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Groups Introduction
Published: 2010-01-08 08:31:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 66582; Favourites: 1091; Downloads: 608
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Description
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What is this?
This is a walk through of the new groups system. This covers the core features behind groups and how to use them.
Relevant Links
%makeagroup
%convertaclub
Groups Directory (+Groups )
%devBUG
#Adopt-a-Group
#OfficialGroups (the official groups chat channel)
Help & FAQ (The portion of the site's FAQ concerning groups)
Group Q&A with Development Staff (A series of questions that have been asked of site staff concerning groups)
saniakob.deviantart.com/art/Gr… to submit art or favs to a group)
Edits to be made
Define Hidden, Locked & Sticky comments.deviantart.com/1/1496… (there's a bug with the hidden feature, I'll add this to the walk through when that is resolved) Hide comments/spam Right side of comments is only visible to admins in Correspondence Items Conversion of notes to forum-like posts Delete artwork from gallery Edit group description and tag line How to Delete a Group: comments.deviantart.com/1/1496… Affiliates Swapping founders xshadow-designsx.deviantart.co… The founder of the group can create a chatroom with the same name as the group Group folders have a limit of 5,000 submissions - Super groups have this same limit, although they can create sub-folders Groups may have at most 200 folders Super Group features - polls, blog CSSQuick Reference
Text Link:
A Complete Introduction to Groupsa>
Stamp:
:thumb149821456:
DD!
With an overwhelming number of suggestions
Thank you everyone!
Don't think this is complete? Please feel free to ask questions below!
Questions and Comments Encouraged (please report any typos 
)
Related content
Comments: 626
I have been helping a lot of people lately and some times i need a little help; Helping them!
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On a site where finding information can often be daunting, this is certainly a diamond in the rough. Excellent work
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Yes! This!
Thank you so much - for 12 hrs now (almost) I have been desperately trying to figure out how to activate my supergroup to allow submissions and member requests. The Help and FAQ talk about how to buy a supergroup but there's no actual 'now you've bought it, this is how you get started', section. Thank you!
Totally faved so that I can revert back to this when I get stuck somewhere else (I know I will heehee)
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do you know if its possible to delete group notes if your a founder?
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There are two types of notes, the ones that may have been sent to your club before it was converted to a group (which can be accessed by the "Ye Olde Note Viewer" in the Admin Area. The second type is the ones sent to the account after if has become a group. I'll presume you are referring to the latter - there does not appear to be a way to delete notes, although you can ban a user from the group if they are spamming using the block feature in the Admin Area >> Manage Members >> Blocked, this won't delete the notes, but it wil stop any new ones from being sent to the group.
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Thank you so much for this! I did help me a lot!
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Thank you for a splendid guide on Groups!
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Great tutorial! Thank you so much! I just have one question, how do I put journal skins in my group? @__@ It's so confusing. I am already a super group, and I know how to use journal skins for my own personal one, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to use journal skins for my supergroup! Please help?? D: D:
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I personally haven't installed CSS on group blogs, but hopefully [link] explains it
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Hi there, I can't seem to find the affiliate button when I visit other groups. Do I need to change certain settings?
Thanks!
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Huh, there seems to have been a change in the page layout, the Affiliate button has been added to a drop down menu on the groups' profile pages - if you can find the 'Send a Note' button, the 'Affiliate' button should be listed in a drop down menu right next to that.
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great tutorial. thank you! (though I know all the stuff, it is great to have it written down)
One thing that I simply don't want to believe and therefore looking for a different answer: the folders settings (i.e. limit one a day) does cancel out the over all folder setting (i.e. limit 3 / week). So I cannot have to different rules. Is there any way I can still get the system take care of two rules instead of 1?
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~does cancel out the over all folder setting
There was a discussion about that in #devBUG when they first laid out the design - it was decided that it would be too complex (and they believed people wouldn't understand how to use it) to try to allow two sets of permissions to exist. If you have a global limit of 5 submissions/week and two folders: one with 1 submission/month and 3 submissions/day, how does that work out? Do you go with the most restrictive (local) policy or the loosest (global) policy? It was also to avoid the complexity of trying to explain to users on a case-by-case basis that they ran into either the local or global limit, and that even though it says you can submit 5 works globally does mean you can submit that to each folder because you hit the folder's limit - or vice versa that the folder allows 3 submissions, but the global limit is two - separating the local and global limit cut out that issue.
