Groups

Groups are members coming together to collaborate, inspire, educate or entertain typically around common interests or goals.

A few reasons you might form a group

• To become a hub to help the community learn a skill. Possible topics include skinning, texturing, data packs, working with red stone, 3D modeling, pixel art, video production, server management and more.
• To raise awareness or inspire others by curating collections of outstanding content and promoting rising stars within the community.
• To organize engaging community contests, events or activities.
• To manage ambitious long term collaborative projects requiring a range of talents to accomplish.
• To have fun and socialize with others that share common interests.

Group founders can create roles with various permissions and invite other members to help them accomplish what the group was established for. A well organized and managed group with common goals ideally works together to achieve something greater than they could alone. Sometimes that means bringing together a wide range of talents and sometimes a task is easier to manage when the work is divided.

Ultimately, a group is just an idea. An idea that could grow.

First, you need an good idea for a Group. What's a good idea? We can't tell you and that's part of what is fun about them. We don't know what groups will grow to be.

At this time, you must be level 10 or higher.
Create a group by submitting a group application!

Tips for getting approved

• Read the entire Groups FAQ to get an idea of what groups can do.
• Know what your group mission or common goals are.
  
• Choose a concise and clear title for your group.
• Be able to describe your group in one or two sentences.
• Be a good member in our community.

Once your application is submitted

• Moderators will review your application when time permits.
• If approved or denied, you will receive a notification.
• If you do not receive a notification, it means we're thinking about it. Maybe it will be approved in the future.
• You can only have two pending group applications at a time.

Joining a Group

Group founders invite other members to have roles in their group. Any member can choose to follow a group but not officially join one without an invitation from either a founder or someone with an Admin role assigned by the founder. It is up to the group whether they have open positions.

Leaving a Group

To leave a group, visit the group profile page and on the profile bar, click more options button and select "Leave Group".

Following a Group

Any member can follow a group to show support as well as receive updates on their activity on their home page and personalized feeds.

Who can send invitations?

Founders and members they assigned Admin role can invite other members to different roles within the group. Founders, to manage roles and invites, visit your group profile and click "Group" on the profile bar .

The invited member will receive a notification as well as information about the role and its given permissions. They can choose to accept or decline the invitation.

Accepting an Invitation

If you accept an invitation, you will immediately join the group and gain the role's permissions. The group profile will refresh to unlock access to certain abilities. The group will receive confirmation that you've joined and you'll appear on their group members page.

Declining an Invitation

If you decline an invitation, that's it. Nothing happens, besides the group receiving a notification that you prefer not to join.

Group founders and admin can create up to 10 unique roles to assign members of their group.
Examples might include "Managers", "Art Curators", "Technical Writers", "Consultants", "Mutants"...

Each role can have different permissions assigned. Some roles might simply be titles without any additional granted permissions. Roles might be focused on maintaining the profile page widgets or curating collections of content. It's up to the group and its needs.

Current Assignable Permissions to Roles

psst, group founders, if this gets outdated please let us know! In addition, feel free to send group feature ideas via tickets.

Multiple Roles

Members can belong to multiple roles in a group and their permissions will merge. They will have to accept each role invitation.

Special Roles

There are two special roles in Groups that all start with:

1. Admin always has all permissions. You can only customize the name. Be very careful assigning this role to other members.
   
2. everyone always has no permissions.

Group Founders & Admin perm only.

What roles does your group need?

It completely depends on what your group is about. Think about what roles the group needs to accomplish its goals. Not all groups need custom roles and not all roles need permissions. Sometimes a role is simply for organization or title purposes. You can even assign members to multiple roles merging permissions or crediting them for multiple reasons.

Creating a Group Role

1. Open your group profile page.
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. On the left, click add_circle above the Roles on the left.
4. Give your role a name and click Create.
5. Optionally assign permissions in the center. You can change at anytime.
6. Invite members on the right.

Modifying a Group Role

1. Open your group profile page.
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. Click the role you want to modify.
4. Change the name, permissions or assigned members.

Deleting a Group Role

1. Open your group profile page
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. Right click the role you want to delete.

Note: Deleting a role with members in it will reassign them to the "everyone" role. They will lose all permissions unless they are assigned other roles.

Group founders and Admin perm only.

Think before you grant permissions & invite members.

