How much time does it take to manage a group?
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Good question. In my opinion it's not a question?of managing a group, but of letting a group evolve. The question is probably better put as how much time does it take to monitor a group?
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But then it depends on the group. My groups are educators and there is rarely any rancor. I leave everyone unmoderated. I've only once in 20 years had to ban a member. The groups flourish on their own.
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I guess the correct answer is, it takes about as much time as you've got. If that's time worth spending, start the group. If not, well then, we're back to your question :-)
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Vance Stevens
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On Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 6:12 AM Ken KM4NFQ <km4nfq@...> wrote:
Greetings, |
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On Sat, Nov 16, 2019 at 05:12 PM, Ken KM4NFQ wrote:
I am just starting to do some research into starting a group and IIt depends on a lot of factors.? Moderated or not? If?moderated, and it is of interest to people in other time zones, you might like to find at least another moderator ideally in another time zone. Just be careful about what privileges you give them - see about promoting someone -?/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Promotion%2C-Status-or-Permissions-Change-to-Moderator-or-Owner This group takes quite a bit of time because it is fairly large, moderated and active. Other groups I belong to are mostly small and unmoderated. One that is moderated isn't particularly active - actually needs a prod now and again!? Also if you have a lot of people without much online experience, you might find they need more handholding. Create a few help pages. Use parts of GMF wiki. I think that you need to give us a bit more details. Size of group, transfer from YahooGroups or not, group setup. And of course, your group members likely will get used to the response time, if it is moderated. Frances ? -- FAQ on Moving from YahooGroups GMF Wiki: (unofficial) Help for members (and would-be members) and group managers |
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I'd add that if you need to be hands-on in terms of dealing with disputes, inappropriate posts, breaches of guidelines, etc. then of course it will take more time.
I have a group of 900 users who post about 600 messages per month. 95% of the time I average well under half an hour a week, and it's almost all just approving new members or helping someone with a technical problem. If something blows up - e.g, someone hurls an insult and I have to get involved - it can turn into a lot more time. But that's rare. Pete |
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I'm the owner of a small, unmoderated and very civil group.? In normal times, it takes me hardly any time to manage it.? Obviously, the last month (in which we transferred membership and 10 years' worth of messages, photos, and files from Yahoo to Groups.io) weren't "normal times."? But you're thinking of starting a group that'd use Groups.io right from the start.? Setting it up will take almost no time; doing your initial "outreach" and sending invitations to people (a few dozen? a few hundred?) will take more; writing a little welcome message and perhaps explaning some GIO basics, ditto; but after that you might find that your group pretty much...runs itself.
My big time drain is writing posts.? My members are modest and many won't toot their own horns, so instead of posting that they're getting an award or speaking at an event or whatever, they tell me and I pass it on (as if I discovered it on my own).? Yeah, I wish they'd do it themselves but no big deal. You must, must have some kind of control to deter spammers and trolls.? My choice is to restrict membership (new members require my approval; mine's an alumni group, so it's pretty easy to verify their connection) but then let them post unmoderated.? Works fine for me but not necessarily for everyone. Oh, and I'm guilty of this myself: not to be ghoulish, find yourself a co-owner so that things can continue if you're hit by a bus.? Dozens of Yahoo groups can't use "Easy Transfer" (and yes, it was easy, though a bit bottlenecked because of the surge in demand) because the owner has died or disappeared. |
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On Sat, Nov 16, 2019 at 06:20 PM, Ken KM4NFQ wrote:
My only experience with mailing lists has been as a member. I will have to figure out how to be an owner of a mailing list by trial and error. Thanks again for your input.Be sure to spend a little time now tweaking your set up. Here's an overview: /g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Quick-Start-for-Group-Formation Lots more info here if you decide to use features like the calendar -? /g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/home Frances ? -- FAQ on Moving from YahooGroups GMF Wiki: (unofficial) Help for members (and would-be members) and group managers |
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Hello Ken It can depend on the abilities of the members. If it is a non technical group it could require some hand holding the other difficulty can be screening new members. For example the very first person that made a request to join my new group was a person from a previuos group that created problems with spam , unapropriate posts etc. I am new to Groups.io so I am basing my opinion on my experiences with Yahoo.? I t is very helpful to have additional people as moderators to assist? I would encourage you to give it a try Gary On Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 2:12 PM Ken KM4NFQ <km4nfq@...> wrote: Greetings, |
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Well, the members don't have very many options and they are familiar with some already. Posting messages Members can post messages in two ways:
