Important Notice about Groups

**Clinton** · July 15th, 2011, 5:22 AM

I was wondering about that. I take it there is no way to access groups from the home or forum pages?

Click "What's New" in the nav bar and you'll get a sub nav menu with the option of "New Group Messages"

I've also added Groups as a choice in the main sub nav i.e. Click on Forum in the Main Nav and you'll see a Groups option next to Private Messages (though the previous route via What's New is what most members will probably use).

**grynge** · July 15th, 2011, 6:10 AM

Originally Posted by TheodoreK

There might be a problem with the visibility of the groups right now as they seem to lack any privacy.
I think that everyone can access the group discussions and see what's going on there right now, but only members can post in them.

Can someone test this because I know none of the groups have been indexed yet, but if just any member can view the posts it kind of a bit of an annoyance for me as the stuff I want to post in there I want it only to go to the members of the group.

**Andy** · July 15th, 2011, 8:31 AM

Originally Posted by Clinton

I can see some groups being two people setting up the group simply as an alternate to communicating via PMs.

I still haven't figured some stuff out but bear in mind that I may have access to all groups whether I've been invited or not.

I guess that means we shouldn't be talking about you behind your back anymore, huh? You and da prez.

**Clinton** · July 15th, 2011, 10:55 AM

TheodoreK and grynge, when you create a group you can leave it publicly visible or you can tick the box that says "Users must join to view the content"

If you've already created the group as public and wish to now restrict the content you can go to the group, find the Admin link and "edit" the settings where you get that "Users must join to view the content" option again.

If your group is private those who haven't been invited can't read the discussions but they can see the group name, the number of discussions and a full list of who is in that group.

Even public groups are not visible to SEs and users who aren't logged in. Does that answer the question?

**TheodoreK** · July 15th, 2011, 5:17 PM

Originally Posted by grynge

Can someone test this because I know none of the groups have been indexed yet, but if just any member can view the posts it kind of a bit of an annoyance for me as the stuff I want to post in there I want it only to go to the members of the group.

I can't access groups I am not invited to now, so it works fine

**Kay** · July 15th, 2011, 9:06 PM

Great!

@Andy - we can get our kit off again now.

**Clinton** · July 23rd, 2011, 4:23 AM

Just a point of note, everyone.

It's great that groups has taken off so well, but....

Please use groups only for that which you don't want to post in public.

There's no point in a group that's open to all. You might as well use a public thread for that! If the intention is to keep the group open for a while and then close it, that's fine, the intention is Group discussion rather than Thread discussion.

Otherwise ....public thread unless privacy is necessary, please. And then the next choice should be VIP Lounge rather than Groups.

Why?

Thread discussions are searchable and easier to manage, move, edit, issue infractions, handle spam etc. That's not to mention quoting, linking to and adding attachments. Also, moderators have access to threads and can help clean up if and when necessary. They don't have access to Groups unless they've been invited. All moderation in groups falls to me till I appoint another admin.

Thanks.

**Clinton** · August 1st, 2011, 6:10 AM

Two things

1. When you go to new group message, the last post time shown is wrong. That's actually the time of the FIRST post. I don't know what to do about that.

2. Knowing when there's a new message in a group you're following is a bit tricky. Tip: When you enter a group home page you have a Group Tools dropdown menu. You can subscribe to the group in there.

**DomainMagnate** · August 1st, 2011, 6:32 AM

This is a nice addition, I just noticed groups around here.. was wondering why the forum isn't very active with so many great members and interesting topics.
Looks like all the groups are private, how does one request to join?

**grynge** · August 1st, 2011, 6:36 AM

Originally Posted by Clinton

Two things

1. When you go to new group message, the last post time shown is wrong. That's actually the time of the FIRST post. I don't know what to do about that.

It seems to be a bug in VB that hasn't been fixed yet time stamp bug