AllFiberArtsCraft Biz Info

All Fiber Arts -Changes

Recent Changes to All Fiber Arts
I have been making some changes to this All Fiber Arts website to make it more secure.

I think that cyber security is becoming more of a concern. Personally, I do not feel comfortable about the amount of tracking that happens when we are on-line. Here are some things that I am doing, both to this website and to my own web browsing experience.

Website Cookies
I do use some website cookies on this website, in order to keep things working. You have the option to use minimal cookie tracking and I encourage you to do so. Currently I use Google’s Analytic data to help keep track of which pages my viewers like and are finding useful. It is interesting to see how many visitors I receive from different countries, but I don’t need to know where you live or what your browsing history is. I have recently added a small page counter that shows the number of visits to the page. You can see this at the bottom of each page. If I can find another WordPress plugin that provides me with unobtrusive data then I will change to that. Your suggestions are welcome.

I am using Google Adsense to run ads on the website – these help to cover my website costs. I am considering changing this to a Donation system instead.

Search Engine
For my own browsing, I have switched to DuckDuckGo as a Search Engine. DuckDuckGo does not track you or record your IP address. I am also finding that it provides better search results.

Social Media
I have removed myself from some social media platforms. My Facebook pages are still active (so that my friends can still find me) but I will not be updating them.

VPN
I also often use a VPN – Virtual Private Network when I am browsing on the web. This redirects my surfing to another server so that my IP address remains hidden. (It doesn’t work very well with websites such as your banking app.)
I use NordVPN
.

Newsletter
Since I first began Allfiberarts.com (about 20 years ago now) I used to send out a regular text-based newsletter that kept my viewers updated with the latest changes to the website. When I upgraded to a new server and to the WordPress platform this newsletter stopped working.
I then used Google Feedburner to automatically send notices to my subscribers. Some months ago, Google made changes to this service and I lost much of my subscriber list.
My internet service provider has now been able to recover some of my old newsletter mailing list. My ISP recommends that I use the text-based newsletter as it is more secure than using a WordPress Newsletter plug-in. The mailing list user database is stored separately on their secure server.
If you would like to Subscribe please visit AFA Newsletter Subscription page

You can Unsubscribe at any time, by sending me a message.

YouTube
I often am asked if I could start to do on-line Zoom classes. Sorry but I am not able to do that. My weaving studio is in an internet free zone.
I will be making more YouTube videos. Many of these will be short how-to videos (1-2 minutes) that show close-up techniques. I like to listen to music while I work, so I will be adding sound tracks created by some of our local musicians. I hope that you will support independent artists and purchase some of their music if you like it.

If you have any questions or comments please contact me.

Päivi