You've got to be kidding me....

Yeah, here's the same design as the one you posted (albeit in blue swirls, not red, but the pattern is the same) from Don Wands. And here's a very similar one by a company called GigglesWorld. I think some designs are just ubiquitous.

@toyirl and Epiphora: Thanks for clearing up my confusion!

Misunderstandings suck. Plain but true.

When I read this thread, I saw a few things right away. First, that Adam meant well but the way he went about expressing his safety concerns was easily misconstrued. If you have spent time on the forums in the last few months, you can see how active Adam and Kevin of XHale have been in contributing information. They have posted about safety, glass-blowing techniques, terminology, and material insights. They’ve also emailed us more information directly and made announcements through their Eden Link. Now, that alone shows that they care about sharing information. This one thread was seen by some as an attack on a competitor, but I truly believe that was not the case. The original concern wound up convoluted, and in the end this whole thread just died off. It was a matter of wording and approach – and I think there is a respectful way to question someone’s tact.

There were some very valid points posted in response to Adam’s thread – and as always, we encourage open discourse. I would bank on it that he took away something useful from this thread. Constructive discussions are what make the forums so vital. We fully expect everyone to be civil, regardless of their opinion. While it is fair to question someone’s intentions, it’s not what you say but how you say it... and when it seems that someone is confused, apologetic or open to suggestions – be kind. This isn’t a fist-fight arena; this is a place for adult conversation. It’s not about who gets the last word, or who makes the best veiled threats, or who makes who apologize – that power-tripping nonsense has no place here. I have bitten my tongue, and breathed through my urges to post when I was mad – surely cooler heads can prevail and lend even more to the discussion by doing so objectively. That goes for everyone – manufacturers and contributors – we’re all on equal footing in the forums.

You know who has the most sway in the forum? The people who are here contributing all the time – the people who have both praise and criticism, the people who share, who vote, who ask and answer, who respect their peers. They’re here for more than just drama. They have something to contribute to the community. I’m, by far, not the only one who notices. We have had many manufacturers compliment the community’s real care and concern for each other. Let’s not lose sight of the reason we have this place to share.

Eden Link was created to cut out the communication middle man – to have manufacturers communicate directly, not through a retailer or distributor. This has opened up the opportunity for truly productive discussions to grow – and they have, we’ve seen it already. You ask the manufacturers, they answer – or they ask you for feedback, then make real business decisions based on your opinions. That is a big deal! These are real people, with real business concerns – so this feedback actually has an effect on their livelihood. We have helped create a greater transparency in this industry – and we want that to continue. This is a democracy; understand that we expect manufacturers and contributors alike will be civil and constructive.

I’m going to be blunt here: we know a lot of inside details that we keep to ourselves. Not to say that EF is the all-seeing-eye, but we are privy to a lot of information, and we’ve seen a lot of patterns. Spill it, you say? No. You want to know why we don’t start our own threads about all of the things we see wrong? Why we don’t say “Oh my goodness, XYZ company is selling products with little, incorrect or no material info” or “Jeepers, this blogger is doing this and we heard about that” or “ABC competitor is copying this and saying that”.... Because we go Gandhi-style on these things. Sure, they make us a little crazy, a little mad, a little confused – BUT, what good is it to sensationalize, to nitpick, to write about what someone is doing wrong – when you can BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD. I am completely serious. Just take a look. We were frustrated with a lack of product information, so we started weighing, extensively measuring, and photographing every toy we sell. We wanted people talking openly about their experiences and ideas - hence the forums. We started Description Reviews so you’d have first person real info on every product. We wanted to see more articles about sexuality – but we didn’t moan about the lack of meaningful content online, we started SexIs Magazine. Same with Eden Link, same with EdenCafe. And so it will go. Be the change!

The links have died in the meantime, and I guess nobody is making glass finger sleeves any more.

It seems like it could be a good idea if there was just a small modification to the design: a little hole in the opposite end, so that suction couldn't trap a finger.