>I think both are a major insult to originality and craft that comes with quality design work - the exploitation of the latter, crowdsourced design work, just makes me flat out nauseous.
The cup I am drinking from would properly also have been considered a major insult to some craftperson a couple centuries ago, but I am perfectly happy paying less in return for something that just works.
As for 99 designs, can we please stop this exploitation bullshit? These people choose to offer their service there.
What most people (not necessarily you) mean when they talk about the exploitation of the designers is that they press down the price - to which all I can say is, welcome to capitalism.