Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Using groups
Archived from another discussion:
I notice that various folk like Hugh don't use Groups to post info as much as they used to. As we know Group discussions don't stay on the Front Page under the Forum Discussion section so disappear quite quickly. Yes they go out once a week on the mail out and yes some groups are highlighted on the Front Page but does ning have a facility for highlighting Group discussions? Otherwise Groups could just end up as archives.
I notice that various folk like Hugh don't use Groups to post info as much as they used to. As we know Group discussions don't stay on the Front Page under the Forum Discussion section so disappear quite quickly. Yes they go out once a week on the mail out and yes some groups are highlighted on the Front Page but does ning have a facility for highlighting Group discussions? Otherwise Groups could just end up as archives.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Thanks for raising this.
Groups can be a very useful part of the site. The activity on them seems to be determined by how actively they are curated.
Group discussions will stay on the front page for as long as any other discussion.
And, yes group discussions can be "featured", but the length of time that'll keep them in the latest activity will be the same as for any entry.
I'm not aware of any particular decrease in group usage. As far as my own use of them is concerned, I didn't think that was the case, but it's true that the group I'm most active in is the one I started, the History Group.
If you have any particular groups you'd like to see more active, that's great and we really welcome your contributions.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Group discussions don't feature within the Forum Discussion panel though, on the Front Page. Don't know about others but I do find the Forum Discussion panel useful, because as you say Latest Activity panel comments do scroll through quite quickly.
And btw, only using you as an example Hugh because of Liz's point this morning re the Environment group. Other members also put up a lot up about photos, but in the Discussion Forum rather than the Photography & Film Club. I think it's up to members to make use of Groups rather than be constantly encouraged by curation. I only know of one site member who appears to have time to do that day in day out! A pointer to Group Discussions on the Front page could help this along.
If there's no Group Discussion panel available for the Front page then I guess it's business as usual.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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As the person that trawls the groups on a weekly basis for new material to highlight in the update, I'd say, groups that get a high level of traffic and members tend to be the ones that are regularly updated and have new discussions that encourage participation, a good example of this is the cyclist group.
Some groups like Kids Stuff tend to be places where information is stored and although they get 'hits', people don't need to write what they think about the info posted. Some groups just seem to exist like Facebook groups to express a preference but have virtually no traffic like Fans of the Salisbury.
Ning does seem to mess with the groups quite a lot. There was a time when you had to opt in to notification of a new discussion, then you had to opt out now there seems to be a Follow New Members button and I'm not clear of its purpose. They also seem to have disabled the 'allow any member to send a message to the group' function which you have to go into edit group to switch back on. I only discovered this the other day when a member mailed me to tell me so.
Personally I think that there are probably too many groups. Last fm has a group function but they warn you of an automatic deletion if your group gets less than 3 members or appears to have no traffic. No doubt, people will say I am being draconian but I did wonder whether a similar policy on the site would encourage 'curators' who start groups to take more time with them.
I sometimes spend an idle evening when looking for a displacement activity, going through one of the groups I curate and deleting/updating pages, tagging discussions and adding useful links to the info box. I appreciate this is not everyone's idea of a good time and there is clearly a frustrated archivist in my soul but it does help to keep a group fresher looking.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Anyone who runs a blogsite, or something similar like a group here on HoL will tell you that if you don't invest time in it, the traffic on it will decline..
I'd love a Transport/Public Transport group here on HoL, could easily start one, but feel that I wouldn't be able commit myself to the time needed to tend and promote it, so have never started one. Rather no group than a lousy group..
Matt always used to send weekly reminders on his photography group, but I think I'm correct in saying that they've now stopped..
It doesn't take much effort to a add a line here and there to promote something, I'm always doing that.. so think that's your answer Matt!
p.s. phew, nearly forgot to add a link : http://www.isarsteve.de/?p=1433 :o)
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