Social Group Clean Up

[Windfall]

@Evil Figment; What about The Resistance?

Regardless, we had numerous mods and admins inside of the group.

@Froakie;, I tried that, and it required me to log in. When I did, it told me that page no longer existed.

 

[Fig]

Truth is Elusive - I don't know for a fact, because I wasn't involved in deleting the groups (long, tedious tasks: that's what underlings are for). But it may have been a victim of the same, from what I'm able to gather. If that's the case - well, I already apologized (via PM) to Missingno.

I'm sorry to anyone who considered these the only thing worth staying on Bulbagarden for, but having major activity spread over mini-groups like this simply was not manageable anymore. We meant Social Groups to replace fanclubs (eg, Misty Club, May Club) and things like that. It was never our intention for them to become hundreds of mini-forums that would become a major center of activity, and we simply don't have the resources to handle that sort of development.

 

[Windfall]

Truth is Elusive - I don't know for a fact, because I wasn't involved in deleting the groups (long, tedious tasks: that's what I have underlings for). But it may have been a victim of the same, from what I'm able to gather.

But you're responsible for what happens on your site.

 

[Fig]

Technically it's not my site, either (Archaic, the webmaster, owns the place).

But that technicality aside, I'll take responsibility for the failure in communication among the staff, and I've already told Missingno, via PM, that if this is indeed what happened, then I'm deeply sorry. I'll repeat it here: if, indeed, a communication error is why the group was deleted, I'm sorry.

 

[Hunter Blade]

We all know the Resistance made ya'll nervous, so this is just a big coverup.

Joking aside, stuff happens sometimes. Thanks for responding right away, Figment~

 

[AiedailEclipsed]

If you guys really want, as Evil Figment said, private forums for various private discussions, go make them. There are a myriad of free services out there that will allow you to create this kind of thing and you'd completely control it. Just saying.

 

[Windfall]

If you guys really want, as Evil Figment said, private forums for various private discussions, go make them. There are a myriad of free services out there that will allow you to create this kind of thing and you'd completely control it. Just saying.

That's not the point. The point is the administration said "Although you all like these places, we don't. Get over it."

And they can't keep their own word. 7 days =/= <12 hours

 

[dig]

And they can't keep their own word. 7 days =/= <12 hours

Maybe they count in doggy years,

And they should have kept their word, I'd be pissed if I couldn't save any threads I wanted to keep.

 

[AiedailEclipsed]

If you guys really want, as Evil Figment said, private forums for various private discussions, go make them. There are a myriad of free services out there that will allow you to create this kind of thing and you'd completely control it. Just saying.

That's not the point. The point is the administration said "Although you all like these places, we don't. Get over it."

And they can't keep their own word. 7 days =/= <12 hours

I'm simply offering an alternative.

Accidents happen. The staff are all humans. Mistakes happen. Unfortunately, its something that will continue to happen.

 

[Enzap]

I don't even know what to say or do anymore...

I've always had complete faith that the staff of Bulbagarden would do what was best for the users of Bulbagarden for the 2 and a half years I've been here. However, in this case, it just feels like the feelings of hundreds of bulbagardeners are being pushed to the side. I know there are several very good reasons behind all this, but I'm wondering if it's worth all the stress it's putting many of the users under. I guess we just need to remember that we'll survive. All the users are still here, except for the few that rashly decided to leave because of this. It's inconvenient, but there are other options for communication.

To all my fellow users, I know its rough, but please don't raise hell over this. I don't think the mods are going to change their mind and arguing further isn't going to do anything but make everyone more miserable. So try to keep your chin up and think positive. I hate the idea of any loyal users leaving for any reason...

 

[Fig]

That's not the point. The point is the administration said "Although you all like these places, we don't. Get over it."

And they can't keep their own word. 7 days =/= <12 hours

On the later, there was a mistake, for which I apologized. Note that the seven days wasn't for every group, though: inactive groups, rulebreaking groups and groups involved in serious drama were to be deleted without warning. (Though I agree that neither definiton apply to the Planetary Pit Stop and Resistance, from what I know of them).

As for the rest, it's not that we don't like them. It's that we've found social groups to be entirely unmanageable for the staff, to the point where several groups were being used for rulebreaking right under our nose. The fact is, social groups had become a major issue - not just something we didn't like, but a serious problem for our ability to run Bulbagarden properly - and their numbers had to be cut back drastically.

