Feedback: Social Groups

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Really? Well I can see it fine even without being a member. Glitch?

I can't be sure but I know I can't access any of the images and I've checked like about more than half to test out whether or not I can access them. It could be a bug in the new VB that are being resistant to some users aka aoie >.<

ps: I'm actually interested to see if other members can't view them too like some who can. (it's not my settings, correct?)

[Solace]

I've been unable to view images directly from groups. I get the "must join" error. I can see the thumbnails, just not the full size versions.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by NightWish

I must admit, I am unable to reproduce Deathkillz/Xellos-_^'s results myself. Staff can see all content, but when using reduced privileges I need to be a member of the group to see the full sized image. Thumbnails work fine, but clicking produces a "you must join" error (which, while undesirable, is what I would expect, given what I've seen of the forum's code). Xellos-_^ or Deathkillz, which group and which image, specifically, have you proven this with?

Ah...then I guess I misunderstood.

I can see the images as a thumbnail but actually trying to look at the full picture does produce the "you need to be a member" error. Sorry, I thought you guys can't even see the thumbnails (and I actually didn't try enlarging them by clicking).

So yea...

Stange why this happens though even when the box requiring membership is unchecked.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Solace

I've been unable to view images directly from groups. I get the "must join" error. I can see the thumbnails, just not the full size versions.

oh ok, i get it now i have the same problem then.

i am guessing that is not really a technical glitich but something built in.

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Stange why this happens though even when the box requiring membership is unchecked.

It is either a bug or as Cats said, a design flaw. The software is coded to check that you are a member of the group, if you are, no problem, if not you can only see the pictures if you can moderate the group. Seems brain-dead to me, but I assume the "content" option in the group configuration covers the messages and thumbnails .

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

I can't be sure but I know I can't access any of the images and I've checked like about more than half to test out whether or not I can access them. It could be a bug in the new VB that are being resistant to some users aka aoie >.<

ps: I'm actually interested to see if other members can't view them too like some who can. (it's not my settings, correct?)

I guess we've established it already, but just to conclude what others have said: 1) the photography social group does not have the requirement that people join to see content, because I wanted anyone to be able to browse the images, and 2) I'm also unable to see images from groups unless I'm a member, and I'd previously assumed that others were being a bit elitest about it.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

I guess we've established it already, but just to conclude what others have said: 1) the photography social group does not have the requirement that people join to see content, because I wanted anyone to be able to browse the images, and 2) I'm also unable to see images from groups unless I'm a member, and I'd previously assumed that others were being a bit elitest about it.

Yeah. After reading the post under mine and I did a little "social group" mini experiment myself, I got the gist of what was happening.

*more testing now ^^*

[Sorrow-K]

To bring up another issue which goes back to my original point:

Even if we did figure out some way for users to see content such as images in social groups they aren't a member of, members still don't have the power or flexibility over such content that they would have if they were posting it in regular forum posts. What's the max image size users can upload into their albums or onto social groups? 100kb? 200kb? You could equally use any image hosting website with a size limit of 1MB or 2MB. And they still generate a thumbnail for you. And they have the advantage of being hosted outside, so they won't be a drain on the server's bandwidth.

Also, how are the social groups regulated? I mean, at the moment, you could be as esoteric as you please, as evidenced by the currently existing "Yuuki fanclub" or the 1.72 million Nanoha fanclubs which appears to be just about to devolve into a separate fanclub for each of the intelligence devices. It's all rather messy right now, IMO. There are discussion threads dedicated to all these characters in the forums... this just seems like an excuse to have a circle jerk.

Edit: Quotes. Automatically hyperlinked URLs. Youtube videos. Spoilers. As far as I can see, you can do none of those things in social groups. Yet, even if you could, it'd make either the main forum posts or the social groups redundant. I can't see what social groups offer that the normal forum doesn't, except the chance to be in a somewhat exclusive group.

[Seditary]

I'm not sure myself what the purpose of social groups would be. Only thing I can think of is large amounts of either fanboy/girl-ism, ranting, OT discussion or extreme niche.

There's pretty much available space/places in the actual forums for pretty much anything people would discuss/display.