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I don't know about technical stuff behind these settings but shouldn't it work? looking if the weekly limit is reached and then if the daily limit has been reached. if first is false then check second. if second is also false the deviation is accepted. If first is true decline and say that weekly limit has been reached. If first false and second true say daily limit has been reached. That way you don't have to tell the people yourself, the system does. Just as it does now when you reach the limit.
If you think different folder settings are too complex, why allow them at all?
And yes it would be a bit confusing to have such settings but not that confusing. the monthly settings are mostly used for folders for contest entries.
3 submissions a day is when used a global setting. But okay let's go with that example.
The main problem I see is the confusion for the members of the group because group admins should know what they do otherwise they are unfit or made a bad move with that decision.
So in my opinion they should leave it to the groups. they have to deal with the members after all.
We do have two rules and have to keep track of one manually so that is a lot of work. We tried to get rid of one but our members quite liked it the way it was. And one rule or two you have always people who do not understand the rules (or simply ignoring them).
Ah, anyway. Thank you for the clarification.
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~I don't know about technical stuff behind these settings but shouldn't it work?
Yes, theoretically, they could have implemented it that way (after all it's just bits, you can organize anything any the way you want it online, the limits come from externalities beyond what you can do). In this case they were bending to user interface constraints.
~And yes it would be a bit confusing to have such settings but not that confusing.
To quote the staff: you guys never get tired asking for more settings, then complain about UI looking like control panel of the nuclear power plant [link]
That is their general disposition; personally, I feel they tend to lean too heavily toward restricting features; dAv7 (currently in Beta) for instance conjoins all the message center counts into a single meaningless number - I keep on top of 11 groups with this account and my message center is routinely bulging with hundreds of messages - combining that number with my normal message center count just makes it completely irrelevant.
I originally favored the system you described; I felt it gave more flexibility to the group admins, but I could definitely see both sides of the issue and I didn't really have much say in the final matter anyway - and you're the first person to specifically bring up this issue, so I wouldn't instinctively question their judgment too much; so long as they addressed the major concerns, I would consider that a success in the time frame they were given.
You seem rather curious about this issue, so I've dug up a conversation between a staff member (italics) and another devBUG admin:
Here is what I been thinking (two new controls):
For each Folder, each role:
Restrict to X [input box] submission per day/week [select menu] per user
Restrict to X [input box] submission per day/week [select menu] per group
if either is exceeded, deny
--
I thought about it, but it gets confusing quickly.
since all our settings are per-folder, if one folder has "to any folder" selected, but another has a different one, how to resolve that. and people would forget that they set one of the folders to that setting
You could have it per-folder and then an option somewhere that does it globally. Next to that there could be a checkbox that says "Override all settings" - when checked, all other per-folder settings are ignored; when unchecked, per-folder settings are used instead unless they aren't specified (and then they can inherit from the global)
no, we can only do folder settings for submission processes. there is nothing that gets looked up to attach it too. plust we want to keep those configurations in one place.
--
Take another case.
Group has two open folders - 'Featured' and 'Context X' they want to limit to 1 submission per week to 'Featured', but to 1 submission per user per day to the 'Context X'
having it per gallery, would make it next to impossible to run contests, without opening up other folders
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You have so much to do and yet you take the time to talk at me in these length. This is highly appreciated!
*lol* the staff sounds like a person I know. she says it should kept very simple and yet she is the one who wants the two rule possibility.
Though I could argue that a lot of things are rather complicated despite the claim it being simple and easy.
And I certainly do not think that the the admin area is confusing. It is only a lot to do at times since there is no over all global setting i.e. folder settings have to be made for every user group and not all together.
Besides how is it more confusing then lift off the cancellation of folder settings? What we said first, the individual folders cancel out /over rule the global settings. They only had to enable them to be used parallel. no extra buttons no nothing. Simply lift the exclusion.
I do understand that keeping a website running and users (more or less) happy while maintaining a clean interface is not such an easy job.
The only thing I say is that it doesn't have to be complicated with more options. More options doesn't automatically mean more complication and it also doesn't mean less features less confusion. That is a misconception. It is maybe harder to find a a good system how to make it simple enough but still it is possible and if it leads to a better website, then I think one should try it.
We in our group are basically in the same situation (though on a much smaller scale). Having two rules instead of one seems to be more complicated. But with a system it does work and it is not more complicated (maybe more work but only because there isn't a way to have DA keeping track of them 
Sorry, I am ranting a bit.
Yes I am curious and thank you for posting that dialogue. I am just not sure what the person means with "to any folder"
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~You have so much to do and yet you take the time to talk at me in these length. This is highly appreciated!
