Groups feature for iin?

I like that fact that on IIN, all are equal, everyones views are taken into account. By adding varying tiers of admin, this leads to some users having a bigger voice in the community, removing one of the most appealing parts of IIN.

Also, by asking questions in a community of likeminded group-members, as opposed to a larger website, users will get a smaller range of answers, and the answers they do get will probably be the ones they thought of already, and they will only be told what they want to hear.

I see this as a huge step away from IIN's original purpose, by alienating new members and adding a new tier of elites. I really can't see any positives from these proposals. I predict that the main community will become a ghost-town, and only groups will be active, which only serves to further alienate new users and detract from our community spirit, which really is IIN's main advantage over, for example, Yahoo! Answers.

I say, Let's try it for a a week or two. After the chosen time you could make another post to see how many approved it.

People will imagine how it could be right now, but the only way to know if it's a good idea is to test it.

After testing it, give it another week or two so people can send feedback on how to make it better, and in that way make it as perfect as this site is.

Im not sure I get the point. for one thing I didnt think there were all that many active users on here, there might be like 25 groups, each with 1 or 2 people in it. 2nd if this is this a seperate part of IIN thats ok but if you start splitting up the actual website i think it will lose its comunity value and less people will be welcome.Which comes to the next point, I dont think user run groups would be that great, more like elites. it might as well be face book then

I think the big problem I'm seeing is that if everyone can make one, anyone who wants one will make one, and then you'll have 102 OCD groups (10-20 additional for specific OCDs), 47 foot fetish groups, an uncountable number of "dealing with breakup" groups, ad infinitum, ad nauseam (and I mean this very literally).

A far better idea, imho, would be for TheManagerment to be an integral part of the groups. They could start with a number of groups that they see as having an immediate need/following, and add groups as requests are made, if there are enough requests to warrant a group (and if another group doesn't already cover it).

If the problem here is that TheManagement just doesn't have the staff to cover the additional manpower needs that an undertaking this large would require, well... I have no solution for that problem. Perhaps a few volunteers could be selected from a pool? But, either way, it would be TheManagement that creates and implements groups, and not just us members.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! We're still thinking about how (or if) to proceed with this concept. Your comments have been very helpful and please feel free to keep commenting here if you have other thoughts.

My group will be for schitzophrenics and none of you are invited.

everyone will try creating their own group and it will end up with empty groups...?

Here are just some questions I have...

1.) How would you find the groups? Would there be a list of them?
2.) How many groups could one person belong to, what if they related to 100 different things?
3.) Would there be a separate tab on the homepage to get to these groups, separate from the regular polls/stories?
4.) How many members would be allowed in one group?
5.) Since there is already member chat, would there be a separate chat for each group where all the members could talk?

6.) When you have groups with specific themes, where you can see the members, do you think the site would lose it's "anonymous" concept?

I don't know if you actually need to set up formal groups but maybe a new section which is not a poll or IIN. For example posts under "Discussion about ... " OCD, dreams, car wrecks, parents, etc. So that everyone can still join in and see the wide selection of posts.

Perhaps the management could privately email respected long term members and ask if they would like the ability to delete insulting / rude comments against someone who needs help or does not deserve it. The rest of us wouldn't need to know which members the management have added to their admin 'police' but suddenly the site gets better.

It has its ups and downs. I don't think they should be alowed to delete any comment because some people might have an opinion they think is right but others think they are just being ffensivewhen that wasn't the point of their comment.

I don't think the comment delete part should be alowed but everything else seems good enough.

Some very interesting ideas here but I'll be honest - I'm struggling to visualise the changes. I know you weren't after a full analysis so, generically, I think it definitely has potential. I see a few pros and cons.

Pros:
* Problem-based groups could develop into a living archive of good advice (with IIN questions, you get the best advice from people who are around that day, as opposed to the best from the lifetime of the site or group).
* Devolution of management to IIN users would give some sense of ownership and, you would hope, a pride in making the group accurate, useful, friendly, etc.
* Knowing that what you write may be around for some time may encourage more thought in writers. Current answers to questions are very much gone and forgotten within a few days.
* Trolling can be virtually eliminated from groups.

