How can we improve your Kreg Experience?

[KregRep]

At Kreg, we make it our top priority is to ensure that our customers get real use out of their Kreg products. The tips and tricks provided in the Kreg Plus Newsletter, Kreg Jig Project Plans, educational videos on YouTube, and the forums found right here on the Kreg Jig Owners Community are all designed to add to your woodworking success.

What we'd like to know from you, is how we can improve...
Do you find the Kreg Jig Owners Community helpful?
Could you have used more detailed instructions with a product?
How was the product packaging and materials included?
Are there any tools you need that we aren't yet offering?
Is it difficult to find accessories at your local store?
Is the newsletter content too simple? Too complex?
What other content would you like to see included in the newsletter?
Were the Kreg Trim Carpentry videos useful to you?

Please use this thread to give the Kreg Family a better idea of what you need in order to advance on your woodworking journey, and to let us know where we're succeeding so far. Thanks!

[Jay Boutwell]

Gentlemen,  the best thing you can do to improve this site is to set up some type of qualification in order to be a member of this community or even opening up themselves a page as a member.  This would limit the amount of the undesireable pages being opened on here like I have seen recently and most lately the one with the page named  "sukas"  that adversised the following below stuff:  On this site you have good respectable people whom have a common interest and that definately is not of the stuff that is starting to get on here.  You are advertisng that there is 28370 members on here but there is maybe around 200 members whom ever contribute to the good of this site.  I am certain that none of these good people desire it to trashed by the pornographic and dating service entries on the pages of this site.  In all reality how many really have a kreg jig?  I recall not long ago when you looked through the membership on here there were countless numbers whom answered the question stating that they actually owned a Kreg Jig. Most left the question blanK and or entered "none Yet" .

Yes, you have a pass word to protect the site but it is not working.  I am just waiting until one of these days I open up this site and find a great big hinney stuck in the middle of my monitor screen and my computer.  You asked how you could improve this site well this would be your biggest method.  Thank you

[ron gagnon]

i agree 100% with jay said so well and when its time  to take trash out this site make it a better place to share our interest with out all this bs and spam .

[jigman]

I agree,  this is a great site and has some really good information on a great product.   In the short time I have been here I have been asked to contact a person of illrepute.  That is not what I come to this site for.  I love the information here and the commradity of the people here.  Great site just needs to be cleaned up.  Thanks.

[steve kidd]

what jay said,

[KregRep]

Jay,

Thank you for your contribution/suggestions.  May I ask where you got the idea that we aren't using 'some type of qualification' in order be a member of this community?'  Anyone creating a new profile must go through two forms of identity protection... the most that Ning offers.  Unfortunately, like many other community driven sites, a few SPAMMERS still get in.  We will continue to combat this as much as possible, and we'll still ask our members to send us notifications of any SPAM they notice around the site by sending KregRep a private message, hopefully they will continue to reduce in numbers...

 

The password protection part of the site is still working flawlessly, and unlike some have mentioned, SPAMMERS NEVER have access to your personal email address, they're simply sending you a message through the community and then Ning is sending you an email to notify you of that message sent within the community.  You can change your email settings if you think you're getting too many of these.

 

Good luck, and thanks for all of the ideas everyone.  Your input is much appreciated!

 

KregRep

 

Jay Boutwell said:

Gentlemen,  the best thing you can do to improve this site is to set up some type of qualification in order to be a member of this community or even opening up themselves a page as a member.  This would limit the amount of the undesireable pages being opened on here like I have seen recently and most lately the one with the page named  "sukas"  that adversised the following below stuff:  On this site you have good respectable people whom have a common interest and that definately is not of the stuff that is starting to get on here.  You are advertisng that there is 28370 members on here but there is maybe around 200 members whom ever contribute to the good of this site.  I am certain that none of these good people desire it to trashed by the pornographic and dating service entries on the pages of this site.  In all reality how many really have a kreg jig?  I recall not long ago when you looked through the membership on here there were countless numbers whom answered the question stating that they actually owned a Kreg Jig. Most left the question blanK and or entered "none Yet" .

