Ravelry.com connects arts-and-crafts lovers the world over

"Super-cute Crochet" by Nicki Trench shows how you can make these bees. We arts-and-crafts junkies need a networking site, a place where we can share our most intimate knitting and crocheting secrets.

[Karen H]

There are some nice things about Ravelry, but be careful...unless, of course, you like surprises on the "new patterns" page that include "crochet pasties" & "knit genitalia"...complete with modeled photos. And avoid the discussion forums like the plague - again, unless you like groups dedicated to photos of people's crotches, or where you're free, nay *encouraged* to sling invectives like C*** at one another. A site for the "trying to be hip" crowd, rather than serious crafters.

[kak]

if you are conservative, don't bother joining, it's not worth it

[Tarah B]

There's some creepy site owner love over there. If anyone says anything remotely negative about the site. People act like lemmings and pile on the praise to the founders and beat down the original poster who made the comment. And if you are a newbie to the site be prepared for a hazing like no other if you ask a simple question.

[OneOfTheCensored]

Unless you are willing to kiss the feet of the owners of the site, don't bother going there. They recently banned a large group of people just for being conservatives. At last count, it's about 120 people. They even banned some people who had contact with those conservatives but aren't actually conservatives themselves. One of the users they banned was "BarackObama". Just because he wouldn't kiss up to them.

[MudPuppies]

A word of warning to those who have young crafters that want to join Ravelry: unless you approve of your children reading filthy language (X-rated) and vulgar images, do not allow your kids to join this group. The owners display a wishy-washy "warning" but do nothing to quell the filth and vulgarity. On the contrary, they encourage it. If you are a conservative crafter, do not express your opinions if they are political. Your conservative opinions are not welcome there.

[MD LaPlante]

I've been a member of Ravelry.com for two years. I love the access to thousands of patterns; information about yarns, needles, notions, techniques; the ability to peruse others' projects and notes thereon; the opportunity to keep a personal crafter's notebook; and the comraderie in the fora. However, I've seen some disturbing behaviour on Ravelry as the user base grows. There are many groups, avatars, patterns, and photos that are not safe for children. I've read a lot of hateful comments, some threatening, about prominent Republican and conservative figures. It appears that some conservative or Republican or non-liberal Ravelers (I'm not entirely sure what the common denominator is) have been suspended or banned from Ravelry.com . If you choose to avail yourself of Ravelry's many perks, guard your tongue vis-a-vis politcs.

[Former rav user]

The "300,000" user count is rather deceptive. That is the number of accounts that have been created, but as of last week the list owner posted that there are only 125,000 active users. The rest have left, many because of offensive site content and behavior, some "driven out of town" by the owner's groupies, and most recently, a large group who were banned.

NOT a site for children due to the level of pornography and offensive language which goes unchecked (and encouraged) by the site owners.

[Ellen]

kak wrote:

if you are conservative, don't bother joining, it's not worth it

That's a pretty strange message to send to the several conservative groups active on Ravelry at the moment and their several hundreds of members.

It is about adhearing to the ToS of a privately owned website, not about political opinions. And let's not forget that a sizeable portion of Ravelry's members are non-US so to make it a political tug-of-war is completely dissing their participation on the site

[jint]

I have been a member for over a year. Do not and I repeat do not use this site for anything other than keeping up with your own patterns, yarns etc. The vulgarity is shocking, considering this is a fiber arts website. Yes, there are pornographic pictures and links. Attacks on conservatives and christians. Not a site you'd want your children to visit. Oh and there's a great picture of the site owners with pasties on the opening page.
Indeed, it is privately owned and the owners can do what they want. What they don't want is to clean up what has made their site definitely not kid friendly.
Did I mention this is suppose to be a fiber arts website?? Weirdos!

[Chrisknits]

Banned member here. I have no beef with being banned for speaking my mind. Hey, it's their site, they can run it the way they want. But potential members need to be aware to stay clear of the fora. They can get nasty very quickly. Newbies were castigated for asking questions. Nudity and vulgarity are encouraged.

Use the free site for the organization aspect, leave the fora alone.

It's great to see they are adding more for the other crafts; crochet, spinning, weaving.

[Andrea]

Wow, I can't believe the venom here.

I've been a member of Ravelry since July 2007, and I adore both the database and the forums. As far as profanity and vulgarity goes, yes, there are some groups where swearing is allowed, but in the main forums (referred to as the Big 6), swearing is expressly forbidden. The moderators of each group have the right to allow or not allow swearing in said group.

