Hi Mark, the only question I have is the default album. Can that be turned off for a group? Our buying and selling group doesn't allow attachments in emails. Also, will it be a requirement to resize the photos? I hope not since most users have a hard time adding the photos and the required information let along resizing the photos.

Only the person who uploaded a photo and the moderators can edit or delete a photo.

You'll see there's a default album, Emailed Photos, which contains all the photos that have been sent as attachments to your group.

There's definitely a tradeoff with having lots of off-topic posts they dilute the value for some users, but also allow a
community to form. The nice thing about groups.io is that if posts on other topics are assigned a tag, then users can opt out of
them if they don't want them
On Mar 27, 2015 11:38 AM, "Feathered Leader" <featheredleader@att.net> wrote:
I'm finally caught up in here and want to reply to this.

Mark Fletcher wrote:>>1) What characteristics do you think make a successful group?<<

I think a lot of that depends on the type of group. If you have a group that is centered around a particular topic,
such as Star Wars for example, the success rate would be making sure all who participate contribute to that topic.
Unlike many other group owners though, I consider lurkers to be just fine. Many people don't want to actively
participate and just want to read for content. As long as they don't hurt anyone or cause issues, I see no harm in
that.

But if you have a group with a mission, say like my Yahoo Mods and Members group that was created to fight for our
Classic Groups, if you fail the mission does that make the group unsuccessful? I have to say no. The first time we
crusaded, we did save Classic Groups. This time around, we're not having that success. But the group is active,
thriving, and engaged in also trying to get Yahoo fixed, or help people flee to sites such as this one. So I still
consider it successful on many levels.

I disagree though with all those who said that too many Off Topic posts are detrimental to the success of a group. It
completely depends on the group. In a topic oriented group, it comes down to whether or not the off topic discussions
benefit the group or not. And I only refer to discussions, NOT forwards, silly photos or witty things. I discourage
those in all my groups for the most part, because everyone's taste is different, and you never know who will be
offended.

But here's a good example of off topic discussion being relevant and helpful in a topic oriented group. If a huge
National disaster happens, such as 9-11, or a huge weather event is happening, it often helps the members to discuss
those happenings with one another, as well as to verify that everyone on the group is safe. Even in strict topic
groups, coming together in times of trouble like this is almost always beneficial.

There are other reasons to restrict humorous forwards and other off topic discussions as well. For example, in Mods
and Members, I had to stop all off topic forwards, witty things, and etc. because that group is public, and  I was
concerned what the public and press would think upon seeing them. And again, you never know what sort of thing will
offend someone, so in that case I preferred to err on the side of caution.

One other example though, is of a group with no set topic. My group Hollow Tree, for example is one of those. It's a
group where people can come together and chat about almost anything, and I only interfere if it gets out of hand.
That group is a success by it's own merit, not by staying on topic.

Basically, there's a time for OT posts and a time to limit or stop them.. And that is always the owners' choice of
when to do either.

Mark wrote:>>2) What characteristics do you think make a good moderator?<<

Well, I've always claimed that I'm not a very good moderator, but everyone tells me otherwise. So I define this based
on my belief.

A good Owner or Moderator has to be someone who cares about the group and it's purpose. They have to be a fair and
open minded person, who examines all sides of an issue before taking action, other than in extreme situations. For
example, if someone posts something on the group that's clearly encouraging something illegal, delete first and
consider second.

A good Owner or Moderator also has to be non biased, towards the members. If there is a bias or grudge between any of
the members and the Owner or Moderator, another Moderator should be assigned to handle any members others aren't
comfortable with. that prevents anything being done against the member due to the history between them and the
moderator or owner, and evens the field for equal treatment for all.

And last, I believe a good Owner or Moderator should be VERY visible. Not necessarily in the moderator or owner hat
mode, but just to be there for questions, to be consulted, or make sure they are on top of what is going on. For the
most part, I can safely say that I have always been that for my groups. However, last year things got really complex
with my parents and the rioting in Ferguson, and I slacked off considerably. I relied on my moderators to help me
maintain the group.

So I'm not certain that I'm in that "good" Owner/Moderator role at this time, but my passion to rescue people from
Yahoo, my desire to move us to a better platform, such as this one, and my fervent enthusiasm to continue to state
the truth have not changed if that makes any difference.

Brenda
Nightowl >8#

On Wed, Mar 25, 2015 at 03:47 pm, rajmund brajmund2000@gmail.com wrote:

Hmm, the button didn't show up. If I enabled javascript, then, the whole browser locks up. Any ideas? I think more
and more group owners will come here, and I think it is important to stay in the competition. Things that use
mailman, and or freelists, they are 100% accessible, With what I have. Now, this is not bashing, but rather, helping
out.
Hmm, that's disappointing that it didn't fix the problem. I apologize, but there's little else I can do. To support IE6, the
entire web site would have to be re-architected, and many features that people expect from a website these days would have to be
dropped.
Mark