RavelryReviews 510

I have been on Rav since 2008, I think. It was my first contact with a knitting community. Not many people in my small town knitted. Through Ravelry I met others that were somewhat local to me and had an incredible, to me, source for yarn and patterns.

I didn't hear about the discussions that started in January, about inclusiveness, until it had died down. Tried but could not really find out a lot about it. Then, June 23rd happened. On one hand, I was thrilled that they were taking a stand about hate speech. On the other, they might have taken it a bit far but I do not spend any time on the political threads so it really does not affect my use of Ravelry at all.

I am still there and plan on staying for the foreseeable future.

Once my go-to site for all things knitting and crochet... now an unwelcoming and even hostile site to anyone who does not agree with the political leanings of the owners. Anti-America projects are allowed to remain and be prominently displayed on the front page. While Christian and Pro-America items are labeled and removed as Hate Speech. It is from my personal experience and from their own publicly published statements that this review has been written.

I was a member of Ravelry for years, contributed many pattern books from the 60s-80s to their database.

My favorite button was "ignore this thread" which I clicked whenever subjects or commentary disturbed me. Obviously not enough members used this feature because the community imploded, and rather than getting control the owners threw gasoline on the fire.

I empathize with the advertisers and independent business owners that were heavily invested here. Several have publicly stated this has hurt their business, they had no warning and choosing political sides is unprofessional.

Since I started tracking they've lost 30,085 members, and I've attached screen shots to prove it. As members close their accounts, their data leaves with them and participation numbers continue to plummet.

They can keep their illusion of superiority; better sites that are truly neutral and inclusive are quickly stepping up to replace them.

I joined Ravelry in 2008, a few years after I had taken up knitting. I found not only an excellent database to keep up with my yarn, needles, and projects, but also an amazing community. After years of finding it difficult to connect with people online, I finally found my people. I am part of a community of people who really "get" me, some of whom I've had the opportunity to meet in person.

Recently, Ravelry took a stance regarding Donald Trump and his promotion of white supremacy. Ravelry announced their new policy is that pro-Trump speech promotes white supremacy, which is hate speech, and would not be tolerated on the website. This is their right as a private business, and people who don't like it can take their business/participation elsewhere. Many of those people have joined a Facebook group with the purpose of badmouthing Rav everywhere they can; the 1-star reviews on sitejabber.com is an example of their resentment at not being able to wax poetic about Trump. They also like to bully and harass craft-related businesses who have expressed support of Ravelry on social media. Ironically, they do not allow pro-Rav people in their group; they only allow free speech for themselves. It's sad, really.

Anyway, if you are interested in fiber arts and want to connect with people with similar interests, Ravelry is a great place to be. So many free patterns are available, and if you have a problem, there's always someone willing to help. I highly recommend Ravely.

Ravelry is a targeted social networking site for fiber crafters that just works. The owners are responsive to community needs and requests, and it's been a great resource for patterns, fiber friends, purchase tracking, and much more over the years.

What started out as a great place to exchange ideas and designs and find some great yarn providers for knitting and crocheting as well as wonderful designs, swiftly sunk into an anti-Trump hate site. What happened to needle arts being calming? They devolved and soon allowed any ant-Trump comments and designs but chased away anyone with a difference of opinion by calling them as a group "white supremacists"! Yes, even black knitters who were pro-Trump became white supremacists. It was the craziest thing we'd ever seen, to devolve from an anyone-is-welcome-if-you-live-fiber-arts forum into a distasteful-and-hate-filled forum against our POTUS! Yikes! And knitting used to be almost zen-like... until Ravelry went off the deep end. They'd have been better off to tell everyone to leave politics out, but they took up the cause of hate, and fiber arts became secondary. Just awful.

Hands-down, the best-designed website, built with its users in mind. Ads are minimal and targeted and don't slow down page loading. Navigation is obvious. Users are encouraged to record and track their handwork and fibre collection with clean, well-designed data entry pages and easy to use photo uploading.

Thousands of discussion forums on every topic imaginable. Knowledgeable people to answer questions about knitting, crocheting, spinning, yarn composition, pattern reading, techniques, colour choices. It's easy to reach pattern designers - they run their own forums.

Lots and lots of cat photos. The intertubes, after all, is a system of transporting cat memes.

And rav has gotten even more awesome in the past month, as the site owner has been wielding the ban-hammer. From the site rules:
" * Spreading of harmful advice, hoaxes, or other disinformation is unacceptable.
* Reviews and criticism that are genuine are always welcome. At the same time, if we suspect that you are trying to leverage the site for the purpose of harming a business or person, your posts will be deleted and your posting privileges may be affected." (source: https://www.ravelry.com/about/terms) It seems that advertising Russian porn, white supremacy, website hacking and being an all-around jerk of the first degree is acceptable on other sites? It certainly isn't at Ravelry, and the owners are proud of their classy, informative, userful website.