Again, we intended to leave active groups some time to say goodbye and go peacefully, while letting people having time to mourn. For two groups, we messed up and that didn't happen. I said it before, I'll say it again: I'm deeply sorry about that. It was a mistake, and it shouldn't have happened.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I'm sorry to add to the backlash that people are raising like this, but I really don't understand why some of the groups were deleted. I'll use the Planetary Pit Stop for instance here.

The Pit Stop is something that could not be made in any other part of Bulbagarden. It was a sort of community-within-a-community where people talked about all kinds of stuff that I don't think had a place anywhere else. Social groups are where people socialize, yes? Well, I think the Pit Stop certainly fit that criteria, even if it didn't have much of a strict topic (but that's why it was so popular and active anyway).

As for the Resistance, another prominent social group, it surely did not have a place anywhere else on Bulbagarden, either. It was a pseudo-community in the same vein as the Pit Stop and other social groups here. I think of every social group as a sort of circle of friends who come together and socialize, maybe not partaining to their interest in something, but certainly because of it. All these people who have something in common (even if it's just wanting to chat) come together in the social groups, out of the way of the rest of Bulbagarden.

I am upset about some of these groups being deleted, but I think I've done a decent job being civil about it. That's just my two cents on the matter. I probably didn't phrase a lot of things the best way, either, this being as spontaneous as it is.

 

[Caite-chan]

How about instead of jumping all over the Staff why not sit back and think of it from their stand point and how much work it is for them. Social Groups are a part of the boards as a whole and shouldn't be able to get away with things you wouldn't normally on the main boards.

Honestly it's NOT the end of the world and NOT something you should get all worked up over. It's just not worth it. Instead once all this is said and done and Social Groups can be made again think of who you can make your Group better than before. Your core group of people in your group will stick around and come back no matter what. So everyone just RELAX!

 

[Scarlet Sky]

Guys, try to stay level-headed please. No one said this was going to be painless, and in the end, some cleaning was necessary. Don't jump on the staff's case... They're simply doing their job.

 

[みさあき]

Guys, try to stay level-headed please. No one said this was going to be painless, and in the end, some cleaning was necessary. Don't jump on the staff's case... They're simply doing their job.

Pretty much that and there's a reason for everything. It's a wee bit annoying when people complain about the group being deleted because the staff doesn't like it's creator but that's just me.

 

[Fig]

The problem we get with "a community within a community" is...and? Yes, it's true that there's no other place for social group than these, but on the flip side, from our perspective, they just attempt to offer a sub-set of our community -a clique, if you will (and that often come with its own problems, like clique rejection, etc, though I'm not saying all groups of that sort were affected) what we try to offer the entire community.

From our perspective, this business of driving deeper divisions between users is not good. Even if a group in itself is perfectly nice, it can lead to all sort of jealousy/envy issues when someone on the outside find themselves unable to get in for whatever reason. It can lead to drama when two group of friends run into each other. Etc. And while we can't prevent the existence of groups of friends, is it really something we as staff ought to encourage and support with site resources?

That's the sort of question the staff needed to consider when drawing the line of how we wanted to limit social groups (I already explained why we felt the need to clam down severly on social groups). Some of you, in our place, might have decided differently. I hesitated a bit myself. But in the end, I think it's for the best, for Bulbagarden, not to encourage that sort of division within the community (though, again, I'm aware we cannot prevent it).

 

[Fig]

Don't tell our users what to feel strongly about, Gotpika. They have a right to be attached to theri group, and they have a right to react strongly to the news that they will be deleted, let alone the two mistakes tonight.

 

[Sweet Veil]

I guess I should reword this, yes people have the right to be upset but it somewhat goes overboard when mods are being attacked for it imo. Remember, the Social Groups can be replaced and Croag/Froakie's method of searching for them via Google Chrome can be effective. Err....yeah. :/

 

[Mitsuru]

In regards to the private nature of groups, it's not the most efficient method, but mods could simply give the owners of the private groups the ultimatum to give them membership or be deleted. Still, it's probably easier to discourage the privacy.

What condition are you treating something to be inactive? A few months?
My group that I started back in October hasn't seen much use (I've had a few personal things going on that I've been distracted with, namely the death of my grandma), but I've been thinking of how I'm going to take it forward and actually make it a practical group. If it must be deleted from inactivity, that's okay, but I'd still like to use the idea for a group.

 

[Fig]

Right now the inactivity limit we're planning on is "no activity in 2012". We may tighten that further if necessary, if we do, we'll inform you ahead of time. I think one clear lesson from this is that we want to be open and communicative about how any further action will go.