I'm normally one of the first who embraces changes/improvements, etc. But in this case I must admit that I'm happy with the way things are. Due to a demanding full time job, and living on my own, so having to do everything myself in the little time left, I wouldn;t be able to cope with a much busier forum. I would simply have to stop participating. I hope it won;t come to that.

Lorchen

ok Lynn, when did you get in my head to say my exact thoughts?? (right down to the first week!)
Florence

I started this thread to discuss the FUNCTIONALLITY of the board not the CONTENT of the posts... there are wonderful people here but with so many topics it is hard to find some of the posts...

Search engine helps...

The SINCE you were here ... is great until it wipes out because you come several times a day for short intervals.

I often visit THE NO RESPONSE board to make sure some post of interest did not get lost in the shuffle.

I think it would be easier to communicate our needs if the categories were more general. Haven't you noticed that post get put into the general topics ( I love THIS AND THAT) more than the specific, specialized posting areas. Some of those post have been there for months. I also think some of those posters have not been back because they have gotten lost in the shuffle.

This message board is harder to use then some of the other boards you really have to be persistent and know how this board functions... I just do not think this board is user friendly.

Have a good day.. I am off to work... need some money for more quiting goodies.

TQS has grown and changed so much, and I have grown and changed so much with it. To be able to find a venue like this to learn from and express myself all at the same time is more than I could have ever imagined.

And this is a perfect example: The previous post is from Mary Kay and if it were not for TQS, I would not have met her. She and her beautiful family welcomed me into their home when I was traveling back from the La Veta quilt retreat last month. I felt like I had known them forever. That is just one of the wonderful gifts I have received from this site and all it has to offer.

On the opening page of the website, the welcoming phrase says, "We celebrate the lifestyle and diversity of quilters"! That pretty much says it all.

Dana in Olive Branch, MS

I love this community and all the things that I am learning on the site. I am slow to learn some stuff too, and still have more to learn about how to use the site, but it sure beats turning on the tv and going brain dead! Mary Kay

Very well put Lynn. TQS has given my creativity and self-confidence an enormous boost. It's my only guild and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Sherry

I've been here since the first week and have seen TQS grow, mature, change, and do it's very best to be responsive to our requests - big and little! IMHO TQS has been the best thing that has happened to quilting (and to ME) in a long, long, time.

Perhaps it's just that the timing was right for ME personally in that I've always been SELF-taught and SELF-motivated, but it has encouraged and spurred me into greater creativity, shown me how to do things I had never even contemplated, and opened a world of 'hand/machine work' that I never dreamed could captivate my mind so completely!

The accessibility of so much talent (in the forum AND in the shows) is so great, I can't put it in words. You just have to be here to experience it - that's all.

And as to figuring it all out, please be patient - it's all here, we just have to learn how to use it!

Lynn, Houston

Libbi wrote:

Libbi, on the first page when you go into Forum, there is a search button below the double purple line of buttons. You can search by topic, by author, by category. It is still cumbersome in that so many posts will come up, but it is a start. Marge

Libbi, we're all friends here, and some of us are a lot older and can't even remember who we are just kidding. Knowing that a thread has been posted once upon a time but can't remember where or when ( that's an old song) but someone of our 30,000 friends will remember and help out. So just type away and hope for the best. Judy in AZ

So do I, Libbi. But then I think, "heck, I'll never see most of these people face to face" so I plunge in-usually mouth first. :shock:
eileenkny

Overall, I really like the TQS forum. The "since last visit" selection works for me, and I browse older posts when I get the chance. Yes, I get off topic once in awhile because the forum is just like a conversation with a big group of friends. Conversations have a ebb and flow and thoughts are triggered by another's contribution.

I also feel safe in the TQS forum. I have been in forums with contributors who post nasty, mean, and disturbing threads and replies. I guess they only want to cause trouble.

My only concern, and it may be my own lack of expertise, is searching for information or threads that already discussed the topic or provide the info for which I am looking. I do feel stupid reopening a topic or posting the obvious.

Well said, Eileen.

Lady Rags is a basic member, I think. Since she has dial-up, it wouldn't make sense to subscribe to the shows.
All members, basic and star, have access to the forums and have the right to their opinions.
That's what's so great about TQS!! We can all get along and agree to disagree

I posted several messages before I became a subscriber it's one of the things that helped me decide I wanted to subscribe. If I hadn't had access to the forum I wouldn't have realized what great help was available. Maybe one of these days it will help me actually FINISH a quilt instead of picking out new ones!

Lisa