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/

 

[dutchbb]

The sites I linked above are proof that they do work and are a popular application on the internet. vbulletin groups are really not a good example of groups and the fact that vb groups doesn't work, says nothing about the function an sich.

If you agree that Forums are the result of newsgroup / usenet its popularity, then this very site would not exist, if groups where no popular function.

Remember when vb blog was released and it was non-functional and new blog entries where buried far inside vbulletin? Many where stating that blog doesnt work. Wordpress simply disproves that and now that new content in vbulletin blog is more visible, not many make the same statement. It will be exactly the same for Groups if new group content is visible and if functions actually work.

You are comparing huge sites with relatively small communities... It's a completely different ballpark.

The problem is that no matter how you integrate it, it will never attract a lot of traffic & popularity. People just like the forums better, there's not much that groups offer that they do not already have in forums. That's the reason it fails.

Why should devs put their time in this failing system, while so many other things are much more important and popular.

 

[dieketzer]

groups offer a small number of people to self-identify themselves as a collective and self-moderate a subforum.
i have also always had a fantasy about using vb's group functionality to host clan boards and the like.
every reason that has listed for not needing groups or groups not being workable is, imo, not true.

You are comparing huge sites with relatively small communities... It's a completely different ballpark.

The problem is that no matter how you integrate it, it will never attract a lot of traffic & popularity. People just like the forums better, there's not much that groups offer that they do not already have in forums. That's the reason it fails.

Why should devs put their time in this failing system, while so many other things are much more important and popular.

 

[Princeton]

vBulletin's Social Group failed because:

1. poor UI
2. there's a disconnection to the rest of the site (it feels like you're hiding in the basement - no one knows what's going on in the basement)
3. poor implementation
4. no fun - for some reason, it takes the enjoyment out of joining/creating a group

Groups...

• Empowers Members
  • Provides outlet to vent, etc in their own little corner within the neighborhood
  • Provides outlet to discuss other subjects with Others within the neighborhood
  • Provides an opportunity to showcase/share hobbies, etc within the neighborhood
  • Provides an opportunity to become leaders
• Increases Time On Site
• Increases Advertising Dollars

Will everyone appreciate it? No
Can it generate traffic? Yes, if done correctly.

 

[Walter]

Even the badly implemented vb social groups do work on some of my sites. IMHO you need either very special interests or a large amount of users.

 

[Princeton]

Even the badly implemented vb social groups do work on some of my sites. IMHO you need either very special interests or a large amount of users.

I agree ... if a site is an off-topic discussion forum then I see an uphill struggle with Groups

 

[dutchbb]

A better system would be nice if it works, but it's still low on the priority list for most admins. CMS, gallery, reviews, all much more needed. So if they can do this, fine, but it should not slow down development of more important add-ons.

 

[erich37]

A better system would be nice if it works, but it's still low on the priority list for most admins. CMS, gallery, reviews, all much more needed. So if they can do this, fine, but it should not slow down development of more important add-ons.

are you sure ?

please provide facts and figures.

 

[bookmark]

Give more time to xenforo developers.IMO,all these features would be implemented if xenforo goes well in the market.
It's time matter.

 

[dutchbb]

are you sure ?

I remember a poll here about it, if I remember correctly it was

1 CMS
2 gallery
3 something else

Edit:
Gallery, CMS, Blog: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/the-first-addon-for-xenforo.1592/

 

[Forsaken]

We've tried it on our forum, and people are creating groups, but they all die shortly after. It doesn't work and I don't think it will ever work.

IMO this is not something XF devs should waste their precious time on. There are lots of other things that are needed and those are things that have proven they do work in most communities (photo gallery, cms, reviews...)

Alerts and both form of news feeds make groups much more usable on XenForo then on vBulletin.

 

[Alpha1]

You are comparing huge sites with relatively small communities... It's a completely different ballpark.

Not really. It just shows that large numbers of internet users like Groups.

The problem is that no matter how you integrate it, it will never attract a lot of traffic & popularity. People just like the forums better, there's not much that groups offer that they do not already have in forums. That's the reason it fails.

