Jan 1st 2009 10:43:29 am

What a busy time of year! Or, maybe a busy beginning of a new year… 2009, wow! Anyhoo, Travis and I were traveling over the holidays visiting our families and eating lots of yummy treats. We had planned on working on Swap-bot more consistently over the trip, but not all plans work out. We got back late Wednesday night and have been trying to get things back in order since then. Today I am really getting down to business answering lots of emails (and doing all of our travel laundry). If you wrote, please be patient. I promise to try to fix any problems. Don’t panic. I have a feeling 2009 is going to be a great year! xoxo

1 Comment » Categories: Announcements, General

Dec 14th 2008 05:32:13 pm

We have chosen the random winner to the PhotoJewelryMaking.com sponsored giveaway… The winner is Sugarbug! She will be receiving a typewriter key bracelet kit and a typewriter key initial necklace kit from PhotoJewelryMaking.com. Congrats, Sugarbug!

Here is Sugarbug’s answer to the question, What is pictured in your most cherished family photograph?:

Sugarbug on 07 Dec 2008: “I have so many, but one of my favorites is of my son and me moments after he was placed on my chest.”

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. I loved reading all of the comments about your cherished photos. There will be another giveaway announced at the beginning of January, so check back.

xoxo

No Comments » Categories: Announcements, Giveaways

Nov 30th 2008 09:27:54 pm

We have chosen the random winner to the Get Eurofied! sponsored giveaway… The winner is salfra! She will be receiving one of the grand opening European art and craft sample boxes from Get Eurofied! Congrats, salfra.

Here is salfra’s answer to the question, What is your favorite type of item to purchase from independent artists or crafters?:

Sally Francis (salfra) on 25 Nov 2008: “I love to purchased altered journals from other artists! I get soooooo inspired from what they do, learn new techniques, get to own an original piece of art work, and have a new “pretty” to look at and play with!”

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. I loved reading all of the comments about independent arts and crafts. There will be another giveaway announced very soon, so check back. Also, the rest of the December Get Eurofied sample boxes go on sale today. There are a limited number, so act fast if you are interested!

xoxo

4 Comments » Categories: Announcements, Giveaways

Nov 23rd 2008 09:31:24 pm

We have now implemented a universal twenty-swap limit on ALL Swap-bot swappers. You have NOT been dropped from any swaps - even if you are signed up for 100s. You simply cannot sign up for any new swaps until your current list is less than twenty swaps. This may seem quite sudden, but we felt it was necessary to move forward on the swap limit at this time. Remember to use your watchlist to keep track of swaps that fall outside the limit.

All new users start with a five-swap limit. Now, once they receive three “5″ ratings, they are moved up to the twenty-swap limit. BUT, the watchlist is always completely UNLIMITED. (Previously the watchlist had a glitch and was being limited to five swaps for new users - we fixed that.)

This universal swap limit may seem harsh, but we have been discussing and receiving feedback on it for what seems like a long time. We believe it is necessary in order to protect good swappers from high levels of swap-lifting by dishonest people. In previous polls on the blog 82% of respondents thought there should be some sort of limit and 64% of respondents thought that limit should be twenty swaps or less. Obviously not everyone participated in the blog polls and we are still totally open to feedback. However, our main objective is to prevent massive flaking and stealing. We have plans for a tiered system in the future.

Remember to continue to come check out the Swap-bot blog. I have been posting a lot of important information as well as fun stuff like giveaways and crafty links. We do still have plans to start a Swap-bot Wiki, but for now this is the place for lots of good Swap-bot info! I think I will be announcing another great giveaway on Monday or Tuesday, so be sure to check back for that.

There is more info about recent site changes here and here. Our changes can get really confusing, but I will always try to keep you as updated as possible.

