Monday, July 1, 2013

We're Back! And We've Got a Secret...

We're delighted to be able to share some exciting Toy Society news with you!

We're sorry you haven't heard from us for a while. Things got away from us and before we knew it, time did too. We sincerely apologise, we hate letting this amazing community down.

The Toy Society has grown, so rapidly, into an inspiring world-wide community since we started with that humble first toy drop almost five years ago. We've been straining under the weight of time consuming systems set up in the early days before we understood just how many like minded people there were wanting to get in on the fun. We hated keeping people waiting but at the same time it became impossible not to.

To help things flow faster and smoother (and to lighten the work load for the admins) we will be making a number of changes over the coming months. As you can already see that we have a fresh new look. We are slowly rolling that out across everything we do, so please be patient. 

We're starting off with the simplest changes that hopefully will have the biggest impact for you:

1. The biggest change is that we've changed our name! 


Well, sort of. You might remember that we used to have a Facebook page. Someone with a business with a very similar name managed to get our lovely page shut down. This was despite legal advice that there were no trademark infringements and we were legitimately able to use our name. However, we don't wanna be hassled anymore! So, you'll see in our sweet new logo up there that we are now The (secret) Toy Society! Cheeky, right? Also, completely appropriate given we do our toy dropping in secret! What do you think? 

We are keeping the blog address the same for now.

2. We've simplified the process for how you post your drops

It's now as easy as sending an email! The email address will be updated every couple of months (mostly to avoid drowning in spam) and we ask that you follow the instructions exactly. 

Posts will be held in draft until an admin approves and publishes them. Please note, we are unable to edit your photos, so you must make sure they are appropriately sized and facing the right way! All details on how to submit your drop now live here. The email address will be sent to all members so be sure that you are signed up and your details are current. 

We are going through the back log of drops and posting them at the moment, please bare with us while we catch up.

3. We have a new sign up process

It is much simpler and a little bit prettier. Plus, it shouldn't break now (it used to sometime which was very annoying!). We realise this change has very little impact on you, seeing as you're already receiving this email but we wanted to let you know as it's all part of our refresh. 

4. Getting back into Facebook

As we mentioned above, our lovely Facebook community was shut down last year. Never fear, we've moved on and are starting again. You can like our page here: www.facebook.com/TheSecretToySociety 

We will also be back tweeting and pinning, too. We would love to pin your patterns if you have any. Tag us on Pinterest if you have a pattern you would like us to share, or tweet us or email us and let us know. 

The Flickr community will remain, for now, but we won't be posting drops to the blog from Flickr anymore.

5. We would love to hear your thoughts 

Whether you've done a bunch of drops or only just joined, we would love to hear your ideas on how you think things could improve here. Soon, we will send you a brief survey via email. We will use that to help shape our next round of improvements.

We are really so very sorry things slipped away but we are so excited about the refresh and getting things back up and running so we can all enjoy seeing how the love is being shared around the world, one handmade toy at a time.

Start emailing your drops!

Bianca xo
Founder, The Toy Society

8 comments:

Sorka said...

My comment is... WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!

Eve A. said...

I'm so thrilled! I'd better get cracking on some new toys!

Unknown said...

Hello!!!!...Love to hear about your again!!!.I follow you in Twitter(I'm @ALEX10111971),and in Pinterest(I'm with my full name.And in FB like my name(MarĂ­a Alejandra Curbelo Cal).I want to return to dropped :D

leanne said...

so glad you're still going ! do you have a new logo button so I can update my blog ??
thanks

Unknown said...

Yayyy!! I always hoped you guys were alive and well!!!
Let's get this party started!! :D

Agi said...

Hello, Where can I find the new letters and tags please?

Erin Marie said...

Hi Agi, we moved the new tags and letters to the side panel below the dropped and found tags :) Erin

Tony said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.