Social groups as a corporation

[Nervosa]

Groups is a great idea but it only works in how you implement it with turning your site in to some multi sub forum.
Maybe one could make groups take advantage on how v3 does private messages, turning it into a kinda mass PM to users.

[PrefeX]

Been requested before, but i still think it is a great idea :P
I know i would make heavy use of it ;)

[Owdy]

+1 Do it like SMF does it, its great feature.

[The Geek]

Just so long as its not done like vB.

While it seems like a great idea and my members loved the idea, the reality was a very different story and I can say that it didn't work on my site. Groups splintered discussions and to some level, activity. In fact, I do not know of a vB site where groups have been a success (not saying there haven't been - just saying I haven't seen any) :)

[Peter F.]

I'm currently working on a Social Groups app that should be released within the next week. It will be a paid app (probably in the region of $15).

[Wolfie]

I definitely agree with everything you said. Should be permissions per usergroup if they can create "membergroups" and if they can join other membergroups. Should also be permissions per usergroup if they can create a forum for their membergroup and if the membergroups they create are moderated. Erh, this is getting cloudy. Here's a list instead.

Here's my little idea of settings and features...

ACP
Would be best if this were treated as an application just as the Calendar is. That way, via the applications list, it can be completely disabled if desired.

Aside from settings, there should be tools available which allow the admin to override default settings per group, control membership and any other settings of the group. Should also have statistics of the groups, logs and any other maintenance type functions needed...

Applications/IP.Groups section
General Settings
Groups enabled? This would allow the admin to take it offline while being able to make changes, etc.

Maximum members per group: (minimum of 10, 0 for 'no limit')

Maximum co-owners per group: (between 1 and 10)

Require at least one co-owner to be appointed upon new group creation?

Allow a private calender per group?
Allow a group blog per group? (Must have IP.Blog installed)
Allow a group downloads per group? (Must have IP.Downloads installed)
Number of albums/sub-albums per group? (-1=no limit,0=none) (Must have IP.Gallery installed)
Number of forums/sub-forums per group? (-1=no limit, 0=none, 1=forum only with no subforums)

Available skins for forum. (can be overridden per group)

Also, settings for what to do when a group is deleted (delete content, where to move content to, etc)

Default forum settings
Settings to apply to new forums/subforums created for member groups. It would control where the forums are placed (subforums would automatically be placed within the groups 'root' forum). But also settings such as allowing html, bbcode, quick reply, polls, etc.

Would also include a default permission mask to apply to the forums (existing permission masks could be set to see or not see the forums, topics, etc).

This would basically be like setting up a new forum, but it would be a template to use when making new ones.

New group permission mask
This new mask would only be applied to anything that the 'IP.Groups' makes use of, but would be treated like a normal mask in that you decide about posting permissions, etc.

Let me explain. You might decide the the newly generated permission mask allows its members to see the forum (which would make sense) as well as seeing and even reading the posts, but you might without the posting/replying permissions. The group member wouldn't be able to post (or so it would seem). But with the default masks (from the default forum settings), a member group might have permission to post in the different group forums. Combined, they could post. This could be useful if you want to make sure that a new board member doesn't ignore the rest of the board before posting in the group areas.

So basically, a simple line of: Show Forum / Read Topics / Reply Topics / Start Topics / Upload / Download

Settings for Blog/Downloads/Gallery
Default settings to follow/apply to areas created for the group.

Creating groups
Members may make groups that are
[] Public (anyone can join)
[] Private (member must either be invited, or apply and be approved to join)
[] Invite only

Allow groups to password protect areas (such as forums)
Allow groups to have a homepage URL (URL would be public and could be used to link to another site the group uses)
Allow owners/co-owners to send out mass PM's/mails to their members? (would respect the members choice to not receive emails)
Report center access? (owners/co-owners access to see reports about content in the groups areas)


Member Group Settings (new tab in the member groups)
Basic permissions
May use IP.Groups (yes/no)
How many groups member may join (-1 unlimited, 0=none)
How many groups member may create or be owner/co-owner of? (-1 unlimited, 0=none)

Creating new groups
May create new groups? Yes/Yes (pending approval)/No
Member must be able to be an owner of a group and be able to join a group, ie, not already maxed.

Allow member to create new groups when they reach [__] (approved posts/days since joining)

Cost to create a new group?
(Just an idea to toy with, could use IP.Subscription to work)



Features for the owner/leader of a group...

May have up to (X number from ACP settings) number of co-owners.
Be able to pass the ownership to another member (provided that other member can own a group)
Create staff positions along with access/authority. (ie, moderate group forums, blogs, etc etc etc, who may invite ppl/approve joins, etc etc etc)
Public/Private/Invite only
'Homepage' of the group, which the public could see and read.
Group announcements (only viewable to group members)
Group name changing
Group description
Group image
URL (if permitted)
Ignore/block certain members from applying/joining
Kick/Ban members from the group (similar to ignore/block)
Choice of default skin for the forum/blog/etc
Be able to delete (dissolve) group.

[Owdy]

I'm currently working on a Social Groups app that should be released within the next week. It will be a paid app (probably in the region of $15).

Please post here when you release it.

[Tanax]

Any news regarding this? :)