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Well, I finally got the blogs feature up and going. I'm really hoping this catches on because I think it's a neat option. This is a great place to document your projects, share ideas, and even share your own experiences with the scroll sawing hobby. You could even use this area to document other things, like woodturning, other hobbies, or even family events. If you're new to blogging, think of it as an online journal. You can post your own thoughts, share images from your gallery. It becomes a lot of fun when others are allowed to interact with your blog. There's a lot of different things you can do with it. I encourage you to start your own blog, and check out the settings. This is your own personal corner of the internet. You have a lot of flexibility here. So jump in and have some fun!

Sometimes it's nice to see if there are fellow scrollers nearby. And because SSV is an international community, it sure is fun to see where everybody lives. So we added a Member Maps feature where you can add your virtual pushpin into a Google Map. So, be sure to add your pin and show us where you're at. I wouldn't get too specific (like your actual address), but a zip code or city & state would be nice. This is an opt-in system. We're not pulling data from profiles. Everybody has to specifically share this info to be included on the map. You can find the map at: http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/membermap/ or click the link in the navigation bar (Note: you have to be a SSV member to access this feature). Enjoy,

As of today, you now have the ability to rate a forum topic. At the very top of the thread, next to the topic title, there is a rating system of 1-5 stars. This is a great way to highlight really good threads with lots of good info. When a topic gets enough votes (10, I think), the rating will become visible in the topic list. This makes it easy for other users to go directly to the topic with the best info. All of the forums except for Introductions and Pattern Requests forums has this feature. While I'm at it, let me explain the Like button in the individual responses. This works similar to Facebook's Like button (don't worry, it's not attached to Facebook). If someone posts a good response, click the Like button in the response. This does a couple of things. First, it flags really good/trustworthy information so that when others read the topic, they can immediately see which responses carry more weight. Second, it gives that user Reputation Points (or as I like to think of it, street cred). If you look in your profile, you'll see a number in a green box. This is the number of times folks have Liked one of your posts. The idea is, the higher the number, the more helpful and seasoned scroller they are. If they have a high number, you can be confident they know what they're talking about. Before you get too excited and start liking everybody's post, you only get 10 Likes per day. So use your Likes wisely and reward the best content. Anyway, there are the two ways to highlight the best information on SSV and reward the top content creators for sharing their expertise. It's not a contest, rather a way to help new scrollers to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily. So be sure to use these features to help point new folks to the best of what SSV has to offer!