Problems

If anyone has a problem and they arent sure where to address it please use this thread. One of our admin team will address the problem as soon as possible.
For anyone with a private complaint can you please contact myself or another member of admin through our personal message system. That way you can be assured of a private reply.
Thank you
julie

Hi, I can't seem to upload any photos to my personal album. I keep getting a message to say that my album is full. It's probably me not doing something correctly I've followed the instructions from Tiggy's tut but it doesn't give any instructions for the album. please help

Hi there maggie, it may be the allocated memory space has been used up by the members, if anyone has old photos in their albums can you remove them please Many thanks
Nicky

I've found lots of your lovely pics. Maggies, so it's working now.
Robin

I think something needs to done about all this bad feeling. The guild has gone quiet because people now feel they can only say what they think via PM which is just getting silly! We pay to be members of this guild and all contribute in some way we should ALL have a say how it is run. I don't think it is fair that we don't get to give our opinion on major decisions we are just told once admin have had a meeting and if we do speak out it gets taken wrong. I now feel like a black sheep for speaking my mind but a few members have thanked me for saying what I did so it was worth it. I have thought long and hard about saying anything at all because it could result in us leaving the guild. It was very hard not to take yesterdays events personally.

I know that admin make the guild run smoothly and work hard to do so but I have never been asked to do anything to help and if I had I would. I think you can sometimes take things personally because you all invest so much time and effort into the guild and have an idea of what you want it to be like but none of my suggestions or comments have ever been against anyone. Sometimes it is easy to see problems if you are on the outside looking in and I have only ever had the best interests of the guild at heart. I have encouraged people to join and have promoted the guild as I do think it is a great place but it does have issues that need resolving.

These are my suggestions;

I think the appraisals should be scrapped because I know of one person who has completely given up on doll making because of it all. I don't think anyone is qualified to judge someone's work as none of us have that level of experience and it put me off joining the guild at first. I have wanted to say this for a while but again thought it would cause bad feeling. We only took part in them because it would have looked odd to members of the public that we had been members for so long and had not moved up. I have said this to some members of admin so it should not be a bolt from the blue.

I think we should all have an equal say and if that means an equal work load I for one would be more than happy. Aidy suggested a rotation of admin every 6 months so everyone has to do something.

As I said these are only suggestions and if people do not agree then at least I have had a say but I do think a debate needs to take place because I spent all last night and all this morning sending and answering pm's and it is just not what we all joined for. I think Nicky and Julie had a great idea to start a guild to promote british dollmakers and it would be such a shame if all that was ruined because we can't just act like adults, say how we feel and move on. I do not hold a grudge against any member and this is not a witch hunt...I just want the old friendly guild back. I would hate to leave because we have made so many good friends but if people would rather we do then we will. I am sorry but I can't stay quiet when people I care about are coming and telling me how they are scared to post and how upset they are! it is all so very sad.

Roz
xx

Roz I am right behind youI am one of the people that has felt really sad this morning some of my posts have gone missing maybe it is the computers playing up. but I miss my friends and I feel we are all walking about on egg shell scared to say any thing in case it is wrong I love the guild but I can't say things incase its wrong. I am with roz if people would want me to eave I will too Bev

Thank you so much Roz for speaking up for all of us. I've never come across such a lovely group of people in my whole life & it is a shame if things don't get back to how they where.

I can understand that some people would prefer a more professional group but to give up what you have would be sad.

I do understand and appreciate a lot of work goes into the running of the guild, & I would also be prepared to help any way I can.

joy x

I Just can't stand sitting back and watching other people be upset (have been like this since a child) I am much less likely to speak up for myself! But the guild is a great place and I just want it to stay that way and it would be a whole lot fairer if we all have a say. We can't go around being scared to speak in case it is taken wrong...I don't care if nobody agrees with me on issues it is the fact I have a voice that counts!

