newbies and their questions dont bother me. I want them to feel welcome. The first couple posts are often hard for people, and I want them to feel glad they asked us. Soon they will be posting the most amazing quilts! And hopefully become chatterboxes and share their quilting secrets with us.

I don't mind the repetition because sometimes on the umpteenth time a topic has been answered, there is indeed some new idea. And if I'm not interested, I just scroll on by. This is a great source of answers!

Well I didn't know that, thanks

It doesn’t hurt to review. I learned things from re-reading owners manuals of sewing machines I’ve owned for many years.

I usually prefer google search with " site:quiltingboard.com " without the quotation marks as it will take you to the right page on those threads that have many pages. Also, google search will give some additional wording that helps. If what one is looking for within Quilting Board is on a long thread, it will only show the thread and not the particular page that has what you are looking for is on.

I also agree with IceLeopard about being "a bit more specific in your thread titles."

What tranum said about reading manuals helps, too. Sometimes going through it again doesn't hurt a bit. Sometimes you will find something that you hadn't noticed before as you didn't need it at the time when you first got the machine, but now you do (or at least be reminded of). As I'm generally in the vintage forum, there are a lot of threads about tangling threads which frequently is a matter of holding threads behind when beginning to sew. Another tip found in the Singer 221, aka Featherweight, manual is to hold the threads diagonally under the presser foot so the threads are held firmly between the feed and presser foot. Another tip in the FW manual is the one that Gray fox here on QB uses as a signature "Needle down......foot down......sew!" which works for all machines.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

It always irritates me when someone asks an innocent question and somebody tells them that it has been discussed before so go use the search engine. Grrrr.... This is a discussion board. Old discussions are sometimes outdated, such as the topic of glue basting. There's new info that wasn't around two or three years ago when the old threads ran. Besides that, I just find this practice rude. If you don't want to answer a question, don't answer.

There's always new info, new perspectives, and new people on the board. Keep it friendly!

I think repetitions are useful. Sometimes I just can't get the search function to find what I'm looking for. I really appreciate members who will link previous discussions, too. That is so helpful. Or it could be a topic that I missed the first (or second ...) time around. It's a refresher course, or someone could have come up with a new take on the topic. All very helpful!

conversation is the life blood of a forum. Old topics can bring new insight.

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I feel like some of the threads started are almost a survey, vs the original poster actually seeking help, advice or tips and tricks. Maybe it's just the wording used. Or maybe the poster is just curious.

It will, but you have to go to "advanced search" and the tab "single content type." Down near the bottom, there are two options, "show threads" and "show posts." Choose "show posts" to see just those posts with your search term.

And while we're on repetition, can we please be sure to read to the end of a thread before replying to a question posed at the beginning? One I was reading the other day was several years old, and ran to many, many pages. At least half of the posts were responding solely to a question in the initial post, a question that was answered on the first page. Something on the order of "Where can I buy ____?" None of the answers was a new source for _____, but the same information repeated over and over.