__________________ ~Selena~
Mama to Daniel (5/00), Anna (5/02) & Chloe (11/05) All natural soaps, essential oils, lotions, butters, perfumes, salves and more at Motherhues !
Am I one of the people who shouldn't be hosting? It would be appropriate to pm those people individually, IMO. You may have already done so.
I have read these. I agree with most of it. I think the dropping section should be beefier (or vegetable-ier for you veggies, lol) because there is a lot of dropping going on and it's confusing. It seems very nonchalant around here regarding that with the thinking that "it's ok, someone will take my spot". That may be true but it's not fair to the other swappers and the organizer. I would like to see the guidelines include the following:
If you need to drop a swap you should find someone yourself to take your spot. If you cannot do that, then you need to contact the organizer individually and work it out. Sometimes it's ok to drop. Most of the time a solution can be reached, but it's hard to do that if the organizer isn't aware of the situation.
Also, this whole thing smacks of clicque-iness. I've been here forever and I'm intimidated and frustrated. If I were new to this board (even if I was not new to Amity's) I would turn around and walk right back out. To me it seems very "either you're an experienced swapper and we love you or you aren't and we're going to scrutinize every move and item you make until we deem you fit enough to be one of us". I'm not saying that's how you really feel, but that's how it comes across. I've gotten pm's to this effect since I'm a mod in here. I see why mamas are concerned. Can we consider lightening up a little bit perhaps? This is supposed to be fun. Are you having fun? I know I'm not, and I know I'm not the only one. I took a long break from this forum so I wouldn't be tempted and get overwhelmed. This seems unwelcoming and unforgiving to any sort of mistake, mishap, or goof-up and at the same time overdone in unimportant ways.
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." - Dwight Eisenhower
I'm a new swapper, having only sent/completed 4 swaps, and I don't think it's clique-ish at all. I felt very welcomed and included from the very first day. Several other mamas have also joined recently and have jumped right in to the fray.
Just my thoughts....
Lori
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Lori
Carson City, NV
WAHM to 2 beautiful daughters, Madeleine (9/99) and Tara (5/02)
I don't feel its cliquish. I just think that people are tired of sending in a creation that takes days or weeks or costs a lot of money and getting back a piece of felt cut into a square as a "fairy bed"... THAT is why we specify in the guidelines to please use wool.
We are all moms, we aren't high finance business people with contracts and profit margins and everything. ****it, this is supposed to be FUN... not "send in your stuff or we will send the mafia in". The only thing we ask of people who drop is to let us know. The only thing we ask of swap hosts is that they don't have a lot of negative feedback and that they have been around amitys long enough to post 100 times. That could be done in a month...
We are all VERY supportive of people who post new stuff! heck, look at Meg's bendies! Even she knew the first ones weren't the most amazing things ever, but she DID IT! And we were all so happy! And she made MORE and we were all so happy! And like Lori said, she has only been here a short time and SHE feels loved... if you feel it's cliqueish, I am sorry, just dive right in and make something fun! Craft and show it if you need help or want to brag. EVERYONE is good at encourageing and offering tips for making things better. I know that the things I made 2 years ago don't look like what I make now. And I know now sometimes my new things look a bit off as I experiment with cutting corners to save time now that I have 3 kids... but I show them, ask for help, and grow from that.
You say lighten up a bit and have fun... I AM having fun with swaps! And I think many of the "old" and "new" timers are, too! What is fun about a big ol post about how dropping out is soooo evil? The thing that is making this not fun for me is seeing people send in things like Kris's dino mat and get back a fricken piece of felt or fabric that took 2 minutes to cut straight.. if that... I would rather drop out than send in crap... which is why I have dropped a few. Because *I* didn't want to send in crap.
Anyhow... I probably just screwed my biz rep with this little rant but I have been meaning to scale down a bit anyways... oh well. I am going to go eat some dam chocolate...
The reason for the guidelines (which have been posted here for quite a while now) was that the people who were hosting the swaps were getting a lot of PMs and IMs about certain issues that people felt needed to be addressed. We all started talking and when we did, we noticed certain things coming up repeatedly so we decided that those things needed to be addressed. We wrote up some guidelines based on what everyone's concerns were that we had already heard. Then I posted to the craft board saying this, that we had had a bunch of concerns and we were hammering out some details and would be posting a set of guidelines/FAQs and that if anyone had any cocerns or anything they feel needed to be addressed to either post to that thread or to PM me directly. A lot of people did, and we then worked those concerns and things into the guidelines as well. I do not see any cliqueyness (is that a word? LOL!) though. The guidelines were written up by a group of people, yes, the people that were hosting the swaps, but they were written up based on what everyone who shared an opinion had to say, kwim?
Quote:
To me it seems very "either you're an experienced swapper and we love you or you aren't and we're going to scrutinize every move and item you make until we deem you fit enough to be one of us"
This above I don't understand at all? I have never seen anyone scrutinizing things people are posting, or picking at them or anything like that. There have been (very few) times when item value has had to be discussed, but this has been done off the boards so as not to make anyone feel scrutinized or feel bad, or to cause any unnecessary drama. Maybe I am just not understanding what you are saying? I really don't understand.
I must say that I agree with Selena and Bonnie. I have never felt the cliqueishness that has been spoken of. I was welcomed and accepted from day one and I don't think I "knew" any of the other mamas on this forum.
Heck, the more the merrier around here because of the awesome talent that is displayed and I don't mean that it has to be up to anyone's standards to be awesome either. Everyone that has ever posted anything that they have made has been pretty awesome, IMHO. I craft my way and others craft their way and everything is different yet wonderful!!
The guidelines were put in place because there were issues that had to be dealt with, such as the one Selena mentioned with the piece of felt. I think most people have welcomed them so that they don't have to keep asking questions. I wish they had been there when I started so I could have read them and felt more confident about what I was doing.
There is always someone who has to play "bad mama" and make and enforce the guidelines. When there isn't that someone, then things can get a bit chaotic.
I am so sorry that you are feeling this way, Gwen and glad that you posted your feelings. Perhaps it can be worked out.
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Tracey, Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth ~1 John 3:18
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