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KatsBits no longer BFCT (where do 'we' go from here?)

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kat:
Click the link in the first post for more info but suffice to say here the whole issue revolves around how an individual registered to the BN & BFCT scheme wants to be identified in terms of how they carry out their business activities, both in regards to what they do and the capacity under which that is done; BN & BFCT only recognise Corporations, Education and erroneously 'Freelance'; erroneously because 1 & 2 are a type of legal status, 3 isn't, it's simply an activity - to be a legitimate corporation or educational establishment (and more to the point, prove this to the BFCT & BN) you have to registered as such with a Government agency, whereas any old Tom, Richard or Harry can call themselves a "freelancer" when they should be recognised properly as being a sole trader, a status that can be legitimately confirmed.

BN & BFCT don't seem to recognise this situation and unfortunately don't really seem particularly open to the idea (nor discussion) of doing so. And given that the issue was raised through the only and proper channels available to do so, they are fully aware of the situation - Ton himself was consulted, and had final say on matter. That being the case it's unlikely to get much more traction, and to be perfectly frank, one is reticent to waste time pursuing something this being so.

The upshot of this is that BCTF & BN constant complain about the lack of 'quality' or 'professional' members whilst never seeming to take any mitigating steps to against 'junk' registrations (the any old Tom, Richard & Harry from registering on the network), this is as true of the various mailing lists as it is of the BN/BFCT programs.

BTW, using Blender as a serious game development tool has been pushed in one form or another, and under various guises (Quake3Bits, KatsBits et-al), for over 10 years - it's actually longer than that but memory isn't clear on just how many ;)

salamanderrake:
To be fair every one knows what a freelance artist is weather its art for movies or video games but not too many people know what a sole trader is or even that it exists. Regarding freelance work in the US it has gone through some changes since the gov' is getting it fingers into redefining some freelance work as a corporate employee work, for the "benefit" of the employee and for tax purposes of course.  There is a difference between freelance and sole proprietorship, a freelance artist, in this case, is not tied to a business, but a sole trader and sole proprietorship is. If you are a sole trader or sole proprietorship then you should technically fall under BN's corporate section since you are a business and not a freelance worker. If they try to catogorize you as a freelance artist while being infact a sole proprietorship then BN/BF are misdefining certain people erroneously in the wrong catagory. To be fair to BF it is hard to define a sole proprietorship since they can be created with out any legal documents or any type of legal formality. I believe the corporate section of the BN requirements should be changed to reflect the differences between a corporate and a sole proprietorship so include those who have there own studios/companies that are not corporations. Now I have a better understanding of the situation and I hope they fix the issue soon. Also I think they should split the BFCT up into different specialties, one for still artists one for movies and one for games, and one for general blender (as application) proficiency. Nothing worse then a relationship souring over a miss-communication and misunderstanding of the definitions of words.

kat:
Certainly there is a public perception about 'freelance' and the type of activities that might imply. From a BN/BF/BFCT point of view though it has no qualitative bearing on the more formal aspects attributed to some one, or entity, saying they are one - the former can remain as-is (public's perception/recognition of an individual or entity calling themselves a 'freelancer'), but it does need to be contextualised through the latter, otherwise we end up in the situation described above where anyone can pay the membership fee and call themselves one without actually being one, to the detriment of the Network. This obviously needs to be avoided as much as possible (I'm not suggesting any of the current members are doing this by the way, heh!).

So yes, redefining BFCT & BN membership levels was the basic point raised to them; it should be 1) fully/better/properly defined within context of Legal Entities and Tax Status requirements (as you also noted); and 2) that information perhaps then used to 'verify' members - if an entity joining is not a Registered Corporation or Educational Establishment it's still possible for them to be check through various means, least of which is their (Sole Trader/Proprietorship/Self-Employment) Tax Number - an entity truly (and correctly) engaged in freelance activities may not be the former (Registered Corporate Entity et-al), but will certainly have the latter (Tax ID); fakes, shams and cons (generally) don't have either.

In a nut shell the changes being proposed are really meant to address these latter points about BN/BF/BFCT being able to properly verify who is joining their network, and so people subsequently using said same have the confidence knowing members are/had/have been properly approved and vetted by the aforementioned.

Additional Resources

* United Kingdom - Choose a legal structure for a new business
* United States SBA - Business Types
* United States IRS - Sole Proprietorships, Business Structures

motorsep:
No worries kat! I personally don't think Blender Certification means anything. It's not recognized by any of the colleges in US anyway :P

I also don't understand why a person trying to acquire such certification has to be savvy at all aspects of Blender. What if I only want to be certified in game development assets production? They don't offer that.

ratty redemption [RIP]:
good points motorsep.

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