May 31st 2009 07:20:24 am

Last night we switched Swap-bot to new servers and made a few minor changes to the site. We did not make any major adjustments, so hopefully you will not experience any problems, but let us know if you notice anything odd.

So, what all did we do? Let me explain…

• New Servers! - Travis (the web programming side of the Swap-bot team) assures me that the new server set up will provide three times our previous processing power, which is really important as the site grows. There are also a lot of technical benefits to the new servers which makes Travis happy… and that makes me happy!

  UPDATE: Travis is still messing around with the servers (as of 2:30 EST) which is causing everyone to get logged out and making things slow. He should be done soon.

• Time Zone Change - With the change to the new servers, we also had to change the entire site to US East Coast time. This will affect swap sign up and send deadlines slightly. We are still observing how the new time zone will work for everyone, so let us know if it causes any problems. The switch to East Coast time also affected the forum post time stamps, setting all of the post made before last night back three hours. Not a big deal, but it might have been confusing this morning if you were searching for a specific post made at a specific time yesterday.
• FACEBOOK - Do you use Facebook? You can now integrate your swap activity with your Facebook wall and news feed! Sweet! Now, after you sign up for a new swap, a box will appear at the top of your dashboard asking you to connect to Facebook. If you would like to, simply click on the Facebook Connect button and then type in your Facebook login info. Once you have entered your Facebook info the first time you will always have the option of publishing each of your swap sign ups to your Facebook wall. Your friends will be able to follow your swap activity and click on the swap link to sign up for the same swap if they would like. Your swap activity will look like this on your Facebook wall:



• Swap Types - When you create swaps from now on, in addition to all of the usual info, you will be asked to pick a swap type. There are three swap types (email, letter, package) which I will describe below. This additional information will help us give a more detailed and descriptive rating overview for all participants. Beginning to gather the swap type info during swap creation is laying the groundwork for future additions to the rating system and the automatic suspension system.

  Here are descriptions of the three swap types:

  • Email - All electronic-only swaps fall under this type. Swaps of email letters or surveys, e-cards, blog links, Etsy favorites, Flickr favorites, digital photography, etc. Email swaps are any swaps that are done over the internet and do not require postage.
  • Letter - All mail swaps that only require one or two postage stamps, like postcards and simple letters in standard-size envelopes.
  • Package - Any swaps that must be mailed in a package. Most swaps will fall under this type. Anything sent in a box, bubble mailer, or large envelope.

  Of course, there may be some swaps that are hard to fit perfectly into a type. Two dimensional craft swaps, like hand-made postcards and ATCs, are items which may be hard to fit into one of the three types… Personally, I think handmade postcards that are mailed naked with a postcard stamp should fall in the “Letter” type. ATCs which are mailed with protection in an envelope could go in the package category. There will have to be some level of trust in coordinators to pick the correct type for their swaps. The system cannot be absolutely perfect, but it will help separate simple e-swaps from time and money-intensive package swaps. Iwill be adding the type descriptions to the swap creation page and the Swap-bot FAQ as soon as possible. Also, as swap coordinator, you can edit your past swaps in order to choose a swap type if you would like. Past swaps will receive an “undesignated” type category if they are not edited by their coordinators.

Those are all the (intended) changes that were made this weekend. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Like always, we will continue to work to improve Swap-bot!

7 Comments » Categories: site updates

May 30th 2009 02:04:44 pm

We are performing some site maintenance which will cause the Swap-bot site to be down for approximately 30 minutes to an hour at 11 pm (US Eastern Standard Time) tonight. There are a few (minor) new features which will be added at that time. We will write more about the changes tomorrow… Thanks for your patience.

5 Comments » Categories: site updates

May 29th 2009 09:04:17 am

Summer is here, so let’s have some fun!

• Want a stylish statement necklace? How about making one of Naughty Secretary Club’s Crazy Quilt Ping Pong Ball Necklaces - they are actually much prettier than the description sounds!
• If you have kids, you might love LMNOP magazine. It is a free, quarterly, downloadable PDF magazine from Australia for “hip, stylish parents and their children.”
• Another link for parents: The Future Craft Collective. “The Future Craft Collective is about inspiring children to become makers and create beauty, while simultaneously teaching them ways of minimizing our impact on this earth.” The site has lots of tutorials for projects you can make with kids, plus a blog and a shop.
• A cool new site I just discovered (via suffix.abuse): ShareSomeCandy

  . “Sharesomecandy is a curated collective of inspiring design finds and art. The content is appropriate for all audiences - 9-99. Criteria for inclusion are finds that are universally inspiring, beautiful and thought provoking.” It is basically a place to find tons of inspiring and cool art. They are also going to be adding a “handmade” category in June.

