There is a new section on the message board: Personal Diaries and Announcements

You can read the description and the rules for this section here:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/22099.page

Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for the new section.

Also, posts in General Chit-Chat, Links and Recipes are currently not being displayed in the Recent Topics listing. I don't know if it's permanent or not.

We'll have to see how it impacts the community overall.

ok, I'll go first...bc I'm so excited!!!
I have read and re-read...please tell me if i am on track?
If a person...me...is interested...
I pick a name for my topic, and that will always be that section's name?
So, if I pick: QC's Cave Days, ETC. ...a topic will be started, and i will always return to that same place when I have personal info to share, with anyone that chooses to read it?
As long as I abide by the rules, it will stay there.
When I want to talk quilt only, I go to that section of board.
When I have something to say, that is not quilting, but I believe to be of interest to majority of board members, I post or reply to post's on chit-chat section of board. Am I on track, and if so, how do I get started?
THANK YOU, ADMIN :XD: oh, and all moderators for everything! :D

Thank you for adding this section to the board. I have thought a lot about the notice you posted earlier, people feeling uncomfortable, hoping that I have not caused anyone to feel like this is not a good place to be a part of. I'm willing to bet this has weighed heavily in your heart and mind...you are in a position of trying to please everyone and that is not a good position to be in. I want to say thank you for coming up with such a wonderful way of allowing board members to keep in touch on a personal level, without making any member or visitor feel uncomfortable. Once again, you have shown how much you care about our quiltboard community, thank you Admin, for all that you do for us, and keeping our board a happy place to come and spend time in. You are the BEST!!!!

A BIG Thank You too, to the moderator's, I know that you spend a lot of your time here keeping things running smoothly, too!!!!

A big Thankyou from Me on all you put into this board for our own enjoyment and education and support.
Thankyou agian!!!
Kirsten

ok, I'm back, bc something was nagging at me...about the topic name, so re-read AGAIN...
I think, your saying, our topic name will be the nickname we chose, when we came on board? yes?
but?
If we put that nick, in the title, and add a little more to it, is that ok?
EXAMPLE: "Quiltncrazy's Cave Days, ETC."

What an excellent idea.... I think it's fabulous!

quiltncrazy, I just had a go and could add other words to Blue Chicken. I assume if it wasn't allowed we wouldn't be able to? Or maybe I'm about to get my hand (or giant foot) smacked?

Can I also add.... I like the changes to the "recent topics" list.

I catch up on the days posting with my morning coffee, I've been asleep while you lot have all been yakking away in here. So when there are a whole lot of "link" posts I tend to miss the other things that have happened.

What Admin is saying is......

The topis is YOUR NAME...such as what Cutebuns and Rhonda have already done.

Nope, your topic in that section would be called "quiltncrazy" -- since it's all about you.

An added benefit is that once the topic gets indexed by the search, it should come up at the top when someone searches for your nick name on the site.

And when someone opens up that section directly, they would see a list of people's names. So it would be easy for anyone to follow up on the people they care about.

I guess that's OK too. But please make sure that your nick is prominently featured in the title.

Thanks for posting the info re General Chat not appearing in Recent Topics.. :D

Ok - just re read you ethos on this Admin, and given it some thought and I think it's a good solution! Thanks for the creative thinking - I guess it's up to us 'boarders' now to make it work.

So I'm off to create my topic! :D

Yes, I think it'll really start to work once enough people have their own dedicated topics in that section.

Here's a question that I KNOW someone will ask, since it hasn't been asked as of yet...or someone might do this.

Yes or no....can you start another topic, say...I have one already named TLRNHI'S APATHACARY SHOP. Can another one be started named TLRNHI'S CATTERY? or do you just continue on with the ORIGINAL, like a blog site?

I only ask because I know someone will ask or might even start another topic...know what I mean?

Oh yea.....and thanks Admin!

I had quite a few "complaints" about it. And it's true. There are times when 50%+ of the Recent Topics are either links or not related to quilting at all.

Can I ask another question.....

it seems there have been some complaints lately. I'm not sure what's been happening, but if we inadvertently break a rule, or someone makes a complaint about something we've said, do we get told? Not who complained, obviously, but that there is a complaint and what it was? I just hate to think I'm stumbling around breaking rules at every step without realising! :-)

Yes, it's a good idea that links had been moved too. I really appreciate the effort and thought ppl put in posting links but it makes more sense to keep it separate, for when we feel like or have the time to go browsing links! Good one!

