I'll be the "Bad Guy"

I've noticed a trend in the beauty/nail art community on social media lately, and lemme tell ya, it's not a good trend. To ease into this topic, let me start by telling you something about myself. I've been into art since I was very young. I painted, sketched, wrote stories, and my biggest goal was to get better at doing all of these things. Who wants to stagnate or, even worse, regress? In my humble opinion, change and progress is what drives everything. Without change, without betterment, what is the point? With that being said, I've been seeing a lot of nail artists blatantly lying about their work, and the lies are obvious, too. Claiming to freehand something when the decal outlines are clear, or using themed press-on nails and claiming they're acrylic extensions that they embellished themselves. The worst one I've seen is a fairly new account taking photos from others, editing out the actual artists' watermark, and claiming the art is their own. What's worse than this, you ask? people are letting this crap slide! If it's obvious to me, at least a handful of others have to see it. It's not like I have special equipment or apps that point out these things, I'm scrolling through the same feeds and photos as everyone else. No one has made a move, a peep, a private chat to discuss this, and I'm a bit baffled as to why. I have a few theories, but no solid conclusion. That I feel bad pointing this out to begin with helps corroborate at least one of my theories. The nail art/tech community is so obsessed with "positivity" that no one wants to make waves by saying anything remotely negative about someone's post/art/set. While that's all well and good (we don't need buttheads running around trash talking people), how is ignoring someone when they're lying remotely "positive"? And even worse you're giving that person positive reinforcement for their lies. It isn't "positive" to encourage that sort of behavior. Apathy is another theory I have, but it's not quite as strong as the first theory. Most people are just trying to do their work, support their friends, help boost engagement, and are trying to catch the attention of brands & companies. The "Mind my own business" mindset is one I definitely respect, because I'm the same. I leave things be, for the most part, unless it's becoming an issue. This is an issue that's stuck in my mind, like a hangnail, or dry cuticle that's begging to be oiled and nipped away. No one is going to better themselves if they know they'll be rewarded for subpar work, lying, or stealing someone else's work. Constructive criticism is the key. NO, I'm not telling you to go off on people in comments, make a big scene, or act like the Nail Art Police. If you see someone behaving in this toxic manner, don't encourage it by liking their post. It's not your job to play therapist, or "Fix" whatever is going on with that person. There's no need to shame them, unless they're stealing pics from others and claiming the work as their own. Then you can DM or group chat friends and followers to warn them. Enough reports and eventually something will get done. I feel like there's never a need for public shaming or drama on a post. What is the point? We're attempting to curb one toxic behavior, we don't need to be hypocritical by engaging in another type of toxic behavior! If making these waves and pointing out these issues makes me the bad guy, I'll gladly take on the role of the Villain. This is a community I love, and it's full of wonderful people who I respect and value. We all work hard, meticulously planning and executing beautiful works of art on very small canvases. Trust the (growth) process. If you're new and struggling, ask for help! The more experienced folks in the nail art community probably don't have time to mentor someone, but I'm sure they will answer a question if you ask, or at least direct you to someone who can help you if they can't. That's what community is, at its heart.