Networking, Meet ups, groups. (moderators)

[tracy123]

Hi All

 

There seems to be quite a few lonely people out in Australia, now for reasons X, Y & Z most of you Brits seem to end up living in the same areas.

Now I don't know if I'm telling people to suck eggs or if it can be done or it is already being done.......... BUT can we have a new area on the forum where people can register what area they live in, (that won't get lost with the 1000's of other threads) Nearly 2 yrs ago Tim started up a groups section that got taken away could we not bring that back???

I know we have threads on "who's heading back" "fishing" etc but they can get lost at least this way people can see other people with the same interests etc and find answers and hopefully this will then allow people to start socialising with other like minded people, it should also allow people in the UK looking to move to that area a group of people that they can ask questions too and meet up once in Australia (hopefully making settling easier) and to me that's what PIO is all about.

 

So can we PLEASE bring back the groups section :wubclub:

 

Geoffrey

[Guest golden grahams]

just bumping this up, what a great idea

[Guest Guest31881]

Hi Geoff,

 

That sounds a good idea, I belong to BritsInBrisbane a sister site to PIO and I believe there are similare sites for other states (are these the local groups you speak about?).

 

Unfortunatly most members seem to stick to the PIO site and the BIB site is very quiet, perhaps it would be better if these were on the main PIO site to encourage members in a locality to stay in touch with each other.

[calNgary]

We did have 'groups' a few years ago and unfortunately it was decided to remove them due to some members setting up invite only groups and basically abusing the reason 'groups' were there.It became almost impossible to moderate hence Tim removed them from the forum.

 

We do have the socialising section for posting about meet ups etc, posts tend not to get lost to easy in there as its a section of the forum thats not as busy as some other parts. Maybe post any wanted or planned meets in there for now.

 

Cal x

[ali]

Agree with Cal, that the socialising section is the best place for meet ups. Regarding the groups, whilst some of the groups were very light hearted and fun, some were malicious in their intent to both the site and other members.

[tracy123]

Hi Cal and Ali

 

I understand why the groups were taken away, but that was a few years ago and alot of the members have moved on since then.

I think if it's worded correctly the groups section of PIO could be a very helpful tool for meeting people and gaining information.

If we have a groups section just for areas of Australia to start off with eg anyone wanting too or living on the Gold Coast.

This way anyone wanting info on the GC will see the people living there and know who to ask, they should also be able to make friends easier etc now to me this is what PIO was set up for (I agree we have forums relating to states) but IMHO I feel that being able to see people in that 1 area would provide a more useful service.

We can have it on a trial for lets say a month if it works well it could stay, if it's causing a headache for you moderators it's shelved.

After a few months we could start to allow other groups to form such as fishing etc (anything deemed OK by the moderators and relating to Australia, UK) Groups such as I hate the moderators, tracy123 etc would get wiped off and the person who formed the group gets banned infracted whatever you moderators feel fit or we could leave it only for areas.

Personally I feel that it was a great idea when it first came out (as must of Tim) but it was used in the wrong way. Surely we can learn from our mistakes and get it working well???? :wubclub:

 

Hi SRP

It was part of PIO, it was just another button you clicked that brought up a groups section not a different site that you had to log onto.

[Guest Guest31881]

 

Hi SRP

It was part of PIO, it was just another button you clicked that brought up a groups section not a different site that you had to log onto.

 

 

Thanks Geoff,

 

Thanks, I worked out what they were from the mods replies. I can see the benefits of these groups and how they could work. I can also see the problems that could arise with the mods having to look at far more pages to see if everyone is behaving.

 

I suppose a way around this would be to make someone responsible for each group. Perhaps the originator of each group could be held accountable for its direction, it would be up to the originator to ensure that the group would not stray or infringe rules, and if they failed to run the group successfully then the group would be closed. If anyone in the group thought that a comment or topic was inappropriate then they could inform the originator and it would be their responsibility to decide if it fell within the rules of the forum. If it did not then they would ask a mod to delete or amend a posting in the group. Perhaps the origionator could have the power to delete a comment made in the group.

 

 

Or something like that, to save the mods having to spend to much time checking every page.

