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  • Subject: Private Groups and being annoying...
Subject: Private Groups and being annoying...
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  • Exalted Mythic Member
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Trying something once will increace your chances of success, because you tried it. Try someting twice, and your chances increase yet again - seeing as you've done it. Try something a few thousand times, and your chances of success is exponentially increased; this increase would likely provide success every time

TL;DR is at the bottom, due to the length.

These two really do go hand in hand if you think about it. You know, with the constant private message solicitors, and their uncanny ability to not stay in The Classifieds. Then there's those groups that look like they could be pretty decent. The ones that after you leave you have a black eye, two missing front teeth, a plastic leg, and two 40's super glued to your hands. Yea, those groups.

What if we could not only turn down the volume by allowing you to get messages less, but, what if we could also turn up the volume on the awesomeness factos? Giving groups a great amount of support, and tools to make that first "activity hurdle" almost a breeze. There's a few ideas that I have that could, potentially, make a group so easy to run, that a caveman could do it.

Group Invitation System - TL;DR

This is an idea of mine that I've been developing in my head for a little under a year now. I posted a thread months ago about this main idea, but I have changed and reworked a few things.

What if, we could improve both the groups and the invitees relationship? What if we could give them the essential tools for recruiting, while also protecting ourselves from spam? What if we could get groups to focus more on being a group, rather than advertising that they are one? What if being a group leader wasn't so daunting and bloody frustrating?

Groups would flourish.

Picture this, you're on the wrong end of an advertising nightmare. You log on to see 5-6 messages from the same group a day. Which inevitably, you block the users that are inviting you. Which is sad, but true; then what happens? The group is left to die a slow and miserable death; all because the recruiters got carried away in hopes of getting their group off the ground.

Now, what do I have in mind to make this so much more bearable? A group based recruitment system. The way it would work is rather simple; you have a box, you put a name in it, and you're done. Pretty simple, right? If only it were...if only it were.

Now, the ball buster to this idea is that everyone's profile would have a "Invite to Group" button. Which is honestly, the only way this idea could logically work. I can understand what you're probably thinking, but bear with me.

When this button is pressed they will be taken to a sub-menu under the other users profile. This would allow the user that's sending the invite to put their User Name, Group Name (selected by drop down only showing the groups that allow them to recruit VIA Security Roles), and a brief summary of what the group is about. They press submit, and it's off to the darkest corners of the servers.

The Soul, or some other server entity, perhaps on the brighter side of the spectrum, would send the invite to the invitee. Contained would be the information the other user had put in, in hopes of gaining a new recruit; along with a link to the group page for further convenience.

Then, along the bottom they'd have a few choices; much like Reply, Block, and Cancel are now. Instead though, the buttons would read Accept, Ignore, or Block. The Accept button would take your right to the Join Group page. The Ignore button would delete the message but allow you to get another message from the group after six months, should they have caught you in a bad mood.

Then, the Block button, this is what really makes this idea, in my opinion. Pressing this button would put you as a "Blacklist" recipient on that groups Invite list. Meaning? You'll never get an invite from them, ever again. Sounds pretty shin-diggity sweet, doesn't it? But wait, it gets even better, now hopping back over to the groups perspective.

As soon as a user receives an invite, they are added to an invite list viewable in the group. It would only be viewable to those with the right security roles; it would show who sent the Invite, who received the invite, and an invites status starting as Pending, this would mean that the invitee either hasn't opened it yet, or they're thinking about it. Another status would say Accepted if the invitee accepted the invitation; while another would say Ignored if the invitee ignored, and Blocked if the invitee decided to be added to the Group "Blacklist".

An Accepted invitee would be removed from the list in one week, just for references for groups. If they decide to leave the group within that week, they are added to the Group "Blacklist". An Ignored invitee would be removed from the list in 3 days, not to be seen or heard from again for six months, when the same group can send out a second, third, or even fourth invite (depending on how many times they've ignored the invite). The Blocked invitee that would rather be shot than to hear from this group again, would be long gone. They would never receive an invite ever again, and they could only join the group VIA free will.

Wow, didn't expect it to be that big...okay, let's fly through the next few ideas, shall we?

Various Other Ideas - TL;DR

Sort Users: Having a sort users list would be awesome, allowing us to sort members of a group by Title, Username, or even Join Date.

Group Search: I would honestly, just love to search my groups, better yet, a specific group.

Mass Group Message: This would use the same methods as the invite method shown above; it would use a server entity to complete, likely the same entity that would send out invites. This would allow group leaders and other members with the required security roles to send a mass group message; allowing them to also send a message to specific titles.

Send News to Members: This feature would be rather simple; any time a new article is posted, the person posting could mark "Send to Members" and everyone in the group would get the news as a message.

