Groups Filter on Dashboard

catherinem
June 09, 2010, 05:46 AM posted in General Discussion
Via rjberki: the much touted filter is still not working on the community page. I belong only to elem and Int groups but I see comments from all levels when I use the "all my groups" drop down. (the other drop down filters seem to work) A good way to save face would be to say you left it this way on purpose and change this option to "All groups". I am fine with it the way it is and if I remember correctly it was a desire of the vocal minority (I cant speak for the voices heard during the secret survey) to have a "see all" option, but it is not as advertised. The filter does work on the homepage.
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catherinem
June 09, 2010, 05:53 AM

Many users are in fact seeing more groups (but not necessarily all) than they are subscribed to in their dashboard and on the conversations page. This was reported to the tech. team Monday and is on the schedule to be fixed by the end of the week. Will keep you posted.

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bodawei

I am pretty much in favour of the new Group about Technical Problems, thanks Catherine. It is already causing controversy deciding whose original idea it was - it certainly needs a better name than 'Technical Problems on Site'. eeerk, what are we, Microsoft?

I would like to sponsor the name 'Bugarup'... sounds an okay name? :) Post it on Bugarup.. check on Bugarup... I saw it on Bugarup... works for me. (It is a Tok Pisin word covering all things dysfunctional.)

But I see a problem of co-ordination already - with any number of posts within the group there is no global view. I'm already lost. Still lost.

And I would like a page dedicated to reviving the technical functionality of Groups dedicated to me. :) Just kidding.

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bababardwan

hehe,yeah a great Tok Pisin word....very hard to rival

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xiaophil
June 09, 2010, 08:31 AM

Please don't fix this "problem". Personally, I think it would be much better if the default was to see all groups, and then giving us the option to unsubscribe to groups. Why? Take this "Technical Problems on Site" group for example. You just advertised it in the General Group. But only people who A) look at the conversations today, and B) are subscribed to the General Group, will know to join this group. Of course you can periodically re-advertise, but what's the point? Why make it so hard to know that groups exist? Are the pros really more than the cons? Has CPod considered what I said above, namely allowing us to unsubscribe from groups? Personally, I would love that feature.

Actually, I feel like a broken record player because I have mentioned this before. I can't remember if it was you (Catherine) or John or whoever who told me (us), but I was told that a compromise solution was being worked on. Is that solution still being worked on?

Sorry if I seem a bit too critical today. I hope that my questions are constructive rather than just nagging. And I should add, I enjoy CPod quite a bit.

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bababardwan

xiaophil,

personally this would suit me as I would never unsubscribe to anything,but I'm not sure it's the best solution [on it's own] as those who only want to belong to one or two groups may not want to unsubscribe to a large number of existing groups and new groups that could keep popping up. Sorry to reiterate what I've written elsewhere but I would prefer a drop down list option "all groups" .That is not to say that having the ability to approach groups from both directions couldn't be another option as well.That is to say to have a priority set in your account which says "subscribe me automatically to all groups" and then have the ability to unsubscribe to those you don't like.The other direction would be to not tick that option so you weren't subscribed to any group until you chose to subscribe.

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zhenlijiang

Ah and this is the thing, with General Discussion. I thought for some reason all of us users were automatically in this Group--we didn't have to go and actively choose to join it do we? Do you mean some of us automatically included in it could have left?

Actually I created a trial account this morning (under my real name. CPod--the username is "suibiankankan") because I wanted to see what view a trial user would have coming here. I left my academic level at the default Newbie, and found that the only two Groups I automatically got added to were the Newbie, and News and Features groups. Not General Discussion. So the Conversations page showed me all Lesson Channel conversations, Newbie Group and News and Features Group conversations. Looked like a lot of action actually. You'd never know how much else is going on that you're unaware of. It was weird being aware of that.

And as you browse (oh CPod, the Take a Tour of the Community Section is broken so you can only see pages 1 and 2, out of 5. will post this again elsewhere) you occasionally see the notices of Groups. But partly because the current Groups page is still not good at giving people an idea of which Groups are "important"--even with the new filters--you don't get sufficient orientation at all. Of course this is just my opinion, my sense of how it felt. And of course I'm not a real newcomer and I know how things are different from before the current system.

