I originally joined DigitalScrapbook.com to download free digital scrap booking, assets, pages etc. However, I am very disappointed with the fact that you need 'download credits' to download anything now. I want FREE digital scrap booking! Also, on a similar note, I am concerned about privacy ... There should definitely be more privacy settings. With these reasons combined, I was looking to delete my account, and found no visible way to do so ... Did I miss something? If I didn't, I hope DigitalScrapbook.com will change this ASAP.
#1 Website for Digital Scrapbooking and Hybrid Crafting.
Wow, I am surprised that you are disappointed with this site-all are sooooo generous. Keeping a site open involves funding so unless a person is independently wealthy it would be impossible to provide unlimited free downloads. I might add that as soon as you enter the internet much of your privacy is virtually gone. I don't think you will find many sites as generous as this for "freebies" especially expecting so little from the community. The purpose of this site is not just for freebies but more for a feeling of community....i.e. people helping people. I for one love that I can interact with so many people around the world! If you participate more in the community you would earn more download credits to get more "free" stuff but if you do not want to do that I am sure that Marisa and Jordan will be able to delete your account.
Hi Serafina. I'm sorry that you are disappointed with the site. Marisa and I are working as hard as we can to make it the best it can be. The site is still relatively new, and currently in beta: there is still a lot to be done, and like I said, we're working every day to try and make it better. A lot of things are not finalized or finished at this point, and I apologize for the rough edges.
The goal we have with DigitalScrapbook.com is to build a place where people can find inspiration and resources in a friendly and inspiring environment. As part of that goal we want to try and provide people with as many free resources as we can, both for personal and commercial use: we want to help people unleash their creativity without having to worry about licensing or attribution issues. The download credit system is necessary because, as Janet has pointed out, hosting files and serving downloads costs money: it would be impossible for us to provided unlimited free downloads to everyone, and still allow the site to remain open; we would go bankrupt quickly.
All of this being said, we care about your concerns, and would like to do everything we can to address them. I wish, instead of canceling your account, you would let us know what we can do to make DigitalScrapbook.com the kind of place you want to be a part of. Like I've said, this is not a finished site: it's a work in progress, and we are trying to improve it.
Regarding downloads being free: do you realize that you get free credits every day, and that as you interact on the site you gain community points, which make the number of daily free credits go up? If you don't realize that, then perhaps the issue is with our documentation and help system (which I realize could use a lot of improvement. You can find information about download credits and community points in our support pages)... or if you do realize that, then perhaps you feel that the number of free credits you receive every day is too low? Perhaps you don't want to interact on the site in order to gain more credits? I would love to talk with you further...
(Also note that Marisa often gives away freebies on her blog, which do not require download credits to download).
Regarding privacy: what settings are you hoping for, exactly? Do you realize that your email address is never displayed publicly? Do you realize that you are not required to use your real name or picture for your profile? (We just want you to use a name that sounds real. See our profile expectations for details as to why). Again, perhaps the issue is with our documentation? Or if not, please elaborate as to the settings that you desire.
In any case, I will be happy to cancel your account for you, but I would be even more happy if you could let us know what we can do to make you happy: we are on your side
Hi Jordan - just wanted to say Wow - what a full and frank answer. I think you are doing really well and the aims that you had from the beginning seem to me to be coming together at a really fast rate.
Maybe because I am unable to drop in every day I see the changes more. I have been amazed at the amount of high quality beautiful work that gets posted to the site... and how much the forums are used. It is a very lively site so you must be doing something right.
And though it is very nice to get a freebie - I feel a lot better for giving a little back for all your hard work - not to mention the running costs of a image heavy site which costs so much more to run than a text base website.
I also am impressed at the rate at which improvements are made, at least on a weekly basis. I, too, believe the "cost" of downloading pu and/or cu items is very reasonable, to say the least. I still get a bit confused about the CC and DC, it takes a little getting used to, I suppose.
I find it amazing the rate at which Marisa is able to create beautiful graphics. Thanks for all you do.
here goes the sense of community because there are many websites that offer free freebies, just look at the pictures googles ... but I want a house to put my creations.but you must improve the explanations.
long life to the group
my instagram_me add
Hi Ana,
Your link is not working.
Yes there are a lot of great examples and creations that are sheared here, which would be great to display our own creations on the walls of our own home.
I think some of what Janet had in her comment needs to be used in the testimonies on that new front page!
