What Features of Stitchin' Fingers do you use?

[Mary Corbet]

Hi, All! 

Just curious regarding the features available here on Stitchin' Fingers, and which ones get used (or not).

Especially, I'd like to know if you use the chat feature at the bottom of the page? If it gets used a lot, it makes sense to keep it.

But if folks don't use it much, then I'm inclined to remove it, for these reasons: For those who use mobile devices, it can be somewhat bothersome because it floats up the screen. Also, I'd like to streamline certain features, because running different scripts to get certain features to work makes the sight slightly slower.

Any feedback you can give would be great!

Toodles!

Mary

[Margaret]

not sure where to start Mary.  I love to see what is being discussed on the forum, of course the emails to friends is great,   as to the chat,   do not know how to use it but do not think I wouild use it anyway.   Best of luck with running the site, will try to visit more often.    Have at times started discussions and have been peased with the replies, good to know if stuck on anything SF is there to help out.

[Mary Corbet]

Thanks, Margaret!

[Margaret]

how could I forget the groups   they are a great way of connected to like minded stitchers,      have joined quite a few but must admit not active on all of them,   would love to see more book reviews on the books group.

[Mary Corbet]

Yes, I think book reviews are great! I'll look into expanding that a little more...

[Sue Jones]

I'm too new here to have much imput, but one of the first things I did was see how to disconnect myself from 'chat'. So I, for one, won't miss it. Forum looks useful, groups and photos look useful. Before the page layout changed, when I joined last week, there was a recent activity panel at the bottom of the page, which showed most activity on groups and forums and photos - on everything, really. That was useful for a 'have I missed anything?' check.

[Mary Corbet]

Hi, Sue - thanks for your input!

The activity feed is now located on the left side column now. It was originally in the middle of the main page. The reason I moved it is that the forum is the content focus of Stitchin' Fingers, so I felt it needed a little more space. You can expand the recent activity feed to see more recent activity by clicking on the "more" button at the end of the feed.

There's also a tab in the header called "Leaderboards" - if you click that, you can find all the recent activity in various parts of the site, divided according to those parts.

Thanks again!

[Pippa Price]

Hi Mary Love the new look it feels like you have given this wonderful site a spring clean, all the basic elements still there but freshened up. I too have never used the chat forum I cannot type fast enough, so no use to me. I belong to a few groups but do not use them to their full potential I dip in and out of them but find them useful if I need to know anything. Love your web site and thank you for sharing all of your skills and techniques with us.

[Mary Corbet]

Hi, Pippa - thanks! Glad you like the updates! Yes, the groups have great potential, but as with any site like this, it's really up to the members to keep them lively. There are several groups that are quite busy, and some that are very quiet. I think it just depends on people's individual needs. The groups are a great place to ask technique specific discussions and get excellent feedback from people with skills in those techniques, that's for sure!

[Elizabeth Braun]

I don't use the chat function.  I often click to see who is on-line, but, as you have to deliberately click to re-minimise this function, it's a bit of a nuisance when you forget it and it's sat there!

I use the photos and look at the leaderboards, oh yes, and have posted tutorials, but mostly I use the forum.  I also look at the groups from time to time, but as with most networks, the vast majority of our members are silent, or just sign up then never return.

Which leads me to another idea:  When one is looking for improvement suggestions etc, one often gets comments from people who don't really *use* the things they're begging to keep etc.  I've had this before when I used to run newsgroups.  Every so often I'd threaten to close down a mostly silent one, but then there was an outcry against it - from the very people who were keeping it so quiet it wasn't worth maintaining.  I think the lesson there is: make sure those you listen to are the people who are really involved.  But I'm sure you know that anyway.=)

[Mary Corbet]

Hi, Elizabeth - I know what you mean! Thanks for your input. Since Stitchin' Fingers is a member site, I would like to tailor it to the wants and needs of members, but if I don't hear anything back, or I don't receive input on various features, then I'll resort to what I think works best for the site overall.

[Liz Eph]

OK, I'm really silly, but I do rather like the top feature to see if my piece gets into the top twenty :-)

[Mary Corbet]

Hi, Liz - yes, I like the top photos feature, too. It's still there! It's on the side bar.

For those who don't know how the photos work, the actual front page photo spread is where photos show up, when they're first put on the site, and then the top photos section displays the ones that get the most activity on them.

MC