Rough Draft of Guidelines for Community - Please comment
Here is a rough draft of the guidelines that I compiled from everyone's ideas and comments. I used your blog post Sharon for the introduction, I hope that's OK. Please let me know what you think, if we need to add anything, change wording, edit etc. You won't hurt my feelings so if you don't like something say so. Sharon and I want these to be community guidelines that everyone agrees are appropriate.
Sharon - do you think this could be used as the message that is sent out to new members? I'm not sure how that works. Then it could also be posted in notes otherwise. Unless there is somewhere it could go on the main page that it won't disappear. Again, I'm not sure about all the functions on Ning.
Introduction and Hello from Sharon B
Waving to everyone in very excited manner! I have finally gotten around to doing something I have meant to do for ages and that is create a stitchin/textile community site on Ning.
For a long time I felt that the community needs a hub that can act as a depot to spread news of events etc. I have called the network Stichin Fingers and since Ning has an RSS feed you can subscribe and new activity will appear in your reader. This is an ideal place to act as a hub for all sorts of news and activities that the whole community can make use of. So all are welcome to use it and be as active as you choose on the site.
It is free and members can load their own photos, create albums, share them etc. This feature alone would have made it ideal for any of the challenges I have run. It means people who don’t have to have a blog can join in on activities and for those that do have blogs they tell us about them there! But its more than simply that. As I say its a community site - or I see it as that and I will be keeping pure self promotion at bay . People can use it to spread the word about textile related events but I don’t see it as an avenue for business to peddle their wares.
Thank you for joining and please leave a hello message and so we can all get to know each other. Bloggers and those on lists, please help spread the word because it will not work if people don’t know about it. This is a community site so help it build! Invite your stitchin buddies to join.
I have described it as “The group is open to all who are interested in textiles both contemporary and historical. Since many textile practices cross or inform each other all areas are welcome.“ Welcome all you fiber enthusiasts!
General Guidelines
1. This community is not for advertising or selling your work. Please avoid mentioning that the work is for sale or blatantly posting the link for sales i.e. e-bay, etsy etc. You are welcome to post links for your blogs, websites etc.
2. Listings of classes, fundraisers, exhibition or events should be posted in the main forum with links and information. If you are attending this event, please feel free to let people know so that meetings of members could occur if so wanted.
3. Please don’t request tutorials from other members. If members want to provide tutorials, then a group will be started for such.
4. Please try to keep the discussion on topic. If another topic is introduced, perhaps a separate thread can be started for that topic as not to highjack the original posters topic.
5. Now for a short list of don’ts:
a. Don't post the same thing multiple times.
b. Don't post demeaning comments.
c. Don't flame Newbies who make a faux pas - be friendly.
6. Use main board for general discussions. Use group boards for more specific discussions. If you are unsure, put it on the main board. Chatty topics go on the main board. Please try to make your subject clear when titling your discussion not just using titles like “new work” or “Wow, look what I did!”.
7. Swaps need to be organized through a group. We would prefer that swap leaders have some experience with swapping and please be reliable.
8. Please limit your photo uploads to 6-10 photos. If you already have that many, please delete older photos and then upload new ones. Bandwidth is not used if your photos are hosted on Flickr. If you have a Flickr account, please upload your photos from there instead of hosting your photos on Stichin Fingers as that will save bandwidth space.
9. Abbreviations, colloquials words or slang are often difficult to understand by non-natives. So if you could avoid them...
Guidelines for Groups
Any member can create a group so the "Allow members to create groups" has been activated. If it gets too chaotic, Sharon will deactivate it but for the moment people can create their own groups. It's quite easy you just go to "Groups" tab and then click "Create a group" you need a small photo to use for the group (Sharon used a photo 300 pixels wide and 72 ppi) otherwise the group won’t be created.
Sharon suggests strongly that people who want to start a group discuss it with the community first to see if there is any interest. There is nothing sadder than a group of one person. One thing that has been learnt through running challenges etc is that you have to have the numbers to have community support to maintain itself so ask and see if there are takers
Use the groups for more specific discussions about the chosen group topic. The groups can also be used for swaps, challenges or any other ideas that people come up with. Each group needs to set its own guidelines and have a group moderator. Usually the group moderator is whoever started the group. However, if you are interested in helping out, just let people know. The moderator needs to monitor the group and try to keep the group going in the original stated direction.
Sharon - do you think this could be used as the message that is sent out to new members? I'm not sure how that works. Then it could also be posted in notes otherwise. Unless there is somewhere it could go on the main page that it won't disappear. Again, I'm not sure about all the functions on Ning.
Introduction and Hello from Sharon B
Waving to everyone in very excited manner! I have finally gotten around to doing something I have meant to do for ages and that is create a stitchin/textile community site on Ning.
For a long time I felt that the community needs a hub that can act as a depot to spread news of events etc. I have called the network Stichin Fingers and since Ning has an RSS feed you can subscribe and new activity will appear in your reader. This is an ideal place to act as a hub for all sorts of news and activities that the whole community can make use of. So all are welcome to use it and be as active as you choose on the site.
It is free and members can load their own photos, create albums, share them etc. This feature alone would have made it ideal for any of the challenges I have run. It means people who don’t have to have a blog can join in on activities and for those that do have blogs they tell us about them there! But its more than simply that. As I say its a community site - or I see it as that and I will be keeping pure self promotion at bay . People can use it to spread the word about textile related events but I don’t see it as an avenue for business to peddle their wares.