I'm sorry Serafina, did not stick with us, because honestly TO ME it was the NEED to earn enough community points, to be able to upload and share my layouts for encouragement that made me take a second and longer look at the website!
Also because as I looked at the information of DC and CC, though it took a bit to figure the ins and outs of...IT also told me more about Jordan and Marisa, and the fact that they wanted "the community" interaction to HAPPEN! There were some forums I've visited and participated for a bit with, but their giving spirit shone through AND I'm not just talking about the bandwidth and designs that they give away ~ if you choose not to currently donate or like in my case can NOT currently donate, (still recovering from our family of four having no major income for over 1 yr). I'm talking about the giving of themselves in tutorials, tech support, layout and designer encouragement! It's like the scrapping parties that really got me interested in safely scrapping my photos over 16 years ago!
Thanks for fostering such a giving community!
I'm new too and I have to admit, the explanations aren't really clear. I find myself unsure about a lot of this site despite the fact that I am a Social Media Strategist in my work life and have 25+ years of computer experience. I run a community site on Facebook and first started on the internet with BBS sites back in the days of the dinosaurs. So it's quite perplexing to me, to find a site that isn't intuitive. I normally take to them like a duck to water. Even now, I can't explain to you if I can save up DCs over a 48 hour period to spend then or if they will automatically reset. I cannot tell you how much more I need to do to increase a level to receive more DCs from my CCs and I certainly can't tell you what time the 'day' resets on this site (and I can't seem to set the site to 'my timezone' either).
Despite all of this, I'm still new here and I'm more than willing to give it a good go. I'll let you know if I'm leaving because of any site issues, but I did think it was important to raise the issues I'm facing right now.
December, boy am I surprised. I certainly do not have anywhere near the amount of experience on the internet or computer as you do but I never found this site that hard to understand. You can find the FAQ with a lot of the answers that you need questions to: FAQ It is on the header and has an entire list of the "subjects" in getting around the Pixelscrapper site. Just to answer a couple - Download Credits (DC) do not carry over from day to day. Recently Jordan was able to update the site so if you put in your profile which time zone you are in your DCs will be renewed each day at 3 a.m. Community Credits are accumulated by things you do on the site and up to 300 CCs will increase the amount of DCs you get each day.
Good luck, I hope this helps.
Hi December: sorry for your trouble and confusion
. We're working right now to try to make the site easier to understand, and the help resources better and more accessible. Like I've said before, please realize that this site is in beta, and still in heavy development. It's just me and Marisa (my wife) working on stuff here, and there is a lot to do... we're doing our best 
I do really appreciate you letting us know what areas are confusing to you, so that we can know where to focus our efforts!
For now, I think Janet did a good job of addressing your concerns (thanks so much Janet!), but please let me know if you have any further questions, or difficulties. Please do look at the support pages, which answer a lot of your questions.
Yes I figured that, with persistence, I would find the answers to my questions. The answers weren't really why I posted though. I always think it's a good thing to be able to let you know where I get lost. Nothing beats feedback like newbie feedback, imo. I'm not worried about you being in beta.... I think gmail is still in beta
it just means that you're willing to be continually growing and learning. but i felt that i'd give you a heads up on my first impressions 
And I agree with you December, thanks for posting these, it sure helps a lot to build this website, that´s still on beta. Maybe for people that have been here for a while and followed the changes it´s easier, as I also have no problems with the site, but I was one of the first people to see it, on closed beta.
Now, just for the sake of curiosity: The FAQ tab on the top bar weren´t there since always; it was put there some weeks ago, due to an user´s suggestions. Can you remember if it were there when you first started using the site and having these kind of doubts? What I feel as a moderator is that the ammount of new people that looked for help since it was put there decreased.
@Lorien I joined several months ago ( I think don't know the date). I never looked for a tab regarding FAQ. Maybe I am just anal but when I join a site I go through everything!!! I looked at just about everything on the site. To this day I have read every single Forum thread/post so it is hard to miss much. I think when I started one of the first things I found was that when you hover over the DC on the top left there is a bubble and I believe that is where I learned all about the DC and CCs. Maybe I am just unique-I was in Accounting and Budget so maybe I am just used to looking at/for things to the nth degree???
