About Dollation
Dollation is a website containing resources for doll lovers. If you're new here, visit the Handbook in the Help section to learn more about what you can do.
Frequently Asked Question
Who built and maintains Dollation?
Dollation was created by me, Maria Greene. I am a professional web developer and an enthusiastic doll collector. You can read more about my doll interests in my profile. Dollation went on-line for limited use on Halloween, 2011. It entered beta (wider use but still in developement) in early 2012.
Why did you build Dollation?
I created my first website ever back in 2002 because I wanted to share the information I had gathered about the dolls I was collecting at the time. Over the years it became increasingly difficult to keep the information up-to-date and I fell behind in adding new things. With the advent of new technology, like wikis, and my new skills making community web sites for clients, I decided to replace my informational website with one that could be maintained by the community.
Because my interests had changed over time and because I wanted to serve a broad community, I made the Dollipedia (the community-edited doll encyclopedia here at Dollation) capable of keeping information about a wide range of dolls. The current content is mainly modern dolls since that is what I collect and what the first members have added.
When you have a list of doll items, a natural extension is to want to "check them off" and keep track of what you have in your own collection. That led to the collection tracker feature with the obvious addition of adding information about the things in your collection like where and when you acquired them. And once you have a record of your collection it's desirable to add pictures of those items, which led to the picture album part of Dollation, and so on.
Who is Ruby?
Ruby Dolling is the "hostess" of Dollation. You may get email from Ruby for not following guidelines as expressed in help text in forms or in the Handbook. Ruby is a "spirit", not a real person.
Is Dollation a business? Will it cost me money to use?
Dollation is a hobby, not a business. Members will never be charged to use it. It does cost a fair amount of money for the web hosting and storage because Dollation is a large and complicated site. This is why I invite companies, organizations or individuals to sponsor Dollation so that the expense is shared. I do not include generic ads (like through Google AdSense) because I find them distracting and only want to feature sites that are interesting to doll collectors.
Because Dollation is a hobby and I work and have a young family, it may take me a few days to respond to you if you send me an email through the contact form. Using the help forums or comments throughout the site is the best way to get help since other members may be able to assist you as well.
Is my collection information private?
Somewhat. Only you can see the list of items in your collection and your wishlist. When you add pictures and indicate which of your collection items are in the picture, that allows site visitors to follow the link to see what you've written about that item (such as your review). However, any sensistive information (like the price you paid if you added that) is kept private.
Your identity is also private. You may optionally enter your country, state and city in your profile but we don't ask for or show your real name or address and you can always leave your location blank or enter the nearest major city if you are concerned about your privacy. People can contact you through your profile (though you can turn that off) which will expose their email address to you when you receive the resulting email but they won't know your email address unless you choose to reply to them.
The site administrator (Maria) is the only one with direct access to the database.
Is the information safe?
The database is backed up nightly to a external storage device. There is no guarantee that a catastrophe couldn't cause some loss of information, however.
Why aren't there discussion forums on Dollation?
There are already many wonderful discussion forums on the internet for different doll interests and there is no need to try to replace or compete with them. Instead, you can find links to them on the appropriate company and brand pages in the Dollipedia. Also, successful discussion forums have highly dedicated moderators and the time for that would be a distraction from adding new features and content to Dollation.
In the future there will likely be project groups at Dollation where the members of the group are working together on a project of documenting a particular type of doll. For instance, there could be a project group set up to document all the Dionne Quintuplets dolls. If you're interested in starting and moderating a project group, let me know.
I represent a doll company. What can Dollation do for us?
Encouraging your collecting community is a great way to promote your products. "Enabling" by other collectors is a major force in influencing us to want particular dolls. Features like being able to track our collection of your dolls and add them to our wishlists are fun and useful. (Adding products to the Dollipedia (current and retired) is a great job for an intern.) If you have a blog, you can request it be added to Planet Dolling to increase its exposure. Make sure your company and brand pages are accurate and include links to sites like your Facebook page, forums and other sites that tell more about your products.
I have a doll blog or want to start one. Why should I participate in Dolling Planet?
Blogging is a fun way to share your doll hobby with the world. Adding your "feed" to Planet Dolling will make more people aware of your blog. You can control how much of your post is included in the feed using the settings in your blogging software. It is up to Ruby to decide if a particular blog is appropriate for Dollation. If you're starting a new blog you can either set it up on an outside site (like wordpress.com or blogspot.com) or you can blog right here on Dollation by going to My Blog under the Blogs menu.
I have my own doll information website or want to make one. How can I use Dollation?
If you have a site already, add a link to it in the appropriate brand or company page(s) to let people know about it. You may decide to transfer the information over to the Dollipedia, as I did, rather than maintain (and pay for) another site. Or, if you're just starting out, you may want to use the Dollipedia from the beginning. Using a blog plus the Dollipedia is a great way to share your doll collecting passion with the world and to give your readership other features like the ability to track their collection and the opportunity to help you maintain the details about the dolls you care about.
If you have any other questions about Dollation, please contact Maria.
