Sacred Fly - Community Fly Patterns

[Sacred Fly 0]

Hey guys. Appreciate the feedback! I started Sacred Fly because searching for patterns was always a bit of a process. I felt like there was a need for a central repository where not only could you have patterns in one central place, but the searching process was much easier. For example, searching for a particular material in a pattern or searching for specific species and listing patters from there (eventually there will be more attributes to search for).

 

On top of the search process I wanted some place that was a community for fly tiers and patterns they created. A place where people could comment on patterns and add additional information that they've experienced.

 

To your point @whatfly on what the motivation is to add patterns. The way I look at is is if I have a fly pattern that I enjoy tying and I want others to enjoy it too, I'd post it on Sacred Fly. It's strictly a community driven site.

 

Would love to hear your feedback on why other libraries ended up defunct and what we can do to avoid that. Also would love to hear what you would like to see in a fly library that could make it better.

 

Cheers,

Brad

[mikechell 0]

Brad,

I already commented, and said I like the start-up you've got going.

Not to burst your "bubble" ... but this site's been around for a while:

http://www.flyrecipes.com/

 

It's about as easy to navigate as a grocery store and there are hundreds of patterns on there.

[Sacred Fly 0]

Thanks @mikechell. Appreciate the feedback. Will keep on adding features/functionality and hopefully a bunch more patterns!

[chugbug27 0]

My 2c...

1. Use the patterns to drive related forum discussions and maybe add useful tags for cross searching those discussions beyond each pattern. The community forums then could supply useful info, material choices, videos, SBS, pics, tips, history, etc for each pattern.

2. There already are a lot of truly great pattern sites (and books) out there, that in general are each driven by a single tyer, typically each with a tremendous database of relatively reliable information. And if all you're doing is having a searchable database of patterns, well, you can already easily google any pattern you'd like, and your search engine is never going to rival google's, or you can even easily (gasp) buy an encyclopedic pattern book if all you you want is patterns.. The value of a community driven pattern database, it seems to me, is adding the value of information and advice and insights about each pattern from the community.

[rstaight 0]

I have been following this thread and there have been several comments going in different directions and they all can be justified.

 

Yes, you can buy a book and get all of the normal patterns that everyone ties. You know the Adams, Wooly Buggers, GRHE, BWO and so forth. But as chugbug stated, "The value of a community driven pattern database, it seems to me, is adding the value of information and advice and insights about each pattern from the community."

 

With this type of database you will also get the regional variations and patterns that you won't see in any books.

[tjm 0]

First impression is of a dead end page, it was only after reading other's comments and maybe on my third visit that I discovered the access drop down. Perhaps a menu, side or top?

Every library needs links to as many other libraries and resources as possible. Perhaps mutual linking if such exists? I know of several pretty impressive collections of fly patterns that are apparently no longer kept up, or occasionally kept up; to insure your site stays up and running for the longest, maybe some partners in management and maintenance should be included, maybe that could be community based as well?

Really, I know zip/nada/not a thing about site building or operation and am barely able to navigate the web in general so anything I say must be taken with seasoning. I did catch sunfish once and have stayed in a motel a few times....

 

carry on!

[flytire 0]

we used to be able to post patterns on this forum in "fly pattern database" but that capability has died with the dodo bird. resurrection doen not seem imminent (i know ive mentioned it but.....). the categories in that database needs a total revamping to bring it into the present.

 

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?act=special&page=flyindex

 

http://www.flyrecipes.com/ was also an active database that you could upload patterns to but that too has gone away. you can still view patterns.

 

i also think another member of this forum was trying to do the same thing, but i think the job was way too big and it never happened

 

every forum i participate on has some sort of fly pattern database. i'll use them accordingly

 

so do we need a giant repository or catalog of fly patterns? i dont know.

 

for my personal use, i prefer to use Google to find patterns that i want to tie, learn of their histories, search by style of pattern, search by material etc. its a pretty damn good database for finding fly tying/fishing topics

 

youtube is also great for finding flies i like to tie

 

i also have on my hardrive a copy of "fly 2000" database software to catalog fly patterns

 

 

as for your site, right now its just a big white page. i'm sure that with time it may change or maybe not. i wouldnt be interested in which release did what to the site. i would bring the 2 videos that are in the "faq" and move them to the home page. populate that home page with some fly photos so others might get a sense of what your site is all about.

 

for me, i might revisit in the future but for now good luck with your site

[mikechell 0]

http://www.flyrecipes.com/ was also an active database that you could upload patterns to but that too has gone away. you can still view patterns.

