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History of Craftster
Craftster Membership Settings
• Handy
Features for Registered Members
• Your
Member Profile
• Avatars,
Personal Text, Signatures
Structure of Craftster
How To Find Things on Craftster
• Search
Feature
What Kind of Information Goes Where
Mechanics of Posting
• First
Step in Posting or Replying
• Using
Tags to Format Your Post
• Posting
Pictures in Your Message
• Using
Quick Reply Feature
• Quoting
Another Post in Your Post
• Editing
Your Post Later
• Moving
Your Thread to a Different Place
• New
Thread? How to Choose a Great Title
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Tips for Posting a Completed Project
with a Tutorial
Personal Message System
• How
to Send a Personal Message
• Helpful
Personal Message Tips
Organized Swaps
Etiquette, Tips, and DOs and DON'Ts
• Don't
Post Messages that Might be Perceived as Fishing for
Sales Subtle or Blatant Ways
•
Rules about Other Kinds of Self-Promotional Posts
• Posting
Pictures of Crafted Items That You Sell
• Discussing
How Items Are Made That Someone Else Sells
• Please
Don't Demand Tutorials
• Tips
for Asking Questions
• Don't
Post the Same Thing Multiple Times
• Don't
Hotlink to Other People's Images
• Keep
Discussion on the Topic of Crafting
• Don't
Post a Message When Someone's Pictures Won't Show Up
• Don't
Post Demeaning Comments
• Don't
Flame Newbies Who Make Faux Pas
• Don't
Post Drug Paraphernalia Projects
• Reporting
Problematic Posts
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History of Craftster
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Craftster was started in August
2003 by Leah Kramer – a computer programmer
and self-proclaimed craft junkie. Leah has been
crafting ever since she could hold a pair of safety
scissors. Somewhere along the lines she thinks
she inhaled too much glue because now she is attracted
to crafts that are irreverent, ironic, kitschy,
or cleverly eco-friendly.
She resides in Boston where she is an owner of
the "coolest store ever!," Magpie,
and is an organizer of the not-your-grandma's
craft fair Bazaar
Bizarre. |
Craftster has grown by leaps and bounds in the months
it's been up and running. An average of 2,000 new members
are signing up every month! Luckily Leah is not alone
in managing this huge community of super-creative guys
and gals. Over the months, some brave
Craftster members have stepped up in various ways
to help keep Craftster running.
You can contact Leah via email
or Private
Message. |
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Craftster Membership
Settings
You don't need to sign up and become a member to use
Craftster but there are advantages to signing up. Signing
up is free! And your personal information will not be
given away or sold.
 Handy
Features for Registered Members
• Member can post. Guests
can only read.
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• Craftster keeps track
of which threads you've read and boards you've
visited. This is helpful because next time you
come to Craftster, you'll be able to see at a
glance what's new and what you've already seen.
 
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| • You can use the
Mark As Read feature to "trick"
Craftster into thinking you've read a thread,
a board, or the entire forum. You would
do this if you want use the Show unread
posts since last visit but have the
results be narrowed. |
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| • You can "collapse"
and expand the categories on the main page.
Whether a category is collapsed or expanded
is remembered from visit to visit. This
is helpful if you're really only interested
in a few categories because you can just
collapse the ones you're not interested
in. |
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Your
Member Profile
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The Profile button gives
you access to your account information and lets
you control how Craftster behaves in certain ways. |
Click these choices to change
many aspects of your profile:
• Account Related Settings allows
you to: create a "displayed screen name"
that is different that your login name; hide your
email address from being seen by other members;
change your password; etc.
• Forum Profile Information is where
you set personal information such as your Avatar,
Personal Text, and Signature.
• Look and Layout Preferences allows
you to change the way Craftster behaves when navigating
and posting messages. For example, you can turn
on a feature here called Quick Reply, which
shows a reply box on screen whenever you are reading
a thread so you can reply to that thread without
having to do the extra step of clicking the Reply
button. You can also change your Skin (called
a Theme).
• Notifications and Email provides
settings that come into play if you subscribe
to be notified when a thread is replied to.
