Gaia: Gaia Groups Community - "The Mod Pod'

Re: Tip: How to make your Groups more awesome

http://fastdarter.gaia.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:59:21 GMT

Have you seen Budda Boy yet, OM ?
You can always twitter him =)

Re: Tip: How to make your Groups more awesome

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:46:38 GMT

Wow, what a great excerpt to post to this thread, thanks for finding and sharing that, Lee !!!!!

I sure do miss C3PO C4Chaos.

Blessings, OM

Re: Tip: How to make your Groups more awesome

http://singerseeker.gaia.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:07:46 GMT

Hi Laurie, with all respect to Lee, he was crossposting wisdom from our beloved C4Chaos. I agree, this is a great philosophy for all walks of life,

Love,

Nicole

Re: Tip: How to make your Groups more awesome

http://HolEssence.gaia.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:44:07 GMT

Lee - I am particularly touched by your statement, "Instead of divide and conquer, try join and prosper." That philosophy would not only work well here in the Gaia Community as it relates to groups, but my gosh -- it would work (on a number of layers) in living life in general -- locally or globally. Your words are worth repeating:

Instead of divide and conquer, try join and prosper.

Thank you for those words of wisdom.

Re: TIP: How to make your pods more awesome

http://organics.gaia.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:39:36 GMT

Thanks for this help for all: cross posted from ~C4Chaos who said:

Tip: How to Make Your Groups More AwesomeGroups! Groups everywhere! Gaia Groups for everything! How can I make my Group the best it can be? How can I make mine stand out?

You might have some questions like this–which is understandable! That's understandable. Groups are some of are the busiest places here on Gaia, and it's just natural to know how to get people interested in yours.

And this is great! The more people in the Group, the more discussions they generate, the more wisdom is shared, and the more our whole community grows. And as community grows, change accelerates!

So here are some suggestions on how to compassionately make your Groups the best they can be.

Instead of Divide and Conquer, Try Join and Prosper

Before starting another Group, search for an already existing Group which you can JOIN. Only create a Group if you can't find a similar Group with the topic of your choice. This is crucial. Redundancy is a good thing, but when there are hundreds of pods on the same topics we defeat the purpose of networking and integration.

See also: FAQ: I'm Overwhelmed With Groups! What Do I Do!? What Do I Do!?
Organize Your Group Well

Plan ahead when creating your Group. Make sure to have an informative description, a photo to associate your Group with, and well-structured Rooms.

Rooms are important if you want to organize your stuff in your Groups. So make sure to create those Rooms even before Group members start posting.

It's up to the cultivators and members to decide how best to structure these Rooms. But here are some basic boards that you might want to include:

What is <name of your Group>?

This is where you can explain the vision and mission of the Group. It's also a Room where you can put the any important guidelines or rules of engagement. You can also then link to these from your Group description

Introductions
This is where people can make introductions and get familiar with other members.

Discussions
This is where the majority of your posting will happen: here's where people can dive into the topic you've chosen to arrange your Group around. You might want to have a few of these if your topic is a big one, but try not to spread things out too thin.

Bulletin Board
This is where members can post announcements and updates.

Group Cafe
This is where people can chat in a more relaxed fashion.

And of course, feel free to add Rooms for topics unique or specific to your Group. Rooms help ensure that members of the Group post in appropriate places. But it's up to the Group moderators to be creative in guiding the members.

Bring in Others

Once you've got your Groups organized nicely, here are some effective ways to promote your Group.

HINT: You don't need to mass mail your friends. A far better approach is inviting those who you genuinely think might be interested, or whose input you'd deeply welcome.

– Invite Your Gaia Friends Over
As much as possible, only invite your friends who you think will be interested on the topic of the pod. So get to know your “friends” beforehand. Mass invite is not the best way to do it. Targeted invitations are more effective in the long run. You should always shoot for the quality of members rather than quantity.

– Invite Other Friends Over
Use the Invite Members link to email friends who might not yet be Gaia members, letting them know about your new Group and inviting them to come participate.

– Blog about It
Blogging it the most effective way of spreading the word about your Group. It makes your Group more visible on Google, within Gaia, and on the internet as a whole. So blog, blog, blog about your Group when you have a relevant topic. Make sure to use tags.