[tracy123]

Thanks Geoff,

 

Thanks, I worked out what they were from the mods replies. I can see the benefits of these groups and how they could work. I can also see the problems that could arise with the mods having to look at far more pages to see if everyone is behaving.

 

I suppose a way around this would be to make someone responsible for each group. Perhaps the originator of each group could be held accountable for its direction, it would be up to the originator to ensure that the group would not stray or infringe rules, and if they failed to run the group successfully then the group would be closed. If anyone in the group thought that a comment or topic was inappropriate then they could inform the originator and it would be their responsibility to decide if it fell within the rules of the forum. If it did not then they would ask a mod to delete or amend a posting in the group. Perhaps the origionator could have the power to delete a comment made in the group.

 

 

Or something like that, to save the mods having to spend to much time checking every page.

 

Agree it could make extra work for the mods but as you know yourself certain threads cause work, while 95% of threads need no more than a look and by limiting groups to areas, rather than political, ethnic groups etc the chances of a moderator needing to step in should be limited.

[Petals]

Groups can be good but they can also fragment the site and people tend to disappear into their groups and stop posting in the forums.

 

I know this happens as I am a member of a couple of select groups on an unrelated site and this is what I and others in the group tend to do now.

 

Select groups who limit membership are not a good idea either.

[ali]

I have to say that I'm still not sure Geoff, yes it was a couple of years ago that we tried groups but it really was quite disasterous and it's not something I would want to repeat. I'm sure Rob will be advised by Tim who whilst he started the groups section was also the one to pull the plug on them - at the end of the day, it will be his decision.

[Petals]

I also belong to a site that has a forum called "stormy weather" and its for those that want to have a good argument or adult conversation etc. Its not easy to find its sort of buried down the bottom and you have to become a member of the actual forum to read and join in. I tend not to bother reading it myself however it stops people shutting down posts on contentious issues.

[tracy123]

I have to say that I'm still not sure Geoff, yes it was a couple of years ago that we tried groups but it really was quite disasterous and it's not something I would want to repeat. I'm sure Rob will be advised by Tim who whilst he started the groups section was also the one to pull the plug on them - at the end of the day, it will be his decision.

 

I have sent a PM to rob advising him of this thread, I just thought it was a good idea and wont be upset if nothing comes of it.

 

My thanks to you and Cal for your replies.

[tracy123]

My thanks to you and Cal for your replies

 

And to everyone else :notworthy:

[Cerberus1]

Hi Geoff

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not going to dismiss the idea out of hand as clearly, if a facility existed on the board which would aid in friendships / support groups being formed, then I wouldn't want to stand in the way of that. On the flip side though, being a relative newcomer to the forum, I don't have first hand experience of what happened previously when social groups were used, so I have to be guided by the mods and previous admin as to what went wrong. I believe the groups became extremely factionalized when last used, due in part to it not being technically possible to stop groups being 'Invitation Only'. I'll have a think about it, but it may be that any possible trial would have to wait until some point down the line when we've upgraded the forum software to the next major release and we've had chance to assess what social group facilities (& controls) are included in the software.

 

(I'm sure in the back of my mind as well, is the reaction to 'change' after recently taking CTF off the front page! :swoon:)

[tracy123]

Hi Geoff

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not going to dismiss the idea out of hand as clearly, if a facility existed on the board which would aid in friendships / support groups being formed, then I wouldn't want to stand in the way of that. On the flip side though, being a relative newcomer to the forum, I don't have first hand experience of what happened previously when social groups were used, so I have to be guided by the mods and previous admin as to what went wrong. I believe the groups became extremely factionalized when last used, due in part to it not being technically possible to stop groups being 'Invitation Only'. I'll have a think about it, but it may be that any possible trial would have to wait until some point down the line when we've upgraded the forum software to the next major release and we've had chance to assess what social group facilities (& controls) are included in the software.

 

(I'm sure in the back of my mind as well, is the reaction to 'change' after recently taking CTF off the front page! :swoon:)

 

Hi Rob

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post, as I said it's only an idea, that I hope at some point does come back but that I leave in the hands of you and the mods.

 

I think you're in a fortunate postion not knowing everything (thats why we have wives for.....:wideeyed:)

 

Thanks once again and I wish you all the best

 

Geoffrey

 

PS what changes have you made to the CTF section? LOL