Think about what roles and permissions the group needs to accomplish its overall goals. Be careful assigning permissions, in particular the Admin role. It's better to create a role and only grant permissions necessary to accomplish that role. Some roles don't need any permissions, they might simply need a title depending on what the group or role is about.

Important: Unless you fully trust someone, don't assign them the Admin role or grant the admin permission to their role. Founders are protected from being removed from the group by other Admin but other than that, you are giving them the same control you have over the group.

Modifying permissions for a group role

1. Open your group profile page.
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. Select a role
4. Grant or revoke by clicking the toggle for a given permission.

Restriction: You can not modify Admin or everyone role permissions. They are special all or nothing default roles.

Current Assignable Permissions

psst, group founders, if this is outdated please let us know! In addition, feel free to send feature ideas via tickets.

Founders and Admin permission only

While it's not a requirement, Groups allow more than one member to work together. Consider creating roles and delegating tasks to friends and members with the skills or at least the motivation to fulfill the role. With the right team, a group can accomplish more while working smarter, not harder.

Inviting Members

After setting up a role and it's permissions, you can invite members into them. Ideally, you've already established a prior connection or relationship in some capacity so they are more likely to accept your invitation.

1. Open your group profile page.
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. Create or select the role you intend to invite members to.
4. Enter a member's username into the "Assign Member" input
5. Select their username to send an invitation via the notification system.
   

Invitation Status

Please be patient as the member may not be online or may need time to consider the role. When they accept or decline, your group will receive a notification.

You can also check on the status by viewing the role. Steps 1-3 above.

If they accept, they will gain the permissions of the role!
If they decline, that's it. Respect their decision.

Managing existing members in roles

Over time, you may need to periodically remove inactive members from roles. All members can leave the group on their own but sometimes they need to be manually removed.

1. Open your group profile page.
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. Select the role with the member you want to remove.
4. In the "ASSIGNED" list of members, click the remove_circle remove icon

Remember members can be assigned to multiple roles.

Founders, Admin and roles with FAQ permission

Don't wait to setup an FAQ

You don't have to wait until your audience asks questions to anticipate and setup Frequently Asked Questions. Sometimes basic questions are never asked because it can be easier to just move on from something you don't understand. If those questions are already answered, organized and easily accessible, a person begins to learn about a topic they might otherwise would pass by. From their they can either understand enough to get involved / follow or ask more advanced questions.

No one asked how to create an FAQ before we created this one.

How to create an FAQ

Founders, Admin and roles with Widget permission

1. Add the FAQ widget to your group profile.
2. View the full page of the FAQ and click "Edit"

Founders, Admin and roles with FAQ permission will now be able to manage FAQs and organize them in up to 10 different categories.

All FAQs start with the default "Frequently Asked Questions" category. You can change the name or simply start populating it with questions and their answers.

Organizing FAQs

FAQs are all about providing a fast an easy way for your audience to get answers saving both the group and your audience time. Take some time to organize them in a way that is easy to scan.

FAQ Categories
You can create up to 10 categories for your FAQs. You can order your categories by clicking and dragging.

Individual FAQs
You can order your existing FAQs by clicking and dragging. In addition, you can move an FAQ from one category to another simply by dragging and dropping it into the other category.

Tips

1. Make the question easy to read. Try to condense it down without being too wordy. Viewers will scan your FAQ looking for their own question.
2. Answer the question in the same way. After answering it quickly, you can always elaborate, add illustrations and break it into parts as you see here.
3. Stay on topic, if you find your answer is trying to cover too much, it might need multiple FAQs. Break it apart to simplify and make the content easier to find.

The FAQ you're reading now is an example of anticipating common questions and attempting to organize them in a way that both shows what groups are about and of course answer common questions. There will most likely be additional questions that we see from the community that should be added. Got one?

Founders, Admin and Collections permission only.

Purposes

The most common purpose for group collections is to allow curated content to be gathered by the group to present to its followers and the community. Having multiple members seeking relevant content helps divide up the effort to maintain quality collections. It's up to the group to decide what collections benefit the group's overall mission or goals.

Examples

• Curated quality content relevant to the group
• Promoting members or content
• Gathering tutorials around a common topic
• Showing prime examples of a particular concept

How to manage Group collections

If you're you have access to manage collections for a group, they will appear as a separate Group folder beneath your personal collection management. You can create, add, remove and even drag items or entire collections from your personal into the group collections.