Yes I'd been wondering about that too... I guess there's been a lot of PMing to and fro between groups of ppl discussing this and it has made me feel a bit uncomfortable, I must admit; I know we can't have it ALL in the open ie who complained about whom, but I think an open and honest general discussion, no obligation for anyone to join in if they don't want to and obviously NO naming or criticising others, would be a good thing. It's difficult for me to know just WHAT others find offensive- some things are obvious, of course, oscenities, religion, politics, the usual suspects, BUT as for the rest, it's such a subjective thing, it's hard to second guess your audience. I guess the diary page will address this! Sorry - thinking aloud! :mrgreen:

Me too! I just figured I'm a bit sensitive right now and must be having a wee paranoid moment. Glad I'm not alone! ;-)
I'm a member of another forum based here in NZ, and in complete honesty, everyone on here is a saint compared to that unruly mob!

Of all the people who contacted me asking if their posts are OK, I don't think a single person actually did something really wrong. Maybe some minor stuff which is way too subjective to judge.

On the other hand, those who did push it too far (by pretty much any standards), never asked anything until their posts got deleted.

Go figure.

Was that a yes we will be informed if we break a rule? Or a no, we have to guess?

I haven't looked to see if any of my posts have been deleted... and quite frankly, I'm too scared to now! ;-) ;-)

If I scroll though my msgs would it show up as 'post deleted' or just not be there? Yeah, I have to know!

We'll try to notify the author when a post is deleted. But can't promise anything. It really depends on how much time and workload I and the moderators have at the moment.

Frankly, I don't see why there is so much worry about the deleted posts.
I'm a user of many other message boards on different topics. And my posts get deleted occasionally. Sometimes I get notices other times I don't. But I don't see it as a big deal.

I would get worried and start asking questions if every other post I make got deleted. But if it only happens once in a while, then I don't think of it as a problem.

Believe me, if we see something systematically wrong with someone's posts here, we'll contact that person and try to explain why we think it's wrong.

Nope. Unfortunately, the board doesn't have such functionality. Deleted posts are simply no longer there.

thanks Blue and K, for asking these questions...
I can talk, but can't always, 'hone in', on just what I want to know.
As for some asking if their stuff was ok, and some 'offenders', not asking at all...
I wouldn't say that the guilty were totally unaware...in the back of their minds...
but when you get nothing but positive feedback, and know nothing of any complaints, or negativity...you actually think your supporting each other and just having a good time, and no harm being done.
See what I mean? It doesn't occur to you, to go ask anybody anything, if it seems that all is going well.

ok, somebody help a mouse out here...it's been mentioned that cutebuns and Rhonda did something...and K3n, you just? started your new post?
I just got on here, but where is this section? :roll:

Thanks for that... and I'm sorry we're creating more work for you!

I feel better knowing if I'm being REALLY bad then you'll probably let me know. :-)

There's a link in the first post, my blind wee mousie ;-)

Go to home page, doan at the bottom Diaries and Personal

thanks Blue, thanks K...yes, I do need to have someone take my little hand and show me things, sometimes...found it...it's great...actually, keeping things corraled (sp), makes less work for me...when I look past my nose, that is! :mrgreen:

I have to be the oddball I guess...I really liked it much better with the General Chit chat showing in the recent topics. This way is much more time consuming. * Huge sigh * :roll:

You can use the "Read new messages since my last visit" link to see all messages.

Thanks Admin - didn't know about that one!

I am disappointed that Links and Resources plus Chit Chat will no
longer appear on the Recent Topics board.
Many of us have limitedtime to use the Message Board and some days that is the only
section I have time to read.

Also, some of our members work hard
to find resources on the net for the rest of us. Many of them are quite
worthwhile and I do think that they should appear on Recent Topics as
well. These new ideas provided as links provide just as much
inspiration and worthwhile tips as the lovely pictures and other posts.

I still don't see the reason for the change.

"If it isn't broken, don't fix it" :shock:

I SECOND THAT..... :D

Over time, the most common type of complaint I received about the General Chit-Chat topics listed on the Recent Topics page is exactly what you said. The only thing is they specifically do not want to read non-quilting stuff.

