Shortcomings of Social Groups

[572HP]

We have a local group that started from members of camaro5. First...we love camaro5!

However, to help us stay organized and discuss things amongst ourselves about local events, we first used a single thread in the regional forums. This became quite a chore because we kept changing topics, and having to search through the thread looking for different information. It was easy to miss something. With about 50 members, one thread is not enough.

We then created a social group. It made it nice, because we could start a new thread and stay on topic. However, social groups are missing A LOT of funcionality that the forums have. Here are two BIG things that we miss:
1) No instant notifications of messages.
2) No advanced editor for messages.

Our group (and I assume many other groups as well) has a real problem trying to stay organized. These are the options that I see (in the order that we prefer):

1) Modify Social Groups to work just like forums (instant notifications, advanced editor)
2) Create sub forums under the regional sub-forums for each group that requests one.
3) We actually come up with our own solution outside of camaro5. (This is our least favorite choice!!!)

So site moderators...please help us or at least discuss our options here.

[GTAHVIT]

good suggestions. But, Only Tran can address it. I'll send him a link.

[CamaroSkooter]

Our San Antonio group has the same issue. We tried just having seperate threads in the TX regional forum, but if we did that, we'd take up half the screen with SA only threads and I didn't feel that was very "fair" to the other sub-groups in Texas.

I would be interested in seeing a regional sub-forum added, I just don't have any idea what that requires from y'alls side of things...

[csjcsj]

We also dont get credit for posts!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!! Hope this helps us out!!!! Thats 572HP!

[CamaroKid300]

+15839302849230283950382302048590302

[Can't_C_Me]

Awesome, suggestions 572HP!

[MannyC]

Agree!

[Milk 1027]

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the forum? How are new member going to know you have a social group?
I think having a single thread with someone who can reliably update it is the best soltution.

[CamaroSkooter]

We don't have any reliable people in San Antonio

[572HP]

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the forum? How are new member going to know you have a social group?
I think having a single thread with someone who can reliably update it is the best soltution.

It's not just about announcement of events...there are oftentimes we have ongoing discussions of events (who's coming, who's bringing what, how to get there, etc.). It really gets messy when we start talking about more than one event. That is what separate threads are for.

Skooter's right. If we created a thread for each event, and every other group creates a thread for each of their events, it wouldn't be very organized. Maybe the easiest solution would be my #2 above...create sub-forums under our regional forum for any group that asks. However, that seems to be what social groups are meant for. They just are lacking the same functionality as the forums.

[KILLER74Z28]

Originally Posted by 572HP

It's not just about announcement of events...there are oftentimes we have ongoing discussions of events (who's coming, who's bringing what, how to get there, etc.). It really gets messy when we start talking about more than one event. That is what separate threads are for.

Skooter's right. If we created a thread for each event, and every other group creates a thread for each of their events, it wouldn't be very organized. Maybe the easiest solution would be my #2 above...create sub-forums under our regional forum for any group that asks. However, that seems to be what social groups are meant for. They just are lacking the same functionality as the forums.

I respectfully disagree… Don't kill me...

The regional section is just that, a place for you to create all those so thread. Sound more like a thread management concern by the original poster and there I say welcome to what mods do everyday. You just need to start the thread then manage it by gathering all the information and then updating it in the original post (who's coming, who's bringing what, how to get there, etc.). Have the original owner of the thread act as a mod so to say…

[572HP]

Originally Posted by KILLER74Z28

I respectfully disagree… Don't kill me...

The regional section is just that, a place for you to create all those so thread. Sound more like a thread management concern by the original poster and there I say welcome to what mods do everyday. You just need to start the thread then manage it by gathering all the information and then updating it in the original post (who's coming, who's bringing what, how to get there, etc.). Have the original owner of the thread act as a mod so to say…

I agree with you to a point. The regional section does focus it down...but I don't think it goes far enough. I think regional sections are great for regional events (large gatherings) like pony wars, etc. I think new threads would get overlooked if there were 5 or more groups like ours all creating threads in the same forum. The social groups is a great feature of vbulletin, and seemed like it was going to fit the bill. Then we discovered the limitations. I haven't installed vbulletin before, so I don't know if there are admin settings that can change the behavior, if the new version fixes these limitations, or what. I appreciate that certain threads get "stickied" in the regional forums, but one thread is hard to use with groups like ours (around 50 members).

[572HP]

I also just found this on the vBulletin forums:

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...-Social-Groups

In that thread, there is talk about a mod that was done. This sounds great, but I'm sure it would make upgrades a pain, if not impossible. I wouldn't want to go this route either. It also talks about performance with a large number of forums. Hopefully Tran can come up with something.

[Bond]

All you need is a sub-regional section.
Instead of one for all of Texas, how bout one for north, and one for south?? Or east/ west? Somethin to the effect anyway.