Public Usergroups

[The Sandman]

I use vB's Public Usergroups quite a bit on TAZ, and would really like to see them added to XenForo.

Public custom usergroups are custom usergroups that your users can request to join because you have enabled the "Public (Joinable) Custom Usergroups" option for those usergroups.

 

[Dakota Storm]

that the need for this as a core feature is somewhat less now than it was back in 2010, IMO.

I'd disagree with that, such a large feature would be better served from the core, or at least an official addon. small features and tweaks should be left to 3rd party addons, but not something that would have to be as large as that

 

[The Sandman]

I'd disagree with that, such a large feature would be better served from the core, or at least an official addon. small features and tweaks should be left to 3rd party addons, but not something that would have to be as large as that

I'll check back in on this thread in 2024 to see how it worked out for you.

 

[DL6]

It's not exactly the same thing but you can do something similar with custom user fields and user group promotions
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/using-custom-user-fields-with-user-group-promotions.4008/
works good for me.

 

[Joeychgo]

Of course for me... hence my comment "from my perspective.. I don't think I'd add it back after living without it for so long.". Although I would go on to say that the need for this as a core feature is somewhat less now than it was back in 2010, IMO.

Agree. Public, joinable usergroups are very handy for many reasons.

 

[tyteen4a03]

I appreciate the recent interest in this 7 year old request but from my perspective it's too late now for those of us who used this feature on our vBulletin forums before converting to XenForo. 3rd party add-ons never came close to duplicating this functionality. At this point I don't think I'd add it back after living without it for so long.

How did Waindigo's Join User Group add-on work out for you? I overhauled the interface for him so it would be closer to what vB had.

 

[The Sandman]

How did Waindigo's Join User Group add-on work out for you? I overhauled the interface for him so it would be closer to what vB had.

It didn't... it just didn't have the same functionality as the vB public groups, which IMO was one of the best things about vB.

 

[tyteen4a03]

It didn't... it just didn't have the same functionality as the vB public groups, which IMO was one of the best things about vB.

What was it missing? (I'm just curious)

 

[Deriel]

I would like to bring this back. The old mod from Waindigo will not be remade to xF 2 so I think that's important.

We know that there's a partial solution to these (https://xenforo.com/community/threads/using-custom-user-fields-with-user-group-promotions.92226/) but it's not the same as public joinable usergroups

I think we could get more traction to the sugestion than a few likes from 8 years

 

[woody]

I use a Joinable Groups as a Clubhouse, and allow their own group to manage who belongs to that club....I am SO excited to do that for 40 clubs and 1000 users myself after the 2.1 update (not)

IMO, user management options for Group memberships has always been critical, and a core disadvantage to XF.

 

[The Sandman]

There must be a reason why Public Usergroups has never been added to XenForo. After all, it was in vB for a long time and it's the same developers- they coded it so they know exactly how it worked and could probably add it to XF fairly easily. It's just not clear why they thought it worthwhile then and not now.

 

[Ozzy47]

Just to hazard a guess, probably because it is not that popular of a suggestion, it has only received 22 likes in 8 years.

 

[Gangleider]

I use a Joinable Groups as a Clubhouse, and allow their own group to manage who belongs to that club....I am SO excited to do that for 40 clubs and 1000 users myself after the 2.1 update (not)

IMO, user management options for Group memberships has always been critical, and a core disadvantage to XF.

Pretty much exactly this is my scenario as well. If I had to guess most forums just don't have this structure and thus don't need the feature.

We use a few dozen usergroups to manage private board permissions and put certain users in charge of moderating the access to these groups, without having to open up general moderation privileges to them (that part is crucial).

Allowing users to apply to a group also simplifies things immensely from a moderation standpoint, having a simple queue to work through rather than looking up individual users and manually setting the permissions. Delegation and streamlining are a huge relief when handling dozens of requests per week.

 

[woody]

Just to hazard a guess, probably because it is not that popular of a suggestion, it has only received 22 likes in 8 years.

Or, XF forum owners do not know of the "like to support" requirement...I know I didn't for my first few years.

I know it offers a huge opportunity for forum owners to grow their userbase and traffic... otherwise, FB groups make it FAR too easy.

 

[Ozzy47]

If that was the case, all suggestions would have a similar like count.

 

[The Sandman]

Or, XF forum owners do not know of the "like to support" requirement.

Is it a requirement for any addition to the core though? Aren't there some things they add to the featureset that weren't Most Liked Suggestions?

 

[Robust]

I know it offers a huge opportunity for forum owners to grow their userbase and traffic... otherwise, FB groups make it FAR too easy.

Facebook groups are created by users and are quite autonomous (don't require admin intervention, etc.). In the VB design, and what's kinda suggested here, groups are still created by admins, a leader is set, and people can request to join etc. It isn't nearly the same thing. I personally think this kind of group concept is more niche now, and don't see this being too useful on the majority of XF sites.

There was an XF1 add-on for more 'autonomous' social groups. It was well coded, and I used it on one of my earlier forums, but I don't think the whole concept was really appropriate for XenForo. It felt kinda dated and useless, and somewhat encouraged hierarchy communities too.

 

[Kirby]

There must be a reason why Public Usergroups has never been added to XenForo. After all, it was in vB for a long time and it's the same developers- they coded it so they know exactly how it worked and could probably add it to XF fairly easily. It's just not clear why they thought it worthwhile then and not now.

IMHO it is a feature that most forums would not use.
We currently still have ~ 50 forums on vBulletin, only one of them (which we just acquired in January 2019) has public joinable usergroups.

 

[The Sandman]

IMHO it is a feature that most forums would not use.

I'm not sure whether that's true or not. And it begs the question of why the same developers included it in the core of vB - they must have thought it worthwhile then.

Regardless, since there is certainly some call for it, and since they did the original coding for it you'd think it'd be ripe for use as an optional paid official XenForo add-on if deemed inappropriate for the core featureset.

 

[tyteen4a03]

The old mod from Waindigo will not be remade to xF 2

Do you have a source for this?

Again I am happy to update the mod to xF2 if nobody else is doing it (later in the year)

 

[woody]

The 1.x ThemeHouse/Waindigo plugin...it seems likely to be updated.

[TH] Join User Group

What does this add-on do? This add-on allows the administrator to set certain user groups as joinable. Users can then select which user groups they would like to join. Moderators can be assigned to user groups, adding a requirement that all...

xenforo.com

There is also this one, available now.

Group membership moderators

This add-on is shared with the Xenforo community for free without branding. Donations are welcome by just liking this add-on or leaving a nice review, that's all! :love: This addon will make it possible to assign 'Group Moderators' to your...

xenforo.com