Last week, Ravelry released yet more propaganda, manipulating statistics to make it look like they were wildly popular and successful post-redesign. In a moment of frustration, I posted a series of quick questions to collate my own stats on how people were feeling about, and using, Ravelry.
I got more responses than I could have imagined, and decided to create a Google form so that people on Twitter could respond, and so that everyone could have more time to let me know how they were feeling.
Before we jump into pie chart territory, I want to share some summary data about these results.
- This poll ran on Twitter and Google forms for nearly a week
- Responses were collated into one spreadsheet
- There were 915 unique responses
- 75% makers
- 21% business owners
- 4% no answer
Some questions have “no answer” from some respondents. This is because the questions initially ran on Twitter as 6 separate polls, so none of the questions were mandatory.
A disclaimer: this was an informal, anonymous, self-reported poll.
Okay, let’s take a look at the data.
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Analysis
- 53% of respondents – that’s 485 people – reported that they were affected by either eye strain, migraines, or seizures
- 313 people reporting eye strain
- 161 people with migraines
- 7 people with one or more seizures
- Of those respondents with yarn-related businesses, 57% reported a negative impact
- Just 1.5% reported a positive impact
- A whopping 85% said they like Ravelry less since the redesign
- Just 1.6% said they liked it more
- Over 74% said they were using Ravelry less, or not at all, to buy and sell since the redesign
- 38% now using something else, or nothing at all, to log their projects and stash
- 20% are actively working to leave Ravelry
- 11% said they will never go back
Why don’t Ravelry care?
The survey showed that while most users (74%) aren’t buying and selling patterns there any more, we are still using Ravelry to browse and use our notebooks (57%). Since Ravelry’s primary income stream is ad revenue*, buying patterns off-Rav, while accessible, simply isn’t hitting them where it counts (i.e. the wallet).
It’s also worth noting that the people most likely to hear about this survey and those most likely to respond are those directly affected, or allies, which means there are users (potentially millions) blissfully unaware and carrying on as usual – and many business owners, in this industry where making a profit requires an actual miracle, can’t afford to stop advertising to them.
* The source for this information is Ravelry themselves – a blog post dated January 25th, 2012. I won’t link to it for obvious reasons, but if Ravelry is safe for you, you can Google “how does Ravelry make money” and find the link. There is also a Washington Post article citing this data, but it’s behind a paywall.
What Can We Do?
- Continue to educate those who don’t know what’s happened
- If at all possible, stop using Ravelry; if you can’t stop, minimise your use
- You can use my Airtable base to log your stash, library, projects, needles, hooks – it’s essentially Ravelry without the community
- You can find new patterns by following the #OffRavDesigners hashtag on Instagram and Twitter
- Your favourite designer or dyer might have a social space, e.g. on Mighty Networks
- They probably also have a newsletter
- Continue to ask Ravelry, wherever they’ll let you, to hire an accessibility expert
If this free information helped you, please consider buying me a coffee.
