Goodreads Ireland discussion
Improving the group
message 301:
by
Seraphina
(new)
Oct 26, 2015 06:00AM
I've just seen in a groups rules list, 'some participation is required, people who haven't commented in 12 months will be removed'. Thoughts??
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I don't know how much work that would take but I guess it makes sense. Why join if you're not going to comment or participate in group reads. But Emma and Sara probably have enough to do already without policing who has been active and who hasn't.
Thats what we do on the group I moderate. We found that less than a third of members had ever even posted. Some of the non posters were voting which seemed a but pointless.
Before anyone was removed we sent out a message giving people the option to add one post to stay in. We got a few who liked reading the posts and thats fine but still ended up removing over 500 non active members with no complaints. It streamlined stuff a bit.
I will add though that its a slow process removing members and not much fun ( plus we had 4 moderators doing it).
Ya I was just trying to think of ways to get people more involved. It's just an idea, obviously Sara and Emma will have to make the ultimate decision as it eats in to their spare time
Ya and obviously plenty of notice would be given to members so they can decide if they are in or out
Seraphina wrote: "Ya and obviously plenty of notice would be given to members so they can decide if they are in or out"I can completely understand the idea and it doesn't make sense to have a list of 1000 people when a sizeable number hasn't ever participated. That would seem like it would be a lot of work for Emma and Sara, though. What might be the group benefit to balance the amount of work it would require to "clean up" the membership list?
It's a good question about getting more people involved. Do you think if we had some discussion starters or ideas to consider in a book we're reading that that would encourage more participation? I've seen in some groups if a person's nomination gets selected, then that person either posts some info about the author or book, or adds a few discussion questions, etc.
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The benefits would be that it might give members a push to participate, even if it's only a few comments here and there. Different people's opinions and thoughts make it interesting for everyone.Also when it comes to voting, it will be people who actually take part in the group that get the benefit.
Seraphina wrote: "The benefits would be that it might give members a push to participate, even if it's only a few comments here and there. Different people's opinions and thoughts make it interesting for everyone.A..."
Yes, that's true. If someone were on the fence, that might give him or her encouragement. The voting piece would be a benefit, for sure.
This was a reminder that I am (was) in too many groups where I don't comment. I just left about 8-10 groups.
This is really the only group I participate in. I can see the advantages of purging for the voting process (never did understand why people vote who never participate in the discussion on said book) but it would be a lot of work for the mods.
Is it possible to have a link on the groups home page to a list of all of our previous monthly reads? Maybe it's already there and I'm missing it
Oh cool thanks Emma, I was just trying to have a flick through our monthly reads this year. I'll try it that way
Just a comment on the current tie breaker for the Irish quaterly. Both books got three votes but one of those got two votes from members that have never posted even once. It seems insane that they have turned the vote when the other book was voted by three very active members.I know there is little to be done but it just seems ridiculous to me.
How do ye manage it in your other group Paul
Honestly, we don't. You can't nominate if you have never posted before but votes are all open. We have a much higher vote number though with the winners averaging 40 + votes so the winner is generally popular enough.
As I said I've no idea how to deal with it . I'd assume the tiebreak will sort it all out anyway.
Sadly it can be easily manipulated. There are a lot of cases of people creating fake accounts to push books in groups
Yeah , I don't get the default to PCT . Its really annoying. There are a few of the options that are very clunky . We sent a mail to goodreads to see if a poll could be limited to those who have posted a certain amount but sadly not an option for now.
Emma wrote: "I find even the basic setting the things up an issue. The polls automatically default to Pacific Central Time. And for some bizarre reason must be set up at the start of a day i.e midnight. They ca..."That's nuts! I guess it's because GR is on the west coast. We east coast people expect everyone to follow us. I thought the quarterly read was sorted and it was the monthly read that is tied. Just hanging back and waiting. I do understand frustration when inactive members change the vote but I don't think there's anyway to prevent this as they have to get active some time. And I am going to read what I want to read anyway.
In an ideal world every person who votes is willing to read it and every new member has the potential to become a great addition to the group.The group moderate went from under 500 members last year to nearly 1500 now(we were a featured group twice which caused the surge) so its been quite difficult to deal with the jump especially around polls. Nominations have had to be changed to cope
Paul wrote: "In an ideal world every person who votes is willing to read it and every new member has the potential to become a great addition to the group.The group moderate went from under 500 members last ye..."