I'm wondering what other people think AS should utilize social groups for? 'Insert generic Why have them? question here'

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Even if we did figure out some way for users to see content such as images in social groups they aren't a member of, members still don't have the power or flexibility over such content that they would have if they were posting it in regular forum posts. What's the max image size users can upload into their albums or onto social groups? 100kb? 200kb? You could equally use any image hosting website with a size limit of 1MB or 2MB. And they still generate a thumbnail for you. And they have the advantage of being hosted outside, so they won't be a drain on the server's bandwidth.

The current limit on the images you can upload is 600x600 and 92.# kb. NightWish has said that they'll be evaluating the excess demand that this imposes on the server and that they can change the limits if need be, or even remove the feature. I'd say that this feature isn't intended to replace those image hosting sites like ImageShack or Photobucket, but it's a nice way of quickly putting up some images to share within the community.

Also, how are the social groups regulated? I mean, at the moment, you could be as esoteric as you please, as evidenced by the currently existing "Yuuki fanclub" or the 1.72 million Nanoha fanclubs which appears to be just about to devolve into a separate fanclub for each of the intelligence devices. It's all rather messy right now, IMO. There are discussion threads dedicated to all these characters in the forums... this just seems like an excuse to have a circle jerk.

Agreed with on this, as of now it's very disorderly and it's likely only going to continue as people realize the feature, see the current trend of social groups, and then rush to add their own.

As of now, the social groups seem to be used such that people are using it to show off that they are fans of a certain series, or character(s) within a series. That need could (and perhaps should) already be met by creating threads in forums dedicated to those series, through signatures, and so on.

I felt that the social groups should allow people to have miniature areas dedicated to things besides anime; other hobbies that would allow you to show that you have a certain hobby and then find and connect with other members who have that same hobby. Thus, members could be more social with each other as they have the ability to find out a bit more about each other, and relate to each other on those terms. But you could argue that relating based on a certain character accomplishes the same goal, or that one could easily do that by creating a thread dedicated to a certain hobby in the general discussion forum (which has been done). It's definitely a grey area at this point, and there's no right or wrong way to go about it.

[Aoie_Emesai]

We're in the test area like Ledgem said so it really would be messy and unregulated at the moment. As time passes, we'll most likely be removing some of them with limited uses, since I've seen some that seems to act like sub forums.

[Deathkillz]

Yes, there isn't a whole lot you can do with the "social clubs" becuase of the lack of functions. I can even use the slash code for instance (which is retarded? ).
I don't expect this to last long though unless there are some guidelines but I'll just enjoy the fun for now

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

I can even use the slash code for instance

Slash code? Is this a shortcoming in the forum software, of which I am unaware, or something we might have switched off? A lot of the BB code has been switched off, but I cannot think what you mean by slash code. Compile a list of issues, bugs, changes, etc. and I can add them to my list of "things that need resolving".

[Deathkillz]

Here's what I get for being vague without any technical knowledge.

SLASH BB codes

Sorry for the confusion

[Radiosity]

Them's called 'Strikethrough' deathy

[Xellos-_^]

A suggestion for the Social Groups.

you guys might want to consider putting the different groups into different catagories.

Anime and Manag Series Groups
Anime and Manga Character groups
Creativity Groups
Religion, Culture and ethnic groups

Right now it is bit of a mess but it is manageable but when you have more groups it will be very messy.

[NightWish]

Unfortunately, no such options exists at this time.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by NightWish

Unfortunately, no such options exists at this time.

that sucks

[NoSanninWa]

Personally I'm finding that social groups are a bit of a disappointment. They do little that cannot be done in a thread, but they don't have all the features available to threads.

I think that the social groups are only good for character fanclubs since their membership requirement will help prevent shipping. Anything else should be done in a thread instead.

Okay... it is a little bit interesting that they can construct a group image gallery that everyone can contribute to, but AnimeSuki is not an image board so I don't think that feature should be important here.

[felix]

You say that NSW, but it's really only because we've abused and extended the abilities of a thread far beyon their intended pupose. I still think SG have their place, if not for anything but the great example set by Ledgem's Digital Photographers United group. Normal threads in the same situation have a high chance of becoming unbalanced (too many images, too serious discussion, too much time between posts... etc) but the SG should do just fine.