I've lost the Purity Spiral / knitters thread but look at this

[FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack]

The GeordieKnits (not Geordie Knitter who's a different person) podcaster who came out of nowhere to drive much of the purity spiral in the UK has been jailed for fraud.

www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18300481.woman-jailed-12k-day-trip-disneyland-holiday-fraud/

I saw it on Instagram this morning www.instagram.com/p/B9orQ2WpJO6/?igshid=t6lflwwba82z

So the accusations of profiteering on the basis of holding the moral high ground seem to have substance.

Sort of related, but has anyone been following all the drama around Ravelry? I felt really uncomfortable with the mass pile on initially, although the lack of communication from the site designers was disappointing, and now a few online groups have outright banned links to it.

oh I've been enjoying the Ravelry hooha... One of the founders is now trans and they made a big song and dance about being inclusive except to Trump supporters and now it turns out they are inclusive to everyone except people with disabilities! Wild... I've been waiting for them to come after GC feminists as soon as the Trump ban came in I thought it would be us. But no they managed to royally f**k up and be seen as abelist.

I think their refusal to engage with people's issues is what really enraged people. But its a private site they can do whatever the hell they want.

Oh interesting, how do you know it's the same person Throw?

Every 'inclusive' thing ravelry has done so far has been of benefit to it's founder. It's interesting that none of the people protesting the new site seem to have noticed, but even more interesting that the adulation the founder was used to isn't being laid on so thick any more and some posts were coming close to hissy fits...

Flavia long story as to that, but I am friends with one of the people who she turned against and tried to drag down. This was pre all of the stuff that happened last year. I will try to find an article confirming it, but if you look at her Ravelry profile under the new name her photo is on there.

I haven't attempted to follow her on insta as she knows I'm friends with my friend who she has an in-called for vendetta against. She will just block me straight away. She's already blocked my friend. I'm surprised she hasn't blocked me already just for being friends with my friend

Fair enough Throw, sorry to hear your friend was a target.

This is all very confusing to the uninitiated but is the take home ‘steer clear of online knitting groups’??!

I remember trying to learn to knit/crochet a few years ago and Ravelry felt quite ‘masonic’. I did well to avoid by the sounds of it 😊

No secret handshakes that I know of but Ravelry is incredibly useful for knitters and crocheters as a pattern database - you can go look up a pattern and view the projects people made from it with photos and notes. It's search function and data structure is really the best I've seen on a website, it lets you filter by so many options.

I just make sure all my data and patterns are backed up in case the site goes AWOL now.

its the ability to search through patterens and also see how they look on other people and their commens which is so useful. As for the boards I only realy check the Kate Davies ones

There's been rumours that the update to ravelry was done because they're getting ready to sell the site.

Blimey, I missed all that about the Ravelry founder but then I don't go on there very often and wasn't thrilled when I logged in after a while to find the re-design. I've got lots of patterns on there, though. Thanks for the tip, Flavia, I'll back them up in case they go phut........

Good point, ill back mine up too.
For what its worth, when i occasionally dip my toe back into the online knitting world (lockdown drove me to pick my needles back up) the main protagonist's seem to be sufferering permanent angst of one form another, its banished any lingering envy i had for Insta worthy lifestyles.

I thought the redesign was horrible but i just clucked back to classic ravelry, what was the basis of the controversy?

I switched back too because I didn't like it, but apparently it was unusable for people with visual impairments who used screen readers and the high contrast between text / background /images caused nausea and seizures in some users who had epilepsy or other neurological issues.

I like the techniques board and a couple of the independent designers ones, there's always something interesting to learn.

yes I'd heard the fattening it up to sell ru mor as well. Made me wonder if Trans founder can't remember their name is also planning to divorce the other founder and needs money to do it....

I don't think you need to steer clear, but make sure you take note of where (who!) your info is coming from.

For the most part my insta feed is yarn, knitting, crochet, gardening, cats, dogs, or a mix of the above! There are also plenty of discussions on equality. Whether that's about race, LGBTQ+ rights, ableism, poverty etc. The discussions are there. And this year they have been more like discussions than the mud-slinging of 2019. I read what I can when I feel up to it, but I don't feel like I have to. We're a friendly bunch really

I just make sure all my data and patterns are backed up in case the site goes AWOL now.

I backed all of my patterns up too for the same reason. I honestly was a little worried at the time that the site might suddenly vanish given how many people were criticizing the changes instead of fawning over them like the owner no doubt expected.

I knew that something bad had happened to Sockmatician and Kate Davies but not exactly what until I found this thread earlier in the year, so the whole purity spiral thing clearly went straight over my head - but then I never read the homilies on Ravelry (they seem aimed at the US users anyway), I just use it for pattern-browsing/buying and as a storage medium.

On the back of your update, Flavia, I did find someone's blogpost discussing all this and some users saying you can export your Ravelry library to a site called Lovecrafts (slightly unfortunate name but hey ho) if you get their app. Their desktop site is laid out virtually identically to Ravelry's so they're clearly hoping to hoover up some of the disaffected.

I am grateful to the whole hoo hah for making me discover Kate Davies - I bought one of her patterns because I wanted to support her for standing up to the demands to join in the bullying and it was so good I have bought more of her patterns and even one of her books since.
Honestly she is a genius. Owls is sheer joy to knit.

I ignore all the forums on Ravelry. If I want knitting advice my online actual friends and rl craft group ladies are the best.

The Kate Davies book Handywoman is meant to be really good. It chronicles her experience of having a stroke and recovering from it.

Kate Davies was an academic so has written intelligent blog posts on things like locality, influence of empire on crafts etc She is a treasure. I must knit something by her. Once the innumberable projects I have on the go are finished. But yes I must put her into the queue for something for the winter.

Yes she is great. Ironically I stumbled across her in another context entirely, not through Ravelry at all, and more through reading about her stroke and recovery - the knitting came as a lovely bonus. A voice of sanity and good sense and I fear that will of course have been what made her a target

That’s interesting about the owners of Ravelry possibly looking to sell. As someone said, it may be time to back up on another platform or device. I had mixed feelings about the trump support ban. I get it; I think the right wing trolls were probably making things difficult. However it felt..trying to find the right word here.. authoritarian. And I understand, it’s a private website so they can do what they want, but as someone else said, who’s next?
Ravelry has been great on so many levels, but I think it may have had its day.

Yeah that was me - I'm not naturally drawn to supporting right wing women from the gun toting states who support Trump but I had a cold shiver down my spine when it happened and i thought whose next....

Kate Davies pretty much sucked up all the woke BS though, sadly.

I've never felt the same about the knitting world since watching the purity spiral rip through Instagram. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Mind you, I'm grateful now - it was a vaccine against social justice ideology cos I saw the results before I came into contact with the cult itself. Nothing that produces that kind of vicious pile on is built on solid foundations, imo.

Bloody good to see GeordieKnits getting her comeuppance - always felt she was lying through her teeth about what happened with Nathan. Like someone said upthread, grifter - she knew a bandwagon when she saw it.