Thank you for joining and please leave a hello message and so we can all get to know each other. Bloggers and those on lists, please help spread the word because it will not work if people don’t know about it. This is a community site so help it build! Invite your stitchin buddies to join.
I have described it as “The group is open to all who are interested in textiles both contemporary and historical. Since many textile practices cross or inform each other all areas are welcome.“ Welcome all you fiber enthusiasts!
General Guidelines
1. This community is not for advertising or selling your work. Please avoid mentioning that the work is for sale or blatantly posting the link for sales i.e. e-bay, etsy etc. You are welcome to post links for your blogs, websites etc.
2. Listings of classes, fundraisers, exhibition or events should be posted in the main forum with links and information. If you are attending this event, please feel free to let people know so that meetings of members could occur if so wanted.
3. Please don’t request tutorials from other members. If members want to provide tutorials, then a group will be started for such.
4. Please try to keep the discussion on topic. If another topic is introduced, perhaps a separate thread can be started for that topic as not to highjack the original posters topic.
5. Now for a short list of don’ts:
a. Don't post the same thing multiple times.
b. Don't post demeaning comments.
c. Don't flame Newbies who make a faux pas - be friendly.
6. Use main board for general discussions. Use group boards for more specific discussions. If you are unsure, put it on the main board. Chatty topics go on the main board. Please try to make your subject clear when titling your discussion not just using titles like “new work” or “Wow, look what I did!”.
7. Swaps need to be organized through a group. We would prefer that swap leaders have some experience with swapping and please be reliable.
8. Please limit your photo uploads to 6-10 photos. If you already have that many, please delete older photos and then upload new ones. Bandwidth is not used if your photos are hosted on Flickr. If you have a Flickr account, please upload your photos from there instead of hosting your photos on Stichin Fingers as that will save bandwidth space.
9. Abbreviations, colloquials words or slang are often difficult to understand by non-natives. So if you could avoid them...
Guidelines for Groups
Any member can create a group so the "Allow members to create groups" has been activated. If it gets too chaotic, Sharon will deactivate it but for the moment people can create their own groups. It's quite easy you just go to "Groups" tab and then click "Create a group" you need a small photo to use for the group (Sharon used a photo 300 pixels wide and 72 ppi) otherwise the group won’t be created.
Sharon suggests strongly that people who want to start a group discuss it with the community first to see if there is any interest. There is nothing sadder than a group of one person. One thing that has been learnt through running challenges etc is that you have to have the numbers to have community support to maintain itself so ask and see if there are takers
Use the groups for more specific discussions about the chosen group topic. The groups can also be used for swaps, challenges or any other ideas that people come up with. Each group needs to set its own guidelines and have a group moderator. Usually the group moderator is whoever started the group. However, if you are interested in helping out, just let people know. The moderator needs to monitor the group and try to keep the group going in the original stated direction.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Wendy on -
Thank you for doing this Ruth. I like what you have come up with so far and I like the way Sharon B. has addressed the tutorial section below in a comment, and I fully agree with her on the subject in question. This way any artist will feel free to join us and not be put off thinking that tutorials will be aggressively pursued by the members.
Also Sharon B. I think you should add " under no obligation"lol
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Permalink Reply by Jocelyn on -
Hmmmmmmm - I see on the Guidelines that were emailed that we are still under obligation to provide tutorials, LOL. I wonder if there is a timelimit before our membership will be struck off if we have not provided one? :)
Also - does the 6-10 photo limit apply if we are bringing them over from our Flickr accounts?
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Permalink Reply by Ruth Lane on -
I sent Sharon a comment about the tutotials missing a "no" before obligation. But you better get yours done soon =0) as the rules are still in place! LOL.
The 6-10 photo limit is for photos that use bandwidth on this site. If you use your Flickr account I guess you can do more. But Sharon should qualify this as if someone sees a personal page that has many photos, than they may think it is OK to load lots of photos not knowing the difference of the Flickr accounts. I think it might be confusing for people who aren't as computer oriented as some.
Sharon - what do you think??
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Permalink Reply by Paulene on -
Hi, I'm new to this format and find it's taking a bit of getting used to.
Have you considered making the guidlines part of the signing up process? I would have benefitted from seeing them right at the beginning. (maybe with a link to them from the main page as well?)
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Permalink Reply by Ruth Lane on
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Welcome Pauline! I think that Sharon is trying to work out how to include the guidelines in the sign up process. We're all sort of new to this and working out the bugs as we go along. If you look at the notes section on the main page, they are included there.
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Permalink Reply by Paulene on
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Thanks Ruth, sorry to be so slow! I've just seen the link in the notes. I'm sure with a bit of use I'll get the hang of it all.
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Permalink Reply by sharonb on
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I am still trying to do this - or at least have a standard email - and I wanted to make sure I had everything right before I did it
Imagine if you got a thank you for signing up form letter and it was wrong - like the no obligation to provide tutorials
I need you folks to keep me on my toes otherwise I really could make a fool of myself!
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Permalink Reply by Janet M. Perry on -
Looks great to me!
Keep stitching,
Janet
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