• A really cute, elementary-school-inspired project from Ali Edwards.
• Two funky-cool mini scrapbooks on the Crafts Dept.
• If you love kawaii, you need need to head over to the Kawaii Cafe - a social network and community for Kawaii lovers.
• Finally, don’t forget to enter the giveaway drawing for a $20 gift certificate to the Etsy store, This and That From Japan. You have until Sunday to get entered.

1 Comment » Categories: friday link love

May 27th 2009 06:48:44 am

Lisa from This And That From Japan is generously hosting this fantastic giveaway. Five winners will each receive a $20 gift certificate to the adorable Etsy shop!

The winners will be able to choose from an amazing collection of Japanese fabrics and use their gift certificates to purchase anything from the cotton, linen/cotton blend, or sale section on This and That from Japan. There are so many cute fabrics - great stuff for summer sewing projects!! For kawaii lovers, there is also lots of kawaii goods in the shop, like Sanrio Hello Kitty, My Melody, Little Twin Star, stamps, fabric, etc.

To enter the giveaway drawing you must go check out This And That From Japan, then come back and comment on this entry describing your favorite item(s) from the shop. Each person can only enter this giveaway once. You must have a Swap-bot account in good standing (not suspended) with a valid mailing address to enter. You must include your Swap-bot username somewhere in your comment. You must comment on or before Sunday, May 31st, to be entered in the drawing. The winners will be randomly drawn and announced on Monday, June 1st. If you have trouble commenting on the blog, you can send me an email at rachel [at] swap-bot.com. Good luck!

113 Comments » Categories: Giveaways

May 26th 2009 09:00:54 am

MARKDOWN TUTORIAL by Deana Barker (muincat)

These days, it seems just about every Swap-Bot Forum I go into, someone has a question about how to change their profile, whether it be to add a badge, picture, link or whatever. Usually, the person doesn’t know a thing about Markdown language and is asking for help. I never ran across Markdown until I became a member of Swap Bot and it frustrated me at first, too. I followed the link provided by Swap-Bot to Daring Fireball: Markdown Basics, but still found it difficult to work out what to do without specific examples pertinent to Swap-Bot, so that’s what I’m going to try to do for you all here in this post. With any luck, we’ll have you off into the land of customizing bliss in no time!

PICTURES & BADGES:

This is the one I see the most questions on. “How can I add this badge/picture to my profile?”

Well, badges and pictures are really the same thing. First, you need to know the location of the image you want to use. It has to already be uploaded online somewhere since Swap-Bot does not have the capability of uploading graphics for profiles.

Let’s say I want to post the “I Pledge To Rate” badge created by pgk:

This badge is located on the Swap-bot server at: http://static.swap-bot.com/purplebadge.jpg - In the case of most badges, however, the image location information will be provided for you by whomever created the badge. The graphics may be located on Photobucket, or Flickr, or on someone’s personal website. The location will always need to be an internet URL address - not a link to your personal computer.

Next, you’ll go into “Edit Profile” and decide where you want this badge to show up on your profile. When you find the spot, click on it, so that your cursor is in that spot, ready to type.

What you type to make the image appear on your profile page (the reason you’re all reading this!):


If you want to get fancy and add a description for folks who might not be able to load graphics for whatever reason, you would type something like this:


Lets say you want “alt text” to read “I pledge to rate.” It would look like this:


———-

You add other types of photos and pictures exactly the same way! How cool is that?! Let’s pretend you’ve got this really cute animated clip art you want on your profile, like this little kitty:

You would need to have him available somewhere online, like Flikr, Photobucket or your own personal website. I uploaded this little guy to my web server so I could show you how to do it. He is located at http://www.muincat.com/images/DancinCat.gif, so I would would find the place in my profile where I wanted to put him and type:


OR

 naprosyn

———-

MAKING HYPERLINKS:

Great news! Hyperlinks are made the same way! The only difference is that you’re linking to a website instead of a picture file. Going back to the “I Pledge to Rate” example, you could put a link under the page that goes to the webpage that explains exactly what it is that you pledged like this:

What I Pledged

To make a link you type the words you would like hyperlinked in brackets, followed by the URL in parenthesis:

[What I Pledged](http://www.swap-bot.com/forums/topic/7681)

The whole thing with the graphic and link would look like this:


[What I Pledged](http://www.swap-bot.com/forums/topic/7681) buy cystone

If you want to only post the graphic and make it a link, your code would look like this:

[](http://www.swap-bot.com/forums/topic/7681)

Another example would be if you wanted to make a link to your Amazon Wish List. Find the place in your profile that you’d like to add the link. You’d like it to say This is my Amazon Wishlist

. Type:

[This is my Amazon Wish List](http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1QLOE6JUSKNJ2)

Just make sure you type YOUR wish list URL and not the one above, since its mine. But then again, if you’d like the whole world to send me gifts from Amazon, I’m fine with that!

———

OTHER FORMATTING:

OK, pictures and links are the two biggest things that everyone wants to do. There are, however, a few other things that can make things look nice.

If you’d like to make a

Big Headline

(Heading 1), just type equal signs under it like so:

Big Headline
==========

If you’d like a

Smaller Headline

(Heading 2), like for a subcategory, just type dashes on the line under it like so:

Smaller Headline
————————

The next level down is considered

Heading 3

and would be typed with 3 pound signs before it like this:

###Heading 3

Bulleted lists are probably the easiest thing of all to make. All you have to do is put an asterisk before each item in the list and it will make it for you:

* Item 1
* Item 2
* Item 3

Gives you:

• Item 1
• Item 2
• Item 3

If you want a numbered list, just do the same as above, but use a number with a period after it:

1. Item
2. Another Item

Gives You:

1. Item
2. Another Item

If you’d like to make something show up in italics on your profile, all you have to do is add an asterisk on either side of the word or phrase you’d like emphasized. If you want something written in bold, use TWO asterisks on both sides of the word or phrase.

———-

Last, but not least, the “Preview” button is your friend! If you’re not sure that you typed something correctly, just hit the preview button and you’ll be able to check your work. Also, you can go to the code generator at Daring Fireball to do a trial run. The first box is where you type what you want to try. Below the box, you’ll find two drop down menus. Leave the first one (“Filter”) set to “Markdown” and the “Results” drop down should be set to “Preview.” Click “Convert” and the next box shows you what it will really look like to the rest of the world.

Good Luck!

———-

Thank you to Deana for such a detailed and helpful tutorial! We (Travis & Rachel) chose to allow Markdown (as opposed to HTML) on Swap-bot for formatting because it helps keep the site safe from HTML code which could cause problems. Markdown is also meant to be a simpler language that is easier to learn. You can use any of the formatting options discussed above on your profile page, within swap descriptions, and within the Swap-bot Forums. There is more helpful information about using Markdown on the Swap-bot Wiki. Have fun!

No Comments » Categories: Tuesday Tip

May 22nd 2009 12:46:52 pm

Some early evening link love to get you through the long holiday weekend. Have fun!

• The image above is from a Button Fairy Tutorial on Flickr created by Swap-bot user, redwing480

  . The tutorial is very detailed and quite handy for anyone who is curious about the cute little fairies. (I need to add “Button Fairy” to the glossary!!)

• There is a very sweet (and FREE) scalloped tag download on A Print A Day.
• I just ordered some washi paper masking tape from nothingelegant’s Etsy store and it is beyond beautiful - had to share the store! (I originally found out about nothingelegant on simplesong.)
• Ok, I saw the new Star Trek movie recently and I am in love!! (Usually, I am more of a Next Generation girl, but I am digging this newest interpretation.) Anyhoo, if you are also a Trekkie, you must check out the two Star Trek ATC swaps going on now: here & here.
• Amy Butler is holding a contest - make something with her Midwest Modern fabric and submit an email with a photo of your creation between June 1st and September 15th. Ten winners will receive a very generous Amy Butler prize package. Read the official contest PDF here. (found via Whip Up)
• This next one is just for fun, because hey, it is a holiday weekend and you just might be taking some family photos: Awkward Family Photos.