Cons:
* With management styles left to individuals (and so varying widely), I can see conflicts arising between site members. When the arbiter is the site owner, whose personality is only slightly known, I think we accept your primacy readily. Where an administrator is a fellow site user, and one you may disagree with, I do see tension.
* I moderate communication on a large scale as part of my role at work and trying to maintain fairness and balance in the face of very different people with different ideas of how things should work has been a real learning curve. Very useful for my own personal development, but a challenge. I can see bigger groups being a real challenge here and maybe requiring more time and care than people first thought they'd need to commit.

All in all, though, the posts I've seen so far seem to be in favour. I'm curious as to how it would work, as well, and would quite like to see it. Is it going to be part of an iterative process? I ask because I think this is quite a complex thing to take on and I'm not sure any of us know how this may develop.

awesome

No.

@ the managment: i think you should like put a limit and draw lines on some topics for example like think of the stories you reject

I like it, but try to limit what admins can do because there might be a bit of troubles between them and the group owner.

well i think i have just one question. how many people can go in a group? oh and where will you find the group? it will be awesome i think!

I think it's a terrific idea! I really hope it gets implemented. I think that it would be nice for like-minded individuals to be able to talk amongst themselves instead of trying to talk to each other through the different IIN questions while getting their statements upvoted and downvoted. This sounds so much more efficient!

Keep it simple stupid!

I can definitely see this happen. I like the idea, but there are a few problems. I think everyone has said the ones I have thought about, though! I hope it happens!:)

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there already a forum on here at some point? I'm just saying you should take the experiences (members' response, activeness, frequency of trolling/spamming/flame wars etc.) from that forum into consideration here.
But yeah, I wouldn't mind getting a promotion - god knows I've been a good empl- oops, I meant member, ever since I started here.

I think an all-purpose forum sounds like a cool idea. Just so this site isn't limited to just IIN stories. It'll be a bit more fun :)

I would like it, I'd personally like to have a group of environmentalists, farmers, gardners and such. Ways to save money, repurpose things, recycle, finding ways to save or find out what you think is junk is valuable. I'm good at that kinda stuff. It's what I do!! Not saying I'd admin it though, maybe if I had a buddy admin like howaminotmyself, she's like-minded about the environment, I think we could teach and learn a lot. Being respectful to the Earth and everything in it is my main concern in everything I do!! I think we could come up with plenty of tips, hints, resources, information and so on. I just want to spread the word!!! It's my passion!!

Great idea but please remember to have the appeal process integrated should a member believes the action of the mod was deem unjustified or excessive.

I think its a great idea! I would recommend adding some sort of timeline for admin - meaning if an admin has not logged in for a long period of time and they are the only one available to mod the site etc.... and the group is super popular.... maybe a vote in or something.
Another thing to consider would be limiting how many similar groups can be out there - of course there are huge topics which the variables of that topic itself might determine a whole different group.
I would say go with the plan you have and alter things as you see problems as any new project. - maybe add a spot for recommendations to the Group page in its infancy stage. I think as people use it they might have some more awesome feature ideas for you guys to consider.

Good concept but the final product will not be like it was on paper. Anything involving groups, there will be conflict. I can already see lets say someone joining a group and being a little bit "too extreme" the certain group he's in, let's say foot fetish. He can easily get kicked out and making that person mad or start flaming/ doing immature things to people. I think a simpler thing to do is just be able to see who's online, click chat with them and then you can invite people to their personal chats. The whole group thing just doesn't seem like it would work like planned, but that's what I think, I could be totally wrong.

You need to be able to delete comments otherwise trolls would have a field day. I think it would work well and if someone has a specific problem they can seek out others with the same concerns and find support and understanding whereas they might find not so much if they just come in and post normally as an IIN question.

It could be good, but I think as a community we work well anyway. Something about applying labels to people doesn't sit well with me, it might remove anonymity and encourage thinking in groups, as opposed to the application of their own opinions, which is the point of the community.

Furthermore, addition of such features may confuse new members, and put them off participating. Personally I would against IIN Groups, and probably wouldn't use the feature, I don't see that it solves any real problems with the website. This is only one opinion though, feel free to discard it :)

This is a great idea! The idea of the group chat rooms would very helpful. I notice a lot of people here that need one on one advice end up giving out their emails, a chat room would fix that. A little "meet me in the chat" and everything's fine.

I do think the comment delete should be allowed. There are trolls here there are trolls everywhere, it's a good idea.