Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack

Unfortunately, Ning as we know it is about to change. Drastically. So much so that we will be unable to continue our community and have it look like we are so used to our community looking like. They are getting rid of the Groups section and making the site be more like Facebook. Effy Wild, one of my mixed media mentors, writes a brilliant article here about the changes and how it affects those Network Creators (like myself) and their communities. Please read her blog post so that you can better understand how this is going to affect us.

Not only will the change in the look and feel and available options hinder our community networking, Ning is doubling the monthly cost to host a site on their network. I currently pay $24.99 a month to host our community; it will soon be $49.99 a month. That is just not affordable to me for a community where there are no paid classes -- all content and sharing is free. I happily pay for our community because I love that we all have a place to get together and share and build long-lasting friendships; however I am no kin to Rockefeller...

Effy is using a combination of a hosted Wordpress site and Facebook to rebuild her community. For us, this solution will not work. I would have to create a separate Facebook page for each of our many Groups and that just isn't community. We'd be separated and have to hop from page to page to page in order to stay in touch. Not an option for me... I am currently doing some research into how best to handle the transition so that we can stay together on a site very similar to this one so that we can be on one page and simply click tabs to get to the Groups and things we come here for. I am very close to making my selection and I will keep you posted as to what I have decided to do in order for us to keep our community together.

In the meanwhile, continue to come here and share and enjoy our community. Ning hasn't announced the timeframe for when they will force current Network Creators to the new version, so we have some time before we move. However, I do not want to wait until the last minute and then scramble to rebuild a community for us. I will be moving our community little-by-little over the time we have left here so that when you all come to the our new home, it will be ready to receive you and may only need minor renovations as suggestions are made to improve the website.

I look forward to continuing our community once we have to make the move. I would hate for us to lose what we have built so strongly over the last few years. This community ROCKS! and I want to make sure that we can stay together and continue sharing our passion for paper throughout many years to come.

Much Love,

Dymonz...