" artists that I follow on DA because I haven't been on here very much.  

I'd personally prefer to follow an artist page instead of being friends because I'm actually pretty private, but I figured if we are mutually respectful what can it hurt.  Well the other day I was posting art by Adam Hughes and planned to link back to  his page and tell my friends about the new watchman project Doctor Manhattan. I'd just discovered him and was blown away by his catwoman work. I posted a caption "comic artist are utterly under rated" with Buffy comic art by Joan Chen underneath, (because I'm a Buffy freak if you didn't guess that already), and then 4 pictures of catwoman by Adam Hughes, one post right under the other, to be finished at the top with a message about Adam Hughes and his site link.  It would have all looked something like this using the new FB timeline:

                "I'm absolutely in love with this artist Adam Hughes. In addition to the amazing Catwoman art posted below he will be working on the new Watchman minseries:  DOCTOR MANHATTAN. Check it out here! [link]"

                                   

Comic artists are utterly under rated!

With comment: My favorite artist of all! Jo Chen  [link]

But I never got that far because after posting the pictures, right when I started to post the links, Jeff Simpson, ~jeffsimpsonkh, an artist here on DA, left a link to Adam's artist page in a comment on the last uploaded picture. I saw this and " liked" it and commented back "love" thinking he likes this artist too.

                His comment: Please credit the artist when posting their images on facebook

I'm  thinking ok, I'm not done, he doesn't understand what I'm doing; I will explain and offer to remove to be polite.

               My comment:  If you come to my page you will see it's a statement about your talents being under appreciated. My friends are not into this the way that I am, but I'm happy to remove it if it's a faux pas.

             His comment:  It's ok to post it, but not even saying who the artist is pretty disrespectful, especially when you know full well who did it."

             My comment:  Ok breath.. give me a second to update the posts with the name ..please come to my page and see the links in the comments.

So now I'm embarrassed, and my friends who don't know this guy are coming to what they think is my rescue leaving  comments of their own about how I did give credit, always do and that no one thought this was mine.

So he drops me.

Great! Now I'm embarrassed and insulted. I even went so far as to privately message him to let him know that I always give credit in my posts and if he had waited a second he would have seen this.  If he had just come to my page and looked at my old posts he would see this.
 
He messages back that I didn't give any credit, he did and that without recognition artist can't get work. (am I missing something here? Are we not saying the same thing?)This went back and forth until I respectfully told him I wished him well but would no longer follow him. That was the last message I sent.  He has since blocked me on FB.

The whole thing has really upset me. I mean, I'm on your side!  I'm spending my private time getting the word out there, linking back to photo's and projects and trying to bring in a new audience for you because I'm a huge a fan. So fine!  I don't follow your work anymore and you can think I'm some Internet thieving asshole. At least that's how he made me feel.

The truth is he wasn't mean about it. He never called me names or told me I was a thief but he also made no effort to hear me or to understand what the post was actually about. I work hard to get people intrested. Sometimes to jokes at my expense as the outcome. I don't care if people laugh because I love it so much.
 
The thing is, as a fan of non mainstream art, movies, music, and books I'm always posting and promoting my passions. I like to share the things I love with the people I love but now I don't know if I'll be doing that anymore. I know I shouldn't be this offended, one person's opinion right. BUT I GOT WHAT HE WAS SAYING! I WAS AGREEING THAT IT'S IMPORTANT TO GIVE CREDIT! I get that artist struggle daily with widespread art theft and most people don't get it or just don't care.... BUT I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! I'M NOT THE ENEMY!

So long story not so short; when does an artist need to step back and let a fan be a fan? I bought the Watchman book after a friend posted about it on FB. They didn't post a link or list the credits but I still managed to find it and buy the book. In this artists opinion that post should never have happened because they gave no credit to the artist. But the truth is I never would have known about it otherwise, and I loved that book. 
 
He was also upset that I'm using Buffy season 9 as my wallpaper and avatar on FB. He wanted me to credit the artist for these as well. I don't even know if that's possible! I don't see credits under anyones avatar! But I tell you what I do know. With every issue relese of Buffy I post a link and let people know that it's available to buy.

The closest I got to making him understand that I was indeed posting credits was his statement that, "if I was, I was doing it wrong".  In one of his messages he said you have to post the link with the upload of the art not in the comment. I'm sorry, but that seems a little nit-picky to me. I'm out spreading the word about your art and now you're telling me I'm disrespectful because of the way I'm spreading the word about your art?

When does the appreciation from the artist to the fan happen? Should I just quietly send you my money and not tell anyone or show anyone else? Because that's where I am now. I don't think I'll even buy the watchman mini-series now because if I do I'll be thinking about this again.  I plan to remove all my posts promoting any art or books or movies, I wouldn't want to have an artist tell me I'm stealing from them.

Am I over reacting? Probably. But if he's right, and as a fan I'm insulting the artist by promoting the work, or even showing  it on a personal page; I'll quietly agree to keep my mouth shut.