What do you think about......?

I purely detest Yahoo. However, they bought every darn mail group I belonged to, so I am kind of stuck with them.

I went an poked around the managment section of the group I got suckered into helping moderate. Any feature can be limited to moderators only, while leaving the rest of the features open to the group. So if you wanted to do this with a single group, you would have to make everybody in the directory a moderator. While this appeals to my Erisian sensibilities, I can see potential problems with it. Since the whole mess is password protected, you could in theory create a group just for the directory.

I think a lot of people would be uncomfortable with the idea of putting the directory into a web accessible place. They would have a point. Yahoo is one of the most heavily hacked and attacked places online. Plus you know that when they did one of their infamous upgrades would be right exactly when you need to get a dozen adresses. The most irksome part though would be that people who do not regularly access Yahoo would almost certainly have to nag a mod to regain access at least once, probably more. If you do not sign in and access your group(s) regularly Yahoo tends to forget who you are and what you are there for. I took a month off once and it took two more to figure out how to convince Yahoo to allow me to post again. Since I am doing the mod thing now, 9/10s of my duties seem to be involved with helping people get back into the group after Yahoo has forgeotten that they are members.

NightMist

Yahoo passes addresses on to spammers. It'd be crazy to use them for this.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

I'm in a couple of swap where we use Yahoo for address and other information. I guess security is ok.

However, if we make it a "resource center" for RCTQ, then anyone not joining the group is left out. And I believe the only way to restrict access to directory information there is to restrict access to the whole site. so those not wanting their info in the directory won't be able to access the resource site.

Personally, I (sometimes) follow people's links when they are posted, but I don't go looking for pics etc very often. I doubt I would use the group except for directory purposes.

If setting one up makes directory keeping easier, then I would suggest you just do it for the directory - but that is only my opinion. I do think it would be easier to maintain the directory, as people would be doing that themselves by updating their own info. As to joining, we would still need to get an invite, so it could be along the lines of posting on RCTQ "if you want to join, please email Alice". And then you check if they are known to the newsgroup and send them an invite.

Hanne in London

AliceW > Using a Yahoo group for collecting all our "stuff" in one place? I was

I don't think I'd be comfortable, nor would it be convenient for me, to have all the directory information online.

Karen, Queen of Squishies

Howdy!

Directory: I don't care; y'all do as you please. Wouldn't you have to have 2 yahoo groups, one for the directory for those insiders and the other group for those who aren't in the directory but would want to be included in the "stuff" portion?

The other "stuff" is in at least one place, via the Google archives.

Other thoughts about this issue: keep it simple. Too many rules and regs are just too much trouble to handle; the moderator goes off somewhere and the group is stuck w/ no access to change things. ISPs work differently, some would have easier access, others wouldn't. Some can get in, some can't-- that does seem awfully American, tho', some are entitled, some are more worthy .... ISSUES would come up, more issues. Hurt feelings, impatience, confusion--sheesh! It's summer here; that's enough trouble. 8->

Too many rules and regs gets to be like a few quilt guilds I know, over-organized and not as much fun. We're all so good at answering questions about RCTQ right here on RCTQ!!!!--imagine that-- why put the answers elsewhere? That's my thoughts, answering the subject line question.

Your mileage will vary. Good luck.

Ragmop/Sandy--cool in the a/c ;-P

to be honest I'd rather not - for starters it's online and not on my computer and can't be downloaded for use on a computer

Well, thanks for your responses. I don't think we need to go any further with that idea! I don't want to risk any problems with the Directory, so we'll keep the process the same as we have been doing it. No problem!

Alice who has now g> Using a Yahoo group for collecting all our "stuff" in one place? I was

thanks, Alice, cuz i just dont feel much like thinking today. whewwww, got out of yet another thot process that gets me nowhere. jeanne

I was more than happy with the last two versions. I opted for Table hoping that was the one I wanted because I didn't really understand the Directory format question! I thought I would only get the Word one, but I got them in both Excel and as a Word Document, so was doubly happy, though I only actually use the one that comes in Word, still being a bit wary of Excel! (Most of the excel tables I have seen contain lots of numbers, and I am terrified of numbers - numbers = Maths - this has produced an aversion to Excel in any form! There must be numbers in there somewhere lurking ready to jump out and get me!).

Thanks for all your hard work. I am full of admiration.

-- Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

i'll bite, Sally. how can you be so afraid of numbers and make quilts? you can not make a quilt without math. even if its all applique or a full cloth quilt it still needs math somewhere/somehow. cheers, jeanne

Alice, I'm not excited about this idea, though I'll admit it would cut down on work for you and consolidate everything quite nicely. I'm leery, though, for a couple of reasons.

First, just the other day, the database on Carol Doak's new group disappeared. Completely. Not a trace of it left, and neither of the two moderators (Carol and Trish) had touched it.

Second, and more importantly, there's no way to ensure that the database wouldn't be accessible to everyone, since RCTQ is open to everyone. Just look at how recently we were "burned" by someone we trusted and who would have had access to the database. Granted, she also had access to the directory, but we have the option there of changing our information and not giving her the updates.

In addition, even the photo space allotted to Yahoo groups is limited; we'd run out before we'd had time to turn around! OTOH, putting databases up with our opinions about various SM models, places, etc., would be wonderful, and we wouldn't have to care who had access to it! :)

JMHO.

All valid points and I really appreciate the time everyone took to respond.

We use a Yahoo site for the Virtual Quilters and have data bases for email contact, but I don't think I would be keen to add much more personal info than that to a Yahoo database, certainly not mail addresses.

I think of Yahoo as the lowest common denominator and I have a Yahoo email address (see sig block) but it is not the email account I use most often. I use it for "screening" and to cut down on SPAM in my "real" email address.

Databases of ratings on products would be nice to have and refer to . . . . . . but would we use it? LOL I seem to remember a "thanks" group being set up recently and most thanks still seem to appear here on ng. I kinda like that so it doesn't worry me.

Happy to go with the flow on most things but don't think I would add to a Yahoo directory myself.

Alice - I do realise that this would make your life a lot easier, and I so appreciate all the work you put in on the Directory. If there is any way I can help, please just call. Distance is pretty much irrelevant when dealing with files and I can probably run a database for you if you want one.

Alice, I should have read the entire thread before responding. I didn't see that you'd already made your decision until after I'd hit the "send" key. Sorry!

Either you read what I said sideways, or I said it badly.

Try again....

If you want an open access group, for both people who are in the directory and those who are not, and wanted to use the database for the directory, you would have to mod everybody in the directory in order for them to be able to access it and still keep those who are not in it from being able to access it. Hence it being more sensible to create a seperate group for just the directory if you were gonna do it with groups.

NightMist probably leftout big hunks of the trail of thought that got there, aga>This is not true - you can set the group to allow members almost anything :

Ditto for me

Julia in MN

Ahh I see now!

yes that would indeed be the only solution but then one would have to restrict what the "mods" could do so that nobody accidentally deleted the group ;-)

nope you put enough in for me to grasp what I couldn't last night :-)

That's what I've gt a DH who can do sums for!

Actually I do manage - the numbers aren't very big! My spacial awareness is pretty unaware too! EQ5 is proving very useful! Excel though means big numbers and formulae to me!

Much of it comes from rotton teaching and being belittled as a child. Maths was considered praisable, but the arty things I could do were just playing. Still, I usually get by.

Both DD and DS are mathmatically literate, and can do big sums! They were encouraged >i'll bite, Sally.