I have been writing, writing, writing. Jot Jot Jot. Making lots of progress!
But also, I've been fending off the robots.
My webshop has been under attack by bots exploiting the Shopify checkout system to try out to run stolen credit card information. To be clear, nothing in my store or any UPPERCASE customer data is at risk. I have a fraud blocker app that works well to stop the majority of fraudulent orders from getting through.* However, before I noticed the attack, my abandoned checkout email sequence was responding to hundreds of fake email addresses which subsequently put my uppercasemagazine.com sending reputation at risk, making it more likely that an email from my company could be marked as spam on the receiver's end. Not good.
(*If you use a VPN, you might be blocked from viewing my site. If you don't know what a VPN is, carry on! And, sorry, I've resorted to blocking entire countries where the attacks are likely coming from; I don't offer shipping to those locations anyway, but I do have some legitimate newsletter readers there.)
If you're reading this, great! I'm not spam!
Maybe mark janine@uppercasemagazine.com and shop@uppercasemagazine.com as "important" in your inbox just in case.
Another thing to bring to your attention is an imposter website that has scraped the images and product listings from my website. I'm not going to share the url since we don't want to direct traffic to it. It is VERY OBVIOUSLY fake, yet it was potential customers who were directed there by a search engine but became suspicious by the ridiculous pricing (subscriptions for $19.77 and free worldwide shipping.)
Read this:
And this:
Ugh!!!! Get out of here, AI. Stop stealing everything. Stop making everything more difficult!
I hate that my good reputation and excellent books and magazines are being used to lure anyone. I've reported, blocked and done what I can, but these things are out there. AI is Amplifying Imposters.
Be aware. Always read! Take your time. Think critically. Protect your personal information. When in doubt, ask me.
With AI stealing our written works and visual art to feed large language models and output AI-generated images, it is becoming harder and harder to know what’s true. Genuine. Authentic. Human-made.
Making art and craft and being creative—without any digital or technological mediation—is something we dearly need to hold on to. How do you explore your art/craft and express your creativity in a way that is completely authentic to you? What is the truth in your making? How are you expressing your truth and individuality? How are you discovering the truth of who you are by making art or creating something by hand?
A selection of submissions will be published in UPPERCASE issue #72 (Jan-Feb-Mar 2027) and/or the UPPERCASE newsletter.
This message has been sent to a general list. If you're already an UPPERCASE print subscriber, thank you!!! If you've already pre-ordered JOT, thank you!!! (Please refer to your order receipts from shop@uppercasemagazine.com.)
Making Zen, fall event! This online event is always a favourite with UPPERCASE readers: Making Zen features 40 expert artists sharing their handmade craft techniques and mindful stitching ideas. It's free to sign up—you have access to each day's sessions of videos for 24 hours, or you can invest in a VIP ticket to retain access to the recordings to watch at your leisure (plus other bonuses).
UPPERCASE is a media partner for Making Zen and earns a commission on sales resulting from these links. Thank you.
❤️ Wear a respirator! Clean the air. Stay up-to-date on vaccinations. Stay home if you're sick (and protect your household members from getting infected, too). It's as important as ever to take precautions against COVID infection. Spread the message of prevention, not COVID. Canada Covid HazardIndex About 1 of every 158 people is infected. Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative The US has at least 40 states and territories with COVlD outbreaks.
