Forums vs. Groups for OS
Hi,
I just had an unsettling situation. I was looking through the "Not Read" list, and saw a thread titled something like "FTP Test - Bring it on!". Knowing that the November peeps will be enjoying a special little corner of heaven this week, I was going to offer some mojo. But when I clicked on the link, I got a blank page. Hmmm. Hitting the back button, took me back to Not Read, but now that I had 'read' the thread it was gone. So I went looking for it...but it's gone. Searched for it - searched for 'bring' in the subject, but got nothing. Then I went to all the probable forums, and can't find it.
But now I see that there's a Nov OS forum - but it has a stop sign kind of icon, which I'm guessing means that if I'm not in the group, I can't see things in there.
If all that is the case, then minimally there's a problem in the query that retrieves the Not Read list - it should also confirm group membership.
But my bigger beef - again - is the fragmentation that is happening. I think there's HUGE value in being able to see and interact with the postings of other OS teams. But now we have Groups, and lots of their talking goes on there. And some groups are also posting in the main forums. Thus, within our group people are only seeing some of the messages. OR they can go to the group, then back to the forum. I'm still just not 'seeing' it. I think the idea was that the groups would be for twitter type stream of consciousness comments. But what happens if one of those comments spurs a response, and another response, leading to someone posting up some really helpful information about nutrition, a specific piece of equipment, etc. Future members searching in the forums for that particular piece of equipment will not find it.
Can we bail on the groups? I know there was a big push to do it, but I don't see what tangible benefit we're getting, and I can see a number of problems.
Or if it's operator error - could I be directed to direction on what goes where, and how to find stuff.
Thanks,
Mike
Comments
x3
I could be wrong, but part of what we are running up against is mass. Back in the day, PUSHing all notices and information to all people all the time was good (and easy) b/c we had a limited number of folks. Now that we are growing up, the stream of consciousness of hundreds of people gets really hard to read, digest, and manage (individually but also system wise).
The intent of the groups is for people who want to go off in a corner and talk their stuff can do just that. IF they want to talk to the whole team, they can talk in the whole team space of the forums…but if they want Nov OS input, or rah-rah, they can go into that group. If YOU want to read what OTHER PEOPLE think is group only material, then you need to be a part of that group.
In other words, this is a user-centric model. Users decide where to post, and where to read.
* IF I want Rah-Rah from my OS, I'll post the gory details to that thread, done.
* If I want Rah-Rah from the Team too, I can post my quick notes to the Dashboard.
* If I have a question fit for the Team but stuck in an OS thread, users will point me the right way (to repost) or RnP can move the thread.
We are basically saying that you, the user, need to PULL the data you want from the GROUPS instead of getting anything that anyone posts to your dashboard or unread space. While some folks like to get all the news, EN is very overwhelming to lots of folks...but working to make some sections of the site more focused -- yet open to you to subscribe to if you want! -- then everyone wins.
Please remember we are talking only about the Groups here...not all of EN. Thanks for the discussion!
yea, i think its completely spot on. I thought Mike had a good point but this email sold me otherwise. The simple fact is that if you are one of those people that want it all...go get it. We will discuss on Wednesday but along with this we probably want to pull those group forums off so you don't get that crazy 'not read' deal.
Another option that you guys can consider is start to have moderators? Maybe these WSM's that are really really active can moderate stuff? When they see something that is just too valuable to keep to a group they can promote it to another one of the other larger forums.
Frankly, I like this option. I generally "self select" what I read anyway. For example, I don't read every post in the IMFL Folder (shocker, I know). I select the "not read" button and if I see the post is from the IMFL group I will likely skip it (unless it looks interesting for some reason)- read everything else, and when I'm done reading select "mark all as read" to get it out of my "inbox". I may be missing some good stuff, but I don't have time to read it all.
The frustration I have with the Groups right now is that I can't do this "self select" option because I can't even tell from the "not read" list of threads that the thread is from the NOV OS group until I open it (and then get the stupid blank screen). That's wasting more of my time.
Sooooo, I totally get (and appreciate) the concept of having separate focused conversations, along with some sort of WSM Moderator who can push a thread or post up to the greater group when there seems to be a discussion everyone could benefit from. But if we are going to do that, there needs to be a way to keep the group threads out of the "Not Read" list when I'm not part of the group as well.
Did any of that make sense?
Nemo- made total sense to me. The posts are not distinguished as Nov OS or Oct OS, so I attempt to open and get a blank screen. it is listed as " General Discussions" which is a Nov Os post as opposed to " general Training discussion" which is open for everyone. It just does not say that it is nov OS