Hi Jeri et al: > Did other members have problems with learning to use Arachne?
> Were you guided through the process by fellow lacemakers at the beginning? The main problems I had were common to all e-mail message forums - it was 1996 and I was completely new to e-mail. I can’t remember what I did or didn’t do, but I do remember getting a very kind message from a fellow lacemaker who gently suggested a change. Suggestion gladly accepted! I think that may have been before we had archives to access. In any event, I haven’t tried to access the archives so I don’t know how difficult it might be. Wait a sec, I’ll try: (one minute passes) Oh, that was just so easy. I Googled “arachne lacemaker archive” and #2 on the search results was our list archive. I clicked on it and Bang! I was at the “Messages by Thread” page. It’s really not difficult at all. I think any lacemaker could just sit and read the archives and get an amazing education in lace and lacemaking. I think if it’s a short answer we often just go ahead and answer it, even though the answer can be found on the archives. But some questions in Arachne history have involved days - if not weeks - of off-and-on discussion! That’s where it’s a much better idea for the lacemaker to go back and read the archives, and I’m glad, Jeri, that you have sometimes directed people there. We just need to get into the habit of looking things up on our own home-grown educational resource. Nobody likes being chided, but I don’t think a suggestion to look up their question on the archives should be something that upsets people. Very often someone will ask what they think is a simple question, but it has lots of ramifications and they don’t realize that it really was a very big question indeed, and one that has been gone over quite thoroughly in the past. Hope this helps. Adele West Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
