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Okay…I cant stand not being a member of any “Public Group”. Can anyone tell me what that option means in our profiles where it says “Fancy is not a member of any public group”?
Public member groups are for certain sites who can allow their users to choose a group. For example, Daniweb‘s forums use (or used to use) public forum groups to denote what kind of support person youn were, be it web design, hardware, software, or networking.
If we implemented them, the only way I could see doing it is having one public group for each main section, AIM, MSN, Y!, Other, CS, and OT.
I’m liking this idea a lot. I’m not sure exactly what we can do with them, but I’d like to explore. So….
I’ve setup three groups as a test. If you go to My BigBlueBall and click the Group Memberships link, you’ll see two “public” groups that anyone can join, and one group with a leader (me, in this test) that gets to approve new members. Check it out and see what you think. It could be a good way for people to specify their particular interest.
Oh, and as Spike mentioned, you can be a member of multiple groups.
I’d like to hear your ideas of how this might be used. We could (conceivably) allow people to create new groups if they want… but would they? Would you?
Hmmmm, I feel this just adds ANOTHER level to the near-ridiculous confusion of features/gimmicks on BBB !
We’ve got Referrals, Premium Members, Reputation points, and I dunno what all ….. yet with most of these areas there appears to be reasonable understanding by perhaps 4 or 5 (staff, probably) users, while the other 99.9% of BBB users either don’t care OR can’t understand, OR haven’t even stumbled on yet.Stop stop, I say! Just because it’s “possible” doesn’t mean it’s good to have – I feel strongly (can you tell? 😉 ) there’s too much on BBB already.
MAYBE senility is unique to me…. but I just spent about 20 minutes trying to find a list of Staff Members somewhere – I know I’ve seen 3 or 4 such things around here (and some of them almost completely obsolete!). I DID find one, but it wasn’t the particular info I wanted.I’ve ALSO this morning been trying to confirm/deny that Oreo = Elisa = Oreo. Seems that is “likely”, but I couldn’t confirm it after 5 or 10 minutes!! .. so.. I just gave up. (Pity it doesn’t show on Oreo’s Profile, but that’s ok – I KNOW it shows somewhere else… I just don’t know where to look).
Hmmm, and a google here for “elisa” reveals nothing…. who IS that person with Sarah on the podcast 3 ?
A bit depressing sometimes. 🙁
Erm…not to make you feel bad or anything, but I’m not confused at all. In fact, sometimes I feel like there isn’t enough on the forums. Maybe it’s easier for me because I know the vBulletin software a bit beter than most, but it’s not that complicated to keep track of. I mean, if you find some page that you really like you can usually bookmark it to remember it. And the current staff roster is here (look for another one coming shortly!).
Really, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask someone. That’s what we’re all here for; to help each other out. I myself would be happy to help you with anything forum-related.
Also, as Jeff mentioned, we’re only trying this out, there’s no mandatory signup, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
And yes, Oreo’s name is Elisa. 😉
Honestly, I’m with Ian on this one. Right now, it does seem as though there’s enough going on without adding an extra something. Much of the member base here likely doesn’t understand or use the things we already have available. We do have a good explanation of reputation points, but how many non-staff members actually use it? We have premier memberships, but how many people sign up for it? We have members who have no idea how to edit their posts.
We have enough things on our collective plate for the time being, no? Podcast, referral contest, rep points, etc. And really, I don’t particularly see the purpose of these “Public groups”. I can see how maybe it would help define what you’re interested in as far as categories, but after a few posts it starts to become pretty obvious which categories you’re going to be noticed in. Maybe you’ve noticed, I think my posts in the Yahoo forum could be counted on one hand. Meanwhile, my posts in the AIM forum or Off-Topic and such are in sufficient quantities to distinguish that those are my preferred areas.Just my opinion. I’m not saying its a terrible idea, just not sure that we really need it.
We once got a fortune cookie at lunch here at work…it’s posted on my boss’ door “Those who say it cannot be do should stay out of the way of those who are doing it.” If we don’t try we won’t know…will we? And, Ian, if you look at the moderators page…it clearly states my name.
Oreo wrote:… if you look at the moderators page…Ok, so, WHERE might that be ?
As I read your post, I’m faced with four different rows of various menu levels at the top of the page (totalling 27 options, some of which then include sub-menus).
So, looking thru those 27 options in all (some of which then include sub-menus too) I try FAQs.
Great, it lets me search FAQs. 🙂
I try “moderators”.
Three items there, all mentioning moderators, but no sign of any actual names, or Moderators’ List.I know from experience that “Members List” does NOT include Staff statuses, so at least I don’t waste (oops, SPEND!?) another 2 minutes exploring THAT option!
A google search on BBB for “moderator” or “moderators” shows 2 posts, but no “Moderator List” to be seen there either.
I thought I once saw a link at the BOTTOM of a forum page, that showed Moderators. Well, I’m AT a forum page, and there’s no link like that at the bottom of this one. 🙁
My whole point here is NOT just that someone shows me the link, but that noone should HAVE to – a website should surely be clear enough that users can find things for themselves.
Can anyone fault my logic… my approach above to finding some information ?
Sure, YOU may “know” where to find something like this, but put yourselves in the shoes of someone who DOESN’T happen to “know” – can you blame new users here for throwing up their hands in horror, and going elsewhere ?
I hear you, Ian.
I’m not suggesting we roll out yet another feature to confuse and befuddle the masses. But I am suggesting we test it to determine if it could provide any value. It’s not entirely clear to me that it would (or wouldn’t). Most of the time features such as this require a little hands-on experimentation before the potential value becomes clear.
In the case of usergroups, it would allow you to identify your expertise and interest more directly. Tigerblade makes the point that people would know he’s more interested in AIM by his post record, but that assumes that people are familiar with his posting history.
Another possibility — permit people to create their own groups. How would this be useful? Who knows?! It is possible to create forums that are only accessible via a certain group membership. Something to think about.
Even if we do ever decide to roll this out “officially” it needn’t confuse anyone. Most people wouldn’t ever see it — Fancy was the first to point it out and ask… after running vBulletin for over a year!
Jeff wrote:But I am suggesting we test it to determine if it could provide any value. It’s not entirely clear to me that it would (or wouldn’t). Most of the time features such as this require a little hands-on experimentation before the potential value becomes clear.agreed. a test rollout would be ok, i guess, if only to see what happens.
Quote:Another possibility — permit people to create their own groups. How would this be useful? Who knows?! It is possible to create forums that are only accessible via a certain group membership. Something to think about.hmm… mass chaos. nah, i dont think it would lead to mass chaos, but it could get ridiculous. i dont know the software very well, but what about something like users with a certain post count (say 500+) can create groups? i dont know how high you’d want to set the post count limit. there are some members with very low post counts that could be counted on to be trustworthy enough to start groups, but there are some people that might just go group-creation crazy.
Quote:Most people wouldn’t ever see it — Fancy was the first to point it out and ask… after running vBulletin for over a year!heh, i’d seen it long ago and just assumed it was one of those features we hadn’t any use for and was thus never implemented.
Allowing people to create their own groups wouldn’t be immediate, we would most likely create a forum for it so people could post their ideas and reasons for wanting a new group, no worries there.
And, myself personally, buried deep within the darkest corners of Computer Support, I have no idea whatsoever where you guys post most often, so it would help me especially trying to figure out what kind of community member you are here.
And, Ian, like I said (hope this doesn’t spoil it), we’re releasing the latest BBB Staff Roster ASAP *nudge Jeff nudge* 😉
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