• Personal Message Options lets you
set certain behaviors regarding Personal Messages
you get through Craftster. |
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Avatars,
Personal Text, Signatures
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If you click on the Profile
button and then click Forum Profile Information
you can change all of these things for your account.
For your Avatar You can (1) choose a picture
that comes with Craftster's software, (2) upload
a picture that is no bigger than 128x128 pixels
or (3) enter a URL to a picture on your own website
that is no bigger than 128x128 pixels.
Your Personal Text is meant to be a quick
statement of whatever you want.
Your Signature can be any statement you
want that's a bit longer. Some people put a link
to their online shop, website or blog here. Please
just keep it brief. And if you are going to advertise
your online shop, please keep it somewhat subtle.
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Structure of Craftster
The heirarchy of Craftster is as follows: CATEGORIES
-> BOARDS -> TOPICS -> POSTS
So an example of a category is KNITTING and within
that one of the boards is Completed Projects
and within that one of the many topics is iPod Cozies.
When you start a new topic on Craftster, this
is also known as starting a new thread. Any message
you write, whether it's a new topic or a reply to a
topic is a post. |
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How To Find Things
on Craftster
A huge part of what makes Craftster such a great resource
is it contains a massive amount of information on many
different types of crafting. Sometimes you may just
want to browse Craftster, but often times you may want
to find information on a specific topic.
It's tempting to just post a question about what you
want to know but it's a much better idea to search for
it first. Searching for it gives you access to all the
information already posted AND it helps keep Craftster
more organized.
Many threads about one specific subject are not as helpful
as one combined thread that has everything you need
to know! Please, please, please search before posting!
Search
Feature
There are three different ways to search for information
on Craftster.
1. If you just type a keyword or two into the
search box at the top of every page, then the entire
Craftster forum -- each and every board -- are searched.
2. If you currently reading a board then you'll
see a checkbox next to that search box which tells Craftster
to only search that particular board.
3. You can confine the search parameters even
further by clicking Advanced search. This allows
to to specific only messages posted by a certain user,
what date range to search through, and to limit the
search to just the boards you want.
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What Kind of Information
Goes Where
There are two simple but important rules for where to
put your posts.
1. A completed project with pictures and
a tutorial that describes how you made the item goes
into the Completed Projects board under the appropriate
category.
For many categories, there is a break-down between things
made from new materials and things made from
re-purposing items in interesting new ways. For
example purses made from newly purchased fabric vs.
purse made from empty juice pouches.
2. Any questions, tips, or other discussion
goes into the Discussions and Questions board.
Please remember to search first to see if what
are about to post has already been discussed.
Then there are several special folders which are described
right on Craftster's main page like swaps, crafting
for charity, crafty business ventures, etc. |
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Mechanics of Posting
First
Step in Posting or Replying
To start a new thread, go to the appropriate folder
and click the button that says New Topic. To
reply to an existing thread, click the Reply
button.
Using
Tags to Format Your Post
There are lots of ways to spruce up your message with
text formatting. You do this by using special "tags".
The concept of tags is well known to people who can
code HTML by hand but otherwise they can be a little
bit strange.
Basically the rule for using tags is: figure out what
tag you want to use; then make sure you put the "opening
tag" in front of the piece of text and the
"closing tag" at the end of the piece
of text. For example, the opening tag to make something
bold is [b] and
the closing tag is [/b].
You can just type the tags in as you go. If you are
unsure of what tags are available, try clicking the
formatting buttons and an opening and closing tag will
be inserted for you. But you must make sure the text
you want is typed between those tags.
Here's an example of some basic formatting (italics,
bold, underline, how to combine styles, and how to set
text color):
And here's what the results look like:
| To post an inline link,
use the [url=http://whateverurl.com]
and [/url]
tags like so: |
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And it will come out like this: |
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If you are unsure of whether
you are using the tags properly, you can click
the Preview button and check how it looks
before posting. |
Posting
Pictures in Your Message
If you want to post a picture in your message, you must
have web space somewhere and then you upload your pictures
there. Then in your message you enter the URL of the
image in between the image tags like so: [img]http://www.someurl.com/craftsterpics/purse1.jpg[/img].
