Groups - Too many groups with just one member!

[Elyse Orecchio]

Hi everyone. We have a zillion groups on here with just one member. Many of you are creating groups to ask a simple question like "What do I do when my dog is aggressive?" A question like that can and should be asked in the main dog group. The idea is for different threads (discussions) to be started within groups.

I can understand the confusion, and I'm sorry if it wasn't clear in the beginning what groups are for! Can you please delete your group if it has one or two members and is not meant to be an actual group?

I'm afraid I will have to start deleting them myself in the interest of cleaning up the cluttered group listings, but before I do that I want to give you guys the heads up. Let me know if you do NOT want your group deleted.

And of course, we LOVE that you participate in groups and are taking advantage of this feature, so thanks! We just want to make it even better...
Thanks!!
-Elyse

[Barb]

Hey thanks for the update Elyse.

I created an Off Topic~Technical Help group for members here to be able to help each other, and possibly get support from the ASPCA IT dept. There are ideas and features that could help make this community a better place to share. So if you could help direct that group to whomever is able to help, would be great!

Please feel free to join, as you may be able to give input and advise as well ;o)

Thanks,
Barb

[Elyse Orecchio]

Hi Barb,
Great idea! I joined your group!
-Elyse

[Vladimir]

Elyse, I agree with you. One thing I am not appreciating, is that the "groups" are so numerous that they cannot be viewed without scrolling through "pages" of listings. So a member probably misses interesting discussions for want of actually "finding" them first! But it is also true that, a member cannot leave a reply, without "joining" the group. I'm not clear why "joining" should be necessary.

[Elyse Orecchio]

Hi Vlad, I'm not sure what the big deal about joining a group is, it's a simple click of the button. Is there a reason you wouldn't want to?

Thanks,

Elyse

[Vladimir]

It just seems to inadvertently "increase" the number of groups with only a couple of members. There is no reason to "not want to join" a group, but, perhaps not a reason to want to join either. It just doesn't make sense immediately to me, that's all. I am hoping that members will delete their groups, and move their questions into discussions within the major groups. Hopefully there will be some designation as to what those groups are, for example, so it does not get out of hand again.

I am also curious as to why certain discussions are suddenly 'closed," such as the pinch collar discussion. I attempted to post, was first asked to "join," (which proceeded immediately), but then, after I "wrote" my message, it would not upload, suddenly being designated as "closed." Very frustrating.

[Elyse Orecchio]

The person who started the discussion must have closed it for some reason.

[Vladimir]

That's interesting Elyse, thanks for the confirmation.

[Dave]

I agree, you scroll through and see an intresting topic with a group count under 5. It gets frustrating especially when you leave a post and you get no response or feedback. It's great to share thoughts & experience but if nobody else is on the board it's a real waste.

[Vladimir]

I think there ARE people on the board generally, but it is true that, with the discussions started as "groups" instead of "topics" under a more general Group such as "Dogsville" etc., it is just overwhelming and many of them get missed. I thought it was better to take a look at the "dog" or "cat" groups (or a group united on a particular important topic, such as "cruelty" etc.) and see what was going on and what you might want to participate in. Butnow "groups" have been started on a single topic about a single animal needing care, for example, rather than a "Group" which might have been formed on a general topic about "Cost of Animal Ownership" or something. I am not clear as to how the "groups" on the old forum were designated, I had assumed they were created by the site moderators, most discussion groups have webmasters who monitor discussions and redirect them or move/merge discussions when they stray or duplicate already ongoing discussions. This is why I questioned having to "join" so many groups just to comment-- it just makes me uneasy, and so many of the discussions really shouldn't be "groups" anyway, just discussions under more generaly areas.

[lelectra]

Thank you!

[AngelAnnie]

I absolutely agree. I am very uneasy having to "join" a group just to comment on the subject. These get displayed on my page as groups I have joined, which seems very weird because I think it implies agreement with whatever that topic is, or great interest in that subject. What if the title of the group is something I disagree with and have to say something about, but not join. What if the group's title was "PITBULLS ARE KILLERS", or something else ridiculous? To say something about that, to disagree, I'd have to join the highly offensive-sounding group and have its title displayed on my page. I often don't want to "join", I just want to comment or say something I think will help. Also, I think having to join a group to respond to a plea for help stops some people from responding - I know it has stopped me when I've seen that imperative to 'JOIN' - I've just backed off.

[Vladimir]

Thank you for articulating exactly how I feel. I am not "afraid" to join, I simply do not want to, and don't see the reason for it.