Suggestion Please have a look at the flood of largely empty groups

[KleinesSinchen]

Continuation of the little discussion started by @AncientBoi ’s status.

The Groups feature wasn’t my favorite from the beginning, and what I silently feared when it started became true: A lot of groups hardly getting any members and/or posts spawned and clutter this custom subforum section.
For reference: This older thread goes into a similar direction.

Of course, like @Chary stated in above profile discussion, the Groups feature is theoretically a valuable addition with a lot of pro-arguments. Sadly in practice it isn’t working so good for the most.

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My suggestion on this: It would be nice if the staff would remove (mostly or fully) empty and completely inactive groups (which never saw any significant activity), from time to time. Just for the sake of simplicity and cleanness.
Also: there shouldn’t be multiple groups for the very same topic allowed. What happened the last few days isn’t funny, but spammy in my opinion.

Spoiler: 640KB screenshot

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Spoiler: Slightly off-topic

The Groups feature is also an additional argument against anybody suggesting a new official category/section.

Any suggestion in this direction usually gets disregarded without consideration, but instead with the rhetoric question:
“Does the suggested topic ‘X’ have too many threads in off-topic section? No? See: No need for a new official category!” which is now accompanied by “Simply create a group.” (which for 99% will fail to get any attention – opposed to a new official category).

There have been interesting suggestions in the past that could(!) have lead to a category being added to GBAtemp, maybe sparking interest, which some off-topic threads or a user group wouldn’t achieve on their own. This is why this rhetoric question isn't convincing as a general reply on any "How about a section for X?" suggestion.

 

[SylverReZ]

That's why it's just best to post them within the forums.

 

[mrgone]

i joined a few groups but i found the group "feature" unsatisfactory:
1. if i go to the group page i expect the main area to be dedicated to groups i joined (=my groups) , not advertising the popular groups or latest threads of all groups
2. if i go to one of my groups i want to see the group forum, not group information
3. i'd like a section on the main page with the newest posts of my groups, best directly below the newest posts of the regular forum

 

[AncientBoi]

Do not delete my/the LGBTQIA+ group.

Plus, the mentioning of it starting because of my post, will draw bad remarks towards me.

oh well, so be it. I'm ready.

C'mon bad remarks! Whatcha got!

Post automatically merged: Nov 15, 2022

Don't worry @KleinesSinchen . They won't hurt me. much

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Do not delete my/the LGBTQIA+ group.

That is not a fully inactive/empty group without members/posts.
There obviously shouldn't be any reason to delete that group.

Plus, the mentioning of it starting because of my post, will draw bad remarks towards me.

Huh? It is just stating a fact: There was a short discussion on your profile.
You can blame solely me for posting this thread. I was sick of the 420 char limit, and profile discussion leads nowhere, so I thought: "Why not post a direct suggestion?" Shouldn't do any harm. Hopefully.


The Groups feature does have a lot of potential.

 

[AncientBoi]

That is not a fully inactive/empty group without members/posts.
There obviously shouldn't be any reason to delete that group.


Huh? It is just stating a fact: There was a short discussion on your profile.
You can blame solely me for posting this thread. I was sick of the 420 char limit, and profile discussion leads nowhere, so I thought: "Why not post a direct suggestion?" Shouldn't do any harm. Hopefully.


The Groups feature does have a lot of potential.

Nah. I'll be fine. I've dealt with that sort of thing many many times, and on many sites.

 

[lattechan]

I don't use groups and I'm also not super active on this website outside of helping people with cheats and emulator stuff, but I wanted to say something for consideration, so I mean take this as you will, or don't. Y'know.
It's a bit sad to me to think of things being deleted entirely. What's lost in that? Anything important? Obvious things aside, like the fact that 90% of these groups mentioned probably have nothing of merit or value to anyone. There's also the whole like i dunno how to word it. This post could be shorter if my brain wasn't dumb. This is a very general statement towards forums as a whole, basically.
The forum-ness of it all.
One of the most powerful nostalgia kicks for me is to go back to an old forum I used to frequent and re-read all the now decades old posts. It blows my mind to see interactions I had with people and all the friends I made that I couldn't remember if you put a gun to my head (unfortunately). It gives such intense nostalgia looking at my cringe-ass pokemon RPing LMAOOOOOOOoooo
This all being said, I totally understand and can see firsthand that a lot of groups are basically just one off posts and/or requests.

I don't Know how to word this sorry.
Basically, what if you just shove them in a subsection or something, instead of deleting them. Maybe with a caveat like they need to have X activity over time or Y interaction total or something.
I dunno, somethin' to chew on maybe. Maybe not.
tl;dr muh nostalgiaaa11! p.s. sorry for formatting im a dumb who can't fix it hope you enjoy walls of text LOL

 

[The Catboy]

I want to like the groups but honestly they are pretty poorly implemented. Minor issue, leaving them is instant and there’s no “are you sure?” That’s annoying and I’ve accidentally left groups several times, which meant the admin had to re-mod me in the groups where I was staff. The staff function for groups is literally a joke and kind of defeats the purpose of even allowing members to moderate their own groups. So if you have a shitty member, you have to report them to remove them, which is actually kind of a terrible idea. That puts more work on the site staff and also completely defeats the purpose of even have mods in the groups. There’s also very little reason to even use the groups over just making threads. There’s no special features or incentives to using them over the forums. They are really just a more boring form of Reddit, ngl

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

The staff function for groups is literally a joke and kind of defeats the purpose of even allowing members to moderate their own groups. So if you have a shitty member, you have to report them to remove them, which is actually kind of a terrible idea. That puts more work on the site staff and also completely defeats the purpose of even have mods in the groups.

