Newbie here

[Stacey Dunleavy]

This looks like such a great community! I see a few examples of how you’re all collaborating and supporting each other. However, I couldn’t find a FAQ, so I hope this is the correct place to post a question or two.

Is there a messaging function? One of the top editors connected with me and I’d like to send her a polite thank you.

[Tim Wilson]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for joining!

You know what, you’re right, we need an FAQ. We’ve also had a request to create an Introduce Yourself kind of forum, and I think that that’s a good idea too.

Until then, I’m certainly happy to answer any questions here!

We do not have a direct message function. We’d experimented it early on, but found that some of our more visible members were being inundated by people asking them questions that should have been asked on the forums, and, let’s just say “more”. ? It’s possible that we may try something like this again, but for now, our most active members asked us to turn this off, and we understand why. With around a million people a month passing through the COW, and many millions over the course of a year, we’re going to have to do some more thinking about how to keep direct messaging from getting out of control again.

Please let me know if there’s anything else I can tell you! And thanks again for being part of the COW!

Regards,

Tim Wilson
Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW

[Stacey Dunleavy]

Thank you Tim! I can see how that can be overwhelming, even when everyone minds their manners… Never mind that it only takes one or two trolls to ruin everything…

Meanwhile, I’m trying to dive into your tutorials and absorb the information in your forums… I’m a Print designer trying to pivot into motion graphics, I enjoy the process and I find it to be a good skill transfer-and I see there are decent-paying jobs for it. However, there are so many sub-disciplines that are out there, whether web banner and ad design, HTML email design, on up to video editing. I’m perplexed as to which way to go, and which software is the most in demand…