If you don't already have web space, here's some suggestions
from Craftster members for free
or cheap web hosts. In particular, we recommend
PhotoBucket
which is free and you can also upgrade for a small amount
of money to have even more space if you run out.
Craftster also offers free picture hosting for Craftster
members! The pictures you upload there are for Craftster
Forum use only. I.e. not for personal use. This is a
great way save on your own bandwidth. Click here for
Craftster
Picture Hosting.
Please note that in order to prevent spam bots and spammers
from posting inappropriate pictures, you must post 10
times in the forum before you are allowed to post a
picture. In the mean time you are allowed to post links
to pictures.
Using
Quick Reply Feature
There is a handy feature called Quick Reply which
is not on by default. To turn it on, go to you your
Profile, then click Look and Layout Preferences,
and you'll be able to turn this feature on. This feature
shows a reply box on screen whenever you are reading
a thread so you can reply to that thread without having
to do the extra step of clicking the Reply button.
Quoting
Another Post in Your Post
If you'd like to respond to a post and include that
post in your response, click the Quote button
in the message you'd like to quote. This causes that
person's message to appear in your message with the
quote tags, [quote]...[/quote],
around it. If you want, you can delete some of what's
in the quoted segment in order to trim the quote down
to just the part you want to comment on. If the message
you are quoting has an image in it, it's a good idea
to remove this part of the quote so the bandwidth hit
that that image takes up isn't doubled.
Editing
Your Post Later
If you've posted a message and then you want to edit
it later, you can click the Edit button under
that message. You can also delete any message you've
posted by clicked the Delete button under that
message.
Moving
Your Thread to a Different Place
If you've started a thread and you realize that you
started it in the wrong board, you can click the Move
Topic button and choose the correct folder to move
it to.
New
Thread? How to Choose a Great Title
To help people locate the impressive craft projects
you post, carefully word the title of your posts to
make them as informative and descriptive as possible.
Here are some tips:
• descriptive words
– Use words to help describe the focus or subject
of your post such as: stencil, tutorial, pattern, do
it yourself, craft, design, recycled, instructions,
how to / how to make, handmade, reconstructed.
• methods –
What methods did you use to create your craft? Is it
embroidered, knitted, or woven? Include that in the
title.
• materials –
It never hurts to incorporate your materials using words
like beaded, felt, or polymer clay, candy wrappers,
etc.
• item - Describe
your item. Is it a circle skirt, a purple bracelet,
a bottle cap necklace?
Now use the materials and/or
method, item,
and descriptive words together
in any order:
Examples: satin handbag tutorial, floral embroidery
napkin design, recycled cassette tape wallet, reconstructed
pink pencil skirt pattern, making embroidered vintage
slips, do it yourself crochet flower necklace, woven
duct tape purse tutorial, how to make, knitted cargo
pants, handmade squeaky pet toys, blue and green beach
glass crafts
And that’s it! You’ve created a title that
makes it easy for others to find your work! |
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Tips for Posting
a Completed Project with a Tutorial
This section is coming soon! |
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Personal Message
System
How
to Send a Personal Message
 |
When you are looking at a message
someone has posted, you can click on the speech
bubble to send that person an Personal Message.
If the speech bubble is blue it means that
the person is currently on Craftster. If it's
gray, that person is not currently on Craftster.
You can send them a message either way and they
can read it whenever they want.
If you want to just send a Personal Message to
any member whose username you know without finding
a message of theirs and clicking the bubble, then
click on the link in your User Info box
to access your Personal Message area, click the
New Message button, and type that user's
name in the To field. |
Helpful
Personal Message Tips
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To get to your Personal Message
area, click the link in your User Info box. |
• When sending and Personal
Message to someone, you can keep a copy of your sent
message by checking Save a copy in my outbox.
• To see the message you've sent (if you opted
to save a copy), click the Outbox button.
• It's a good idea to delete messages you don't
need from time to time. Some users have had problems
when the total number of message goes over 100.