See also: How to Bodhi-Blog

– Link to your Group

Link to your pod when commenting or posting on other Groups or on other blogs.

However, please make sure that what you link to is relevant on the subject, otherwise you'll look like a spammer. The keyword here is relevance. Also, be sensitive: you wouldn't want someone coming to fill your Group with promotions for theirs. :)

– Tag Your Group
Be sure to tag your Group so people can easily find them.
Be Creative!

Start discussions with a question–preferably one that invites dialog and discussion, not just a string of replies. Post audios and videos. Link to other areas within Gaia. Link to places outside of Gaia. Groups are a little like plants: while you can't force them to grow, you can help them by planting them in soil rich with with good intentions, warming them with the sunshine of plenty of love and attention, and watering them with posts and appreciation. Creativity is an infinite pool, so we'll live the rest for you to fill in.

If you have additional suggestions and ideas, post away your thoughts on this thread!

Re: Welcome new members!

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:32:09 GMT

Hi Barb, Bastet is kinda my last name, and most people here call me OM as in Home. No, actually 1Vector3 is a spiritual term, having to do with kinds of souls and their soul tasks. Vector 3 are the Improvers rather than the Creators. And I am 1 of Vector 3 kind of soul.

I hope through your group people receive great support and also learn some of the very effective ways to manage pain. True, more people will be experiencing challenges with pain, and also true I think that more effective ways to prevent and deal with pain will be developed.

Blessings, OM

Re: Welcome new members!

http://barblovesroses.gaia.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:52:55 GMT

Thankyou Bastet - If there is anyone here who would like an invitation let me know!
Its also a group that can give support to family members supporting people suffering from chronic pain as well, so I would imagine just about everyone knows someone who would fit into a category of having to deal in some way with chronic pain.
Plus, when you consider how we are aging - rapidly becoming a society of older citizens, you can imagine how many more of us are going to be experiencing conditions where pain is going to be an issue for us, and learning to cope with pain is going to be a major major part of our lives.
Off topic, does your sign on name 1Vector3 have anything to do with aviation??? (my ex husband was a pilot, and looking at it i am reminded of aviation related terms - forgive me if I am wrong).

Re: Welcome new members...!

http://kathysmith.gaia.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:47:20 GMT

I really want to take time out and thank you all for contributing to the motion. This week we are going to go over some of the threads on training and streamlining Gaia.
Meantime, feel free to browse the rooms and try out some of the tricks like linking or adding your favorite youTube among the threads so we can help make things standard on how the devs have laid out Gaia.

Lee Thanks for starting Organic Health and joining here. It takes the place of the wonderful Realizing Health which we loved.

Re: Phoenix Journals

http://kathysmith.gaia.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:44:13 GMT

Very well done Ryon! You are getting products... something to be proud of... continue promoting and it will grow.

Re: Phoenix Journals

http://kryon.gaia.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:00:38 GMT

The Group is going well. Got about 9 members, and it is a lot of reading so I'd suggest quitting your job and getting unemployment to find the time for this Group (hehehe).... but the information is invaluable and very timely for us, this day.

The writings are bringing up all kinds of questions and explanations and better understandings of things like reincarnation, light speed travel, and light/sound frequencies, and that's just a fragment of the worth of these documents. Got some reading and pondering to do!

All is well and thank you for supporting the Group.

Ryon

Re: Welcome new members!

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:56:53 GMT

Hard to believe there wasn't already a group about that, Barb. Wishing you great success with your most worthy endeavor!

Blessings, OM Bastet

Re: barblovesroses is Here!

http://barblovesroses.gaia.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:04:11 GMT

Hello Everyone, and thankyou for the warm welcome you have given to me and also to my husband, Torchholder as we have both started our groups here on Gaia!
I started my group, Living with Chronic Pain, when I saw a need for something like it here as I saw there really wasn't anything of its nature on Gaia at this point. There are so many different pain conditions out there and people suffering from them who need a place to come for support. If there is one thing Gaia is great at doing its giving support to its members!
My group description pretty much says what my group is about so I'm going to repost it here:
Many of us live with pain conditions be it fibromyalgia, MS, RSD, rheumatoid or osteo arthritis, migraine disease, back pain or myriad other conditions that cause severe often disabling chronic pain.
This forum is a place for us to come discuss the issues that relate to living with these conditions in a safe supportive environment - issues like problems with medical personnel, insurance hassels, medication problems, family/support person(s) problems/resolutions, and even successes we have come up with that may help others who are going thru the same things we have so that others may benefit from what we have learned.
It is my hope that we can learn much from each other along this journey we are travelling in our chronic pain conditions and that our suffering can have benefit to others even as we endure it ourselves.