Xiaophil I have to say I really don't see why you should always apologize for offering your feedback, or remind CPod that you're their fan and not down on them. Same with me, though I really think there are too many bad ideas recently that should have been considered better before implementing (and are now being withdrawn because some of us raised our voices about them). You're never rude and I think you're a lot more patient than most people. Of course your questions are constructive. And if you did nag, so what?

Speaking just for myself, I could easily withhold all negative feedback and in the end just decide to quietly take my business elsewhere, but I'm a bit friendlier than that.

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xiaophil

Baba

Actually, I wouldn't unsubscribe to any of them either. I never felt like there was information overload here.

My reasoning for why an unsubscribe function is reasonable is as follows. There really are not all that many groups here at CPod that are regularly used. As has been noted quite a few times, most of the groups are just wasting away. Therefore, if say,a newbie, feels overwhelmed by seeing too much high level chit-chat, it really isn't hard to unsubscribe to those, what, five frequently used groups, ten tops.

Now as I said before, this blinder function is quite hurtful to groups. I have been considering running periodic advertisements for 中文吧 and "I Have a Question" just so new arrivals know that it exists. That's ridiculous that I should have to consider that, but under the current system, I don't see how anything but dwindling users will occur.

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xiaophil

Zhen

Actually, I really don't feel all that guilty. I just don't want to produce an aura of attack dog about me. That's just me.

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bababardwan

well you know mate I see things the same way as you do so agree with what you've just written. I guess I'm coming at it from the angle that I don't see why it has to be an either/or scenario....I don't see why there can't be a few options to keep everyone happy.

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bababardwan

小腓力

I just don't want to produce an aura of attack dog about me.

那,如果是这样的话,你应该保住你的名字,千万别成为大吠力

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zhenlijiang

mmm ... I don't mean to present myself that way either. Anyway you wouldn't have an attack dog aura, even without the apologies and reassurances, I'm saying.

So I have that aura about me? You can be honest.

Oh well, doesn't really matter. I just want to get some studying done now.

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bababardwan

Zhen,

In your case ,just don't add 青 at the end and she'll be apples.

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zhenlijiang

Baba every day I learn English (Australian) here, if not Chinese ...

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bababardwan

zhen,

yeah ,well ,don't forget my kids are always telling me that their generation don't use a lot of the expressions common in my day. They seem a lot more Americanised these days. I guess language is a constantly evolving thing as well all know and some things just go out of fashion.

Did you get my little reference with 青?

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zhenlijiang

Yes that's the part I didn't need to look up. hehehe

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bababardwan

ni zhen cong ming ! ....I knew you'd know that character of course but I thought the word I was making it part of was possibly a tad obscure....so you know of course I was just kidding around :)

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zhenlijiang
June 09, 2010, 09:18 AM

I suggest that CPod email all users and recommend that they join General Discussion, this Technical Problems on Site Group and perhaps (god, do I need to suggest yet another Group--?) a Group for CPod to keep users informed of anything else non-tech related that matters. Of course the only reason I'm suggesting yet another new Group is, you have the user experience designed now so that it's apparently necessary, to ensure that users are not missing information.
And anyone who doesn't want to know has the option to leave the Groups any time they wish.

I've always said we should have the ability to see all Conversations on the Conversations page. Like Xiaophil has said before, I'm very resistant to blinders being forced on us. I hate not knowing what information or discussion I could possibly be missing. And no, I don't want to keep tabs on new groups sprouting up every day (many of which never become active, or have more than 1 member) to keep joining them all. That is ridiculous.

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xiaophil
June 09, 2010, 09:46 AM

Okay, I think this is my final question for the day.

Is CPod planning to address my concerns about protecting user groups? (see my comment above.) Mentioning groups in News and Features is a nice gesture, but it will not solve the problem.

 

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catherinem

We have a lot of things in discussion and in the works to address these concerns and to make groups both more visible and more user friendly. I am going home for the day but will address this at more length tomorrow when I'm back in the office.

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xiao_liang

Good to hear. Thanks for all your (and the team behind your public voice) hard work over the last couple of days Catherine. The increased activity of Cpod folks on the message board has really made the site feel a lot more friendly and involved. Thumbs up.