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Organized Swaps
Craftster members can start Swaps where, according
to some theme, people can trade crafted items. Over
time, based on experience with lots of different issues
that can arise, a set of rules for organizing or participating
in a swap has been developed. These are all outlined
in the Swap
Info Guide.
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Etiquette, Tips,
and DOs and DON'Ts
• Don't
Post Messages that Might be Perceived as Fishing for
Sales Subtle or Blatant Ways
• Rules
about Other Kinds of Self-Promotional Posts
• Posting
Pictures of Crafted Items That You Sell
• Discussing
How Items Are Made That Someone Else Sells
• Please
Don't Demand Tutorials
• Tips
for Asking Questions
• Don't
Post the Same Thing Multiple Times
• Don't
Hotlink to Other People's Images
• Keep
Discussion on the Topic of Crafting
• Don't
Post a Message When Someone's Pictures Won't Show Up
• Don't
Post Demeaning Comments
• Don't
Flame Newbies Who Make Faux Pas
• Don't
Post Drug Paraphernalia Projects
• Reporting
Problematic Posts
Don't
Post Messages that Might be Perceived as Fishing for
Sales in Subtle or Blatant Ways
Please don't post a message that is blatantly trying
to get someone to buy something that you sell. Futhermore,
sometimes people post messages with things they sell
in a more subtle way in hopes that someone will see
their item and buy it. Selling things is not what Craftster
is for. Craftster is a community where crafters can
share ideas and inspiration. When you take up space
with subtle or blatent advertisements, it really dilutes
the usefulness of Craftster AND you increase the risk
that someone will copy your idea rather than buying
it.
Moderators will take action on messages they see that
appear to be subtle or blatant advertising. If you did
not mean to subtly advertise, please don't take offense
to this. We have come up with rules about this that
are meant to be as fair as possible and we realize that
sometimes totally innocent actions will break these
rules but they still need to be abided by.
How is a post determined to be subtle or
blatant advertising?
When you post a picture of something you have made:
a. do not mention in your message that it is, was,
or will be for sale
b. do not put a link in your message to where this item or other items of yours are sold
c. do not put a link in the image of the item to where this item or other items of yours are sold
d. if you adhere to rules (a), (b), and (c) but you
happen to have a link to your web shop in your signature,
you must attempt to share information about your project
in a way that indicates you are sharing with others
not just fishing for sales
* Note that if you are looking for feedback from a
business perspective on an item that you sell, logical
exceptions can be made to the rules above and posts
like this must be made in the MISCELLANEOUS
TOPICS > Crafty Business Ventures > Get Product
and Website Opinions board.
What will happen if my post is seen as subtle
advertising?
If it is possible for a Moderator to just edit your
post and remove the parts that don't comply with the
rules, they will do that.
If it is not possible because you need to add information
to the post to make it compliant, then:
1. it will be moved by a moderator into a folder called
"LIMBO"
2. you will be sent a message asking you to fix the
issues in the message and you should go to the LIMBO
folder and click on your message and then click the
Modify button to edit it (note that you can only see
your own messages in the LIMBO
folder.
3. a moderator will move it back after you've edited
your message and fixed the problems
4. if a week has passed and it hasn't been fixed,
it will be deleted
Rules about Other Kinds of Self-Promotional Posts
In an effort to help make sure Craftster serves it's
purpose as best it can, some rules have been established
that pertain to members posting in a way that directs
people to their own website or to a crafty endeavor
outside of Craftster.
Promoting your informational blog or website
If you are posting a project on Craftster that is
also on your blog and you want to direct people to
your blog to read more about it, please read the following:
1. Projects posted on Craftster must include pictures
and at least some amount of project details
posted right here on Craftster. They should
not just consist solely of a message directing people
to your website for more information. So please be
sure to include some detail about your project here
on Craftster.
2. Also, you must link to the exact URL of
the blog entry in question and not to the
main page of the blog.
The reasons for these rules are:
(A) We get complaints when there are too many posts
where you have to leave Craftster to read about the
project. This is especially the case when you have
to dig around the blog because a link to the exact
entry was not provided.
