CALLING ALL PEOPLE THAT CREATED GROUPS HERE, ON NING

[Alla]

Today we have 200 groups. Great! Very creative people. I love it. I looked at some of the groups and I noticed that not all of them are set to their fullest capacity. The left column, the widest – is a ‘Discussion Forum’. It has 3 items. The last one – ‘Show’ has maximum of 20. It means that 20 discussions can be displayed at the same time on the page. I think it is very important to display as many discussions as possible. If people do not see a discussion, chances are they are not going to click on ‘View All’ button at the bottom of the ‘Discussion Forum’ and a discussion is going to be left unanswered by a person.

‘Admin functions’ include options:

Edit Group

Delete Group

Send message to the group

Follow/Stop Following

All those above features are self-explanatory. Ask questions if you have them.

Manage Group members – this option has interesting features we did not have on old TBD. The group creator can promote a member to Group Administrator. The level of control is similar to the level of control to the Group Creator.
You can ban a member of the group. This option brings me to a question. Why would you ban a member of the group and how do you see this happen?

We all know that we have the best intentions in mind. Do we always get the best treatment? No, not at all. Do we always deserve to be treated poorly? No, of course not. So, what do we do? Kat is most likely not going to watch out for us, although I do not really know for sure. I think that group creator and/or group administrator have to take care of the problems. People come to TBD at different time of their lives and rather often they are hurt deeply and they try to unload their problems on people that are trying to help them. Sounds familiar?

I created ‘Loyal TBDers’. That’s how I felt when we heard the bad news. I hope that we do not have people that disturb peaceful life of ‘Loyal TBDers’ and other groups. But if push comes to shove, this is what I will do or the Group Administrator will do: if we get ‘bad sheep’ we will talk to the person and try to resolve the issue. If we have irreconcilable differences, this person has to be banned from the group. What do you think? Let’s hear opinions.

[SeaRain]

Common sense? What is that? Where is it? Can I buy it? Can I have more than one? Can I have yours?

[Alla]

Robin will give the approval, when she gets around to it.

[Dazzling Zoomer Gal Diana]

Oh Alla this is SO helpful! Thank you and please join me at "For Woman Only"! You're invite is in the mail!

[Chez moi]

Thanks for this, Alla, I agree that there will surely be times when the group admin. will have to step in and do the job Kat used to do so well. On the more relaxed threads, fun and games, this will hardly be needed. But on the political or religious groups, or anywhere serious questions are posed and feelings may be hurt, administrators have a duty to moderate and be sure that there is no bullying or name-calling. Just try to be diplomatic and ask yourself, 'What would Kat have said?' And you are right, personal contact with the offender is best to avoid embarrassing or offending anyone in public, though a general call for good behavior on the thread may be called for.

[Alla]

One group has the capacity to have several administrators. I did a little test. So far I could appoint 10 group administrators. I did not continue. My idea is to appoint at least up to 5 group administrators depending on the size of the group. We don't need any additional pressure. If one or two people are out, the rest will be making the decision if there is the necessity. Yes, we have to take the precautions because our friends are here and we want to have good time while TBDing.

[CuppaJoe]

Alla, you are spot on as usual.
I am an administrator of one of the largest groups on here. The Daily Grind Cafe. We advertise ourselves as a place to come, chat, make friends and relax. At the old TBD there were instances where a new member would come in and harass some of our older members to the point of threatening them with physical violence. Usually this stemmed from a hot altercation somewhere else on the site. I would have ask Kat to deal with them, but this was a time consuming process especially over a weekend.
As it stands now, I have three administrators and if any of us detect a problem developing, we will telephone the other two and also have a quiet PM chat with the offender. Our group policy is that if this "quiet chat" does not work, a vote of two of the three administrators will get the miscreant banned. Or even one administrator can do it, if in the event of a bad situation, another administrator can not be quickly located by telephone.
The one major obstacale to this plan is that we cannot PM anyone not on our friend list, and I am reluctant to have that "little chat" on their open profile which may not even be visible to them since you can limit the number of visible post from 0-20. That being said, I will put up one of my email addresses where they can see it and ask them to respond. That failing, I will see to their being banned and sort it out later when tempers cool.
The folks in my group are my friends and I will simply not abide having them abused, threatened, cursed at, or otherwise demeaned. I tell the folks in my group that I am looking out for them, and I do. Especially the ladies. It has amazed me that so many have told me that often, my group is the only place they feel safe in an online atmosphere, and I take that responsibility very seriously. Bad behavior rarely happens there, but we are prepared if it does happen.
I've been in Law Enforcement for 43 years and the concern of hurting someone's feelings, by chastising them for their bad behavior, or worrying about their "revenge" is water off a ducks back. I won't tolerate bad behavior, and my folks depend on me for that. My Cafe is going to continue to be the "safe place" that it has a reputation for.
Thanks Alla for letting me get my two cents in. Keep up the good work!

[Alla]

Cuppa, I appreciate your kind words.

We all have email here, on ning. That means that we can send email to everybody, not just our friends. I am doing some testing in terms of sending messages to that email, right here on ning. As you can see, if you click on 'compose' in your inbox, you have a choice: send an email to another email address or send it to your friend, which means that your email will show up in 2 places: your inbox and your real email. It works a little slower, then regular postings. So, I need some time to determine the procedure. I am ready to use my knowledge to make my friends at home.

[Alla]

I need a volunteer who is not on my friend's list, to send me an email to:[e-mail]. Write 'test' in subject and in the body of the message. Thank you.

[Dazzling Zoomer Gal Diana]

Yes. Precisely CuppaJoe. Nicely put. My group is for women only and I feel very protective about this, and watchful, as one member warned me that sometimes chaps pretend to be lasses just to take the mick as it were. *chuckle* If a chap is that keen to disguise himself to chat about women's issues (men-o-pause darlin' - you too?!?) and has something constructive to contribute, I have no complaint. But woe unto any chap that comes barreling in to wreck any sort of havoc as one did yesterday. Out he went. Guest speakers will be welcome as long as they agree to bow out after their advice or suggestions. Goodness, amazing how quickly one starts to feel like a Mother Hen! Thks. so much everyone., I'm learning a good deal here, very comforting.

[Alla]

Buzz, I tried to do something about email here in terms of mailing messages to people that are not on friends list. My request stayed unanswered. Besides, now I had a little more time to think about it. Your adminitrator connections plan is less vulnerable, therefore it's better.

[SeaRain]

Alla, can I 'unfriend' you and the befriend you again so you can do your test?

[Alla]

I was going to do it, but I realized that if a person does not receive emails from here, my test will prove nothing. Next time if there is a necessity, I will let you know. I appreciate, thank you.