Re: [lace] Arachne Lurker's Complaints
Good morning all My goodness, how would we manage without Jeri! I posted an email on Arachne just last week I think it was, from a young lady who emailed me personally, needing information on lace in fashion for her dissertation. I received several offers of help for her and as one would expect, a very lengthy email full of practical advice for her from Jeri. I thanked Jeri and passed on the information to the young lady, pointing out that Jeri had clearly spent a considerable amount of time and effort In collating all this information specifically for her and that I was sure she would appreciate an acknowledgement/thank you. She replied she was truly grateful for the extremely useful information from Jeri and that she would email her personally (I hope she did Jeri) and this young lady doesn't even subscribe to arachne as she didn't know of its existence! Jeri didn't have to do this, but as aways, was one of the first to help with suggestions of where to go for additional information and places to visit. Please Jeri, don't take offence as I'm sure that like myself, none of us think you have 'an attitude'. The written word can so easily be misunderstood at times and it's so easy to offend an individual, without even trying or meaning to! Catherine Barley Henley-on-Thames UK Sent from my iPad Catherine Barley Needlelace www.catherinebarley.com > On 19 Jan 2016, at 20:33, jeria...@aol.com wrote: > > Dear Lacemakers, > > This memo came in over the weekend, and I responded directly to the author > in Australia. Upon further thought, it occurred to me that maybe I should > find out from the remainder of our membership if they think I have an > "attitude", since I am definitely the one who puts the Archive address in > many > posts! My comments (shortened for this list) are below this posting, and I > have trimmed the writer's name, because she is a lurker: > > In a message dated 1/15/2016 > > "I am a lurker to Arachne and do find reading my emails very informative, > it is lovely to see how helpful and friendly lace makers are!! > > "However, some recent emails that come through have a very negative and > unproductive attitude to sharing information. > > "With this current attitude I don't feel like making an enquiry. > > "This is my current opinion and hopefully the attitude changes. > > "Also another point to consider, I didn't know how to send an email to the > group for over 6 months, so maybe a politely written email every few > months on the correct email address, how to trim posts and how to access the > illusive ARCHIVES would be helpful and greatly appreciated." > --- > Jeri's condensed version of correspondence with the lurker: > > 1. Since attitude was mentioned 3 times in connection with sharing of > information, and because I wrote to the lurker for a clarification of the > problem, I know that she primarily objects to being referred to our > Archives. > This is something I often do, and usually I give the complete Archive > address. She wants questions re-answered. > > Some of our correspondents do not understand how many hours some of us > spend helping others. If you search the Archives by any of our names, you > will see that a lot of accumulated information is available from teachers, > thread experts, authors, historians, museum personnel, etc. Archive > information is also filed by subject(s). A lot of search options are > possible for > some memos. Additionally, though you see the publicly available > correspondence, perhaps everyone needs to be reminded there are a lot of > private > personal letters going out, as well. > > We have an Archive so related comprehensive information can be saved and > used. **We have members who do not want to read the same information over > and over.** Personally, I know many members skip my memos altogether > because they tend to be long on details. They can be shorter if the Archive > is > recommended. > > One of my personal missions is to (by example) **teach people how to do > research and how to think constructively/creatively** so they can function > better at this time in history and in the future. Knowing how to do > research > will become more and more critical in years ahead. It presently looks > like there will be less lace-knowledgeable people (per capita) to consult in > the years ahead. > > 2. Managing replies: When we first started 20+ years ago, there were > some countries where users were charged by-the-memo, not by a time period > (per > month). Australia may have been one of them. I cannot remember. As a > consequence, members can opt to receive (a) Each original message, or (b) > the > Digest - a string of unrelated messages that may have been posted over > several days before subscribers receive it. The Digest form can be > confusing > to read if it contains a lot of repetitions because o
Re: [lace] Arachne Lurker's Complaints
Hi All As an Australian I feel I should say a few things. Firstly I have found noting offensive said by anyone, so cultural differences are not the issue. I believe the issue is simply computer access to the web. I have been involved with computer education since the late 1980's. A couple of facts concerning access to the internet in Australia, it is a major problem. large cities and towns, no problem but out in the sticks you may not even have mobile phone contact let alone internet. Most places still do not have broadband internet which most of Europe and the Nth America take for granted. In some places we pay by the download in Megs NOT gigs. Further I feel the lady is probably new to computers and the internet and needed help. Browsing using Google is not easy if you do not know how or cannot access the internet easily. I'm not sure how to solve the problem but please be mindful of some real physical difficulties out there Anna from a hot Sydney - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Arachne Lurker's Complaints
Hi Jeri, I read most of the Arachne postings and saw that email, and really had no idea what the problem was. In fact, I went to the Archives to see if I had missed a posting or thread. I do the same as Adele, and just google the archives when I need them. I appreciate all the you post, Cindy Rusak, Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada â - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Arachne Lurker's Complaints
