Groups Feature
One of the features that has been on my personal wish list is Groups. Anyone familiar with MySpace or Facebook will know immediately what I’m talking about. The groups feature gives a user (you) control to setup his/her own area for chatting about topics of interest to you and like-minded other members. You are then responsible for managing this group. As the administrator, you can decide if a group is public - open to all users, or by invitation only, meaning participants in the Group must be approved by you before being admitted. You can also share the admin duties with other friends in the group.
Each group has its own discussion board for its members. The group adminstrator can set the tone of that discussion and moderate it accordingly (within the boundaries of acceptable behavior as established by Infield Parking). Groups will also have a media gallery for members to share images and videos.
So, why am I so hot for this feature? There are several cool things. First, it lets individuals set the agenda for the group, allowing conversations to flourish around countless topics. Second, boundaries are created. Groups can be exclusive, so that populations can come together around topics without interference. Or if the group is not to your liking, you can vote with a mouse click and leave that group without it affecting your overall experience with the site.
Let me know what you think of the Groups feature, what Groups you might start and what other features you might like to see in Groups.
-m
December 15th, 2008 at 17:37
You mean we would have to stay on one subject? LMAO… I guess I will start the A.D.D group that can’t do that!! We will name it hijack 101 anyone is welcome!
December 15th, 2008 at 19:59
How about an ignore feature in the general forum.
December 15th, 2008 at 20:00
P.S. Edit button?
December 16th, 2008 at 09:27
I like the groups idea, I find that most people generally stick to certain group threads anyway. I however am a lot like miss Jen and have A.D.D. and am prone to hijacking.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:49
@Dale Fan We are still working out all the details on the Forum and I will post some more about them when I can. One thing that we are looking at is a way to filter forum threads by your friends. This may be another way to “ignore” posts that you don’t want to read.
Tell me more about what the ignore button would do and why you want it.
December 16th, 2008 at 13:24
If some one is on your ignore list then they cannot post in a thread that you start. Also all their posts would be invisable to you and vice versa.
I belive this would stop alot of the bickering that goes on between members that live for confrontation. It would also eliminate “stalking”.
December 17th, 2008 at 08:05
Wow. Sounds great. But I have experienced in the past on other sites that something like this promotes rivalry and a lot of bullying and fighting between groups.
I do not recommend the move.
I feel it is an elitist move and is not fair to folks who just want to be friends with everyone. I think it would be a negative not a positive.Take a look at [Yahoo] Groups. You will have a billon groups that will die off and sit there and take up space. Just like IP now.
Why can’t the site be one community?
Also there was a promise to bring back the edit button. Is this going to happen soon?
Thanks for listening.
Lee
December 17th, 2008 at 14:11
@gfunkerror - Lee thanks for your comments regarding groups on Infield Parking. You raise some very good points and we will watch how groups are adopted and maintaned when the new platform launches.
There is a fundamental difference between Yahoo Groups and IP. IP is a race community, where as Yahoo Groups is just a collection of disparate groups. The intent of the groups function on IP is to allow people to share things around a common interest that may not be directly related to the main topics on the forums.
Also, while we have not discussed the new forum features yet, I will say that the forums are going to get a major face lift. The “edit button” is part of this and will be rolled out with the platform upgrade. Our intent is that Forums will continue to be a major part of the soul of the site.
-m
December 17th, 2008 at 16:27
I agree that the chats would exclude alot of the general population…of which I may well be one…but I must have missed something about stalking? Has there been an issue with that?
This was supposed to be a social networking website, so if that’s changed I guess I need to move on…
December 17th, 2008 at 17:05
I like the idea. It’d be fun to be a member of, for instance, a group only for Tony’s fans on the site, maybe one of the Batties on the site, heck maybe one for the people that like my cartoons. Cool idea.
December 17th, 2008 at 17:06
Also, on the ignore button idea, I’m all for that one as well.
December 17th, 2008 at 18:21
@Kristina Infield Parking is most definitely a social network for NASCAR fans. If you look at the major social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, etc), they all have a groups feature. Our hope is that we have both an exciting public forum for NASCAR discussions and a vibrant collection of Groups where people can also gather.
December 17th, 2008 at 21:04
I am torn between liking and disliking the idea…..I like the idea that we can have a specific group for things like watching TV shows and talking about them; but I dislike the idea because it might separate the site in so many groups that if we try to talk racing then there might be some hostility.
December 17th, 2008 at 21:21
Almost forgot; several of us talk about Dancing with the Stars and several other shows..
Also I have a suggestion; could there be a button for removing someone from the group that has been asked on several occasions to leave and they don’t.
Just a thought because of what has happened in threads over the last year. If not, then what will be done if things like that need to be taken care of.
December 18th, 2008 at 18:32
Hmmmmm
OK….. The groups are already pretty well set up.
It would seem 3-4 Moderators per group would be a good idea…
Because, it would be more likely one of them would be on line to
accept, OR remove posters.
Most of your existing groups already tend to have titular heads anyway.
If …. you do this it would be convenient to have “open mike” ability.
ie: Rebs haiku day….. It is an open forum for all…..
with limited access to the rest of the threads, for non group members.
In general, if a group thread is NOT used for 30 days, its members
should get an email warning of its emminant removal as a group.
Doing that would keep stagnant groups from clogging the main page.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:53
Just do what your doing…. these guys would complain if their ice cream was cold….
Someone is going to get excluded, someone always does, it’s called life…
they can deal with it.
People been whining for private group area’s for 2 years, now it’s mentioned and you get 3 or 4 that don’t want it ???????
If ya’ll can establish an overall site that not one person is displeased with, then Kudo’s to you…. we have a job in the West Bank for you too.
Drive On IP…
December 19th, 2008 at 14:20
Thanks for everyone’s comments on the Infield Parking Groups feature. I think people have raised some valid issues and showed some enthusiasm for the feature. One thing to note is that the Groups feature is separate from the forums. The public forums will remain a central part of the site, just with much improved technology. Speaking of Forums, we are working through the page designs of the forums now. I will see what I can share next week before the holidays. A Holiday present if you will
-m
December 29th, 2008 at 10:18
Hey any idea when all this will take place? Also are you going to give folks enough time to save anything on the profiles they have? I would assume the changes you say you are going to do will effect profiles and codes for pics and graphics.
Are you going to announce when you will shut down the site to make these changes?
Thanks.
Lee
December 29th, 2008 at 15:39
@gfunkerror Right now we are hoping that there will not be a need for down time with the site. We are looking at launching the new platform in time for the 2009 race season, but I don’t have an exact date as of yet.
The team is working on the profiles now. I will let you know more once it is nailed down.
-m
January 27th, 2009 at 17:51
@Mike: If the groups are already set in place, then surely there’s a way to see what/where they are if they’re open to the public? Are they using threads in the forums now? I’d like to join “Ladies of Junior Nation.” Don’t know how to do that…
Most of MY myspace includes people from my IP, and my cousins who are designers of NASCAR…they’re 1500 miles away so we all try to keep in touch whichever way we can…well cousins from THIS generation. It’s been talked about on email, they don’t want to give out their email addresses for fear of sabatoge. And after this past year of Junior’s tires continually blowing out…I see what they mean.
Up until then, I’ve always thought they were being too sensitive.