(B) We don't want a situation where there are lots
posts lingering around where all the information is
in an external blog and that blog has disappeared.
For example, posts like this are not allowed:
(no pictures
at all)
(no information
or story at all)
So please include as much information as you can.
We realize that not everyone has time write about
something in detail on their blog AND on Craftster
but you do need to provide at least some information
if you want to share it on Craftster. (Also, copy
and paste works great in this situation!)
If a moderator stumbles across a post that breaks
this rule and you get contacted about it, please don't
fret. We're just trying to make Craftster run more
smoothly and no ill-will is intended at all. Here's
what will happen if a moderator takes action on a
post like this:
1. it will be moved by a moderator into a folder called
"LIMBO"
2. you will be sent a message asking you to fix the
issues in the message and you should go to the LIMBO
folder and click on your message and then click the
Modify button to edit it (note that you can only see
your own messages in the LIMBO
folder.
3. a moderator will move it back after you've edited
your message and fixed the problems
4. if a week has passed and it hasn't been fixed,
it will be deleted
Promoting contests for crafters
Any posts regarding contests for crafters should be
posted in the board:
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CRAFTERS > Contests for Crafters
Print/Web publications seeking article submissions
Magazines, publishers, book authors, website publishers,
etc looking for craft-related submissions must post
in the board:
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CRAFTERS > Web/Print Publications Seeking Craft
Project Submissions
Seeking crafters who sell their work
Online or brick and mortar stores seeking or sample
distributors seeking crafters who sell they work should
post in the board:
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CRAFTERS > Seeking Crafters Who Sell their
Work
Offering advertising space for crafters who sell their
work
Print or web publications selling advertising space
for crafters, must pay for an ad campaign
to promote this rather than using the forum.
Craft fair organizers seeking vendors
Craft fair organizers seeking vendors can post in
the regional
board which applies to this craft
fair. If your craft fair is in a small state
such as Rhode Island and you want to also post in
the Massachusetts board, this is fine to do. But please
explain in your message why you are posting multiple
times because usually moderators will delete double
posts. Also please hit the Report to Moderator button
and ask to have your thread removed when you are done
with your call for vendors.
TV Shows seeking crafters
TV shows seeking crafters to appear on the show must
post in the board:
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CRAFTERS > TV Shows Seeking Crafters
Promoting a public physical craft-related
event
People seeking to promote a craft fair or other craft-related
event must list their event by clicking the blue
CALENDAR button at the top of the screen
and listing the event. This listing will show up (a)
on the Calendar, (b) in the regional board you select
as you fill out your listing, and (c) on the front
page of the forum for 10 days leading up the event.
Promoting special sales or special events
at your locally owned brick and mortar craft business
If you would like to promote a sale or tell people
about classes or events at your locally owned brick
and mortar craft supply shop (or similar business),
you can post in the regional
board where you are located. Please be
sure to hit the Report to Moderator button when it
makes sense to have your thread removed.
Promoting online for-profit classes for crafters
Web publications with for-profit online classes to
offer, must pay for an ad campaign to promote this
rather than using the forum.
Posting
Pictures of Crafted Items That You Sell
It's tempting to post pictures and a tutorial of a
original crafted item that you sell as an artisan
but it's worth a bit of thought before you do this.
Even if you don't post a tutorial, Craftster members
are DIY-ers and DIY-ers are all about figuring out
how to make things. So even though you may be proud
of your item, or you may want feedback on it, think
about whether you want people to dissect how it's
made. If you're totally comfortable sharing the technique,
feel free -- it's totally up to you. It's just worth
a bit of thought.
Note that there is a special folder in the "Crafty
Business Ventures" category called "Get
Product and Website Opinions" where you can post
picture of things you sell to get opinions. Messages
in the "Crafty Business Ventures" are shielded
to some extent from the rest of Craftster. They do
not appear in the following areas: "Hot New Topics"
or "Recent Posts" or "Recent Posts
with Pictures."