@Janet: Don´t know why, I thought you were with us since always, I mean, since Beta. When we entered was really easier to read through all the forum topics (well, at least when I entered - there were 4 or 5 topics and only one forum :p)
In fact, I guess I wasn´t clear lol. I am curious to know if December saw the FAQ when she was a newcomer.
Any and all feedback is absolutely 100% always appreciated
I used this site sometime last year, before the DC and CC I think, and it was pretty confusing so I didn't stay on it for long. I've only JUST realised how the DC work, so i've missed out on months of downloading thinking they accumulated or wouldn't be reinstated if used.
I also have issues using the search tool, as often my searches don't come up with results, even for really common search terms.
I'm also wondering if it's possible to upload my own layouts in the future and have people download them, and if in return one could potentially get more points if their upload was popular? often I see layouts in the gallery I'd like to download and there's no option.
It'd also be nice if there were notifications when your post had been replied to, like on facebook, and options to upload layouts straight from the computer, rather than from a url.
Hi Jess, thanks for coming back to this site and giving it another try!! I'm so sorry that it was confusing and you felt like leaving! This site is very different than most scrapping site due to everything being free! But that can also lead to different and unexpected procedures for the site.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a note here that details issues with the site, because I know Marisa (designer/founder) and her husband Jordan (site developer) work very hard to answer questions and improve the site based on feedback!
Yes, the downloading of free items is done with daily download credits. So stopping by once a day and using your gifted DC for free items allows you to accumulate all the items you want over time. (I'm not certain, but I think this helps keep costs low for running the site
)
I'm also sorry you're having trouble with the search tool
Items that are uploaded by Marisa and Jordan are tagged by them for searches. However, users who upload their own layouts create their own tags. These tags are descriptions that make sense to the original uploader. But I can see that since everyone's thought patterns are unique, tags used by some users may not be clear to others. At this point I don't have an ideal solution for this situation, but to encourage your patience and creativity when searching for items of interest.
You are definitely able and ENCOURAGED
to upload your own layouts to share with other site users! To upload your layouts (straight from your computer) you go to your own My Profile page, listed on the drop down menu to the right of your profle picture and name, on the bar across the top of every page of this site (once you've signed in). On your profile page, below your photo, are some setting managements options listed in pink. Below the settings options are four activity options listed in gray. The last one is called Designer Tools and has a drop down menu arrow to the right. When you mouse-over this arrow, two options appear, "Upload Layout" and "Manage Layouts". When you click on Upload Layout you will be taken to the Create Layout page with a short menu on the left side of the page. Follow the short menu to complete your upload. Where the Menu lists "Template Used" (option #3) and "Kit" (option #4) they are referring templates and kits specifically from the DigitalScrapbook.com site. If you have used templates or kits from other site, that is fine, and you will not need to use these two options. You receive three (3) Community Points for every layout you upload.
As of now there is not an official way to download layouts that you like, to use for ideas or inspiration. You are able to right-click and "Save As" on any of the layouts if you'd like to keep a copy to learn from.
As for Notifications regarding your posts or comments on your layouts, I believe those options are on a list for future development as soon as time allows. It will be easier to have those options and they will be well-used when they are developed! Please keep in mind the work load required to maintain and improve this site and grant grace as Jordan works non-stop on the technical side of things.
I really hope this helps clear a few things up for you and does not make things more confusing! I am definitely NOT an expert but wanted to help. Please just say if things are unclear or you have any more questions. Jordan has created a Table of Contents for user's use that contains a lot of great information if you'd like to check it out here. Thanks for working with the whole Pixel Scrapping community as we grow and develop together
Thanks for trying to clarify some of my queries.
I do understand and appreciate all that the moderators and site managers do for us, it seems like a massive undertaking, and from what I've seen the site keeps getting better and better. I'm not thinking of leaving, I think you misunderstood me with that. my comments were simply feedback of impressions from when I first joined, as encouraged by Jordan above.
I'm still a little confused as to whether or not layouts and templates I might upload can be used by others in exchange for their download credits.
Currently, there are only two designers on this site: Marisa and Brooke. The other people that have allowance to upload downloadable things are their upload helpers; all the other members, after gallery access, can upload their layouts. So, if you upload one of your layouts at DigitalScrapbook.com, the page where it appears will look like, for example, this one.
What you are encouraged to do is, if you used Marisa or Brooke´s assets, point what kit you used, so your layout appear as an example of the work using them. In this case, the layout will appear like this one (basicaly, the only difference from the above is: on the related layouts will apear more layouts with the same kit.