One more thing: For any adventurous beta testers out there, we have created a Swap-bot chat room! Yes, you read that right, a SWAP-BOT CHAT ROOM! woot! Travis has been working really hard on it. It is not quite ready for a full release, but we really need people to try it out. Everyone is welcome, but please keep in mind that there will definitely still be some bugs to work through… Also, it is a PUBLIC chat room, so be sure to watch yourself accordingly. Ok, if you are brave GO HERE to start chatting! Thanks for your help!

xoxo

No Comments » Categories: Announcements, New Features, site updates

Nov 1st 2008 04:58:10 pm

We have a winner! This morning I printed out all of the names from the comments that had been posted on the Winter Prize Giveaway (we had a total of 85 unique entrants). Then, Travis covered his eyes and drew a random paper slip out of our Halloween candy bucket. AND… the winner of the Making Memories prize pack is Onigiri885! Congrats! This is her comment from the entry post:

Lela (onigiri885) on 25 Oct 2008 at 8:54 am:

I think it would be really cool if there was a ‘friend’ system, where you could add people as your friend and have easier ways of contacting them instead of just pm’s or profile messages. ^.^

I will be sending her an email confirming her win and then her package will be mailed next week. I hope she has fun with all those supplies! We are planning on creating a friends system in the near future (as well as a “block user” system), so it was a great suggestion, too. Actually, everyone had wonderful suggestions. Thank you all for your feedback! We hope to implement most of the ideas as quickly as possible. Although, knowing us it will probably take longer than we would like. Stay tuned for site improvements and many more giveaways on the blog! xoxo

5 Comments » Categories: Announcements, Giveaways

Oct 26th 2008 08:27:34 pm

The forums are a great place to chat with friends, ask questions, and learn about Swap-bot, but in the past arguments and disruptive content have made the forums unpleasant for many users. We have now posted some new, straightforward Forum Rules for all of us to follow. They are very similar to rules enforced on other major internet discussion boards and forums. Swap-bot Admins (Rachel & Travis) will be taking a stricter stance on the rules and a more active role in closing threads and restricting forum access for problem users. We stand by our commitment to free speech and non-censorship, while also working to provide a safe and fun discussion environment. A shorter version of the new rules is below, but please read the entire Forum Rules page asap!

Forum Rules of Conduct

Violations of the following rules may result in a temporary or indefinite forum ban. Extreme violations may result in a partial or full account suspension. Forum bans and account suspensions can happen with or without warning and are at the discretion of Swap-bot Admins.

• Hate-speak and disruptive or hostile comments are not allowed.
• Threats of violence (against yourself or others) and personal attacks are not allowed.
• Using the forums as a way to Spam other members or advertise unrelated goods or services is not allowed.
• Posting another person’s address or contact information (including email address) is not allowed.
• Making repetitive or disruptive posts and repetitively “bumping” threads is not allowed.
• The use of false or duplicate accounts (also called “sock puppets”) in the Swap-bot Forums for the purpose of disruption or to avoid detection is not allowed.
• Posting copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright owner is not allowed. This includes posting private messages or email content without the author’s consent.
• Maliciously and/or falsely posting a user in the Questionable Swapper category is not allowed.

Forum posts containing the following types of content may be closed by Swap-bot Admins:

• Interpersonal disputes or arguments unrelated to Swap-bot
• Vulgar, obscene, or pornographic text or images
• Repetitive or hostile arguments
• Offensive or disruptive content that upsets other users
• Any type of comment making fun of Crusher, the Swap-bot mascot!

Despite our best efforts to make these rules as specific as possible, there are still many gray areas. Our goal is NOT to be the etiquette or profanity police. Swap-bot is an adult site and therefore an appropriate level of adult content and language is fine. All enforcement and interpretation of the forum rules will be done by the Swap-bot Admins at their discretion.

The new rules are not retroactive. We are not going to sift through old posts looking for rule-breakers. Also, because these are new policies, we have removed the previous forum restrictions placed on users. Everyone gets a clean slate. However, new forum bans will be permanent, so do NOT break the rules.

No Comments » Categories: Announcements, site updates

Aug 17th 2008 06:01:54 am

A few baby step-type site changes to tell you about…

The details: Founders can now make officers and members co-founders. Any founder can demote or remove another founder, but you cannot demote or remove yourself from a founder position. Also, group swaps should now still stay on the group homepage through the sign up deadline instead of being removed the day before. Finally, the list of users on the Manage Group Members page is flowing into three columns now instead of just one. That last one is a small change, but it makes viewing members a little easier.

BIG CHANGE: We have made a reversal of policy and now allow members to delete their own accounts. Threats of legal action led to this change. Now, when a user deletes their account ALL info (except username and past comments made throughout the site) is removed from our system completely. Deleted accounts absolutely canNOT be retrieved. However a special “address token” is created and kept in our database which prevents users from creating new accounts with the same address. So, only delete your account if you are completely sure. Fraudulent and rule breaking accounts will still be fully suspended, not deleted.