If you or someone you care about relates to this consider joining Living with Chronic Pain.
http://groups.gaia.com/chronicpain
Barblovesroses

Re: Welcome new members!

http://DouglasRWallack.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:11:31 GMT

Happy to have your presence here, Missy, Chamath, Matija, Roamer, Phoenix, Barblovesroses, and Torchholder.
I was and still am a supporter of Space Colonization...but even more now, I'm a fan of Inner Space Colonization. I think that is what we're doing here on GAIA.
It's a joy to have all you wonderfully unique, Kosmic selves in this new colony of Evolutionary Emergent Radiance. This is the place where mere 'connecting' changes the world for the better, one connection at a time.
Be the Change!
Cheers All,
Doug

Re: torchholder is Here!

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:07:06 GMT

Torchholder, delighted to see you here. I wanted to provide a link to your group and found it listed under Groups -New and Interesting -

TRIBAL WAYS - NATIVE SPIRITUALITY

If you link it to your profile, people will be able to find it that way as well. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Re: Welcome New Members

http://druidcircle.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:22:06 GMT

BIG welcome to everyone...feeling the beautiful energies coming in as the Gaia community expands in love and light

Love Tai

Re: Welcome New Members

http://Bhatta.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:09:55 GMT

A warm welcome to Missy, Chamath, Roamer, Phoenix, Barblovesroses, and Torchholder. It is a wonderful feeling to be together in this journey.

Re: torchholder is Here!

http://torchholder.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:59:00 GMT

thanx, KES, you have been very supportive to me, and i am very grateful.
all of the mods have been helpful and considerate.
most of the people on gaia have worked on themselves, have people skills,
spiritual growth, are educated beyond the norm, are successful in life and business, and are generally about average to the general population.

gaia is several tiers above other sites. its about personal growth, not about mindless socializing and dating, or we vs them, or a niche clique of misfits.

Tribal Spirituality was my breakthru to God, my real connection and re-birth,
and I want to share that with my brothers and sisters.

My first sharing was an added topic, tribal spirituality, on one light, many windows. I am happy with what i have put up so far, but much more needs to go in there.

I started a group, called Tribal Ways - Native Spirituality, and I am adding what I already had in Tribal spirituality, plus I am adding sections on the 7 plus Sacred
Rites of the Lakota, given to them by a woman or spirit woman they call "white buffalo calf woman".

Personally, I think she was a holy woman from an unknown tribe, whose tribe felt the need to share these sacred rites with other tribes.

Wovoka, the Holy man, brought the Ghost Dance to other tribes because he had a powerful vision, and felt it necessary to share it with all peoples.

Native americans have a similar world view to Tibetan Buddhists, a natural way,
and although their focus on the Creator is different, they are very compatible.

The videos are naturistic and meditative and spiritual, and very soothing.
I welcome anyone to visit Tribal Ways - Native Spirituality

love, peace, hope, wisdom, and happiness

torchholder

Re: Welcome New Members -- Missy is Here!

http://mamamissy.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:18:07 GMT

Wow..thanks Kathy! ;-) I will do what I can here...not sure what that is??? I have been feeling a bit of a void lately and praying for answers, then, along came your invite...hmmmmmm....

M

Re: Welcome New Members

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:19:19 GMT

Joining in the welcoming chorus, for friends old and new -- do let us know about the groups you cultivate, moderate and enjoy being members of. There are resources in different rooms, as we all learn to cultivate and moderate groups on this fascinating tapestry of Gaia.

Re: Welcome New Members

http://HolEssence.gaia.com — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:55:22 GMT

welcome, Welcome, WELCOME! One and all. Missy, Chamath, Roamer, Phoenix, Barblovesroses, and Torchholder -- I look forward to getting to know each of you better.

And THANK YOU ~KES (Kathy) for weaving this beautiful tapestry.