Posting photos or files Traditionally, this used to be done by sending files to a file storage directory and photos to an album directory and then posting a message with a link to the file object or photo object. This requires some learning. However, everyone has become so used to attaching files and photos to email that it has largely supplanted the previous means in many venues. (Photo albums still serve a useful purpose in that it's useful to have photos on the same topic from many users all populating the same album. Receiving messages Set the default message delivery to "Individual messages" so the users get an individual email for every posted message. Informed users who wish to have a digest (collection of messages sent less frequently) can change this setting for themselves. Informed users can also select no mail and visit the website periodically to catch up. Searching the old messages People forget (or never learn) this valuable approach. It's straightforward once you attempt it. Larry |
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On Sat, Nov 16, 2019 at 07:27 PM, Laurence Marks wrote:
Informed users can also select no mail and visit the website periodically to catch up.I have all of my groups set so that No Email is disabled.? That way if there's an emergency, I can send one email to contact everyone using the Special Notice.? I haven't sent a Special Notice yet on GIO in almost 5 years.? I only sent 2 in 15 years on YG.? I read about one owner who was planning to send one every week!? If the owner/moderator abuses Special Notices, people will leave. Duane -- Help: /static/help GMF's Wiki: /g/GroupManagersForum/wiki Search button at the top of Messages list A few site FAQs: /static/pricing#frequently-asked-questions |
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Ken -
Just a couple thoughts. I have some larger groups I've brought over from Y! and some smaller ones I've created on groups.io later. Some have very internet savvy members and others are . . . Well, let's just say that on the information highway they're cruising up the parking lane with their flashers on - but they're enjoying themselves and contributing! Some of those guys I keep on moderation just so I can jump in when they post and make sure they're doing okay. I don't see those more than once or twice a month and really they take very little time. I've found that by-and-larger, if folks are told right up front that they're expected to be courteous and criticize *ideas*, not the person posting them, a group can get by with very little effort. My largest groups have dealt with some pretty contentious issues and managed to get through them in a very civilized manner by following that basic tennet. I really think that letting members know your expectations right away, and even put them in the group guidelines avoids a lot of problems. Overall I'd say that Gerald really gave you the most important answer with his comment: I don't think nearly enough people know it, but this group (GMF) is a big partMy recommendation would be to start your group and invite a few people. Most of the setup recommendations are the result of literally hundreds of man-years of group ownership/moderation experience both here and on Y! and it's predecessors. If you run into something you're not sure how to handle and you've checked the GMF wiki, then bring your questions here. Dano |
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On 16 Nov 2019 23:02, Ken KM4NFQ wrote:
I am just starting to do some research into starting a group and IYou will have to spend some time while setting up the group to read through all of the settings, to ensure that you select settings that will protect your group best while at the same time limit your time spent on managing the group. Also spend some time writing a few member notices and the basic guidelines. Managing a group at Groups.io is, unfortunately, very complicated (compared to Yahoogroups or Google Groups), so you can potentially end up spending a lot of time on the help forums trying to figure out why something obvious simply doesn't work. You should try to make at least one or two trusted people moderators of your group so that they can help approve messages or memberships. Unfortunately, at Groups.io, if a membership request or a message is not approved within 2 weeks, it is automatically rejected, so you need to have moderators check the "pending" section at least once a week. Give your moderators at least these privileges: If you want them to only approve or reject messages: - Approve Pending Messages - View Member List If you also want them to be able to approve members and/or set troublesome members temporarily to being moderated: - Approve Pending Members (also allows access to the member list) - Set Member Subscription Options (also allows access to the member list) Samuel |
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Ken KM4NFQ
Thank you for your replies Jim and Samuel. I do not have any experience with Yahoo! Groups. This is the first Group I have started. I am a member of several groups, so I know about "Flame Wars" and so forth. The usual response seems to be for a Moderator to step in say "Take it off-list." My group will be of the Free variety. So one of the the things I have done is to limit the size of images to 480x480 (something like that?). And I have checked the option for old attachments to be deleted when the 1G capacity is reached. I imagine that does that automatically with nothing required for me. I have set the New Member approval setting to 3. Why? It seems that 3 is a good number to dissuade spammers? Yet, someone who is interested in the Group would not mind 3 moderated approvals. That is how I am thinking about it now. I will just have to see how much time it requires. Time is my only possession. I am retired with more time than money. But my time is ticking away. Time is a finite resource. I am still asking myself if monitoring a Group is how I want to spend my remaining time on Earth. There is somewhat of steep learning curve. Especially for someone who does not have ANY experience AT ALL with Groups. Assuming that my Group will be low volume: What would you recommend for Group settings (for small time investment)? This is what my Group Settings look like right now: Ken, KM4NFQ "Not Fully Qualified" |
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Ken,
My only concerns with your settings are: archives are visible to anyone - you realize that includes Google? members can set their subscriptions to no email - while some people endorse this, it does mean that you have no way of guaranteeing that you can contact everyone. If you disable "no email", those can be "special notices only" and you as owner can once in a blue moon send a notice EVERYONE gets in their inbox. Frances -- FAQ on Moving from YahooGroups GMF Wiki: (unofficial) Help for members (and would-be members) and group managers |
Vance Stevens
Frances
Pete Cook
K Ruffing
Gary K. Jackson
Laurence Marks
Duane
D R Stinson
Samuel Murray