Appriciation

[Belles]

Right now I am really appriciating that this community is commercial free in that it does not have for sale things going on here.

I am increasingly becoming aware of how commercially driven some other communities are and that there is an air of aloofness from the powers that be as a result of this. To busy and not enough time for the little people maybe?
I am actually releived that I have not gotten caught up in that.

Because I am on dial up I have had issues with downloading for sale material from time to time and when I have bought these issues to the attention of management via PM at other places I have recently been disappointed with no response at all to my problems.

This place has a much more personal touch to it with a friendlier more helpful atmospher in general.

I also like that people can be honest and direct and jovial about it without others taking offence.

I am enjoying being here right now. Thank you to everyone. :)

[Nevermore]

Glad you are liking your time here. I had to be dragged here kicking and screaming but within no time at all, I knew that this was my scrapping home. There are lots of decent sites around (and we all have our favourites) and a lot of people here have tons of other neat stuff on the go but this site is a safe haven for all both artistically and I believe in a community sense, too. Everyone is up for a good time--the only challenge that failed to get any participants other than Becky and me was the "make a foil hat to avert hurtful space rays that are carrying alien messages". Go figure.

edited to add that perhaps Becky and I are the only ones receiving alien space messages so possibly the challenge was a bit unfair.

[DeniseD]

I can relate Belles, it's a nice commercial free environment. :)

[coffeequeen]

Belle, I, too, enjoy hanging out here immensely! I work at one of those l-a-r-g-e-r sites and that is my first home, but it's kind of like living in the city and going to the country on weekends, because you get to let your hair down and go barefoot, ya know? I love love love my BIG digital home, but come here to kind of decompress and let down (notice I did not say "Let it all hang out," Didn't want to give anyone nightmarish images!).

Each of the bigger sites really seem to have developed a purpose or specialty, if you will, and I'm not sure it was intentional, but it's good in a way. SOme cater to open chatting- a community kind of atmosphere, some to newbies, some to tutorials, some to the cutting edge techniques, some to new designers, and the list goes on. Most HAVE to sell commercially to support the site. All those downloads cost big bandwidth- lotsa $ in hosting fees. Customer service, I know they try, but it's just a tough job. I doubt very many of these sites have owners whose sole job is running their site and store. Most have "real" jobs outside of cyberspace and certainly real families.
I know many of my duties have had to take second place this year due to school commitments, and in my heart, that is exactly the way I know it should be, even though I'm sure it has frustrated some of the gals who were regulars in my crops. What can I say? Real life first, ya know?

I'm sorry this is so long. I just feel badly that you have experienced frustration at the larger sites. Know that it's not from lack of trying, just a reeeaallyyy big job and often the answers to techy-type issues take more than a few minutes or hours to resolve. I'm not answering this with even the slightest bit of offense,because I know what you say is absolutely true, It does happen.

Enjoy this wonderful place. Part of the magic here, besides the wonderful folks who are it's heart, is that it is small, and it's specialty is a kind of freedom.

Okay done going on and on and on and on. No, REALLY! I AM!:D

[SteinwaysMom]

Yes, I feel most 'myself' here....There seems to be a lot of pressure to continually hype personalities/designers/products elsewhere & while it's part of 'the biz' it can get exhausting. I have to fight my own nature and habit of being sarcastic and using odd humor cause its just not worth it to offend people.

[artwerx]

I like it here too... when I started out with digital, I spent all my time on a really great site, but it's main purpose was to sell kits. It got increasingly harder to create and post when you can only use 'their' kits... and the 'freebies' changed to more of a bonus situation, where it was only free if you post with a purchased kit. That's all good for those sites - I know they are keeping the business alive and I still love to shop all over, but I also like to combine my stuff, and DAQ embraces the whole 'collect and mix it up' stuff I like to do :)

[Pixeldigger]

You missed my hat? OK it was more of a helmet, but I swear it protects me from alien messages, 'cause I have had nary a one!

[kygirl]

I'm sitting here in the dark this morning with my laptop. I have this big silly grin on my face because you have all done such a wonderful job of capturing the way I feel about DAQ, and it thrills me to know that others feel the same way. I love the city home/country home analogy. So very apt.

[Nevermore]

I DID miss your hat. Can you please post? I am wondering if the European look is very much different from the North American one.