Groups

It is kind of cumbersome to have to join Groups each time you want to make a comment. You end up with a lot of Groups to wade through, and they give less of a picture of you. Could we possibly be enabled to make comments and not join a group? (Of course, I don't know much about forum set-up; it seems as if this would be hard to change.)

Re: Groups

Hi Sagittaria,

Speaking just as a member of the community, I have two thoughts:
You can always leave a group after you have joined and commented. But, the second thought, it's considered kinda not great etiquette to drop into the middle of a group, perhaps an ongoing discussion, leave a comment, and then not stick around for the rest of the conversation…. Does that make sense??

Maybe that's not the scenario you had in mind, though…..

Blessings, OM Bastet

Re: Groups

My thoughts here are different, I tend to agree with you Saggitaria.
My thoughts are as follows, if we are all brothers and sisters in One why put up a barrier? Sometimes I may make one comment and have nothing further that is useful to say., sometimes as now family/ real life takes precedence. Other times, the conversation continues usefully for all concerned.  I try not to make judgements about why's and wherefore's, I have a many  friends and try to be fluid and open, helping out and being helped, contributing where useful and learning, supporting and beng supported.  I try to be there for all friends and potential friends and avoid cliques and popularity contests, it is more important to work for our stated goals and the common good. At the moment if I only contact one friend a day,it would take about a year to get round each one, magically the universe seems to guide us if we are listening

Re: Groups

What you're describing here is fine for the Gaia blogosphere, but not really for groups, and I think it's important to understand the different nature of these two realms.

The Gaia blogosphere is essentially just one great big discussion group in which anyone can comment on any thread and just pop in and out as they please, pretty much as is being suggested here. Requesting membership isn't necessary because you've already done that when you joined Gaia.

Groups, on the other hand, are designed to bring together groups of people united by some common interest – normally a more specific interest than just the general like-mindedness that tends to unite all us Gaians. So the idea is that you join a group with the intention of sticking around and contributing to whatever it is that group is all about. Just plopping down one comment and never coming back again isn't really in the spirit of what groups are all about.

So long story short, no, I wouldn't like to see the ability to post to group discussions without having to join the group first. That's the kind of interaction the blogosphere is for, and would pretty much defeat the purpose of having groups in the first place.

That said though, you can, of course, comment on a discussion in a group by posting your comments to your blog. There are no guarantees anyone from the original discussion will notice it, though, so it'd be nice to have some sort of system of link tracking between the blogosphere and groups (and between blogs, and between groups…), so that it's easy to see when a discussion thread in one place is also being referenced and talked about somewhere else.

(Hmm… I'm getting a sense of déjà vu here… and an image of clouds in my mind… ;)

Cheers,
~G

Re: Groups

1Vector3: I was thinking exactly your second thought, that it is impolite and inconsiderate to join and then leave a group.
Zephyr and Grey: I think we should have organization, but not barriers. Other sites I've been in are organized into forums, sub-forums, threads, etc. but you don't have to “join” forums, you just go to the ones that interest you most. Which sounds like Groups. (Of course, again, that seems to me like a whole different webite setup: is it?)
It is rather dicouraging when I click on something interesting on the start page, only to find out that I can't contribute unless I join another Group.
The Clouds seem very complicated. Is this implemented already? How do I get to a cloud? (Maybe once I see and use one they won't seem so intimidating.) =/

Re: Groups

Well, if we look at what I believe is a (big) part of the underlying philosophy of Gaia as a whole, I think groups make perfect sense.

Specifically, I've heard Siona and others say that Gaia is intended to be a sort of “oasis” within the broader realm of cyberspace, and so is purposely “cut off”, to a certain extent, from the rest of the web community. The idea being that you come to Gaia to get away from the “noise” of the “outside” world.

Many (if not most) groups, then, are precisely a reflection, or subset, of that philosophy. Smaller communities within the broader community of Gaia.

However, I could see there being an option for certain groups to be fully open without the need to join them. This group, the ThinkTank, I think would be an excellent example. Or the Gaia Lounge and other groups that are really intended to be for the entire Gaia community and not just a subset interested in a specific topic. I definitely wouldn't want that to be forced upon all groups, though.

The Gaia Team is apparently working on something called “ownerless” groups, and maybe “memberless” groups could be implemented, as well. Of course, both those terms would be misnomers, since such groups would be “owned” by the entire community and all Gaians would be “members” of them, respectively.

As for my “clouds” idea, yeah, it is a complex concept, but in practice it wouldn't have to have a complex interface or user experience, I don't think. And it's something that could be implemented in bits and pieces. For example, a big yet fairly simple step in that direction would be to add a box somewhere on each page that contains a list of all the content that links back to the discussion you're currently viewing. That way, you could be reading a thread in one group and see all the blogs, comments and discussion threads in other groups that link back to it.

The same sort of thing could be done with tags, too. So that you have another box that list all the potentially related content, even if that content doesn't specifically link back to what you're currently reading.

Anyway, that's a topic for a whole thread of its own….

Cheers,
~G

Re: Groups

Sagittaria, Zephyr, If you REALLY want to just post a thought, not connect with the group members or stay around to see if anyone else responds or asks you a question, then of course,  as OM has shown, you could join a group, post and then just leave the group. It's as easy as clicking on a link each time. Nothing cumbersome here.

This way, you are unentangled, don't have to keep up with the posts in the group; and if someone in the group asks you a question; perhaps other members will fill in for you.

This is how it can play out if you feel the need to comment in a group.

But as Grey  and OM suggest, that isn't what groups are for. They are for people who'd like to stay engaged in certain topics, to share with each other. I understand what you are saying though. If you don't have the time, you may not stay in touch even if you're a member; and I know that happens too, to all of us.

So I have a question here:
Why would you like to comment if you are not involved in a group?
And how would you keep up with your own comments?

Do you think that one of the  ways suggested above can help you? Either write a blog or join-comment-leave?

Re: Groups

Meenakshi, it's not that I don't want to join and continue, but as you say sometimes life takes over, at the moment my mother is in hospital and the nursing team are finding her hard work I was caring single handed - sometimes by the time I get back to a thread it has changed tack or someone else has said what i might. Quite a few have actually voiced appreciation for a single post esp when it strikes a new  viewpoint or an option to explore that others had not thought of, I tend to think laterally. 

Re: Groups

Yes; I do too, appreciate your posts when you do post, Zephyr. And of course, threads will go on when we are busy; nothing we can do about that. I guess you can turn off your notifications whenever you get overwhelmed. I do. And then just dive in when I can.

Re: Groups

Sagittaria, I wanted to drop in again here and tell you that when I was describing “what is considered” good “netiquette” I was not describing my own personal perspective.

Being a Gemini and a minister, I am into flexibility and possibilities, and I am well aware that a single drop-in contribution to a discussion can be profoundly beneficial for all involved. So in my ideal world, people would be OK with that, and I personally am OK with that !!

But I also thought it was important to express what I believe to be the general attitude here in the Community.

Interesting topic !! I thinkI'll post a link to this from Gaia Networking Group, where we discuss general issues about doing things in the community.

Blessings, OM Bastet

Re: Groups

OK, kinda transferred the discussion over to Gaia Networking Group.

Or continue here, too.

Blessings, OM

Re: Groups

I would imagine transferring discussion to another group might also cause problems if some participants in the diiscussion are not a member of where it is transferred to, maybe those groups that transfer should be open to all?

Re: Groups

I THINK OM implied we can discuss here and/ or there. Both groups are open to all.

Re: Groups

Apologies, I mean the potential for, not the particular.