My groups are a reasonable success even with vbulletins failing system. Im sure that if a working system would be added, it would be a raving success.

Why should devs put their time in this failing system, while so many other things are much more important and popular.

I think thats more your opinion than fact. Surely a Gallery or CMS may be more popular than Groups. But I think there are quite a few webmasters that would like to have groups. And its just a small leap from existing forum functionality to group forums. After all its just forums for those members that are subscribed to it.

 

[erich37]

I remember a poll here about it, if I remember correctly it was

1 CMS
2 gallery
3 something else

Edit:
Gallery, CMS, Blog: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/the-first-addon-for-xenforo.1592/

no "Groups" in the Poll you provided.
dont get your logic.

 

[dutchbb]

Alerts and both form of news feeds make groups much more usable on XenForo then on vBulletin.

I agree you have a good argument here. I still think that it would be a dead place in most forum communities though.

Not really. It just shows that large numbers of internet users like Groups.

It's apples and oranges, it says little about the success rate in small forum communities. What works in one environment doesn't have to work in another. To give you a real live example: there are business models that work in big countries but miserably fail in smaller ones. Hypermarkets are doing good in France but not at all in Belgium. You are dealing with a different target, you can't expect that everything works everywhere, it's not that simple.

My groups are a reasonable success even with vbulletins failing system. Im sure that if a working system would be added, it would be a raving success.

It's possible your site has the right audience for it, however I believe most other have not. And we're talking software for the masses here, they're not going to sell something that is bound to fail while it adds a lot more code and thus complexity to the product. I do not see it happening.

I think thats more your opinion than fact. Surely a Gallery or CMS may be more popular than Groups. But I think there are quite a few webmasters that would like to have groups. And its just a small leap from existing forum functionality to group forums. After all its just forums for those members that are subscribed to it.

I could say the same about you. The poll I've posted here is clear enough I think. Groups is atm probably at the bottom of the general priority list. Simply because everyone has seen it failing, and don't feel the immediate urge to try again. Not before more important add-ons can be created anyway.

This is a good candidate for a non-official add-on imo.

no "Groups" in the Poll you provided.
dont get your logic.

Well, "Other, please comments" is still an option. I'm sure the ones who love Groups would have chosen that option if they really wanted it to be a priority.

Do a search in that thread and look how many you can find asking for it. Or open a new thread with the Groups option in it

 

[darkon]

Not really. It just shows that large numbers of internet users like Groups.

You can´t really compare Yahoo! with a bulletin board. Sorry, this is just something completly different.

To me, and i think most other users, the group thing is something for an Addon, just like gallery, CMS, Blog and so on.

It´s a feature that´s clearly not important (see the poll mentioned above and this thread) for a lot of admins, so it shouldn´t be in the core.

 

[whitetigergrowl]

I say no to Social Type groups. They just distract from the main forums and on top of that usually just die shortly after they are made sans for a few more popular ones. Not worth it.

 

[Rob]

contrary to lots of other forums, our social groups AND blogs are very well used and I think thats partly down to how weve made a main feature of them in our core navigation (default vb nav for these are well hidden away)

If these two features well more appropriately integrated then I think they are a huge social compliment.

 

[Defqon]

yeah , default vB Groups and Albums weren't almost used because they are not visible ..

 

[Andy.N]

You dont say.
Just create a few groups for my members. when they complain that they can't attach files, i discovered it wasn't allowed by design.
What a bummer.

 

[Shanj]

I agree with ??? above who said Groups are just a specialist type of forum - a forum with its own front Page with a pic maybe, nice description what it's a bout, list of members (or recent members if it's big, prominent name of leader or leader.
With a Group forum you have all the stuff like attachments threading etc etc
Plus later on a group Gallery.

But the heart of a Group has to be a forum. This is a forum software after all.
I fought long and hard to get vb to link forums to groups and got nowhere. Part of the bad times ... then couple of years later waddya know they linked Groups to their own forum admin option. Huh!

 

[Lucas]

Social groups kinda defeat the purpose of a forum. You're already in the forum because you feel you have similar interests as the rest of the members. Dividing the members in an already created environments just creates more differences than similarities and gives a kind of a confrontation environment.