Missing: Social Groups + Group-forums

[erich37]

XenForo is great as it is, but I think one of the Core-Features which are still missing are some sort of "Groups" so that users can associate themselves to certain Groups.

Maybe also having Group-Forums for each of those Groups ?

For example, XING.com is using Group-Forums (public or invitation-based), which can be applied for by moderators to "run" a certain Group, so people can set-up their own Group-Forum based on their interest and they can invite already existing members or people who are not yet members of your website to join this specific Group.

So this would be free viral-marketing for your very own Forum.

Also see this suggestion:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-replace-members-page-with.2773/

 

[captainslater]

I don't see social groups as core feature...

 

[Cezz]

Hmm I have never been a fan of Social Groups and have never been part of a site where they have actually become useful and used a lot... Don't get me wrong users have created a group and used it for a little bit but then they get bored...

Also I would like to keep my discussions in the forums themselves instead of hundreds of social group forums. The closest implementation of this I would like to see would be fan pages but I wouldn't want much discussion going on there, just an easy way of users to say they are part of that fan page (Group)

 

[erich37]

well, you guys are thinking too much in terms of how VB has implemented "Groups" into their system, but look at all other Social-Networking-websites out there, like e.g. XING, FB, etc.

I do think that a Forum should be focused onto User-Profiles and User-interaction in order to get known and get in touch with other users, at which XenForo has done a great job.

However, if you think about "real life" .... people somehow associate around Groups ?

 

[Cezz]

well, you guys are thinking too much in terms of how VB has implemented "Groups" into their system, but look at all other Social-Networking-websites out there, like e.g. XING, FB, etc.

Agreed it is a nice feature but I don't think it is a core feature and shouldn't be worried about this early on...

If you read my post you will see that I have looked at all the other Social-Networking site, but I don't want Xen to be a Social Networking Site... I want it to be a forum with some Social Media and Social Networking features.

 

[erich37]

Agreed it is a nice feature but I don't think it is a core feature and shouldn't be worried about this early on...

If you read my post you will see that I have looked at all the other Social-Networking site, but I don't want Xen to be a Social Networking Site... I want it to be a forum with some Social Media and Social Networking features.

yeah, I also want XenForo to be just like a Forum (well exactly as it already is) and not being a clone of FB or Twitter, but maybe there is still something which is missing ?

and I also want XenForo NOW, can not wait any longer

 

[KURTZ]

I don't see social groups as core feature...

sure, too many users don't like that feature so they simply don't use this ... i guess that it's not a priority ...

 

[Cezz]

and I also want XenForo NOW, can not wait any longer

Asking for features that aren't needed is only going to make it longer before you can get it, so you are contradicting yourself... Do you want it NOW of do you want them to spend an extra month or two building Social-Groups and Social-Forums???

 

[zappaDPJ]

I only ever see tumbleweeds rolling through the social groups on all the forums I run or belong to so it's not something that would be at the top of my agenda.

 

[Ahmed]

I'd like to see Social Groups within XF. Sometime they are really useful.

 

[erich37]

Asking for features that aren't needed is only going to make it longer before you can get it, so you are contradicting yourself... Do you want it NOW of do you want them to spend an extra month or two building Social-Groups and Social-Forums???

no I do not need anything else added to Xenforo now, it is perfect as it is now.
I was just throwing the idea of Groups in. Good to get your feedback on your experience with Groups being used / not used......

 

[Deriel]

If the Social Group have the same funcionality as a normal subforum (threads, attachments, polls, unified search and all) it would be useful to give the users something to play by themselves. Social Groups as in vB are useless.

 

[Ahmed]

If the Social Group have the same funcionality as a normal subforum (threads, attachments, polls, unified search and all) it would be useful to give the users something to play by themselves. Social Groups as in vB are useless.

Aah, good point.

 

[Biker]

IF it was implemented along the lines where a Moderator of the forum could approve/deny requests to join that forum, I'd be all for it. I have a subforum that is adult in nature, and access is not granted automatically when you join the site. You have to specifically ask for access. vB allowed users to request access via the software, and the moderators of the forum could either approve or deny access. Once approved, the individual was moved to a different usergroup.

I miss this function in IPB. Requests are manual now (PM to me) and I then have to go in under the hood and move the individual to the appropriate usergroup.

 

[Nick]

When I first heard of social groups in vBulletin, I thought it was a very interesting idea. I was fairly excited, because in theory, it would be a great feature for members to form sub-cultures within the community to connect with others who share the same interest(s). In practice however, I've never once come across a forum in which social groups are widely used. The extent of their use basically consists of members joining the groups that they like (e.g. "Coca-Cola" or "Apple fans", etc.) and never returning to the social group again.

As such, the implementation in vBulletin is unpopular and essentially a waste. I'd like to see XF come up with something similar, but at the same time very different. Social networking seems to be a big factor in XF's feature-set, so I'd hope that social groups, if implemented, are re-thought to actually be desired and used.

 

[Vilandra]

I only ever see tumbleweeds rolling through the social groups on all the forums I run or belong to so it's not something that would be at the top of my agenda.

Agreed. We REALLY tried to make these work but they just get forgotten.

 

[Ben Stillman]

They seem quite popular on my site. If the groups could have their own forums, it'd take off like a rocket.

 

[ManagerJosh]

I'm still not a big fan of this function. It seems to be well...detracting nor does it seem to serve a vital function to our communities.

 

[Greg]

While I'm not a huge fan of them, I think a big reason to include them would be a large group of the initial XF users will be coming from vBulletin, which does have it. I'd be wary about converting my forum if it's going to be losing member created content in the form of the groups.

 

[Vincent]

I think this has to come. But it's not priority at all. It's one of those I-wanna things.