Teams and Houses Question PLEASE READ

[scrapdolly]

As another year draws to a close it seems pertinent to ask for feedback about the teams and houses system.

When I took on running the teams and houses almost 9 years ago there were a lot of teams. At its peak I think we had some 45 teams that were active with points.
This has now dwindled to fewer than 10 regularly active teams.
The teams that are active still - I believe - enjoy collecting the points

The team system was an excellent way of getting to know a few people a little better and I know many firm friendships have been made through the team and house system with people going away on retreats together too. In a hugely successful forum like UKS it was a means of getting to know a small group really well and of spurring each other on. Many many teams exist that no longer collect points or who have never collected points which is a testament to the fact teams work.


My question is whether or not we continue as we are. I would love to have some feedback and comments here.

I believe the weekly challenges are excellent and I see no reason why they should not continue for as long as I am happy to organise them (I am!) and as long as people are still happy to set them. I believe they are an inspiration and a kick start for everyone, not just those who collect points. Personally I would be sad to see these go even if they are just for fun and not for any points at all if the points system goes.
Comments please


I think that we are likely to have to move to just two houses in the new year if we continue as we are. I think one house is likely to have just one team left. Do we continue with the house challenges which are monthly or do we abandon the houses and just keep teams? Or are people who are active in the houses to keep going with just two - unless new teams start - and keep setting the monthly challenges?


Is there a demand for new teams to start. I used to start up new teams regularly but the last few times I have tried it has fallen flat. I am more than happy to organise new teams if people would like them.


I think we have a forum to be truly proud of here, a forum to be celebrated and I am happy to do things that will engender more scrapping - after all that is why we all came here in the first place.

So comments about what you would like to see regarding the current teams and points system and the weekly and house challenges. Please confine comments to that as it is the only area I deal with at the moment and want to see if I can make it work for as many of you as possible.

Bear in mind I might not be able to do everything you suggest - but I will try and make it positive for all.

[Crafty Sandra]

I like the Green butoons house and enjoy chatting on that thread. Unfortunately the team I'm in seems to have dwindled and not much chatting goes on. I would love for the team I'm in to merge with another keeping in the green buttons if possible. Enjoy all the challenges though I don't always do them but they do give inspiration and I wold certainly miss them if they stopped.

Thanks for all your hard work in organising the teams and challenges.

[sylphraven]

With so few groups I do not see a need for Houses any more. I see the Green House chat thread pop up with new comments multiple times a day & think its fantastic, the other 2 houses do not seem to be like that though. Maybe part of the problem with the Red Ribbons was with me, trying to get people to talk can be hard & it gets disheartening so I stopped. It would be nice if the Green House chatter became the general chatter on UKS so people who were in other houses, or any other non-team based scrapbookers, could join in.
The monthly House challenge could be replaced by monthly team challenges - all teams take it in turns to set one.

As for teams, I'm lucky to be in a great one so no demand here.

If there was a chance to alter the points spreadsheet slightly it would be appreciated, remove anything no longer in use, update points & maybe have a row for any additional bonus points for when we have summer challenges/challenge weekends, & any challenges that may alter annually.

Thanks for all the time & hardwork you put in Karen, & everyone else who joins in.

[Crafty Lady]

I'm happy with the challenges, and would really miss them if they stopped because they really inspire me. The team I belong to is the same as Sandra's and nobody chats on there much, but I love the Green Buttons House, and we are always chatting every day. Thank you for all the hard work you do.

[furrypig]

I totally agree with what Sylphraven has said and don't think I have anything to add.

Except to say thank you for your hard work and i hope the challenges and point collecting continues

[elainevking]

As joint Green Buttons house leader..I am pleased to see that others enjoy chatting in our house chat.
I am fortunate that my co-leader, Alison, does the onerous part of the job, collating points and chasing team leaders to submit them..and I am grateful. But that means I can't add much to that task.. I cannot speak for Alison if she finds it onerous or not. As far as I am concerned, I don't mind if the chat becomes more general and I can't believe there is anyone in our GB house that would object to one thread for chatting..one that would incorporate all teams regardless of which house they're in. That said..there is already a thread called 'community chat' which anyone is welcome to join in. There are only a handful that use it though. I dip in and out of that as I find keeping up with my own team and the house thread enough to keep up with..and I found to be repeating myself.
In essence there is only a handful of us chatting in the GBH thread so I can see no reason that we can't all chat together..so I guess what I'm saying is we don't really need the houses for chatting..but do we need them for point collecting? I would say not....
As a member of Scrap Happy team, although we collect points we don't find ourselves saying 'let's give those red ribbons a run for their money' etc. but we do enjoy the challenges. There are only a couple of us that do them religiously but we all dip in and out of them and several of us do the weekly and the monthly challenges and I, for one, would hate to see them go. And I know there are a lot of us that would hate to see the SLYMIR challenges go too..although I don't know if they will be continuing in the New Year anyway?
I would love things to continue with the challenges in the same vein if at all possible but I do think more people should step up to set challenges..and I am extremely grateful that you are happy to continue to do this Karen.
The idea of a monthly team challenge is a good one and that could replace the house challenge as suggested by
Sylphraven.
As far as new teams go I can't see the need... We have in the past advertised for new team members and they rarely, if ever, stay chatting for more than a couple of weeks so I think trying to get new teams off the ground is a bit of a thankless task. As and when people do drop out, vacancies can become available in the existing teams so those slots can be filled by people wanting to join a team. If the demand outstrips supply could we not allow more than 10 in a team..maybe, say, 12? That should pick up any slack and their existing team members can encourage more chatting from the newbies..hopefully getting more to actually remain in the team.
All in all, as you say, UKS is a unique forum and I love it and hope it continues with the challenges and teams, although I question the need for houses.
Thanks once again.

