I've recently set up the Annaba Veterans private members' group with a view to collecting members' photos in various albums.? As all the members have complete access to the Photos section, I'd like to remove the member's name that appears on some of the albums.? Is that possible?
Thanks, Hazel

On 5/5/2020 04:24, Robert Oshel wrote:

It seems to me that free speech rights don't come into play here. This isn't a government-sponsored forum.? The owners of groups and Groups.IO can set limits on content.

The real issue is whether the comments were related to the stated purpose of the group and conformed to group expectation concerning content.? If the group was established to talk about computer programming, for example, then the comment about the administration's response to the pandemic doesn't appear to be relevant to the group and was objectionable because of that.? If the group was established to talk about health care, for example, then the comment was relevant.? It all depends on the nature of the group.

What was the group's purpose?

This is correct as you and Peter point out. In the US, there is no free speech requirement on private citizens or groups thereof.

And your last question is key. The groups I run are, in fact political. They belong to units of a particular US political party. In such groups, it is the reverse of Robert's example: a discussion of the administration's response would be on-topic and software programming would be off-topic. What's important is not the subject matter per se, but whether it corresponds to what the group is there to discuss.

Best,

Glenn

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On Tue, May 5, 2020 at 07:56 AM, Robert Oshel wrote:

This isn't a government-sponsored forum.

Btw, even government forums have the right to police content.

On Tue, May 5, 2020 at 07:56 AM, Robert Oshel wrote:

It seems to me that free speech rights don't come into play here.

You are correct. The first amendment - which I'm assuming is what we're referring to here - relates specifically to Congressional authority and nothing more. Like any other publisher (think Twitter, Facebook, etc.), we have the right to determine what is acceptable in our forums.?

For example, my neighborhood group's guidelines prohibit any discussion of political positions. So any such content is dealt with as a violation of the guidelines. Of course there are always gray areas, and we handle them on a case-by-case basis.?

I'm curious, Gesine: if this was reported to GIO, how did you find out about it?

Pete

On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 11:51 PM, Gesine wrote:

One member recently complained to groups.io about a post a moderator wrote

If it was reported to GIO and nothing was done, then management (Mark) doesn't find that it violates any terms.? At that point, just ignore it and move on.? I don't believe this was the case because, as far as I know, the group management is not notified of such reports.

If it was reported to your group managers, it's up to you to decide what, if anything, you want to do.? If it were me, I'd ignore it.? If the member that reported it chooses to reply to the topic with some (useful) contradictory information, I'd allow it.

Duane
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On Tue, May 5, 2020 at 05:51 AM, Gesine wrote:

One member recently complained to groups.io about a post a moderator wrote <snip>

(the allegedly-objectionable aspect was, stating that our federal government's response to the pandemic is incompetent, and that we all need to be doing social distancing whether or not our area has mandated it)?

My co-moderator/co-owner is distressed over this and wonders what we need to do.

What follows is a personal opinion with which others may or may not agree.

If your fellow owner actually wrote what you quoted above then I'm afraid I see that as problematic. Politics is a very polarising subject (as is religion) so some care is necessary in avoiding the unnecessary raising of the temperature.

This of course brings us into the territory of Free Speech. Does that include the right to say things that others will or may find deeply objectionable? If it does, then we cannot deny others the right to voice their objections with as much force as the original comment to which they are objecting. In this case that objection took the form of a "Content flagged as objectionable" notification.

By stating our federal government's response to the pandemic is incompetent then IMO your co - owner did make a statement to which others might reasonably object, so it is then reasonable to ask why does he or she find the means by which that objection was raised so upsetting? Or is it simply the fact that someone has registered a disagreement with the original statement that has caused an upset?

Had the original comment been In my view our federal government's response to the pandemic is seriously flawed then the use of a potentially inflammatory word - incompetent - has been avoided and a rational discussion may follow.

Now I fully accept that others here may not agree with what I have written, but I hope that I have written it in such a way that rational discussion may continue without needless confrontation. Yes; your co - owner was probably within his or her "Freedom of Speech" rights, and the complainant was within theirs as well.? If we insist on our rights of Free Speech then we cannot object to others doing the same, even if their doing so upsets us.

The Art of Diplomacy is that of telling someone to go to h*ll in such a way that they actually look forward to the journey. There are occasions when the use of diplomatic language on a group is to be recommended.

Chris

Do you have your group guidelines posted on your site?
See?/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Member-Notices
And there are other sample guideline documents in the wiki.?

Also you can suggest the complainant mute the topic so that he doesn’t get it anymore
See.?/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Footers

Frances

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Hi peeps,

We co-moderate/co-own a ~ 3k member group --
One member recently complained to groups.io about a post a moderator wrote, saying it wasn't on topic, violated the rules, etc.?
Long story.?
Argumentative ikky subset of members who like to fuss and don't contribute much.
(the allegedly-objectionable aspect was, stating that our federal government's response to the pandemic is incompetent, and that we all need to be doing social distancing whether or not our area has mandated it)?