I agree that even though we can't do anything about it, it's very aggravating to have people vote that you never hear from at any other time.
I can't tell you the number of discussions we've had on this subject. We even had one election invalidated because one author had friends join (they were all members for a week) and vote his book in. That was reported to GR.
I went back and looked at the voting as I was completely left out of the process and I was horrified to see the number of people voting who I have never heard of before this. I went to their profiles and they have no record of ever posting in our group. What makes a person vote when they have never participated in the group?
Mod
Well Claire is active quite alot so we can't say it's all non active members voting. The tie breaker seems to sort it all out anyways
Mod
Thanks Emma. I tend to get things confused when I am super busy. It's the end of the academic year and as if there weren't already way to much to do, all these "extras" are getting piled on my plate. Time for deep yoga breathing:)Sara - I like your approach.
Susan - I have a backup if I don't get the emails about the polls. The daily digest of discussions I get from GRs helps me keep track of things I may miss. I only have GRI in the digest. I decided that I don't really participate in some of the groups I was including in the daily notification so I deleted all but GRI.
Thomas wrote: "I am sympathetic to your problems. I don't nominate. I only vote when there is a book that I want to read."There are often books I want to read, but I don't vote because due to family commitments, I'm struggling to read anything right now.
There is an awful lot of self promotion going on here lately. Any way we can reign it in a bit? It's getting annoying (sighs)
I generally leave on notifications for all threads so if I turn it off for that one, I need to turn all the others on individually. However, I might have to do it if they keep clogging up the newsfeed with nonsense
If they don't use the self promotion folder they can be flagged for spam. I usually just ignore them though.
Seraphina wrote: "There is an awful lot of self promotion going on here lately. Any way we can reign it in a bit? It's getting annoying (sighs)"Have I been promoting myself too much lately, Seraphina. I have been trying desperately to get invited to an Irish wedding. I'll try to ease up. :) After all I am going to be flower girl at Paul and Trelawn's. I bought a new tutu and everything.
Don't worry about invites, weddings are meant to be gatecrashed Susan! ;) where there's a will, there's a way
I was just talking to Paul about the monthly group read and have come to the conclusion that it has become a little stale. People nominate books they have recently read with little regard to whether the will generate discussions. Or part three or four of a series is thrown into the mix. I know I am over generalising but the vote rate and discussion rate has dropped off. So here is my thought, the challenges of the last two years ( classics and continents) have gone down well and got people discussing books so why not try something similar. We could have a crime month or female author month or book nominated for the Booker prize or whatever. The list is endless. But it might just focus nominations and put a bit of life back into the discussions. Thoughts anyone?
That's a good idea Trelawn. How would a monthly theme be selected? By the mods? I think that would add more interest for me.
Ya that could work, people have definitely stopped partaking in monthly reads unless it's a book they already wanted to read, own etc...They used to spark some serious debates which is what a bookclub should be
With regards to nominations, in another group I'm in, nominations have to be seconded by another member before it's put forward for the vote. That might cut down excess nominations?
I was just going to suggest the idea of seconding :-)Emma, can you define "cull" in regard to membership? It sounds harsh lol
Mod
Thomas I would regard you as an active member. I think Emma is referring to people don't contribute to any thread at all e.g. I'm currents monitoring Oprahs book club to find a book I like for a challange I'm doing. If I forget to exit the group after a year I may be considered an inactive member and culled.I think that's fair enough. Maybe send out a message to the group first.
I monitored this group for a good while before I started to post. Mainly to get a feel for for the reads and tone of the threads. This is a good group :-)
I don't like the idea very much. Let's say a person can't participate or get on the site for whatever reason. They find time to click onto goodreads and find they've been kicked out. Ouch! It feels cliquish. I know everyone is friendly and all can participate. I also know they won't be ignored if they do but it would feel weird to click in and find out you've been kicked out.
Margo wrote: "Thomas I would regard you as an active member. I think Emma is referring to people don't contribute to any thread at all e.g. I'm currents monitoring Oprahs book club to find a book I like for a ch..."I agree. This is a good group.
Mod
Thomas wrote: "Thanks Margo and Sherry":-)
Mod
I have that many books I want to read that I don't normally as a rule participate in group reads and I've cut way back on group discussions.
I have been part of this..."
Great minds think alike.
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