For the most part, it's just like managing your own collections except multiple members are collaborating on a single collection.

Displaying Collections on your Group Profile

Founders, Admin and Widget permission only.

While public group collections will appear in the site's community collections, your group can prominently display collections as widgets on your group profile.

A collection's visibility depends on its location, size and display format. A well designed profile will showcase what's important in a way that is easy for the community and followers to view.

There are 5 display formats for collection widgets:

1. Small Icons
   Consider for large collections where the preview images are easy to read.
2. Medium Icons
   Consider for curated collections where the preview images speak for themselves.
3. Large Icons
   Consider for carefully curated collections where only a few items make it into the collection.
4. Compact List Format with Image
   Consider for curated collections of content that helps to have a readable title.
5. Compact List Format Text Only
   Consider for lists of tutorials or written content.

Founders, Admin and Content permission only

Group Publications

Sometimes rather than collecting content published by members of the group or the community, a Group might opt to publish the content as the Group itself. Content published by members with the content permission can edit or remove only their own contributions while the admin permission allows editing and removing all contributions to the group.

Publishing Content from Member to Group

Members can work on content on their own account prior to publishing it for the Group. Sometimes it's good to have a solid draft before asking others to proof read or contribute. You will see a select drop down at the bottom of the submission form to publish as the group provided you have permission to do so.

Group XP, Leveling & Ranks

Similar to members, Groups can earn XP and level up but many groups can accomplish their goals without publishing any content as the Group.

At this time, the only way for operated Groups to earn XP is through its members publishing content as the Group.

The XP is not shared with any members or the Founder. The Group is effectively working together for the Group, not for necessarily themselves. That said, Groups and their content can and will naturally promote their members via roles, crediting, contributions and other members of the community by featuring their content in Collections, Wall posts, etc.

Maintain Update Logs

It's a good idea to maintain a content update log when working as a Group. The update logs will credit the member that is updating. This allows the Group and the public to know who, why and when content updates. Even if you don't post a public summary log, there is a log of all updates that includes who, when and what changed.

Transferring Content from Group to Member

Only the original author of the content can transfer it back to their personal account. Mistakes happen and this allows them to be reversed. A log of all content transfers is kept for potential review.

Admin permission can choose to remove content

If you are the founder or have the admin permission, you can remove contributions by members with the content permission. Doing so, removes it from the group and transfers ownership back to the original author. It does not delete it from the platform. If the content breaks any site rules, remove it and file a report.

Purpose

Having and presenting a good Group mission statement or goals will help the group, it's members and followers a purpose. Your potential members will have a solid idea of what it is their trying to accomplish and can therefore help plan, organize and manage the group's profile, content, collections and keep inspiration flowing for wall posts that stay relatively on topic. Without a purpose a group is more likely to fall apart over time. With strong leadership and goals a group can evolve and grow!

Clear Group Description

Groups have a special description that appears on your group listing and can be used to clearly present the purpose of your group in one or two sentences. Try to summarize why the group exists in a way that new members can both understand, support and talk about the group easily to others. Of course, you're hoping everyone will visit your profile page to get the full picture.

Group Founders & Admin can modify the group description

1. Open your group profile page.
2. Click "Group" on the profile bar.
3. Modify the description at the bottom of the "Roles" tab.

About Us Widget

When the founder applied for a group, they provided the initial contents of the About widget. Use the About to elaborate on why the group exists, what goals it's aiming to accomplish, how it's doing that now and plans for the future. Give readers a reason to follow your activities. Of course, the group has many widgets and ways to present itself. The About should be a good introduction.

Tag your Group

Group Founders & Admin can set up to 5 tags to help the community find your group. Choose the top 5 keywords and add them via your Group settings.

Utilize all tools available.

• Wall posts are great for quick updates and reaching out to the community.
• Publish quality content under the Group account to raise awareness and represent the Group & level up!
• Curate collections of content relevant to topics your Group is interested in.
• Organize collaborative forum threads with Group members and the community.
• Create a Discord group, YouTube Channel or Twitter Account and add the Widget and social link to the Group profile.
  
• Create new roles for the Group and invite active members with relevant interests or talents to help.
• Plan community events, contests or fun server events.
• Design an attractive avatar, banner and profile layout.

