Ravelry -
Jess and I have been trying to find ways to get our email under control because more email to answer means less time to work on Ravelry. Lately, we've been bombarded with emails from people who want to know where they are on the waiting list. This is our own fault, really, because we told you to ask us if you were feeling anxious. So.. there is now page (linked from the front of Ravelry.com) where you can check your position on the waiting list.
Don't pay any attention to the numbers - I used an old copy of the database to make this screenshot.
Also, I'd like to explain the waiting list again because there is still confusion. The list goes in order - we don't prefer some people over others. We choose how many invites to send out and a computer program sends that many from the top of the list. We have the list because everyone wants to get in even though the site isn't ready! A new version of Ravelry goes out almost every night and we are still very much in beta. We're adding new people as fast as we can.
When will Ravelry be open to the public? We don't have a date set but it looks like it will be at least 4-5 weeks. We are signing with our datacenter on Monday and they said that they will be prepared for us to bring our servers over in 20-30 days. We'll be VERY busy in the meantime - there are only 2 of us and we've got a lot to do!
In other news, the Groups feature that I blogged about previously is going really well! Lots of Ravelers are finding the right groups for them, meeting new people, and having a good time. 2,335 people have joined at least one group - which is awesome! Here is a little pic of all of the current group badges:
Edit - an hour later: I modified the checker so that it will look to see if your invite was unclaimed and re-send it if necessary (in case it was lost or eaten by a spam filter). Wow - lots of invites have been rescued from limbo already. If you checked your spot when I first posted and it said "that email address isn't on the list" (or whatever it says), you might want to try again.