Are MFP "Groups" useless?

hesn92

I am not in any groups that are very active, so I never go in them. Maybe there are active groups on here somewhere, I don't know.

KittyInBoots17

Any group I have joined has either kicked me or gone dead. I found groups too demanding, because they require certain postings that I didn't always have time for - or anything interesting to post. If you didn't post then it was assumed you were not reporting, and thus you got kicked. But for the most part, no one was posting anything that helped with weight loss. My assumption with groups is that is was a place to chat about food and realistic everyday stuff related to exercise and eating. More like support rather than "keep up with others".

Not only that, I found it time consuming to go hunt down the group all the time. If it was an obvious click on the side of your feed or something so we wouldn't forget about it, I think it would really help.

I started one group myself two years ago. I thought if I could run it the way I thought would be helpful, then people would find it interesting. I got about 30 friends and some new strangers to join. Everyone seemed interested. I kept it active with new postings or topics almost every day. I had about three people post and then it just dwindled. No one remembered to log in is what I believe, because it wasn't obvious. Even some days I forgot about my own group!

I also think our own feeds are kinda like a group. We got friends, we got posts, we got a built in group pretty much.

I don't join groups anymore cuz I too, find them useless. I think they need serious improvements, like maybe badges and such that the leader could award to members that could be displayed on their profile. Some type of motivation would be great. People love positive reinforcement!

chris_in_cal

@KittyInBoots17 I could not agree more. Digging for the link to the group kills it.

TonyB0588

@KittyInBoots17 Maybe what you could've done as group owner was to send them direct messages through the MFP mailing system as a friendly reminder to keep up their participation.

AnvilHead

chris_in_cal wrote: »

@KittyInBoots17 I could not agree more. Digging for the link to the group kills it.

I've seen this issue cited a couple times in this thread, and I don't get it. On both the web version and the iOS app, all the groups I belong to show up in the "Community" section below all the other main MFP sub-forums, under the heading "My Groups". They're listed just like all the other sub-forums, all I have to do is click on them to access them. No digging or hunting involved.

As far as whether groups are useless - I've belonged to a couple of groups which were very active (one of them even more active than the regular forums), with a lot of great people in them. Sadly, both of them went dead when the group leaders and a lot of the users moved to other platforms and/or quit using MFP. I belong to a couple other groups which get a few posts here and there, but are mostly very sparse. So I'd say it depends on the group as to whether they're "useless" or not. I don't do "challenge" groups, so I can't speak to how any of them are.

LivingtheLeanDream

I am in a few groups, they get a smidgen of traffic but I keep going back because there are a few of us regulars. Its a pity they get forgotten about. In the beginning there was loads of chat and it was great spending time chatting in the group - it was shortlived though I'm not sure if that's how it is with most of the groups but that's how I've found it...and that's why I'm inclined to browse the forums instead.

LivingtheLeanDream

Lounmoun wrote: »

On the web page for the forums if you scroll down the groups you have joined are listed at the bottom. Once you have joined a group they are easy enough to find.

I think people have trouble finding groups that they might be interested in among all of the redundant, inactive groups. It'd be nice if groups that had no activity for say 3 months would expire and be removed.

I think an active group is going to take some work and a lot of interest from those starting it. The people who start groups often stop participating in their own groups. They do not try to start and keep conversations going. They do not seek out members on the forums. If there is nothing new or no connections made there is no reason to go back.
Groups that have just one long ongoing thread might as well just post a thread on the regular forums.

I want to like groups. I think they could be useful for support and ongoing discussion of particular topics. They just don't seem to work well here or on other sites I've been on that have the option.

Well put and I agree that is mostly what happens.