~And I certainly do not think that the the admin area is confusing.
We've gotten a lot of questions through #devBUG asking how to accomplish a lot of different things, a lot of which revolve around the Admin Area. Based on where people are getting most confused, and by extension asking the most questions in #devBUG , the Admin Area would be the most vital section of the groups system apt for a revamp - it was really only designed to list half the features it currently does, and adding exceptions and folder settings to it just went beyond what the design could carry imho. Given the complexity of all the intermittent settings, I would think they would need something more interactive to explain how different settings would interact - a lot of users wanted the option of being able to go into 'other admin mode' and see how the settings would restrict the lower admins' functions, without having to create another account an adding them to the admin list (to test the settings first hand).
~how is it more confusing
It was a value judgment on behalf of the staff, I can't really provide much insight into their decision; I have posted the portion of the conversation they did have on dA, but more than that, I do not know. Perhaps it would be easier4 to think of complexity in terms of the number of words that take to explain it: "either the user hits the 'global limit' when they submit work, or they hit the specific 'folder limit' if that is applied" is simpler than "there is a global limit that restricts everything that a user can submit, but the settings can be changed so that it does not apply to certain folders like a 'deviantID' folder where a user can only submit one work per month and is independent of the other folder limits - but since they submit to a folder, it counts against both the global limit and the folder limit, so whichever they hit first stops them from submitting".
~not such an easy job
I think they're just short handed given the tasks they're given to complete.
~less features less confusion
The thing I stress when they ask us for input is precedent - how other similar features were implemented - like the Affiliates box should function similar to the Friends box - so the fewer *ways* in which things can happen the better, but you can have many options just so long as it is intuitive (the user has come to expect) they will all function the same and will all be located int eh same area - like the edit buttons for Announcements and Blogs will likely soon be added to Journals once that system is merged with the News (one of the big updates they mentioned they were planning).
~It is maybe harder to find a a good system how to make it simple enough but still it is possible and if it leads to a better website, then I think one should try it.
It's rather hard to speak in these general terms, if you had a specific idea in mind (like how to change the Admin Area), I would encourage you to submit it as a visual suggestion.
~I am just not sure what the person means with "to any folder"
I think they may be speaking of something akin to the "Global limit" option in the limit drop down box - if you want me to check, I can look at it again, but I can't seem to access the page at the moment...
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All I can do is speak from my personal view. And I do knwo that I might be the only one seeing it like that. So I do not expect the to change something for me.
"We've gotten a lot of questions through #devBUG asking how to accomplish a lot of different things, a lot of which revolve around the Admin Area."
I could be totally wrong here, since this is rather speculation then experience.
The first place a member stops when he/she has question is the FAQ/Help centre and to be honest that is not much of help. In order to get my question answered I had to find your tutorial. I may be new here but if someone in a chat hadn't have mentioned #devBUG I still wouldn't know it existed. So much for intuition when using the site. I mean there are people who easily give up when it isn't easy to find (their loss, I know) but to expect everyone to know where to go is a bit naive in my eyes.
So what I mean is, if you have easier accessibly answers or tutorials maybe not that many people will ask?
But yes I do get what you mean. And yes it is certainly not the best of set-ups.
"Perhaps it would be easier4 to think of complexity in terms of the number of words that take to explain it"
That is a good way. But "the user either hits the the global or folder limit" does work for two rules as well. the user hits one of the implemeted rules, either the global setting or the global setting. As I mentioned in my previous comment the folder specific rule simply doesn't exclude the global limit. it is an implication, either I imply the global setting doesn't work next to the folder setting to I imply that it does work. Because either way it it not mentioned. So the difference is that the first one you mentioned did imply the exclusion while the second explanation had to explain that the a) there was an implication in the first explanation and b) that this implication does not apply here. If you want to have it simply, just imply something else.
"It's rather hard to speak in these general terms, if you had a specific idea in mind (like how to change the Admin Area), I would encourage you to submit it as a visual suggestion."
You are right. I will think about it. But it is hard for me to visualise something from scratch.
"I think they may be speaking of something akin to the "Global limit" option in the limit drop down box - if you want me to check, I can look at it again, but I can't seem to access the page at the moment..."
So it is something that doesn't exist in the current admina area?
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~and to be honest that is not much of help
~I may be new here but if someone in a chat hadn't have mentioned #devBUG I still wouldn't know it existed.