Discussing
How Items Are Made That Someone Else Sells
This is obviously a very sticky area. The first question
you should ask yourself is: Is this item made with
a technique that is widely used by others or is it
a truly unique and inventive idea?
It's not prohibited to discuss the techniques, tools,
and materials that you see used by other crafters/artists
but some careful consideration needs to come into
play when doing this.
Discussing how other items are made, can be a gateway
to new, unique techiques and projects. But it can
also give away the "secrets" of the item
that the person who came up with it is making his
or her living off of.
The onus lies with the members of Craftster.org in
two ways:
- Put yourself in the shoes of the
person who created the item and ask yourself whether
you think it would be fair if someone discussed
it in a DIY forum. The answer to this will vary
depending on the item.
- If you also make and sell things
for a living, and you see a unique project on Craftster
that you know the inventor is also making and selling
then obviously don't take the idea and make money
off of it.
Many people at Craftster use the project
ideas to make things for themselves or as gifts for
friends. Some people are buyers and some people
are DIY-ers. Most Craftster members probably
in fall in between -- buying from artists when we can
and making things ourselves when we'd prefer to do that.
Please
Don't Demand Tutorials
When someone posts a project and they don't specify
how they made it, they will sometimes get some rather
demanding reponses saying "tutorial please!".
Please don't do this. It just clogs up the board. If
you have very specific questions about the project you
can ask them. But it's often seen as rude to just demand
that someone add a tutorial.
Tips
for Asking Questions
In an effort to keep Craftster organized and easy to
use, please follow these tips before you ask a question:
- Search for answers to your question
using the search feature at the top of the
screen.
- Please don't use a non-descriptive
title like "HELP!!!" in your post.
Don't
Post the Same Thing Multiple Times
Don't post the same thing multiple times. Sometimes
people have a question and think it may fall under more
than one category and post it in several categories.
Please pick just one folder and post there so that all
the relevant information stays in that one thread.
Don't
Hotlink to Other People's Images
Don't hotlink to an image on someone else's site without
their permission because it can cause a bandwidth drain
for them without their permission and it also may be
a copyright violation. Post a link to such an image
instead.
Keep
Discussion on the Topic of Crafting
Please help keep discussion on topic. The idea of allowing
some purely non-crafting discussion was attempted on
Craftster when it was first started and the consensus
was that it got in the way of Craftster's real purpose.
Don't
Post a Message When Someone's Pictures Won't Show Up
If the pictures someone has posted aren't showing up,
please send that person an Personal Message instead
of pointing this out right in the thread. Also keep
in mind that the fact that they're not showing up may
just be temporary (bandwidth used up for the day for
example).
Don't
Post Demeaning Comments
Luckily this rarely happens, but please don't post demeaning
comments. Craftster's generally an unbelievably supportive
place. If you don't like a craft someone has made, please
consider keeping this opinion to yourself. Friendly,
constructive criticism is fine though!
Don't
Flame Newbies Who Make Faux Pas
If someone makes a "faux pas" on Craftster
(like asks a question that's been asked 100 times!)
it's great to let them know what they did wrong so they
don't make the mistake again but please be friendly
about it. Craftster members are a wide ranging group
-- grandmothers, teens, computer-savvy, computer newbies,
people who are very used to participating in group forums,
people who are not, etc, etc. So please bear this in
mind and try to help those who need to learn how to
use Craftster.
Don't
Post Drug Paraphernalia Projects
Projects that are parapernalia for drugs that are illegal
in the U.S. are not allowed. For example, homemade bongs,
pipes, etc. Craftster readers are of all different ages
and we feel that it's best not to allow this for the
sake of younger readers.
Reporting
Problematic Posts
Please help keep Craftster running smoothly by reporting
any posts that you think need to be looked at by a moderator
for any reason. To report a post, click the Report
to Moderator button. Reported posts in the swap
folder go to the swap moderators, and all other reported
posts go to global moderators.
Moderators can edit, delete, merge, or move a post.
So let them know if you see any issue -- big or small
-- that should be taken care of.
Any problems can also be reported to Leah via email
or Private
Message. |
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