Roz
xx

I was away over the weekend and came back to ? I dont know what! & to read all that has been said is heartbreaking. I read back through what had been said and can honestly say I think things have been seriously blown out of proportion. The way I read it, Toni made a perfectly understandable request, if certain members didnt understand it, then I personally wish they could have pm'd Toni for clarification instead of openly showing their disregard on the forum and creating this problem. I am now very dissappointed with some members behaviour making this into something more than it was. Admin work very hard maintaining this forum for us, and the give their precious time for free, it is not their only job in life! they are also dollmakers who need to make a living and certainly dont need all this unneccessary bad feeling. Our membership fees go towards the site costs, which they are trying to keep to a minimum for us. Can we all try to remember this please and all just behave like sensible adults here? Nobody wants anyone to leave.

First of all, it has been said by all involved that we know the admin team work hard but nobody has asked them to do it and nobody has asked any of us to help with the difficult work load or we would do so. We did speak to Toni privately and do not blame her for doing her job! We all felt hurt as we had done nothing wrong and I'm sure if you had been involved with the whole episode you would feel differently.

Everytime one of us disagrees with something we are told it is all blown out of proportion that is why nobody speaks out. I am only saying what has been said to me in private and if we had a more co-operative guild things like this would not happen. For anyone who has missed the point the request is that we can talk about it, sort it out and move on.

Roz

Roz , if I had been involved I probably would still have viewed the incident the same as I do now. The way I saw it was, if the chatbox wasnt working & there were a few online chatting already, I would have done what Lesley, Babs & I have done before which was to just move across to msn to chat - problem solved. I am happy the way the forum operates & take on board any changes, its a shame others aren't as happy.

The chat box may have been working...I don't know but we were all coming and going in the easy lounge...I was on ebay at the same time and just kept nipping in to see if anyone had been in.

I think we are all getting wires crossed. We were upset because we were made to feel we had all done something wrong. if we had of been told that there had been lots of complaints in the past when they had happened it wouldn't have gone this far but admin tried to sort it out themselves so did not tell us. Then we got told it was a complaint by one person and then a space issue so we didn't know which it was until nicky told us it was both.

That is what I am saying, if things were in the open none of this would happen and admin would not have so much pressure and problems to deal with!

Roz
xx

I dont understand why a simple request for members to use the chat box more can have been blown up to this ridiculous level.
Why anyone has come to the conclusion they would be asked to leave for airing a point of view is beyond me. This has not been said at all .
Toni's post was to ask if members could use the chat box when there were more than a few online.
A simple request. Why this should make anyone scared to post I really dont know.
We have never asked members to leave for airing a view so why would this happen now ?
As for the running of the guild, we have a great admin team who all share in the work . Most of the team have been on board since our very early days and invited on board by myself and nicky as co founders. We all have the best interests of the group at heart. We value the stability of the team and have no plans to change this .
We take all complaints on board and listen to members views .The guild charter was written up for the benefit of all the members and everyone is aware of the aims of the guild before they join us.
Roz I appreciate your views on the appraisals .However the majority of members have found the experience to be encouraging and the critiques very helpful.
The appraisals are a fundamental part of the guild which everyone is aware of before they join. They are optional, if a member doesnt want to take part there is no pressure for them to do so. No one is thought any less of if they choose not to take part .
Beverley your posts may be missing due to our moderator clearing out a few threads. No need to worry.
julie

I have no idea what's gone on (don't want to know either, lol!) but it would be a great shame if the appraisals went - we'd just be like any other old gossipy forum then. I think that the original idea of the Guild to be a professional dollmakers' body offering support, knowledge, advice and encouragement is fantastic, on offer as it is to all grades of dollmaking experience - we have nothing else like that in the UK and I commend Julie & Nicky for their vision. I also commend them for being able to carry it forward despite all the hassle it entails!! And there's also something to be said for 'too many chiefs & not enough indians' - the whole thing could rapidly implode without defined leadership (as I'm discovering with my son's band, but I digress...). You stick to it, girls - people can go anywhere for a chat, but not for professional dollmaking STUFF that's on offer here from & for all it's splendid members!

PS. Despite what it says to the left I'm not one of Admin any more, so this is my view from the trenches, as it were!

