clubs New Clubs Feature

[Greg 0]

The new clubs feature will allow members to create a club. What is a club you ask?  A club is basically a public OR private section of the forums that you can discuss whatever with whomever.

Four types of club are available:

Public clubs - Clubs that anyone can see and participate in without joining.

Open club - Clubs that anyone can see and join.

Closed club - Clubs that anyone can see in the directory, but joining must be approved by a Club Leader or Club Moderator. Non-club-members who view the club will only see the member list - not the recent activity or content areas.

Private club - Clubs that do not show in public, and users must be invited by a Club Leader or Club Moderator

I am going to restrict the creation of the actual clubs to only members, new members (those under 1 total postings) will have to post a couple of times before they can create a club.

Club users will be broken down into three groups:

Leader - A leader has all of the permissions of a moderator, and can add other moderators. The club owner is automatically a leader.

Moderators - Moderators, as the name implies, have the ability to moderate content posted within the club. The moderator can remove content, etc form their respective clubs. Moderators can also remove members from a club.

Users - Anyone else that joins the club.

Clubs FAQ

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Why are you implanting this new feature?

Because I think there are times that certain members what to discuss specific things amongst themselves (without any outside interruption).

Won’t this create a whole bunch of echo chambers that encourage people to only speak to those who agree with themselves?

Perhaps, but I doubt it.  We will still have the normal forums open and available for everyone, and I’m willing to bet that members will engage in both the general forums and the clubs.

What is the moderation going to be like in the clubs?

Moderation will fall almost exclusively to the Leaders and Moderators of the individual clubs.  The Forum Admin (Greg) and Forum Moderator (Charles A) will ONLY step in if something illegal occurs.

So anything goes in the clubs?

No, porn (while technically legal) isn’t permitted in the clubs. However, something unforeseen might crop up that we will have to deal with, but I’m not interested in being heavy handed with the clubs.  For the clubs to be successful, everyone has to take ownership of them.

How does someone join a closed or private club?

They have to either ask to join or be invited by a Club Leader or a Club Moderator.

What if a member is booted from a club, can the Forum Admin or Forum Moderator allow them back in.

No, the Club Leader and or Club Moderator have exclusive justification over their club.  If you tick them off, or break their rules, it’s their decision whether you remain in their club.

Can someone rejoin a club that they have left (or been removed from)?

Yes, but only at the discretion of the Club Leader or Club Moderator.

Does a club need to be about politics?

NO, a club can be about any topic that interests you (and your club members).

Is this going to be a permanent feature of the forums?

If people use this feature, we will keep it around.

Can a club start as a public club and move to closed/private (or vis-versa).

Yes, however you will need to request this change by asking Greg (Forum Admin) to change the permissions of your club.

Can anyone create a club?

Yes, but for now (while we’re testing everything out), I will approval all the clubs manually. Once we get everything figured out, I’ll open it up so that anyone can create a club.

What if I have a question that isn’t answered in the above FAQ?

Then ask the question in the support section of the forums. This is a new feature, so we can accept a few issues to arise and we will all have to adapt to make it work.

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So what does everyone think?

I’d like to hear your feedback.

If you have a technical question, please post your question in the support forums, but if you have a general comment and or feedback, then please post it below.

Thanks!
 

[Altai 18]

Will club post be seen on "new posts timeline" ? Which is named as "activity" in this forum ?

[Greg 0]

Yes, so long as it's a public or open club, I believe they will appear in the activity timeline.

[Altai 18]

Okay, another question, could I carry my own topic into my club ? Or should I start the same topic in the club too ? 

[Greg 0]

You can create as many new topics as your want in your club.  You cannot duplicate threads (in public or open clubs), so if the thread is visible to the public, it needs to be unique.  Otherwise, you can do whatever you want in your club. So if it's an open/public club, no cross-posting, but if it's a close or private, I don't care what you do.

[The_Squid 69]

Oh boy...   the Right Winger Club...   the Right Wing Whacko Club....   the Conspiracy Nutbars Club...   

Should be a diverse assortment of clubs here....  

[scribblet 1,832]

Yeah, not to mention left wing fruitloops club, the leftwing snowflakes club...

[Greg 0]

Come one guys, lets see how this works before we crap all over it.

As I mentioned in the intro, if the clubs become echo chambers, so be it...

[scribblet 1,832]

Sorry, just some quid pro quo.

Sounds like a plan tho, thanks

[Charles Anthony 0]

I think this feature is better than the Chat room. 