[janetlinda56]

I enjoy the weekly team challenges and the point collecting and would hate to see them go.

[bramblepie]

Me too janet I just typed a big long post too long now lost it so just say agree with all above
Shame if some teams do not have 10 full members for the ones left
Good idea re monthly team challenge Sylphraven

[TinkerHamilton]

I agree with everything Elaine says. Having run Scrap Happy and been a joint House Leader for Green Buttons for several years, indeed organising the Green Buttons Retreat for 5 years I've seen a decline in team membership. I'm privileged to be an honarary member of Scrappy Cats and team leader of Scrap Happy and we have often extended friendship to UKS members wishing to join a team. After a week or two of Happy chatting they disappear without a trace.

I'm thinking the house system with so few teams is probably not going to work going forward but a general chatting thread for all to get involved in might.

I'm quite passionate about UKS, I've met so many lovely people both in and out of my team. We've forged great friendships meeting in person at retreats or on shopping trips. I'm happy to say that a handful of my closest friends are UKS'ers whom I've met through this amazing website.

This special place is where I catch up with my friends, my team and get inspiration for my continually lacking mojo. I know I'm in a minority when I say I miss the polls. Perhaps once the whole house system goes we can re-introduce polls to make it more interesting.

I will be sorry to see UKS disappear. Maybe we could UKS make it subscription only for the die hard members?

[Mary Buttons]

I love having team weekly challenges and the monthly challenge I enjoy talking on both my team and green Buttons house I know we don't scrap as much as we use too but I do the weekly and monthly and haven't missed a single one for over 4 years. Please continue the good work

[MiniOwner]

I am a member of a very chatty team but I'm afraid we did move to FB for a number of reasons. We still take an active part in setting challenges and collecting points and I for one, would hate to see the demise of that part of UKS.

I took over as Blue Brads house leader last year and tried to organise house challenges and activities, There really wasn't much interest in these or in house chatting. I'm not sure of the purpose of houses now. The house challenge quietly disappeared and the team points are no longer listed in houses. I'm sure it helps Karen that points are collected by the house leaders but that isn't much of a task with so few points collecting teams.

I really enjoyed organising the Summer Snap! Challenge with Alison and we have the Winter one ready to go in January.

I'd love to see more activities like that.

[PinkSparklyScrapper]

Firstly I would like to add my thanks to Karen aka Scrapdolly, for all the hard work you do in front of and behind the scenes here in UKS

As a member of the Bijoux Belles and Blue Brads and continuing points collector I have to say I would not like to see the teams disappearing altogether- I'm not sure I would bother to scrap nearly as much if I did not have the motivation of weekly and monthly challenges. Sometimes I find it difficult to fit in some of the other challenges but I definitely enjoyed the Summer snap challenge and the SLYMIR.

I have made some amazing friends through this forum: people I would never have met if it were not for being a team member !

I would be more than happy to go to a general chat thread and keep the teams for points collecting (a little bit of healthy competition is great motivation )

[knitkath]

I always visit UKS every day to read general threads but really miss being in a chatty team, all those I was in have disappeared over the years. The challenges are motivating but I don't upload, not sure why! Maybe a more general chat thread is the way to go, though it is nice to have that feeling of belonging to a team as well. A lot of the comments already posted I agree with, and thank everyone for their hard work keeping this site going.

[scrapdolly]

Some interesting ideas ladies

I think there are general chat threads including the community chat thread.

It is sounding like the houses may not be needed and with so few teams I could collate all of the team points but it seems those in teams do still love them and the weekly challenges seem to be well received and I do want those to continue
There is no reason why the houses can't stay though if people are loving the chat threads

If house leaders are happy to still collect points that's fine and if not I am happy to do it

I like that there are also other things we all get stuck into like Summer snap and SLYMIR

It's never any trouble to add points for those and people are always welcome to come up with other new challenges

We have such a wealth of talent here and people are so generous in sharing ideas

[ScribbleMonster]

I would like to add my thanks for the hard work that goes into organising the teams and challenges. I would hate to see them disappear too. I have met some of my bf here on uks and have fond memories of the first few years I was here and the things I learned about scrapping and 'being online'