So we have users with limited amount of time who use the Recent Topics page to catch up with the latest discussions.

The problem is some of them want to socialize here more than read about quilting, while others want the opposite -- they want to read quilting discussions.

Neither one of those groups of users is right or wrong -- simply different ways of using this site.

Normally, it would be a tie, since I don't want to make the site less usable for someone on purpose.

But since it's a quilting website, it makes sense to go with the group of users that want to read about quilting more than other topics.

I'm still not sure about the Links section. I might add it back. The problem here is that new links seems to be posted in batches. I don't know why people do it, but I see the pattern over and over. Some days, there aren't any new links, and then 10 or so posted within just a few minutes.

That pushes all others topics on the Recent Topics page down by 10 or so positions. And any user that checks the Recent Topics page after the latest "batch", would see a collection of links instead of a balanced mixture of various types of posts.

That's the most common complaint about Links in the Recent Topics list.

Once I figure out how to add links to the Recent Topics without actually clogging up the whole list, then I'll turn them back on. For now, it requires some thinking.

You could restrict the number of links allowed per day (per person) or you could request that the links per person be all in one post not 10 posts with just one link. I think I favor the last option. I agree that I hate to see the links that relate to quilting not be in the recent topics but it can be difficult to get past too many.

I'm considering all ways of doing it. Right now, I have other things I must deal with, but I'll get back to the Links section a bit later.

Admin, I love all the changes you all have made!! I went away for a few days and come back and find changes!

As the others before me, I would never want to offend others. also like the idea of recieving a PM if we do something wrong. I like to check the board out early in the morning and see all the new questions on quilting. I have learned so much that way! And the pictures are a great encouragement to us when we are in a rut. Seeing what others have done, makes me want to get right back to quilting!!
So, thanks to all of you for the great job you do! Right now we have a lot of traffic in the new section, but will probably taper off when us hens get used to it!! LOL

Ninnie in NC

I can't speak for either Admin or Shadow Dancer on this because we've never compaired numbers, but I can tell you that I get surprisingly few complaints considering the number of active members we have. Most of the time, if Member A complains to me about Member B, it isn't really that either has broken a rule or done something wrong. It's because they each see things differently and one has irritated the other.

We started out with very few rules. We members hissed and howled at the very thought of rules. (guess who was the BIGGEST troublemaker around here. :roll: ) we more or less "wrote" our own rules and "taught" each other what was and wasn't acceptable behavior. We preferred to work things out ourselves and only dragged Admin into it if there was a hardhead or two who wouldn't cooperate with the group.

That worked well when there were only a few of us posting and participating regularly. But as we've grown, we've discovered by hit, miss and the hard way that some things need to be officially discouraged or banned in order to keep this a comfortable, friendly and informative place for everybody. Soooooo every once in a while poor Admin has to add to or tweak the rules a bit more. (We've been spoiled rotten by all the freedom so you can be sure a new rule is only rolled out after careful consideration.)

99.99999% of the time, if a member actually "messes up", it's by accident.

If your post disappears and you didn't get a pm about it, then we're sending a gentle hint. It was a boo-boo, but not one big enough to earn you so much as a written "tsk tsk". (Remember, we Adminize and moderate in our spare time so - as Admin pointed out - there isn't always enough time to send notification.) We assume you'll get the hint and we can all quietly and calmly go about business as usual.

if the mistake is a bit more serious, we try to let that member know where they went wrong and how it can be straightened out. The contact is for the purpose of guidance and education. I almost never feel i have no choice but to really chew him/her out about it.

when members grumble among themselves by pm, but don't discuss it with Admin or a moderator, it's no better than back fence gossip. it has no genuine value or influence on how things are done or run.

Trust me ... if Admin or a moderator hasn't said something directly to you, then you aren't in trouble. ;-)

P.S. I'm living proof that you can make mistakes here AND get in trouble AND be forgiven AND live to tell about it. :lol:

Thanks for that Patrice - clearly, eloquently and honestly put as usual!

BTW the new section seems to be working out great - it's being used loads (which may be partially novelty value), but it's a great way to keep in touch, share jokes and funnies with who you know are like-minded people and look for news on specific fellow boarders! Thanks again for introducing it - I LOVE it!