[Moonlight Graham 525]

Hmm very interesting.  Anxious to see how these clubs develop.

Greg, so within the clubs, the regular MLW rules don't apply, and the so the only rules are no illegal stuff, and no porn?  Otherwise, what can/can't be posted is up to the leader/mods of the club?

[Moonlight Graham 525]

Greg oh and when are you going to implement the clubs feature?

[bush_cheney2004 4,242]

Great idea, but I think some members have already created their own club (in another forum).

They love to discuss members of this forum...go figure.

[Greg 0]

2 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Greg, so within the clubs, the regular MLW rules don't apply, and the so the only rules are no illegal stuff, and no porn?  Otherwise, what can/can't be posted is up to the leader/mods of the club?

Yes, the clubs will be run and managed by the Club Leader and their moderators.

2 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Greg oh and when are you going to implement the clubs feature?

It's ready to go right now!

Just visit the clubs page.

26 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

Great idea, but I think some members have already created their own club (in another forum).

Sure, and that's ok too.  I'm hoping some of them return.

[Altai 18]

I created a club and waiting for approval.

[Altai 18]

How I can start a topic in my club ? There is no such an option.

[scribblet 1,832]

So club owners or topic starters have the ability to actually delete posts in a public club - interesting.   

[Greg 0]

10 hours ago, Altai said:

How I can start a topic in my club ? There is no such an option.

While viewing your club homepage, look at the top right, under “Manage Club”, select “Topics”.

2 hours ago, scribblet said:

So club owners or topic starters have the ability to actually delete posts in a public club - interesting. 

Club owners and club moderators can, normal club members cannot.

[Bonam 241]

So anyone gonna start a "club" where reasonable people can discuss reasonable topics and leave all the riffraff out?

[Altai 18]

2 hours ago, Greg said:

While viewing your club homepage, look at the top right, under “Manage Club”, select “Topics”.

Club owners and club moderators can, normal club members cannot.

Thanks. I found it but I also created two unnecssary sections while trying to understand and I cant delete them. 

[Michael Hardner 765]

Can a Moderator remove posters from their 'Open' or 'Public' club too ?

[Greg 0]

9 hours ago, Bonam said:

So anyone gonna start a "club" where reasonable people can discuss reasonable topics and leave all the riffraff out?

It’s your club, you can do whatever you want!

8 hours ago, Altai said:

I cant delete them. 

Send me a PM with which ones you want deleted and I will remove them. 

2 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

Can a Moderator remove posters from their 'Open' or 'Public' club too ?

Yes.

[OftenWrong 2,328]

Isn't a private club like having a forum within a forum?

I can understand the rationale for having private clubs in that their membership is exclusive, but why should the content that is posted in these clubs also be private? What's the harm in making the private club visible? Its visibility would encourage newcomers to join.

[Michael Hardner 765]

And how does one post in a club ?

[Argus 3,449]

On ‎11‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 11:34 AM, OftenWrong said:

Isn't a private club like having a forum within a forum?

Well, you could have a US politics group where every second topic was not repetitive drivel from anti-American loonies. That would be nice. Maybe a world politics one where Israel was not allowed to be discussed. But it seems to me this idea for private clubs is mainly due to the failure of moderation here. I've been posting at a variety of other sites lately. The ones with almost no moderation are... difficult. They're full of crazies insulting each other. MLW has unfortunately had too much moderation. In the middle are forums with a lighter touch in moderating, where insults might be deleted or posts altered, but posters are rarely ever suspended

MLW's real problem isn't too much moderation, though, especially lately. I think it's maybe three loonies who clutter it up with so much crap that it's hard to find intelligent conversation. These loonies can't be adequately dealt with by members, ie, driven off under a hail of mockery and ridicule, because of the moderation, though. A private club would simply not let them join. But I fail to see how this is any more a violation of their 'free speech' rights that MLW cherishes so much than simply deleting their posts on the greater forum. In theory we'd wind up having most of the intelligent posters confined to these private clubs, while the loonies rant and rave to the empty rooms outside.

Actually, now that I think of it, if I was to start a private club I'd let anyone join, even the people on my ignore list, and then simply delete any post I thought was stupid. Post too many stupid posts and I'd delete you.

Quote

I can understand the rationale for having private clubs in that their membership is exclusive, but why should the content that is posted in these clubs also be private? What's the harm in making the private club visible? Its visibility would encourage newcomers to join.

Agreed.

Edited November 20, 2017 by Argus