Customization: Bungie's games are all about it, why can't we make our own personalized piece of Bnet? Allow us to give moderators, admins, news guys, recruiters, members, and other various group roles their own special text color? Established by the admin and only changeable with Full Control, this could push their website to new boundaries. Does it do anything beneficial? No, but it would be freaking sweet.

Pictures: Yea, I'll be honest, I haven't really thought this one through, but I do think it would be pretty interesting to have. Give a security role inside the group to allow pictures to be posted, no GIF's, but just straight up still pictures.

Not only would we finally hear the end of "Let us post pictures!", but we would also be able to keep the public forums clean and fancy.

FIN

I'm sorry this is so bloody long, I didn't mean for it to be and I've tried to shrink it down multiple times. Anywho, if you've stuck it out with me here, I appreciate you taking the time to read through my ideas. Any criticism, lolrokitz, or support you have would be greatly appreciated. To recap:

TL;DR

Having a group inviting system that would not only make it easier to send out invites, but also allow you to not have to worry about them. Actually, here's a question, how would you like to receive less invites? A crazy idea, yes, but it's so crazy it might be possible with my main idea:

Group Invitation System
Various Other Ideas

Not only can we stop the invites from being so ungodly annoying, but we can also give groups the kick start they deserve.

  • 05.24.2011 3:31 PM PDT

In a time long past, the armies of the dark came again to the lands of men. Their leaders became known as the fallen lords, and their terrible sorcery was without equal in the west.
In 30 years they reduced the civilized nations into carrion and ash. Until the free city of Madrigal alone defined them. An army gathered there, and a desperate battle was joined against the fallen
Heros were born in the fire and bloodshed of the wars which followed and their names and deeds will never be forgotten

Posted by: Rokit
TL;DR is at the bottom, due to the length.
The Soul, or some other server entity, perhaps on the brighter side of the spectrum, would send the invite to the invitee. Contained would be the information the other user had put in, in hopes of gaining a new recruit; along with a link to the group page for further convenience.
[/quote]


I think I would blam myself if I see a soul message of any kind.

  • 05.24.2011 3:33 PM PDT
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Brilliant!

I do think the Group Invitation system does need to be tweaked a bit though. Since one bad invite will make sure that a group will not be able to PM you for six entire months it seems like this could be abused for griefing purposes. I have no idea why, but the point is it COULD happen.

I have two suggestions:
1. Make it so that only certain security roles can invite you on behalf of the group
2. Decrease the time from six months to 1-3 months

  • 05.24.2011 3:39 PM PDT

Posted by: Great_Pretender
Case and point: don't worry about it. Girls start getting boobies pretty soon, and then you'll have plenty of other things to think about. Being an Inheritor is not a life goal.
-TGP-

I like the customization and mass group message the best, but the entirety is good as well.

  • 05.24.2011 3:43 PM PDT

Words of wisdom all around, but no one ever seems to listen. The words are all around but the words are only sound. But nobody seems to listen. Instead they'll say, "Well how could we of known?" I'll tell em, "It's really not so hard to tell. keep adding stones, and the water gets lost in the well."

B.net Group Homepage-Forge Cafe {} Youtube Channel-ForgeCafeVideos

You really make it seem like getting messages over Bungie.net is beginning to break your spirit. I am rollin' with you on the group invite thing, but as far as a massive change to limit headaches, I just think you are looking a little too much into it.

Just ignore, or delete. Not meaning to make it seem like your argument is not reasonable, because it is. I just don't see it being a big enough problem to really even address.

  • 05.24.2011 3:45 PM PDT

I skimmed but I've always been a fan of groups being tagged by administrators and then you could search based on that. What if you could "sort" users to allow admins (or maybe someone with that power granted to them) to see a list of people who are applicable to the groups interest. If you left the field blank you wouldn't show up at all. One bonus for using that system would be that you could have a saved form already and the message would be a button right beside the users name. I'm thinking a limit would be necessary as well.

  • 05.24.2011 4:10 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Mythic Member
  • gamertag: Rokitz
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Want to know more about me? Check out my Community Joes interview.

Trying something once will increace your chances of success, because you tried it. Try someting twice, and your chances increase yet again - seeing as you've done it. Try something a few thousand times, and your chances of success is exponentially increased; this increase would likely provide success every time

Posted by: undr zid
Just ignore, or delete. Not meaning to make it seem like your argument is not reasonable, because it is. I just don't see it being a big enough problem to really even address.

Just as a note, I thought of this idea as a Group Founder. It would make starting a group a lot easier without having to worry if you've messaged someone already.

The idea isn't to limit messages, but to make it easier to send them while not making it too easy. I'm glad you got the hint though, I wanted to make sure that was an obvious one; when I pitched this idea when I first thought of it way back when. It was the one thing everyone kept bringing up.