No Comments » Categories: friday link love

May 21st 2009 01:37:48 pm

I want to quickly share with you one of my absolute favorite blogs: Creature Comforts. The site is run by Ez, who loves style and design and all things beautiful. She features the most lovely photography and art each day by sharing her inspirations from all around the web. She also often has giveaways and free downloads to share. It seems like all of my bookmarked websites these days have been found by reading Creature Comforts!

You can check out Ez’s Etsy store, Wren & Chickadee, and her Twitter

. She is also one of the artists behind Kindred.

No Comments » Categories: blog review

May 19th 2009 09:57:38 am

Creating a descriptive profile page is an important part of swapping on Swap-bot, but what does that entail? And, how do you make your profile fabulous?

The Swap-bot “Edit Profile” page is extremely simple in design, but it allows you endless possibilities for customization. The “Personal” link at the top of the “Edit Profile” page is where you go to add information to your profile page.

Once you are there, follow these tips:

First, Add URLs

This is where you can prominently place links to other places on the internet that you inhabit, such as your blog(s), your MySpace Profile, your Flickr Photos, and if you’re an indie artist who sells your work, links to your Etsy store, your Artfire studio, etc. If you have wishlists on other sites, you can also add those links. Swap-bot provides a dropdown list with a few of these titles for the links, including My Amazon Wishlist, but you must provide the correct link address. For the wishlists, make sure you are not logged in on that site when you copy the link address or it won’t work for other people. If what you want to link to isn’t on the drop down list, just click on “other” and Swap-bot lets you name the link what you want, such as My Etsy Faves.

Second, Add info about yourself

The “Profile Edit” page starts out only showing one profile section, but you can add additional sections to your profile by clicking the “Add Another” link. You can choose from the pre-set section titles, or create your own by selecting “Other” and typing in a title.

Following are some suggestions for what to include in each section:

• About me

This is where you give people a general idea of who you are. You can include things like your job, a bit about your family, your hobbies and so on. You could include information about whether you would like to do one-on-one swaps with others, or if you are interested in specialized swaps. Add as much info as you would like, but remember that Swap-bot profiles are public, so do not include anything that you do not want to be public knowledge.

• Favourite crafts

If you do enjoy crafting, describe your projects here. Do you crochet, sew, are you interested in paper crafts, ATCs? If you are mainly interested in postcard or letter swaps, you can skip this section. You do not have to include all (or any) of the pre-set sections in your profile - they are simply suggestions to get you started.

• Favorite books/videos/music

These are pretty self-explanatory sections. If you do love movies, books, tv or music, you can give them each their own area on your profile page. The type of info included in these sections may not affect the swap packages that your partners send, but it will help them get to know you.

• Other sections

There is no limit to what other sections you can add to your profile. Some users have added sections specifically about their family members, or about special collections they have. You can create an area for anything you would like to share about your self on your profile page.

A lot of swapbot users list their likes and dislikes under special sections. These two categories of info are very important for profile-specific swaps and swaps where your partner is likely to go looking for making that special thing for you. Your partner will get inspiration and maybe find information about what little extras you might like. The more information you include, the better are your chances of receiving a parcel you really like. You could list things like your favorite colors, craft materials, candy, and other items you would like to receive. It is equally important to list your dislikes. Include any allergies or intolerances you may have to things.

You can also create a section to discuss how you handle swapping in general. The section can include statements about rating, being rated, how and when you send swaps, and what you do if you dont receive a swap.

Have fun adding “other” information to your profile page! Make it a place where others can quickly get to know you.

Adding Images and graphics

You are not required to add images and graphic to your profile, but some members have a lot of fun customizing their page. If you want to decorate your profile, you must first upload your graphic somewhere online (like on flickr or photobucket) and then you can use Markdown code to link to the images for display on your profile page. There is more information about using Markdown on the Swap-bot wiki, here. Also, stay tuned for a handy Markdown tutorial on an upcoming Tuesday Tip post!

———-

(Most of the text for this post was taken from the Swap-bot WIki “Tips for a Good Profile” page. Thank you to everyone who added to that page!)

• akon right now