Jacqui x

understand that the appraisals are voluntary and they could be a great thing but I can't see how work can be judged from a photograph, and how anyone who is judging is qualified to do so. I have had to support someone who has now even closed their website down because they feel a failure. It is supposed to encourage people not destroy their love of dolls. A few admin members have also told me they think they should be dropped. As i said just my opinion.

As for the other business, it is how we were told that is the problem and the fact we keep getting told we are taking it wrong is not fair as you are not taking how we feel about it into consideration. It was only a few posts and it came out of the blue. how did you expect us to take it when people talk about anything and everything on there all day yet we got told we should move to the chatroom. If the problems had been made aware to everyone we would not feel like this.

Nobody is suggesting we all run the guild but if certain issues were put to a vote nobody could complain if they vote but the outcome goes with the majority? All i'm saying is this would stop admin having to try to resolve issues only to find people are not happy with the outcome.

Roz

I have to say to start I am rubbish at explaining how i feel when having to write it all down, I can only add I am one of the people pm ing Roz, I am very sad and gutted for what has been said in here yeaterday and today. nobody is ever going to do woen the work of the Admin, they do a fab job, but that isnt and wasnt the issue, so best leave that one alone.
I am with Roz on everything she has said today, and beleive it all too.
yes we are I suppose risking our membership that does concern me, but I feel i have to stand with Roz and a few other people who maybe don't want to come out and say it.
Roz, i am soory just to add "i agree with everything you say" as thats seems an easy way out, but again I am rubbish at putting pen to paper.

To be honest i feel like i am banging my head against a brick wall. It is a very difficult thing to stand up and say how you feel and i wish a little bit more respect was given to that fact! I do not mind stepping forward because i know that some of you think i put it best but i am not alone in these opinions and tht must be taken into account or there will be no guild at this rate as it is split down the middle...this needs sorting out!


Is it really that hard to understand we just want to have place to say how we feel without feeling like we can't.

Roz
xx

well i am in agreement with you there

Hi,
I just looked at how many members we have and there are 63 but yet we only have 13 recognised artists so what does that say? Maybe more people don't want to do the appraisal than do.

I don't want to do it but am worried that I will be left behind as the only one on the list as an aspirer!!

Everyone on this guild has an opinion and we will never all agree on everything but it should also be a place where we can say what we think without being shot down in flames or made to feel we are causing trouble as I'm sure no-one wants to do that .

I don't know how to resolve this as there are some people who will not want to speak up and say what they think . Unless we can be honest with each other and say if something upsets or bothers us then we are not much of a group are we?

I understand that some makers on here take it all very seriously and see it as a business but there are others who for one reason or another can't or don't want to be so ambitious and there's nothing wrong with that. We all have our own reasons for wanting to make dolls for some it's just a hobby and for others an income so I suppose we all want different things from the Guild and I can see it is difficult to accomodate everyones needs.

Fighting and bickering will get us no-where and I hate to see people at odds with each other.
Roz is very brave to stand up and be counted and if people are telling her they support what she is saying them maybe they should get on here and tell us all so we can discuss it and sort it out before it gets out of hand.

Margaret

Roz and lesley I am with you both its been a really hard day...Bev

Thank you Margaret for putting your point across in such a nice way. And we did the appraisals for the reason that you are feeling you should as it would look odd to the public if we didn't. We see doll making as a profession and I am wasting valuable time trying to sort this mess out! It does not matter if it is your business or a hobby as there should be a place for all and we should all be listened to. Then we can all get along!!!

Roz
xx

I too Margaret am standing up to be counted if you like, probably a rubbish choice of words but thats me lol

Hi Roz,

Well, I just think it's unfair that you seem to be taking all the flack when it's obvious other people feel the same but for some reason don't want to say so.

I've worked in places where this has hapened, everyone complained to each other and not to the person who could change things and it causes bad feelings and people get upset when it could have all been sorted out without hurting anyones feelings.


I feel very sad your friend has stopped making dolls as I know how much pleasure I get from it .

Margaret x

Hi,

Good for you Lesley!! No it's not a bad choice of words --well put!

Love Margaret x

thanks xox