Greetings
Every so often, especially when there is a big influx of new active members I post some of the things that makes RCS special as well as some of the rules that we live by.
RCS is special because each member in here works hard to make it a fun, kind hearted, creative place for people to come to for support and creative advice with their scrapbooking and dare I say it, their lives. That is what we are primarily, a group of caring scrapbookers. But I'm sure you could tell that from our name, LOL! We are also known to talk about new finds, new tools, new papers, great bargains, good books, great magazines and so forth. (Also known as enabling, haha!)
One of the ways that we remain such a great place to be is by NOT responding to the various people that post things that are off topic, offensive etc. We simply ignore them, which seems to have worked for us up to now. So if you are new to the group, we would ask that you refrain from engaging anyone that is provoquing you online. We also ask that you refrain from crossposting also known as writting or replying to more than one newsgroup. For the most part the only thing that comes of crossposting is more problems. Believe me when I tell you that we have learned from experience that it is far shorter as well as less painful to let those person that are trying to upset us, just hear themselves talk.
When friction between two people occurs, as it is bound to from time to time, we encourage that they either take a breather before sending thier next post, or we ask them to take it off line. Because we are all adults here and many of us have been a part of this group for years, things rarely go beyond one or two posts before quieting down. Everybody on RCS that contributes to our discussions is welcome and precious to the continuation of the newgroup. Our group is based on respecting each other's right to have different opinions without lashing out and attacking. There is plenty of room for all of us here.
There are a few guidelines that cover our activities which you will find if you go to the website that I maintain for the group
Every month I try to throw out a challenge. With so many of us working on either the page swaps for the Barn or the one for those not going to the Barn, I haven't issued a Challenge recently. OK, it's also because I've been beyond busy in real life! But look for me to put up a new challenge and host a Bingo with prizes at the beginning of June. While Challenges are open to anyone and everyone, the Bingo will be for those of you who are "regular" members.
Before I forget, I would like to ask all of those that are participating in one of the swaps to make sure that you scan your pages before you send or exchange them so that I can add them to the website. Please when you do send me pictures for the website send me two copies one if full dpi (200-300) and if you know how to resize your picture, one at 72 dpi. This will save me a lot of work while allowing me, if there is a problem, to resize the pictures myself tomeet the needs of a particular webpage.
From time to time one of our long time regular member does a vanishing act because life gets too hectic. People who are relatively new to the group will wonder why this person, who they do not know is allowed to join a swap, since to the newbie this person has not been posting "regularly" (2-3 times a week for 3 months). I hope that you will understand that it makes sense to allow someone to participate without a time penalty if they are well known and have "successfully" participated or even hosted a number of swaps in the past. While the individual host is the one to decide who can participate in their swap, from experience we have decided that if a person has posted regularly for 3 months, they should be given the opportunity to join any swap. However we also think that it is best if a person has actually "successfully" participated in a couple of swaps before hosting one. I am sure that you realize that the reason for these rules is to at least try to make all our swaps as successful as possible. There is nothing more difficult for a hostess than having to run after someone who has signed up for a swap and is late in meeting their committments. Please be curteous to the rest of the group. It is up to you if you have a problem, to get in touch with the hostess and not the other way around!
All that said, RCS is a great group, filled with wonderful people both men and women, who care about each other despite, for the most part, never having met. So please, go to our website, look around, read the FAQs, read out bios, visit our galleries, check out our polls, and please ask questions, start discussions and post regularly. Again, I know we have tons or lurkers out there. Why not take the plunge and introduce yourself. We just love meeting new people.
Hugs to all, your scrapping friend,