It sorta seems similar to how discord added the feature of "Forums or Threads." I do agree with the the idea that the person who started the group should be able to moderate it. But at the same time, there is also possibility of just being a control freak. Someone can just remove you from a group just cause they don't like you or what you said or anything. Surely some pessimistic person would report that as well.

If you have to report someone to the admin to remove them from a group, is not much different than a normal form. If you mod the group creator, and they remove someone, there is a possibly of that person reporting them to admin out of disagreement (Even if reasons of removal was valid and admin agree with group creator.) Either way, it might create more reports for them than necessary for both.

I have not used the group feature cause I didn't noticed until recently (About few days ago) and now it probably seems like more problems than appeal hearing some testimony. I have used discord's version of "Forum or Thread" and in comparison, it's similar. Honestly, without actual users participating in these features, it's gonna just sink instead of swim.

From someone who makes normal forum post threads with either little to no activity at all, I understand how it feels. Start something that no one cares about to participate. But no one has to and shouldn't be expected, it's a choice. Then having too much people that it becomes overwhelming and you can't even control if it gets out of hand, cause it's requires admin permission. If I come up with suggestion, I'll post about it.

 

[Nikokaro]

But my italian group is one of the inactive ones! And you would like to delete it? But I always have in my heart the reposed hope that something will stir and awaken in the near future. Those who are registered now there are unfortunately mere living dead, I'm afraid. Hopefully they will wake up soon.
Nah, just kidding. No hope at all. You can safely delete it. In the end, who the heck cares.

Side note: The only real interest on this site is peeking through the keyhole, suddenly breaking into other people's profiles, grabbing the first thing that catches your eye, leaving a mark, and then running for the hills.

 

[CraddaPoosta]

Do not delete my/the LGBTQIA+ group.

Plus, the mentioning of it starting because of my post, will draw bad remarks towards me.

oh well, so be it. I'm ready.

C'mon bad remarks! Whatcha got!

Post automatically merged: Nov 15, 2022

Don't worry @KleinesSinchen . They won't hurt me. much

I can't imagine anyone throwing bad remarks your way. You aren't a bigot like some folks here. You've always been a decent person. Not everyone is like you. I think you get along pretty well with most people on this site. You set a good example.

 

[CoolMe]

Yeah, it is getting ridiculous.. Personally i'd remove any groups that have like 1,2 (or even 3) users and that've existed for 2 weeks or more without gaining any traction from users.
And duplicate groups (like the LoZ ones) should be removed immediately.
It's also cumbersome to search through groups (even the ones you're part of), thus it lessens the incentive to participate in them..
Also, when it comes to the ones that're dedicated to consoles (like say Wii), anyone here (new or old user) will automatically create a thread in the Wii section without batting an eye. So they're practically useless..
Ones that i make sense imo, are ones dedicated to anime, movies, music, game franchises etc. So forming a group of like-minded individuals who'll share ideas, theories and news about said things makes much more sense imo.

 

[Nikokaro]

I can't imagine anyone throwing bad remarks your way. You aren't a bigot like some folks here. You've always been a decent person

Our @AncientBoi is loved by everyone; he just might be the mascot of this site. Of course, "decent person" is not much of a compliment, or am I wrong? You could have said it better.

 

[SylverReZ]

Our @AncientBoi is loved by everyone; he just might be the mascot of this site. Of course, "decent person" is not much of a compliment, or am I wrong? You could have said it better.

We like @AncientBoi here.

 

[CraddaPoosta]

Our @AncientBoi is loved by everyone; he just might be the mascot of this site. Of course, "decent person" is not much of a compliment, or am I wrong? You could have said it better.

Decency is so rare these days that it IS a compliment.

I didn't mean it as a ranking system. Decency as an aspect of social behavior isn't the same thing as saying your lunch at Chili's was 'decent', as in 'could have been better'.

Referring to someone as decent, in the way I was using it, meant that he's not a dick and isn't hateful. Doesn't push his beliefs or ideologies on people. He's decent to people, as an action, not a ranking.

I don't know anyone who has beef with this cat, and that's a good thing.

 

[SylverReZ]

Decency is so rare these days that it IS a compliment.

I didn't mean it as a ranking system. Decency as an aspect of social behavior isn't the same thing as saying your lunch at Chili's was 'decent', as in 'could have been better'.

Referring to someone as decent, in the way I was using it, meant that he's not a dick and isn't hateful. Doesn't push his beliefs or ideologies on people. He's decent to people, as an action, not a ranking.

I don't know anyone who has beef with this cat, and that's a good thing.

He's a very nice guy for sure.

 

[Costello]

I am in agreement with most of what has been said here. There is room for improvement. Some of the suggestions given here are quite relevant and interesting, we will look into them, definitely.
We also do need to do some clean up every once in a while - there's no need to pollute the group index with a shitton of dead groups. But this is easier said than done.

 

[SylverReZ]

I am in agreement with most of what has been said here. There is room for improvement. Some of the suggestions given here are quite relevant and interesting, we will look into them, definitely.
We also do need to do some clean up every once in a while - there's no need to pollute the group index with a shitton of dead groups. But this is easier said than done.

I'm glad that something is going to be done about it.

 

[lattechan]

I am in agreement with most of what has been said here. There is room for improvement. Some of the suggestions given here are quite relevant and interesting, we will look into them, definitely.
We also do need to do some clean up every once in a while - there's no need to pollute the group index with a shitton of dead groups. But this is easier said than done.

Yeah it's easy to have ideas but even simple stuff can quickly get out of hand in reality.
Best of luck friends.

 

[AncientBoi]

i... I'm at a loss for words, at the outpouring of love in references of me in this thread. I take that back. GBAtemp Site. Thank you All, my FAMILY.