One thing I will say and stand by is that 'dA is completely devoid of a centralized staff communication network'. There are well over a dozen pages you can go to and get information from concerning issues (some overlap while others have gaps in their coverage of issues), and the common expectation is that you are already plugged into all these sources: 'Contact the Help Desk' - the replies come back in emails, +help , #help , #devBUG , the beta testing forum, the status forum, #hq (and other official groups), $Moonbeam13 's journals (and other staff journals), official announcements... it takes a long time to get acquainted with all these places - and most users aren't that dedicated to seek out the answers. I feel strongly that all these information reporting systems need to be unified in a single page that users can access easily rather than seeking out individually. I also feel that commonly asked questions to the Help Desk shouldn't need to wait a month (or longer) before they get posted as official articles in the Help Desk - when 5,000 users all ask the same question, the staff shouldn't be burdened with copy-pasting responses - they should simply make the information (the original issue ticket) publicly visible so that users do not all need to ask the same question - or need to wait for a response - or waist the admins' time. dA's is an inefficient system, and it bugs the heck out of me 
~either the global setting or the global setting
I'm not quite sure what you meant by that. What I'm trying to say is that the current system would need to overlap with the proposed dual-limit system, so you would need an additional setting for that (either mono or dual-limits for each folder) - I believe you said the same thing;: "either I imply the global setting doesn't work next to the folder setting to I imply that it does work"
~But it is hard for me to visualise something from scratch.
~So it is something that doesn't exist in the current admina area?
They were talking about it during the development phase, so it did not exist at the time, and no one had a clear idea of how it would be implemented, or what wording would be chosen.
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I am so glad we're on the same page here. I mean I am on DA for the art not spending my time searching for a little answer.
"I'm not quite sure what you meant by that."
ouch. I was typing something about global setting and individual global setting. I meant tow rite you either hit the global setting or the individual folder setting.
You not necessarily need to have something new implemented. the default folder setting is the global setting. that means in our dual system if you change that you decide to have two rules. otherwise one should stay away from it. Just like now. the difference is that the folder setting overrides instead off adds to the global setting.
And if i.e. want to have only folder specific rule you go with the unlimited option in the global setting.
oh my god 50 groups? *falls over*
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~want to have only folder specific rule you go with the unlimited option in the global setting.
Yeah, I'm still a tad shaky on the specific implementation you're describing, but I think I get the general principle.
~oh my god 50 groups? *falls over*
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I tried something else. Maybe it work with a checkbox as well. [link]
I was amazed when you gave me that link that there were so many group submissions but hardly any views. To how many groups do you think one should be allowed to submit to?
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~Maybe it work with a checkbox as well.
Looks good. If you submit it as a deviation, I'll add it to #DeviantARTconcept
~To how many groups do you think one should be allowed to submit to?
I wouldn't personally put a limit on the number one can submit to, only the number that are displayed on the deviation. I mean my own work has been posted to some 30 some groups, and most of those were invites rather than me seeking out groups, so I don't see why that should be held against the artist if many groups want their art. My thing with #VarietyClub is that I just need to work on devising some more restringent rules, like work will only accepted if it submitted to at or fewer than 10 groups...
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I wasn't sure about hide menu, when submissions are not allowed.
when I can. DA is acting up again so it freezes when I want to upload a picture. I have to wait until it works again. I mean that it freezes is normal but I completely stops doing anything so I have to close firefox via task manager. That's why I rather upload text^^
that's sounds like a good idea.
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~DA is acting up again so it freezes
Wht browser re you using?
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Weird, I use FireFox as well and haven't run into that problem.
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I think it is probably something on my computer. I can't remember if it works with my mac or not. probably not otherwise I would have uploaded my many deviations from there.
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this was really helpful thank you very much
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Maybe i missed something on this.. But how do I delete my group
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go to your group's profile page, and under the group's avatar, there is a 'member' drop down, at the bottom of the drop down, there will be a link to close your group
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The group that I am co-founder of has just recently made new folders to sort all of the artwork into. There are thousands of deviations to sort through. We wanted to begin re sorting the deviations starting with the first deviation that was submitted to the group. I was wondering if there is a way to go straight to the first page of the featured folder without having to click on the 'next page' button until you get there. I have a very slow computer and it would take forever to get there by doing that lol
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~I was wondering if there is a way to go straight to the first page of the featured folder without having to click on the 'next page' button until you get there.
Open up the Featured folder, click "next" once, then edit the url to have the proper offset (you will need to guess a little), ie [link]
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Thank you very much!
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Group's profile page >> under the group's avatar on the top left of the page there is a "Member" drop down where you can select "Close the Group" at the bottom.
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i hope you also submit your other two tutorials in my group
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