Yes, you have a pass word to protect the site but it is not working.  I am just waiting until one of these days I open up this site and find a great big hinney stuck in the middle of my monitor screen and my computer.  You asked how you could improve this site well this would be your biggest method.  Thank you

[kenny from Sundre]

 

 Hello Kreg Rep;

I have membership on at least 5 other wood working web sites and have never seen anything like the postings that sukas was able to make. Most sites have a screenig process of some kind so that the membership is not an automatic acceptance. They also have a probationary period where the first ten posts made by each new member is screened before the post is entered for viewing. Obviously these other sites are doing something different to prevent the spammers and the porno pushers from accessing thier sites.The Kreg Jig Owners Community seems to be very acceptable to new wood workers as well as the more experienced. The more experience people are very happy to help the new commers. It would be a shame to lose the lady wood workers who participate in this web site.

[Jay Boutwell]

Kreg Rep:  The other day I wrote to you about the porn and advertisement from persons whom are adding comments to the pages of this community.  In my correspondence I told you that something needed to be done about the situation as that the "pass word" was not working.  I told you there was no really no qualifications for a person to be a member meaning that in less than three minutes anyone out here can open up an account and be a  member and immediately begin posting and making comments on the pages of the community. 

The only thing a pass word on here does is to prevent anyone from sending personal e-mails to members accounts and gaining the information that you request on the initial sign up for a membership.  You ask for a date of birth of which is in the form of a drop down that you pick from and an e-mail which can be generated at anytime by anyone with very little identification.  This allows that person to submit that e-mail to the community site.  The date of birth is to insure that the person is at least 13 years old.  The e-mail is generated can be free email service and only serves as a manner of which you send a message to it to verify that the address is real.  As soon as they have the address verified the process of being a full member is almost a done deal.  The very next thing you request is a name which can be a true name or a false name.  You ask for what country you reside in and the zip code.  You ask for the applicants level of experience and then what type jig do they own and even provide a check off of which even list "none Yet"  The only other form of security is a two words that are obsecured that actually only prevents computer generated spam from being sent.  If you fail to get the two words re-typed correctly it gives you another to try until it is correct.  Now this is the total amount of security required.  None of this insures anything as it can all be lies except the e-mail address of which once they person get in and does his or her dirty work they then close the e-mail account and they are gone.

So the comment about no qualification still is just that.  Where has the qualification been met in the above becoming a membership?  It is no mystery as to how this undesireable content is getting on the community pages.  When this first started to be an issue I spent several hours going through the listed membership finding  six seperate persons of whom held a membership page that were all photos of scantly clothed females requesting the members of this community to contact them and provided e-mail address to do so.  I saw the same messages on members pages and including my own.  I made a personal phone call to Huxley Iowa and talked with a person whom said he was working on the problem and provided the page numbers and account names as an attempt to assist with the problem .  I was met with a care less attitude and was told that the problem and been indentified and being fixed.  The rep could not get off the phone quick enough making it clear to me that my phone call was not wanted. 

Now comes the last incident where a person adds a page as a member and puts on a long list of porn sites and even provided a viewing screen.  He identified himself and had a page of which I copied and sent to the Kreg Rep.

He didn't request anyone to call him he just wanted to push the porn out to this community and in fact one member did open it. 

For all the years that Kreg Tools has been a company I have been a supporting person of the product, using your tools and recommend Kreg Tools to countless other woodworking person of which many are Cabinet Business organizations.  Even to point of writing Kreg Tools a non requested letter of appreciation for Kreg Tools contribution to the industry and of which you are using today as part of your testimonials.  I have defended Kreg Tools and promoted your business selling many of your products to my friends and business associates as well.  Therefore you should know that I am very much a supporting person of Kreg Tools.

I enjoy this community and every single member of it.  You have asked for suggestions as to how to improve it and I took the time to add my opinon as to what I thought.  You returned a question to me as what I meant about where I got the idea that there was no qualifications to be a member.  I told you, I am not saying that a person has to have any experience to be a member.  On the same token none of us here desire to see the things that is happening on here by the non requested addition of porn and suggestive behavior of calling some one for other than any wood working reasons. 

