Bike Theft Task Force Group-- READ ME FIRST
NING's group interface does not lend itself well to action-oriented
use-- the comments disappear to quickly and don't allow basic things
like quoting, and the discussions tend to not be "seen" and end up
forgotten after a few days.
Thus, some suggestions/requests for how to make this tool work for fighting the bike theft problem:
1) Make frequent use of the "send message to entire group" feature to let
people know of upcoming actions or to solicit specific types of help.
This sends an e-mail alert to most users (unless they've turned all
e-mail alerts off in their prefs, in which case they're probably not
that involved anyways). As a group member please expect a few more group
messages than from other groups.
2) The comments are disabled for now-- I've watched how they work in other groups and they are not
good for much more than social chatter or passing along entertaining
items. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the focus of this
group is on saving Chicago from the bike thieves-- we wanna get chit
done. The discussion pane has the maximum (10) discussions visible
which should be enough.
3) You are strongly urged to go the extra step to "follow" each of the discussions by clicking on the follow link
at the bottom of that discussion view. Alas that this is enabled in the
comment wall by default but not in the discussions.
4) Post early and often. Threads and pixels are free. There are no stupid
questions.
5) I will probably never let go of a belief that we can accomplish more if we can leave hierarchical systems of organization behind-- thus in terms of this effort -everyone's- a leader as the
situation dictates or necessitates; give a shout if you'd like admin
privs for this group.
use-- the comments disappear to quickly and don't allow basic things
like quoting, and the discussions tend to not be "seen" and end up
forgotten after a few days.
Thus, some suggestions/requests for how to make this tool work for fighting the bike theft problem:
1) Make frequent use of the "send message to entire group" feature to let
people know of upcoming actions or to solicit specific types of help.
This sends an e-mail alert to most users (unless they've turned all
e-mail alerts off in their prefs, in which case they're probably not
that involved anyways). As a group member please expect a few more group
messages than from other groups.
2) The comments are disabled for now-- I've watched how they work in other groups and they are not
good for much more than social chatter or passing along entertaining
items. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the focus of this
group is on saving Chicago from the bike thieves-- we wanna get chit
done. The discussion pane has the maximum (10) discussions visible
which should be enough.
3) You are strongly urged to go the extra step to "follow" each of the discussions by clicking on the follow link
at the bottom of that discussion view. Alas that this is enabled in the
comment wall by default but not in the discussions.
4) Post early and often. Threads and pixels are free. There are no stupid
questions.
5) I will probably never let go of a belief that we can accomplish more if we can leave hierarchical systems of organization behind-- thus in terms of this effort -everyone's- a leader as the
situation dictates or necessitates; give a shout if you'd like admin
privs for this group.
Views: 20
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on
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Also, I'm wondering if we should skip the calendar listings and use this group to announce upcoming actions; for one they may be a hair too public (not like this group is private) but mostly there was some good discussion in the listing comments and I hate to see that go away after the event is past.
I'll start with a thread about next Saturday. -
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Permalink Reply by Laura on
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I think that disabling the comments and starting threads with in this group is causing things to be not read or double posted (I myself am a little overwhelmed at all the dif threads). Right now most people are posting in the thread for june 12th ride, but also some people posted for the june 5th ride. once the 12th ride is over, people will most likely stop posting there. Again causing the same problem with posting information in the calendar event.
Maybe you should rename the june 12th thread and make it just for a discussion on how to go about retreiving bikes/talking to sellers at S-o-R instead of it stating June 12th. or open up the comments section so its all in one place -
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Well, a number of people have asked within the June 5th thread that the discussion be moved to the group but there are so many people who don't read a discussion before responding . . .
This thread can be renamed after June 12, no? Also I don't know if you're aware that there's a calendar listing for June 12 that links specifically to the June 12 thread and asks that people RSVP/comment there.
In my experience with the comments in active groups they become impossible to follow and extremely redundant because most people don't click back two or three pages and then read in reverse order to follow the discussion. And all the discussions in such groups go inactive and rot after an initial burst, and after that point they are not "seen."
Is it OK if we wait a while longer? It seems to me enabling comments would create yet another redundancy.
Laura said:I think that disabling the comments and starting threads with in this group is causing things to be not read or double posted (I myself am a little overwhelmed at all the dif threads). Right now most people are posting in the thread for june 12th ride, but also some people posted for the june 5th ride. once the 12th ride is over, people will most likely stop posting there. Again causing the same problem with posting information in the calendar event.
Maybe you should rename the june 12th thread and make it just for a discussion on how to go about retreiving bikes/talking to sellers at S-o-R instead of it stating June 12th. or open up the comments section so its all in one place -
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