A few small site changes were made over the weekend. Here are the details:

  • We added a Type section to the Rating Overview on everyone’s profile page. You can now see the number of swaps each member has completed according to their swap Type.
    • Type 1: Electronic swaps – internet-based, email, messages, links, digital photography, etc
    • Type 2: Flat mail – postcards, letters, mail swaps that require one stamp (store-bought postcards would go in this type)
    • Type 3: Crafts & Packages – any time-intensive crafts, packages, most swaps will fall in this category

    Right now, these numbers do not have any functionality (i.e. you can’t click on them to see a list of the completed swaps), but we hope to keep working on this feature. We hope that seeing the number of completed swaps for each Type will help coordinators determine who to allow in their swaps. As for the uncategorized swaps, Types were introduced in May 2009 and any swaps completed before then were not “Typed.” However, swap coordinators can go back and “Type” their old swaps by going to the “Edit the swap” page. </li>

    • Based on user suggestions, we have now implemented a rating lock after six months. Each swap is “closed” six months after the send deadline. Previously, that just meant that everyone’s addresses were removed from view in that swap, but now it also means that it is no longer possible for any of the participants to leave a 1 or 3 rating for the swap. This change will prevent users from rating unfairly long after a swap has been completed. You will still be able to leave a 5 rating, or to choose the “I do not wish to rate at this time” option indefinitely. That means that users can still remove a low rating or change it to a 5 at any time. (It also means that potentially a 5 rating can be removed (by choosing the “I do not wish to rate” option), but I think that would be a very rare occurrence.) We still want to allow some flexibility in the rating system so that old swaps can be made up and mistakes can be changed. FYI: Users have noted that this changes makes it impossible to change a 1 rating to a 3 after six months (like, say, if a returning flaker has come back and is trying to make up swaps). I agree that this could be a problem. Join in the discussion about this new feature here in the forums. Together we can work toward the best solution. **UPDATE 5/12/2011: We have removed the time limit on leaving low ratings. We have reverted the system back to its original functionality. You can now leave any of the three ratings at any time (except for the usual two week wait after the mail deadline for the 1 and 3). </p>

      The six month limit on when you could leave low ratings was intended to prevent users from changing good ratings to low ratings. Unfortunately, it seems to have only caused problems with rating swappers who have returned after a long swap break and are trying to make up past unsent swaps.

      We would like to implement a way to “lock in” 5 ratings in the future, but we are still considering the best way to do it. For now, if you have problems with a user changing a previous 5 rating, contact me – rachel [at] swap-bot.com. It is a rare occurrence and I can lock ratings manually as needed.</b> </li>

      • On group home pages we have now reduced the number of mini user avatars that appear in the bottom right column. The avatars took forever to load on groups with lots and lots of members, so now you will only see a maximum of 100 random members on the homepage. This is not a big change, but we don’t want you to worry that you suddenly lost a bunch of group members!</ul>

      That is it for now. Let me know if you have any questions!