That being said, the messages weren't my main concern. The ease of inviting others was.
Posted by: Negative 9
I do think the Group Invitation system does need to be tweaked a bit though. Since one bad invite will make sure that a group will not be able to PM you for six entire months it seems like this could be abused for griefing purposes. I have no idea why, but the point is it COULD happen.

This is why the name would disappear off their list in 3 days. Unless they're keeping tabs on all of the users who Ignore the message, then they wouldn't know if they sent you one in the past 6 months or not (unless they try to). Though, this further pushes why I suggested six months; it's long enough that the person may have forgotten about you, but short enough that it gives you time to consider and go all incognito on their asses.
I have two suggestions:
1. Make it so that only certain security roles can invite you on behalf of the group
2. Decrease the time from six months to 1-3 months

The security roles part is in there, but due to its length I made it less important than my other points I wanted to get across. (Sixth paragraphs into the first section, and 3 paragraphs from the second section; describing all of what the group would see.

See my reasoning for the six month wait time above. Further determent from the group being butt hurt and inviting you again very rapidly and annoying like.

  • 05.24.2011 4:14 PM PDT

Have you seen my mind anywhere? I seem to have lost it...

0x0 x0x 0x0 000 000 x0x 000
x0x 0x0 0x0 0xx 000 0x0 000
x0x x0x x00 0xx 0x0 x0x 0x0

I have seen you future

While I think this would help keep people from spamming messages, it is just treating the symptom, not the disease.

By doing this you will stop people from sending you a bunch of messages, but group admins are still stuck trying to get their groups started, and still just have to send invites to a bunch of people hoping a few of them respond.

What we need to do is make it easier for groups to find the right people and for people to find the right group.

For people finding groups they should make it possible for an admin in a group to add tags to the group, similar to those on YouTube videos. A user could search "forge" and get a list of different groups dedicated to forge.

To make groups more able to find people you should add a psych profile to the settings page. Users can choose what type of groups they are interested in hearing about, so they can get more invites for those groups they want to hear from and less from those that they don't. When an admin (or someone granted recruiting power, similarly to what you mentioned above) decides to recruit, they can have a list of people who are interested in their kind of group.

This allows for more targeted recruiting and would make it easier for groups to get started and get active.

  • 05.24.2011 5:12 PM PDT

I do like this idea.

I really do. It would make a lot of group leaders happy.

  • 05.24.2011 6:32 PM PDT

Mythical Group

There is no greater catharsis than arguing on the Flood.

Maintaining a group will always be a rocky road because it's just hard to find people who are interested and become convinced to stick around. While I see the process being easier to some extent, I don't see it being faster, because they obviously wouldn't allow you to "spam" invites to members (more than a person every 30 seconds).

[Edited on 05.24.2011 6:42 PM PDT]

  • 05.24.2011 6:42 PM PDT
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"An it harm none, do what ye will..."

Hey, I have a random question... as group administrator, how do I add pics to my role's nameplates? Take a look at Black Water Ops' group and look at the nameplates of thier ranks. How do they do that?

  • 07.06.2011 4:41 PM PDT

AV=http://avatar.coolclip.ru/albums/Avatars/Avatars%2090x90/A vatars_90x90_022.gif
BG=http://avatar.coolclip.ru/albums/Avatars/Avatars%2090x90/A vatars_90x90_022.gif

Group system plain sucks. I agree.

Edit: Wtf. Lol this got bumped. ^

[Edited on 07.06.2011 4:48 PM PDT]

  • 07.06.2011 4:45 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Mythic Member
  • gamertag: Rokitz
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Want to know more about me? Check out my Community Joes interview.

Trying something once will increace your chances of success, because you tried it. Try someting twice, and your chances increase yet again - seeing as you've done it. Try something a few thousand times, and your chances of success is exponentially increased; this increase would likely provide success every time

O hai ancient thread.
Posted by: D3athduo
Hey, I have a random question... as group administrator, how do I add pics to my role's nameplates? Take a look at Black Water Ops' group and look at the nameplates of thier ranks. How do they do that?

Looking at the group, and your post history, I can only assume they're alt-codes.

Also, seeing as this thread is old, withered, and wrinkly, I have long since changed my thought process. I'm in complete agreement with CTN, but if invitations will still be a part of B.Net groups, then I'd still back it.


[Edited on 07.06.2011 4:53 PM PDT]

  • 07.06.2011 4:48 PM PDT
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  • Fabled Mythic Member

R.I.P. DeathPimp. Never Ending Respect.

"Posted by: Kickimanjaro
I'm trying to become an '04, but it's not working too well."

....Is the slingshot ready?

We could just use that as a group invitation system.


"COME JOIN MY AWESOME GROU- AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa............. *bing*"

  • 07.06.2011 4:49 PM PDT