Account and settings: signing in, profile, your data and closing an account

This article is about your account: how to sign in and recover a password, how your own page and the «Dashboard» work, what you can change in «Settings», how to download everything you have done here, and what happens if you close the account. Nearly everything described here lives on one page – «Settings».

How to sign in

Until launch, registration is open only during test rounds. Use the «Sign up» link in the header to create an account with your own email and confirm the address from the letter; without confirmation some actions stay closed. Until launch the form asks for an invite code: it is already filled in by the link you were sent, and if the code does not match, check that you opened that exact link. Without a code, the site team issues accounts: you receive an email address and a password.

Click «Log in» in the header, or open /en/login.
Enter your «E-mail» and «Password». You sign in with your email address, not with your username.
If this is your own computer, tick «Remember me».
Click «Log in».

You land on the «Dashboard». If you were trying to open a private page (for example, «Stash»), the site takes you straight there after signing in. On a mistake you will see «These credentials do not match our records.» After several failed attempts in a row the site asks you to wait.

To sign out, click «Log out» on the right of the header. Once you are signed out, personal pages do not open without signing in again.

If you forgot your password

On the sign-in page click «Forgot your password?».
Enter your email address and click «Send the link».
Open the letter and follow the link. On the «New password» page enter your address and the new password twice.

The site always answers the same way: «If that address has an account, a reset link is on its way.» – that way it does not reveal who has an account. The password changes only through the link in the letter. Asking again straight away will not bring a second letter – wait a little.

There is no separate «change password» field in the settings: to change your password, use the same «Forgot your password?» link.

The Dashboard – your start page

The «Dashboard» opens after you sign in. At the top is a greeting with your name and @username. Below it is «Continue stitching»: the projects you have started, with progress in crosses and per cent and a «Continue» button. If there are many projects, an «All projects» link sits beside the heading. Further down are quick buttons: «＋ New pattern», «My patterns», «Stash» and «Shopping list», each with a number in brackets.

If a project shows a note instead of progress – that access to the chart was withdrawn, or that the chart is hidden pending review – the author has taken your access away or moderators are looking at the chart. Your progress is kept either way. More about projects is in the article Projects and the tracker.

Your page and @username

Everybody has a page at an address like /en/@username – click your name with the «@» sign in the header. It shows your picture, display name, status, «About me» text, followers and following, the date you joined, a «Wall» of short posts, your charts «In the gallery», a «Blog» link and «Badges».

Under the username, in grey, is your level on the site: «Newcomer», «Member» or «Regular». The level rises by itself – with a confirmed email address, time on the site and activity; only a moderator can lower it. A newcomer has the essentials: their own charts, the tracker, the stash. «Member» unlocks share links for charts, offering charts to the gallery, a first message to a stranger, and reports. A «Regular» can also start group conversations and, with enough reputation, post listings and sell charts (see Economy and reputation). The site does not publish the exact thresholds.

The username is changed in «Settings», on the «Username» card: enter a new one and click «Change username». Latin letters, digits, hyphen and underscore are allowed; the site refuses reserved and taken names and says why. After a change the field is locked – the date of the next possible change is written under it. The old page address stops working and does not forward to the new one, so update any links you have left elsewhere.

Profile and privacy

The first, large form in «Settings» is saved by the single «Save» button at its bottom; after saving, «Saved.» appears at the top.

«Picture» – a photo for your page. The site re-saves the file, so metadata such as geotags does not survive. To remove the photo, tick «Remove it».
«Display name» – the name shown next to everything you publish, in any language.
«Status» – a short phrase under your name; «About me» – a few sentences.
«Who sees what» – for each part of your page choose «Everyone», «Signed-in people» or «Only me»: «About me», «Status», «My charts», «My wall», «What I am stitching», «What I am stitching right now», «My stitching history», «My badges», «My standing figure» and the stash sections. Badges, current stitching and the stash are visible only to you by default.
«Who may write to me» – «anybody», «only people I already talk to» or «nobody new». Conversations already under way carry on whatever you choose.

The «Now stitching» line appears only if you have opened «What I am stitching right now», and it names only charts from the catalogue. It disappears by itself an hour after the tracker last saved.

Time zone, away days and comparison

«Time zone» decides which day your crosses count towards. By default your browser decides («Ask my browser»). After a change the field is locked for about a month – the date of the next change is written under it. Days already recorded are not recalculated.
«Away» – say in advance that you will not be stitching, and your run of days will not break. Choose the «From» and «To» dates (the earliest start is tomorrow) and save. An absence can be cancelled until it begins. The length limits are in the hint.
«Public comparison» – the «Let my results be compared with other people’s» box. It is off by default; while it is off, you are not in the «Who stitched how much» table. The «See what this table looks like» link shows it to you beforehand.
«Colour treatment» – how a downloaded PDF of a chart looks by default. The last choice you make next to the PDF button is remembered here too.

Notifications and letters

The «What to tell me about» block in the same form has six boxes: «Somebody mentions me», «Somebody replies to me», «Somebody likes my stitch», «Somebody follows me», «Somebody writes to me», «Somebody outbids me at auction». Unticking one turns off both the bell line and the letter. Decisions about your account and your work always reach you.

The «Send me letters about what happened on the site» box turns on the digest of unread notifications and the outbid letters. Letters the account cannot work without (password reset, address confirmation) always arrive.

The notifications themselves are under «Notifications» in the header; the number beside it is how many are unread. Viewing the page does not mark anything as read – there is a «Mark all read» button for that. Every line has an «Open» link. More in the article Messages and notifications.

How to change your email address

On the «E-mail» card enter the new address.
Enter your password in «Current password» and click «Change address».
Open the letter in the new mailbox and confirm the address.

Until the new address is confirmed, it says «This address is not confirmed yet.» under it: you can keep working, but offering charts to the gallery and share links are locked. The site refuses disposable and non-existent addresses, and the number of attempts per day is limited.

The old address receives a letter «The address on your account has changed» with a «Put my address back» button. If you did not make the change, click it: the site restores the old address, cancels the password and sends you a link to set a new one. The link works for a limited time – the period is stated in the letter.

Your data: the archive

The «Your data» card sits above «Delete account». Click «Prepare an archive» and the site assembles, in the background, one zip file with everything you have made and written: profile and settings, charts (as JSON and OXS), projects with progress, posts, blog, comments, reviews, messages, stash, listings and deals, wallet history. Inside is a README.txt file that describes every file.

When the archive is ready you get a notification and a letter, and a «Download the archive» link appears on the card. The link opens only in your account and works for a limited time – the date is written next to it. A new archive cannot be requested straight away: the button is greyed out, and the line above it says from when you can ask again.

How to close your account

At the bottom of «Settings» is the «Delete account» card. Enter your «Current password» and click «Delete my account». Download the archive first.

What happens next:

The account is closed, not erased on the spot. You can no longer sign in, the account is not visible on the site, and letters from the site stop.
A letter «Your account is closed» arrives. It states the date until which you can change your mind. To come back, write to the address given in the letter – from the same mailbox.
After that date the account goes to final erasure: the address, name, picture, «About me» text and password are wiped, and coming back is no longer possible.
What was published stays: charts other people are stitching from, and posts, comments and reviews someone has replied to. The author is shown there as «a closed account», without a link. The username stays taken, so nobody can pass themselves off as you.

The account can be restored within the period stated in the letter by writing to the address given in it. An account holding a moderator or administrator role cannot be closed this way – only through an administrator.