Overall, a group is a sum of its parts working together. A group will grow when it has good leadership, a clear purpose, is well organized with roles filled with active members that utilize tools and their own talents.

While operated groups have limited interaction with the community, it's still possible for them to break the rules in particular with content or with social behaviors.

If a group is breaking any site rules, you can report a group the same way that you report members.

File report to moderators

1. Visit the profile page.
2. On the group bar below the banner, click more actions ( 3 vertical dots )
3. Click "Report Group"
4. Select a reason and provide details.

A site+ moderator will review your report and take any appropriate action(s).

Groups are a sum of its members actions. When operating a group, it's good to know when, who and what changes are being made to the various actions available to group members. Members of a group are accountable for the contributions and changes they make.

Site Logs

The website keeps limited logs of when, who and what changes are made. This both helps the group monitor general contributions and updates. In rare cases, should a member make a mistake, break something or go rouge, moderators can help identify what happened when the group itself is unable.

Group Warnings & Bans

Depending on the situational details, moderators might need to issue a warning or ban for actions that break site rules. If it seems like it's a member specific issue, the action will be issued to the individual member. If it's a overall group violation, moderators can issue a ban on the group.

Group bans do not affect its members personal accounts. If a group is banned, its members can check their group notifications widget for details if it's not readily apparent from a blocked action. However, if a particular member(s) are clearly responsible for the group violation, moderators may feel it's appropriate to hold the individual(s) accountable.

Inevitably, more than one group will form to cover the same or similar interests as another. Friendly competition is fine but please do not engage in malicious behavior towards another group for any reason. If your group is found to be organizing actions with ill intent towards an individual or another group, it will be banned. Please play nice and work together.

We were here first

While that might be true and it can be frustrating to face competition, this happens in all walks of life. Being first is just the beginning for the group. Overtime, with attention, it will grow and it may eventually compete with others with similar goals. Competition can be as motivating as it can be frustrating. There is room for everyone. Perhaps you can even organize group collaborations or friendly competitions that have mutual benefits. Adapt, evolve, thrive.

Friendly Competition

Competition can be fun, engaging and motivating! We can't predict how groups will interact with the community but we'll likely see some interesting dynamics over time. We're hoping to see more friendly competitions and community activities. Friendly competition can spark a lot of creativity and fun social interactions. Have fun.

Not all groups will stay active. Members come and go and so will Groups. However, unlike individual members, a group can live on!

As a Group Founder, how do I pass the torch?

If you're moving on from a group for one reason or another and would like your group to remain active, invite member(s) of your group or the community to be an Admin. Group Admin have access to group management, role creation, member invitations and everything you have to continue managing the group. If you'd like someone to officially be founder of the group going forward, please open a ticket.

You can then choose to leave the group, knowing that someone else can manage it. You can also choose to stay in the group to potentially return one day.

Inactive Founder & Admin

In the event that a Group founder and its potential Admin have become inactive, only site staff can assign a new Admin. Potential members of the group will still be able to operate within their given permissions.

A member of the community could reach out to the inactive founder in an effort to convince them to come back to assign a new group admin. Our PM system will email an inactive member notifying them of a PM but only if they haven't disabled email notifications. It's still worth a shot.

In general, we don't plan on making it a practice to revive inactive groups ran by community members that left. If a founder leaves, it's up to them to assign a replacement Admin before moving on. If they don't want the group to go on without them, that's their choice.

However, there may be outlier cases where it's clearly the appropriate action to revive the group. Right now, groups are so new, that we can't provide examples of those cases.

Group Founders only

Life gets busy and people have things to do. If you're a group founder and you're not going to have time to manage your group any longer...

Consider passing the torch

If your group has active members and followers, we hope that you'll consider passing on the torch by inviting one or more to become Admin. Maybe you'll revisit one day and find your group is thriving!

Consider allowing it's contributions to live on

If your group established itself within the community, consider just leaving it inactive and allowing followers and members to visit it from time to time if only for nostalgia sake. We don't mind having inactive groups essentially frozen in time. Your group is part of our history.

Disband a Group

However, if the options above don't appeal to and you can request to disband the group.

Open a ticket and Include the following:

• Group Link
• Reason for disbanding

Staff will disband pending review / need for further information.