Hi Jeri et al: > Did other members have problems with learning to use Arachne? > Were you guided through the process by fellow lacemakers at the beginning? The main problems I had were common to all e-mail message forums - it was 1996 and I was completely new to e-mail. I can’t remember what I did or didn’t do, but I do remember getting a very kind message from a fellow lacemaker who gently suggested a change. Suggestion gladly accepted! I think that may have been before we had archives to access. In any event, I haven’t tried to access the archives so I don’t know how difficult it might be. Wait a sec, I’ll try: (one minute passes) Oh, that was just so easy. I Googled “arachne lacemaker archive” and #2 on the search results was our list archive. I clicked on it and Bang! I was at the “Messages by Thread” page. It’s really not difficult at all. I think any lacemaker could just sit and read the archives and get an amazing education in lace and lacemaking. I think if it’s a short answer we often just go ahead and answer it, even though the answer can be found on the archives. But some questions in Arachne history have involved days - if not weeks - of off-and-on discussion! That’s where it’s a much better idea for the lacemaker to go back and read the archives, and I’m glad, Jeri, that you have sometimes directed people there. We just need to get into the habit of looking things up on our own home-grown educational resource. Nobody likes being chided, but I don’t think a suggestion to look up their question on the archives should be something that upsets people. Very often someone will ask what they think is a simple question, but it has lots of ramifications and they don’t realize that it really was a very big question indeed, and one that has been gone over quite thoroughly in the past. Hope this helps. Adele West Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
[lace] Arachne Lurker's Complaints
Dear Lacemakers, This memo came in over the weekend, and I responded directly to the author in Australia. Upon further thought, it occurred to me that maybe I should find out from the remainder of our membership if they think I have an "attitude", since I am definitely the one who puts the Archive address in many posts! My comments (shortened for this list) are below this posting, and I have trimmed the writer's name, because she is a lurker: In a message dated 1/15/2016 "I am a lurker to Arachne and do find reading my emails very informative, it is lovely to see how helpful and friendly lace makers are!! "However, some recent emails that come through have a very negative and unproductive attitude to sharing information. "With this current attitude I don't feel like making an enquiry. "This is my current opinion and hopefully the attitude changes. "Also another point to consider, I didn't know how to send an email to the group for over 6 months, so maybe a politely written email every few months on the correct email address, how to trim posts and how to access the illusive ARCHIVES would be helpful and greatly appreciated." --- Jeri's condensed version of correspondence with the lurker: 1. Since attitude was mentioned 3 times in connection with sharing of information, and because I wrote to the lurker for a clarification of the problem, I know that she primarily objects to being referred to our Archives. This is something I often do, and usually I give the complete Archive address. She wants questions re-answered. Some of our correspondents do not understand how many hours some of us spend helping others. If you search the Archives by any of our names, you will see that a lot of accumulated information is available from teachers, thread experts, authors, historians, museum personnel, etc. Archive information is also filed by subject(s). A lot of search options are possible for some memos. Additionally, though you see the publicly available correspondence, perhaps everyone needs to be reminded there are a lot of private personal letters going out, as well. We have an Archive so related comprehensive information can be saved and used. **We have members who do not want to read the same information over and over.** Personally, I know many members skip my memos altogether because they tend to be long on details. They can be shorter if the Archive is recommended. One of my personal missions is to (by example) **teach people how to do research and how to think constructively/creatively** so they can function better at this time in history and in the future. Knowing how to do research will become more and more critical in years ahead. It presently looks like there will be less lace-knowledgeable people (per capita) to consult in the years ahead. 2. Managing replies: When we first started 20+ years ago, there were some countries where users were charged by-the-memo, not by a time period (per month). Australia may have been one of them. I cannot remember. As a consequence, members can opt to receive (a) Each original message, or (b) the Digest - a string of unrelated messages that may have been posted over several days before subscribers receive it. The Digest form can be confusing to read if it contains a lot of repetitions because of several replies to a subject. That explains why Digest readers complained about repetitions. That is why we are reminded by our Web mistress to "trim" away unnecessary already said sentences and to "trim" the 4 lines of administrative information. 3. We are all volunteers when we reply to Arachne. Arachne is not a business, or financed by one. A private person provides the free-to-us server. Our volunteer Web mistress has many demands on her time. She rarely intrudes. If someone is insulting or sending commercial advertising, she steps in. We appreciate her time and expertise. We all need to know: Did other members have problems with learning to use Arachne? Were you guided through the process by fellow lacemakers at the beginning? Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
