Secret Private Groups
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So the idea of secret, private or hidden groups has been discussed since day one and the original thought was that they would be avoided at all costs because of problems that we have seen them create in the past. With recent updates to the NodeBB platform, there is the ability to make these groups and we are experimenting with if they will be useful and, if so, just how that would be.
So we are looking into this. We certainly don't want the private groups, if they are used, to be used as a way to keep a hierarchy of users or to use them as a discussion platform for the rest of the community or anything of that nature. GS feels very strongly about the importance of openness for these things. If something about the community needs to be discussed, it should be discussed in the community. The community is a peer group, not a hierarchy.
Where we are currently looking at the private groups is purely as a communications platform. We are investigating how the groups could be used for things like private technology testing discussion groups where a test is conducted that needs to be private (like a private beta) for a vendor and then the discussion can be locked and archived but only people in the group able to participate. Discussions would be limited to the topic.
Also, NTG is testing the platform as a means to move their Skype (used to be IRC) channel for general internal banter from one platform to another. This is not a "new private group" but simple switching the location of an existing group. Again, it is moderated and limited to work stuff for them as a platform customer and not as a means of providing hierarchy or oversight.
Doing this we want to be very open and transparent and definitely want to solicit feedback as to whether this sounds like a good, bad or neutral idea. Everything being tested this way currently exists in other, less convenient forms, so this isn't something new, but that it is taking place on the ML platform is new.
GS and ML want to ensure that the community is aware and comfortable with the change before moving forward.
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I personally feel that the use in this way is a good thing.
I really like the NodeBB platform as a whole so far and having it as the basis of communication instead of things like Facebook groups, IRC< or Skype would be nice.
If you are using those methods for communication now, I feel this platform would be a much better solution.
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In my opinion private groups are a necessary evil. If ML goes down this route each individual group should have a clear "mandate" to follow and all other communication should be pushed to the more general categories for discussion with everyone.
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@coliver said:
In my opinion private groups are a necessary evil.
Exactly, it is impossible to have a closed beta for something if it is public after all.
Over the years I have tested games, software, and such and you always have to have a secure location to discuss things.
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@coliver said:
In my opinion private groups are a necessary evil. If ML goes down this route each individual group should have a clear "mandate" to follow and all other communication should be pushed to the more general categories for discussion with everyone.
That is the idea. The mods still see those groups and they have to stay on topic (within reason.) The NTG group, for example, is full of pointless banter like you would get at a drunk office party, so the "topic" is rather loose, but it isn't banter about ML. Getting half those people on ML is going to be a challenge as it is.
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver said:
In my opinion private groups are a necessary evil.
Exactly, it is impossible to have a closed beta for something if it is public after all.
Over the years I have tested games, software, and such and you always have to have a secure location to discuss things.
Which Skype will do, as will other things, but watching some of those discussion in Skype is rather painful. I feel like ML will be better at offering threads, responses, quoting, linking and archiving.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Getting half those people on ML is going to be a challenge as it is.
but yet they were in IRC? SO many people have no idea how to use it.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Which Skype will do, as will other things, but watching some of those discussion in Skype is rather painful. I feel like ML will be better at offering threads, responses, quoting, linking and archiving.
I do not like skype as a platform for things like this. there is no cohesion. You cannot successfully have one massive long ongoing conversation.
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@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Which Skype will do, as will other things, but watching some of those discussion in Skype is rather painful. I feel like ML will be better at offering threads, responses, quoting, linking and archiving.
I do not like skype as a platform for things like this. there is no cohesion. You cannot successfully have one massive long ongoing conversation.
Agreed, Skype isn't really meant to do what NodeBB or another forum software does. It is much more instant communication then a threaded conversation that can be referred to later.
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@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Which Skype will do, as will other things, but watching some of those discussion in Skype is rather painful. I feel like ML will be better at offering threads, responses, quoting, linking and archiving.
I do not like skype as a platform for things like this. there is no cohesion. You cannot successfully have one massive long ongoing conversation.
That's like exactly what I said in a conversation somewhere just a few minutes ago
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When I first started caring about continuous topics of conversation I was using Yahoo groups at the time. They were convenient because you could subscribe via email and get each message delivered directly to your inbox and respond from there as well. As time went along I thought that moving to a forums based solution would ultimately be better because it was easier to see the threads and read only what you cared about. Well it wasn't long before I realized how much I missed the instant notice in my email about new posts (not just about, but the actual post, and the ability to reply without opening another app).
Which lead me to inquire about getting email notices (including post content) in an old PHPBBv2 forum - which gave me everything I wanted. OK it was a bit more than I wanted.. but even though it was around 1000 emails a day, I found this to get me what I wanted faster than going to the forums and digging around for new posts (yes I'm aware of the new posts since last visit option). I found that I would just rather live in email all day instead of jumping from one location to the next. I'm a member of around 100 forums, but I only visit 4 of them with any regularity and have given up on the rest because of the inconvenience of logging into each of them.
So while this really has nothing to do with private groups, this thread sparked my desire to let those who can make change aware of my desire to receive and respond via email.
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@Minion-Queen has asked me to test some new email notification options in another forum. Problem is, the more we add, the more likely every update will break stuff. So we are wary of doing more than necessary.
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I hate email notifications. i have all email notifications turned off on every social site I use.
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I used to be like that with some, but due to other notification problems I went back to that.
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It depends on the forum. The NodeBB Community I only visit once every few weeks so having email to tell me that someone is responding to me is nice. I only get two emails a week or so.
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There are areas of say FB that I want to, need to be notified so I am aware of changes as they occur. So for these areas I have them enabled.
Let's say I just loved reading the Anything Goes thread.. I would like to subscribe to that via email so I could get the updated posts as soon as they were posted... - this is just an example as I would never subscribe to this thread...
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@Dashrender said:
There are areas of say FB that I want to, need to be notified so I am aware of changes as they occur. So for these areas I have them enabled.
Let's say I just loved reading the Anything Goes thread.. I would like to subscribe to that via email so I could get the updated posts as soon as they were posted... - this is just an example as I would never subscribe to this thread...
Funny that you, who dislike FB a lot more than me, have FB notifications but I have none
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Makes sense to me. As long as they are used in this way, it does not seem like a problem. My two cents.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Funny that you, who dislike FB a lot more than me, have FB notifications but I have none
I only hate FB in that they basically broadcast any bit of data about you they can to the globe (or the highest payer - i.e. NSA). Private groups are great, but as I mentioned with being a member of so many forums... without notices I wouldn't be able to keep up.
Through my SW club I have over 500 FB friends, makes for an insane daily feed. Over time I've unsubscribed to those I generally don't know except by the club so their daily lives stuff doesn't clutter my feed, but it's still insane.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Minion-Queen has asked me to test some new email notification options in another forum. Problem is, the more we add, the more likely every update will break stuff. So we are wary of doing more than necessary.
I don't get a huge amount of email,.. but I really dont' need more notifications via emails. It would take some getting used to... but the notifications here are reasonable... thus far anyway.