My co-moderator/co-owner is distressed over this and wonders what we need to do.
My inclination is to tell the complaining member, get over yourself, and possibly post on the group "writing about X is not a problem; if you don't want to read about that topic, just don't read that thread".

Thoughts?? thanks, Gesine?

Larry,

Here is the report for that IP. There are four RBLs that list it, but
none of them are important ones that would affect most of the world:

SORBS is one that I recognize. Which means it is old-school, and was likely a thorn in the side of Yahoo Groups delivery at some point in the past.

I don't run an email service so I don't really have the background to say whether these lists provide any benefit these days. My impression is that they just cause trouble, but then I don't have any way of knowing how much actual spam is kept out of the email services that use them.

Regardless, I think it is incumbent on the email service to notice and evaluate a large source of messages, such as Groups.io, and bypass/ignore RBL results for a "familiar" source. At best the RBLs provide a source of reputation information regarding sources for which the email service has little or no prior experience of its own.

Shal


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Robin,

I would like to be able to limit a member's access since they will not
be on list very long and like any other group, we sometimes post
sensitive info.

A rather heavy-handed approach to this would be to keep all sensitive information in a sub-group. Then you control access to the sensitive information by who you add to the subgroup.

That's the setup of my PTA group, where all unit members are members (if they want to be) of the primary group, but we have a subgroup for the unit executive board, and some matters are only discussed there.

If you have a lot of members who would be in the subgroup it might be a bit of a struggle to maintain the separation of what gets posted in the primary group for general consumption, and what must be reserved for the subgroup. In our case the name "members" for the primary group, and "board" for the subgroup makes it pretty clear what content should be posted where.

If you can find equivalently meaningful names in your case that will help. Perhaps "general" versus "insiders", "hoipolloi" versus "elite", "noobs" versus "masters", ... you get to decide what best suits your group's character.

Shal


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On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 05:54 PM, Motti Tadmor wrote:

Is there a setting that can be turned off to NOT unsubscribe a member when they hit SPAM on a groups.io message?

There is no such setting.

Regards,
Bruce?

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Is there a setting that can be turned off to NOT unsubscribe a member when they hit SPAM on a groups.io message?
I have plenty of folks doing it by mistake not understanding why they are no longer subscribed, I did explain and guide, but turning off would be easier at this point.

Thanks,
Motti

On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 10:57 AM, Bruce Bowman wrote:

On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 10:21 AM, Mark Murphy wrote:

In the case of a single-owner group, could failure to use the reinstatement link result in a group without an owner?

The FBL mechanism, as implemented by groups.io, does not remove the sole remaining Owner of a group.?

In such a case there will be no notification sent and no reinstatement link.

I could not find any mention of this "sole remaining owner" exception in the new Owners Manual or GMF Wiki. I might suggest this be added in Docs group and here in the Wiki.

Thank you.

开云体育

I have prevented it in the visibility section for non-members, but wish there was a ‘limited’ subscription or something. Thank you for taking the time to answer me.?

On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 07:29 PM, Robin Bowen wrote:

Any suggestions for what to subscribe this person as in order to accomplish archives privacy?

You can't. Members have access to the archives and that's it. (I assume that you mean message archives...) There is no he can but he can't see "x".

Even non - members have access to the message archive unless you prevent it in the Visibility setting.

Oh... and any other group? Some groups perhaps; not any group.

Chris

Hello all,

I'm trying to figure out where exactly I would find the control over which members have access to the archives.?
I would like to be able to limit a member's access since they will not be on list very long and like any other group, we sometimes post sensitive info.?
Any suggestions for what to subscribe this person as in order to accomplish archives privacy?

Thanks so much?

Thank you. this is comprehensive and exactly the guidance i needed.?

On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 10:21 AM, Mark Murphy wrote:

In the case of a single-owner group, could failure to use the reinstatement link result in a group without an owner?

The FBL mechanism, as implemented by groups.io, does not remove the sole remaining Owner of a group.?

In such a case there will be no notification sent and no reinstatement link.

Bruce?

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On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 09:45 AM, Bruce Bowman wrote:

If the person clicks the reinstatement link in the "removed for marking as spam" notification, they are restored with privileges unchanged.

I have not tested what happens if they rejoin the group instead.

Thank you, this is good to know.?

I am concerned that an owner could be removed from a group "automatically" by a third party service. Yes, an owner can click on the reinstatement link in the notification. But there are some issues with that too:

1. The removal notification email from groups.io is likely to be treated as spam by the mailbox provider who might silently discard it so the owner would never see it.
2. Even if the mailbox provider sends the notification email to a spam folder, the owner must periodically check the spam folder for messages like this within 7 days of "removal".

In the case of a single-owner group, could failure to use the reinstatement link result in a group without an owner?

Am I missing something?