 

A while back, I finally got in touch with the admin of that site. It's active again.

[flytire 0]

for now i'll stand by my statement regarding flyrecipes.com

 

i tried to log in to the site to no avail. i did the "forgot username" and the "forgot password" instructions and i'm still waiting for their email that was supposedly sent

[Sacred Fly 0]

My 2c...

1. Use the patterns to drive related forum discussions and maybe add useful tags for cross searching those discussions beyond each pattern. The community forums then could supply useful info, material choices, videos, SBS, pics, tips, history, etc for each pattern.

2. There already are a lot of truly great pattern sites (and books) out there, that in general are each driven by a single tyer, typically each with a tremendous database of relatively reliable information. And if all you're doing is having a searchable database of patterns, well, you can already easily google any pattern you'd like, and your search engine is never going to rival google's, or you can even easily (gasp) buy an encyclopedic pattern book if all you you want is patterns.. The value of a community driven pattern database, it seems to me, is adding the value of information and advice and insights about each pattern from the community.

 

#2 is spot on and that's one of the main reasons I built Sacred Fly. Not just to be a repository of fly patterns, because as you said, we already have those resources. Here are some goals for the current release and ones soon to follow ...

 

Release 1.0 (what we have now):

• Make it super simple to add/edit patterns
• Make searching for patterns easy and straight forward.
• Build the API (backend) and authentication system (how you login, register, etc)
• Add Favorites system (allows us to rank/sort by most favorited patterns, allows you to save patterns in your profile for easy reference)
• Add Rating system (allows registered users to rate patterns which allows us to sort based on that attribute)
• Comments system so we can all collaborate and chat about particular patterns

Release 2.0 (what I'm working on now):

• Tons of bug and user experience fixes (that's for letting me know about those)
• More attributes to search on.
• Expand on the comments system (favorite comments, reply to comments, edit existing comments)
• Statistics (replacing the welcome message on the home page with current statistics (recently added patterns, member pattern contributions, etc)

 

Future Releases

• Messaging/Alerting system (get notified when someone liked your pattern or a comment was made, messaging from other members)
• Link shortener (scrdf.ly is registered so you'll be able to link your patterns without the huge URL. It will be more like "https://scrd.fly/dIfA"
• Trophy System (Trophy for adding X patterns, Trophy for a pattern with X amount of likes ,etc)
• Community discussion that is linked to patterns (a rewrite of the basic comment system to be much more robust.
• WSYGI Editors for pattern inputs.
• Offer material substitutes (when you hover over a material it will offer substitutes for that material)

 

I'll expose all of the current release notes and what I'm working on in the "about" page. Keep in mind that all of the features are driven by the community. I NEED your input on what you want to see so I can develop them. Love the input so far. Very much appreciated.

 

Lastly, I'll be standing up a Slack/Discord chat where we can chat in realtime. Will help with the feedback loop as wel.

 

Cheers,

Brad

[Sacred Fly 0]

First impression is of a dead end page, it was only after reading other's comments and maybe on my third visit that I discovered the access drop down. Perhaps a menu, side or top?

Every library needs links to as many other libraries and resources as possible. Perhaps mutual linking if such exists? I know of several pretty impressive collections of fly patterns that are apparently no longer kept up, or occasionally kept up; to insure your site stays up and running for the longest, maybe some partners in management and maintenance should be included, maybe that could be community based as well?

Really, I know zip/nada/not a thing about site building or operation and am barely able to navigate the web in general so anything I say must be taken with seasoning. I did catch sunfish once and have stayed in a motel a few times....

 

carry on!

 

Love the feedback. I added those to roadmap items for development. Thank you!

[Sacred Fly 0]

@flytire - Very much appreciate the feedback. I do indeed plan on adding more to the front page. The first go of the site I wanted to be a clean and easy to navigate experience with new features slowly trickling in.

 

Cheers,

Brad

[mikechell 0]

for now i'll stand by my statement regarding flyrecipes.com

 

i tried to log in to the site to no avail. i did the "forgot username" and the "forgot password" instructions and i'm still waiting for their email that was supposedly sent

I tried to send you this on PM, but you've got me blocked.

"I hope you get that site sorted out. After reading your post on Sacred Fly's thread, I went there and logged on. It's working for me.

Good luck"

[islander727 0]

Looks like a fun project. Good luck!

[MouseManiac 0]

Added my cicada pattern. Hope the site takes off, as the search features make for nice organization.