Have there been issues? Yes, of course there has. Some people cannot play well with others. Any online forum is going to get its share of trolls.

I just can't believe that some people are hitting all of the articles they can to spread their own propaganda against the site.

[ProudRavJunkie]

Oh for the love of pete.

Those of you who have been banned deserved it and you know it. Stop trashing Ravelry all over the place, it's getting old.

Honestly, this is ridiculous.

Take a look at the stats please: Close to 300,000 users, roughly 100 banned because they just could not play nicely. That speaks volumes about what they've done.

Ravelry is a wonderful community of fibre lovers, please do not let the bitterness of a few ruin sway you from joining.

[Statisfied Ravelry user]

What you see here people, are a bunch of disgruntled people who got banned for not following the rules.
Ravelry is a great site. The people who run it are great people. They OWN the site and get to make the rules. Such a sad thing that when you break the rules and get disciplined for it, you then have to run all over bad-mouthing a great thing.
Hopefully, TPTB have finally cleaned up the trouble-makers and we can get back to the fun and sharing we had before they descended.
I've been a member of Ravelry from almost the very beginning. It's a great thing. Come join us.

[Current Rav user]

Dear Bunkerites,

You were not banned for being conservative. You were banned for hiding out on your private Yahoo group and organizing threadjacks and other disruptive behavior. Before that, your group was deleted for multiple violations of the community guidelines that went unaddressed- even defended- by the group's moderators.

The fact that you have to hunt down every article written about the site to whine about your removal and throw around insane accusations amply demonstrates the sort of behavior you were banned for in the first place.

We like conservatives, liberals, and jabberwocks with lavender spots when they behave civilly. The 300K users- or 150K active users, if you prefer- are living a more peaceful existence without the two dozen of you.

You were banned from a knitting site. Your rights were not violated. You are not being censored. And most of the world doesn't care. Get over it.

[OneOfTheCensored]

Andrea wrote:

As far as profanity and vulgarity goes, yes, there are some groups where swearing is allowed, but in the main forums (referred to as the Big 6), swearing is expressly forbidden.

You are correct, it is expressly forbidden. But the rule is not enforced. As long as someone loves on the site owners they are allowed to say whatever they want. But if someone calls attention to the fact that the site owners are not enforcing their own rule, that person is vilified and slandered, called hateful and evil.
I don't even care any more that I'm banned; I don't want to be around that kind of people anymore.

[NotBanned and Thrilled]

I love ravelry. It's a wonderful resource for knitters and crocheters and I recommend it for ANYONE interested in those crafts.

Like any good social media site, Ravelry has started to take steps against those that would verbally attack its members. These people, whatever their political background, have been banned and rightly so. It's a shame that the actions of a VERY small few would color anyone's opinions of ravelry, and I hope that's not the case.

Of course there have been howls of protest from those few, but the reactions on ravelry from the 299,900 of us left have been of relief.

So if anyone is hesitating because a few people are mad because their bad behavior was properly punished, don't be. Ravelry is a welcoming site for everyone, and for those that can follow rules (in general "be nice!"), it's a fun place to play! I don't honestly know how I survived without it before!

[J Robb]

Irony is a funny thing isn't it? People who call other people retards, libturds, nazis and fascists find something else offensive!
WOW! I didn't know that was what Conservatives did. I think the banned people might be from Combat 18, they couldn't possibly be regular, upstanding, decent Christian Americans, could they?

[Current Rav user]

How could we *not* know the whole story when you've been airing your laundry all over the internet for a month?

I think your count of 3 Rav trolls is a bit low, though. I make it at least 10.

[CensoredbyRav]

ProudRavJunkie is an excellent example of what conservative, traditional, or religious Ravelers will be subjected to if they choose to participate in any group or forum.

It is an decent example of the creepy owner love that goes on there, and their unwillingness to see all the facts.

However, this is rather tame compared to some of the violent threats and insults that come from those who take an adversarily stance towards conservatives or those who maitain any religious beliefs, or any one with Traditional Values.

This provides a clear picture of what to expect at Ravelry, if you chose to join any conversation.

[MN Christian Conservative]

If the banning was simply for conservatism, how do you explain all the people still there and still active members of the many political, religious and social conservative groups on Ravelry?

The commonality among those banned is not conservatism, but childish anger and vengefulness. I'm very sorry for those of you caught up unfairly in all this, and look forward to the Ravelry administrators restoring your access. As for the rest of you, you are reaping what you've sowed.