blogger profile

MerryGlenne

I'm the editor of skirt! in Augusta, GA/Aiken, SC

I'm a bargain shopper, a hippie, my own worst critic, honest to a fault, and always on a diet. I'm most happy at home with my new hubby and, the other love of my life, my 5-year-old long-haired dauchshund Divot. ...

READ MORE

a skirt! by any other name

Okay, I’ve heard enough. Congratulations, Bloggess, you certainly have my vote (for the $1000 award) for generating the most material online about the switch of your friends’ website kirtsy.com, formerly known as sk*rt.com.

I guess The Bloggess and other friends of kirtsy.com haven’t checked out “herstory,” Nikki Hardin’s inspirational story, on skirt.com. In reading it, I think The Bloggess would realize that the woman whose magazine she’s trying to bring down didn’t just get handed her position as publisher of skirt! magazine. (And, I know, I should have a little “r” with a circle around it following skirt! to protect it from “copycats”, but there’s not, sue me.)

So, is big business, aka Morris Communications, bringing down the wo-MAN (or women), aka the three sk*rt.com chicks (now kirsty.com)? Quite simply, yes. We did. But with very good reason. Not only did sk*rt.com “steal” our name, they also borrowed our whimsical look, several titles like “skirt! alerts,” and our flower! Ultimately, they changed the name of their website. So, problem solved...you’d think. Well, bloggers are eating this story up, which is fine. They’re free to write whatever they want.

But before they go saying that Nikki (referred to as “Goliath” on pensieve.com) or any of us have “penises” (as was said on bloggess.com), they should do their homework!

I’m quite sure that since 2007 the women who created sk*rt.com (now kirtsy.com) have put their blood, sweat and tears into their website. And for that I commend them, just as I commend any woman who is brave enough to follow her dreams.

But I think in all this “bullying” they’re forgetting another woman who followed hers (14 years ago). That woman is Nikki Hardin…she’s not a suit. Yes, she did “sell” her magazine to the “suits.” But only under the agreement that she’d stay on as publisher with ALL creative control! And, yes, Nikki stood behind the “suits” with law degrees as they fought for what was and has always been hers. And I guarantee you, if Nikki had a law degree (also one of her dreams, one I’m sure she will soon follow), she would have fought this battle herself. That’s just Nikki!

Honestly, I’m much more comfortable just letting the kirtsy.com chicks talk…but it’s gotten personal. Like the sk*rt (kirtsy) girls, the “real” skirt! girls are passionate about our work, our brand and our founder. We wish kirtsy.com all the best, but do hope that they can move on with “grace and dignity” as  gwenbell.com says that they have.