The third, and last option for members that aren´t uploader helpers or designers, is: if you use a template for this site (made by one of its designers), you should link your layout with this specific template. It will look like this one: People will be shown what template was used and where to download it.
Independently of the layout you publish on the gallery, you will win three community points.
Now, I don´t know how newbie you are on the digiscrap world, so please forgive me if you already know these before my explanation, but better more than less:
When you see a finished layout from another digiscrapper somewhere else, you are NOT allowed to use it or it´s elements for your own page. What you can do is (a) see the credits list and purchase the supplies in the credits to make your own layouts as you please and (b) scrap lift the layout. Scrap lift is the name we use to when you are inspired by others layous to make our owns; when scraplifting, we can get inspired by the colors, the settings of the layout, the theme, the use of an specific element, and so on. There are scraplifts that can really look like the original layout (for example, this layout is a scraplift of this layout - its on scrapping etiquette that always that you are scraplifting you should say so and link to the original layout). But sometimes the scraplifts are really different from the original source - for example, all the layouts of this page are a scraplift of the same original layout - not listed on the gallery, but on challenges forum istead).
What you can do if and only if, you have permission from the kit designer, is to make a quickpage out of your layout. The quickpage looks pretty much like your layout, but you take out your picture and leave a transparent space, and delete your title and journalling too. Here on DigitalScrapbook.com, quick pages are offered by Marisa on kits that can be downloaded by donators here. Currently, quickpages aren´t offered individually, and users can´t offer their quickpages through the site. If they want too, they need to upload there somewhere else, open a post on freebies section of the forums, and showcase them there.
Hope I explain your doubt.
Thanks Elizabeth and Lórien for stepping in with the super helpful posts!
@Jess: thanks a lot for the feedback; it is always appreciated, and we will certainly take your thoughts into account. To touch on a couple of your points:
I've given you some bonus download credits as a thanks for coming back, and to help make up for your misunderstandings, etc.
Thanks so much everyone for your help and advice. This really is a great, welcoming, and generous site. it's good to be back.
I understand what scraplifting is now, and it's actually pretty cool. thanks for your clear example! I'm very new to all this so your examples and definitions helped a lot, thanks.
Jordan, Thanks for the extra credits. I was wondering whre they came from. I thought perhaps I had won a challenge. hehe.
Hi all,
I just wanted to make a small addition to what is a really a very good thread.
I think we all have different ways of learning and taking in new information. There is no superior or inferior way of doing this, just different ways. For this reason it is really difficult to write instructions and FAQ's that will suit everyone. I think Marisa and Jordan and everyone else helping out are doing a great job and where immediate understanding is lacking, there is an abundance of kind people willing to help out and explain.
What has drawn me to this site is the feeling of community and the possibility to interact with others all over the world. It's like an extended family in a way and I, for one, love this.
So keep up the good work everyone, and hopefully those feeling frustrated with different things will be won over by the great spirit that is evident throughout the site.
Thank you everyone!
Thanks for the encouragement, Magdalena!
I have found no trouble understanding the DC and CC's, the information is quite clear. It states that DC's do not accumulate and it states that CC's accumulate via posting comments (both in download section as well as in the forum), and you receive even more CC's if you start a thread in the forum. The more CC's you get, the more DC's you'll receive each day. You just have to come in each day and use them.
I have never had a problem w/ this concept. I am broke now, whereas I used to be able to shop in any store I wanted and spend as much as I wanted, but after being laid off, I can't do that anymore....so that led me here. The quality of the items is pretty great. Yes, there are other sites that offer great freebies and I use those sites as well, so collectively, I have a pretty decent stash.
I just want to say I love it here and while although sometimes I WISH I could download an entire bundle when it releases, I understand that I just cannot do it. I can't afford (yet) to be a donor, but that will change one day too.
I guess what I am trying to say is, Thank you DigitalScrapbook.com for all you do!!!!!!!
Thanks Candi for your support! It means a lot
Hi Fran, I sent you an email. It's been a pleasure having you with us here at DigitalScrapbook.com.
Sorry to see you leave Fran
wish you well in all your artistic and scrapping creations!
I'm sorry, too, but I understand - it's easier to be an active participant in just ONE community, rather than several. Sorry it wasn't this place, but I hope you're happy at whatever place you chose...