Forum News & Grand Opening

[Mountain Elves]

Since MSN Groups will be closing Feb. 2009 we moved(again)! We our now the "Santamakers Guild" - same old group but with a new name!

MSN migrating the Group to Mulitply has proved to be a huge disappointment. Since the majority of Santamakers have found Multiply difficult to use, we have created this new forum, website & photo gallery in hopes of solving the dilemma. The Santamakers Yahoo Group will continue and has actually been incorporated into the Santamakers Guild website so everything will be linked in one place. You could also place links to your Yahoo Albums on this message board or add the link to your profile.

Change is hard. Here is a little bit about what we have gained and what we have lost...

First, I hope everyone will enjoy the new message board & Santamakers Guild website. I figured with MSN closing their groups there would be a lot of members spinning in circles! Over the years we have experienced closings before. Our first Santamakers group lost their home on OneList in 1998! Over the years each loss has made the group grow bigger and better. Now with Santamakers having their own domain we shouldn't have to worry about anyone ever getting lost!

With the new forum there will be some gains and some losses.
One disadvantage is members will have to visit the message board to read posts instead of them arriving by email. You can however be notified of replies to any topic that you start or post in by going to your Profile and clicking on the Preferences tab. You will see a variety of options including: "Always notify me of replies". If you check this option you will receive email notifications when someone posts. The Yahoo Group will be the only real email group communication we still have.

There are a lot of gains though!

• Anytime you are posting a message you can easily add a photo. The forum offers free unlimited image hosting with a click of a button. You can read the tutorial here.
  
• No worry about spam here! (I've already noticed an increase since joining Multiply)
  
• The Photo Gallery is hosted on MY server and I'm not planning on going anywhere! Plus, I can listen to your suggestions & complaints and actually do something about it! Plus it looks more professional!! Not only can you put a price on your work if you wish but all photos in the Gallery can be sent as an ecard for any occasion. Members have control whether to allow use of their photo as an ecard.
  
• My personal favorite.... No obnoxious banner ads!
  
• Sell your work! Since we are no longer hosted by a big corporation, Guild Members can now advertise & sell their creations through the Forum and Photo Gallery. Each member will still be responsible for their own sale transaction.
  
• Suppliers will also be allowed to advertise art & craft supplies here as long as it is kept in the Art & Craft Supply Forum.
  
• We have a chat room back! Hopefully everyone will join the Sunday night chat again!
  
• I created a General Discussion Forum on here that shouldn't be any different than the one that was lost on MSN (other than recieving email).
  
• In conjunction with the Santamakers Guild Website and this Forum, Instructors will be able to advertise their classes on the forum and the Guild website will link to their notices and any items added to the Calendar.
  
• Most links on the Guild website will actually link to what members post on this message forum. In other words, members will control and update any news or class information including the Meet the Artist section. The Calendar is also linked to the Guild site where guests can view it.
  
• Personal Message system not available on MSN or Yahoo.
  

If I had time I could probably think of a few more gains but I guess my point is that I see a lot more gains than losses with the new move!

I look forward to your comments and suggestions! -- Patty