I think that this is where I'm supposed to have something brilliant to say. The truth is that at this moment, I don't. I signed up for this group, having an interest in learning more about soapmaking, but not knowing anything about the subject, other than the very basics - lye gets used, as do fats of some sort, and one had better know what one is doing, or the user of the soap might end up with chemical burns. A few months later, I logged back in and discovered that I was now the administrator for this group. How had that happened? The old administrator had lost his account, I believe because he was using it to promote a site that Flickr considered to be a commercial one, and I had been on the group longer than any of the other remaining members.

While I am in no way qualified to say anything about the recipes that somebody might submit - and so I won't - I will say that some of the members have submitted some very nice pictures of their work. This was work that I decided that I'd like people to see, and so I decided to put the group on a few rings, and see who else would like to join, and if somebody might be drawn in who could provide the expertise on this subject that I couldn't, all the better. The rule on this group is "safety before etiquette" - if you see somebody doing something wrong, or encouraging others to do it, please say something, and if you can, document your claims with links to a few supporting authoritative sites, and maybe cite a few references in print. I'm not vetting posts, again, because I'm not qualified to do so, but having been in the position of being the professional who had to debunk the dangerously wrong claims of the cranks and trolls around him in a very different field, I've found that this is what works. Be civil, if you can, but when you're right, be firm, even if other people can't deal with that.

I'll be staying out of the arguments (good little newbie that I am), for the most part getting involved only when the group is being spammed - if it's not about soap, it's spam on this group - the TOS is being violated, or people are obviously being pointlessly rude. Follow advice given here at your own risk.

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