 The only reason I am here is to be supportive of each person whom has a desire to learn and even put a piece of wood together in any fashion and to assist any single person that I can to enjoy their life from wood working.  I learn from each member on here and appreciated them more that you will ever know. I will not sit and say nothing if I see any problem that destroys that opportunity. 

 I am not blambing you or any member of Kreg Tools and realize that there are limits as to what a person can do.  The problem is here and will only become a more frequent problem as time goes on and the only way to stop it is to do something to change the system.  I am sorry but this is the way I see it.    

[ron gagnon]

well for me as a member that did buy a kreg jig and try to chat with other members here to and of whom lots have tried to help and share info on wood working here i too agree 100% with jay comments for i know for sure what he has contributed to all who talk to him he always tries to help everyone here including me and i think  and feel the same way . for me its first time  i join a wood working site and found some true friends on here i dont need spam on my page or see porn all over the home page .

there is also female wood workers here that share with others that are very good and who needs all members  man or female respectable sites . like or not that my personal opinion after all all i think we asking is to find ways to protect this site from spam and porn . there is always a better way.

[jigman]

I think Kreg should also realize that we have a teenager on this site.  I wonder how many  other teenagers are just reading it.   There are a lot of high school wood shops in the USA.   If I were Kreg I would be real concerned about the porn on here.   I am counting on Kreg to do something about it.   I truely believe they will.   The sooner the better.   Thanks.

[Gene Maiorano]

It's a tough job but, KregRep, you better do something.

[Gene Maiorano]

Ditto...knock them out!

[KregRep]

First of all, thank you for the thoughtful and thorough responses.  I can tell you truly care about this situation.  We're incredibly pleased that we have community members that value the community enough to make these types of observations and suggestions for improvement.  There are a few issues we're dealing with...

 

Amount of SPAM:

The first and only major spam attack on the site occurred a month or so ago.  During this attack  hundreds of community members received spam messages on their profile page, resulting as well in them receiving email notifications from Ning letting them know they had received a message and summarizing the message received resulting in the misunderstanding by many that we had sold their email addresses or that our security had been breached in some way.  This was not the case and we did our best to ensure everyone knew this.  Since this attack, the amount of spam on the site has been almost negligible.  Around one spammer per week has been found and removed.  While no amount of spam is desirable, we do find this to be an acceptable level relative to spam found on other sites.  We will continue to delete it and the users responsible immediately after they've been reported.

 

Targeted:

The reason we get occasional spam is due to several factors.  One, we're a big community.  spammers are drawn to large audiences.  Two, we use a popular community platform which is big in and of itself which also draws in spammers.  Three, (probably the most important reason) is that spammers are everywhere on the web, especially community sites, and they can never be completely eliminated.

 

Closed or Open:

The 'qualification' I referenced in the previous post was in regards to qualifying the new profile as a human-being and not a spamming computer.  Our sign-up process has eliminated computers from creating profile through the CAPTCHA and the real-person identification question directly following it.  However, as you point out if the spammers want in badly enough they can definitely pay someone enough money to continually create accounts and there isn't much we can do about it other than delete them as soon as they've been reported as a spammer.  We want to be an 'open' community, not a 'closed' one wherever possible.  Personally, I am not aware of a more efficient way to keep the spammers out while at the same time not making the process overly difficult or time-consuming for real first-time community members.  Any specific suggestions in this regard would be welcomed, although realize that we are somewhat limited with the software utilized and manpower to monitor every post.

 

Thank you again for your very helpful posts and for clearly laying out your position.  I think together we can ensure that this community continues to be the great place it is for Kreg Jig owners of all levels to learn, share, discuss with each other.  As spam issues arise in the future, we'll continue to adjust our practices and will continue to rely on members to report issues they see around the site.  Thanks for all of your help thusfar and in the future!  Without you, the community is nothing.