1 Comment » Categories: Announcements, Bug Fixes, New Features

Jun 28th 2008 01:33:23 pm

I am sure everyone is aware of the “slow downs” in Swap-bot service that we have been experiencing periodically. We have been having difficulty with our current web hosting service and are in the process of switching to a higher capacity service. The final switch to the new server will happen tonight. The switch will require about 15 minutes of downtime which will occur at approximately 10 pm US Pacific time TONIGHT. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but it is necessary.

In conjunction with the switch there are some significant changes that you will notice on Swap-bot. There will be a few layout changes and a few feature additions - including a swap “watch list.” Mostly you will hopefully just notice that the site is running much quicker. More info about the site changes will be released soon. Please have patience as there will surely be a few little glitches as the changes are implemented.

Also, Travis and I are doing our best on this site. I wish we could provide the kind of service we all expect from large sites like Facebook or MySpace, but frankly, we cannot. I am extremely (disgracefully) behind on answering support email, but I am trying to catch up. I am sorry. We really enjoy running this site and providing a fun tool, but we must do it on our own terms. If it is no longer fun for you to use or visit, I am sorry. Like usual, I will suggest using groups if your want to interact with an exclusive set of users.

Ok, so thanks for your patience as we switch to the new server. It is a big job, so wish us luck!!

3 Comments » Categories: Announcements, New Features

Apr 6th 2008 02:23:17 pm

Swap-bot is ever-changing and we have some new improvements to tell you about:

• Biggest Deal - There is now a “latest discussions” for all of your group forums. When you go to Group Forums Home you will now see a list of the 25 most recent forum conversations from all of the groups you belong to. (Sticky conversations are listed first.) The latest group discussions take the place of the simple list of group names that used to be on the Group Forums Home. There is also now a link to your group forums on the public forums sidebar.
• Woot woot! There are now a couple of group email notifications! You will now receive email notifications whenever a new swap is created in one of the groups you belong to. You will also receive an email when a new announcement is posted in any of your groups. (Announcements are the comments listed on the group homepage. The idea is that founders and officers could use the announcements section to post things that they would like to notify the entire group about.) Both of these email notifications are completely optional. You can choose which type of emails you would like to receive for each group. Go to the new “Groups” link within the “Profile Edit” page in order to set your group email preferences. The default is set so that you DO receive ALL of the group email notifications.
• Speaking of editing your profile, in addition to the “edit” link at the top of most Swap-bot pages there is now a new link on your profile page that will take you to the edit screen. Some users were having trouble finding the profile edit page, so hopefully this will make it easier.

Have fun!

4 Comments » Categories: Announcements, New Features

Mar 2nd 2008 12:06:42 pm

We have been working on a few small site changes this weekend. Here are the details:

• Swap partners are no longer auto assigned. This has been a confusing subject mostly due to my own mistakes and bad info, however we have now come to a solution which we believe will be most effective. Coordinators are now completely responsible for assigning partners for their swaps. The Swap-bot computer will NOT auto-assign partners at any time. Coordinators have one week (7 days) to assign partners for their swaps. If partners are not assigned within one week the swap is DELETED by the Swap-bot computer. All participants will receive an email letting them know that the swap was deleted.

  Side note: If a swap has been deleted because the coordinator has not logged in for over a week and never assigned partners, we consider it perfectly acceptable for one of the swap’s participants to start a similar swap.

• You can now drop from swaps at any time before partners are assigned. Before you could not drop from a swap if the sign up deadline had passed, now you can drop after the sign up deadline if partners are not assigned.
• I have revised the FAQ to reflect these changes, but as always let me know if you notice any errors.
• One more little change for group founders: We have added the date that users requested to join a group under their info on the group “Approve Join Requests” pages.

We hope you like these changes. Happy swapping!

UPDATE: My wording above may be slightly confusing. Coordinators do not actually have to pair up the participants in their swaps, they simply have to initiate the process by clicking the “assign partners” link. The Swap-bot computer still matches all partners. It just does not ever initiate that process automatically. Sorry for any confusion.

No Comments » Categories: Announcements, Bug Fixes, New Features