Another one bights the dust.
----- Cross posted to the marketing group since GDO is a marketing tool -----
In the past 30 days I have become aware of THREE groups that have either stepped away from GDO, are about to step away from GDO, or are confused on what to do with GDO.
http://groups.drupal.org/chicago ~ Doesn't use GDO invite system to register for events. They use MeetUp.Com They do post event news on GDO but it it often in a digest form on a post that contains other topics and announcements.
http://groups.drupal.org/indiana [the group for which I am Manager] I'd always wanted to purchase a meetup.com acct for the sole reason of exposing the meetings to the vibrant OSS scene in Indiana. One of our members, dudenhofer, did purchase it and post a meeting and we had some new blood show up. So far we are opening up RSVPs for GDO and meetup.com but I wonder if at some point we'll stop doing it for GDO. The decision will be made as a group and I'm undecided at present.
http://groups.drupal.org/central-ohio just had one of its members, brian294, purchase a meetup.com acct after hang out with me and dudenhofer at the Ohil Linix Fest. When brian294 heard our success story he bought an acct as well. In a post http://groups.drupal.org/node/28728 to the Central-Indiana group brian294 was bold in his objections to GDO as a useful tool in the fight to advance local groups and the Drupal project as a whole.
What's my point?
I'm not exactly sure. GDO is in transition right now. I'm helping two other groups form and while doing so, I'm faced with the challenge of how to encourage the group to truely maximize GDO while not losing out on the benefits of meetup.com On top of this, the topic of groups registering domains and going it alone comes into play; yet another step away from GDO.
One of my goals is to help new groups form and to help smaller groups to grow. I'm wondering what the future holds for GDO. I' hearing some complain that they thought moving to D6 was going to really add value to GDO but they are disappointed. Some said they DIDN'T think the move was going to ad value thus they are NOT disappointed. Yikes...
Granted my focus is on geographical groups and evangelizing Drupal and that's where I'm hearing the concern over GDO and its efficacy.
Just throwing it out... I'm also heading over to the http://groups.drupal.org/local-user-group-organizers to rekindle the conversation about adding some static page links to the front of GDO. We will have some draft posts submitted to Josh_k for his review and feedback. We feel that these links will offer useful information to ppl who land on GDO's front page and aren't sure what to do with it. Remember, the uninitiated are often BLOWN AWAY by what we take for granted daily.
ha!
I always grin when I see others reference my posts. :-)
Just to clarify, I am not against eating our own dog food. I want to use g.d.o for everything. But, at the present time, we are having some noticeable usability issues. I recently revamped our page to take advantage of og panels and throw out the standard right sidebar in an attempt to make the site a little cleaner. Still, some outstanding issues ...
1. I'm extremely frustrated with the limited amount of views available to me to place in my panel regions.
2. Why are the discussions (and other node types) NOT using my default home page layout or a panels layout of my choosing?
3. Why can't I put in custom javascript so I can leverage Google Maps API to put in a map to our meeting location?
4. Why is the new user registration page buried?
5. Why can't I flag a node so it's on the top of the river of news?
6. Why isn't there a block available in og that will detect three different user states: Anonymous (Register Now), Authenticated Non-Member (Join Group Now), Authenticated Member (the equivalent of current Group Details block)
7. ...
Is it possible to redo the g.d.o concept so that a group could have a fully functional Drupal installation so we can fully customize most everything? Like our own subdomain (central-ohio.drupal.org). SSO and various other common g.d.o features would be turned on by default, but we would largely have more control over how our group works.
I can't tell you how tempting it is to setup our own drupal home page. But, I won't. I want to eat our own dog food.
Peace,
Brian
Just a note that I doubt
Just a note that I doubt custom JavaScript will ever be allowed on a site like gdo; by default in Drupal, even "Full HTML" strips out script tags for security. Our group has found that a text address along with a simple link to Google Maps works well enough for now.
very interested in fixing - bakery is our priority right now
So, we (Josh, Moshe and I) just had a call about g.d.o status and I wanted to followup here.
The big thing is that we all want to make sure the single sign on stuff works for everyone before plowing into new features for the site. That is, unfortunately, a really big task :(
Quick responses...
1. Just needs "round tuits" (someone to get around to it) - if you want to help configure these let me know and we can get you setup
2. Not sure - can you post a screenshot of that problem?
3. As deviantintegral says, that's a security issue. I am working on a general mapping solution, but it's held back by focusing on the single sign on issues. The current plan is for something like the location module or geo module + mapping magic.
4. I just added a block to the right sidebar that explains the process and only shows for anonymous users. Thanks for pointing this out.
5. The first answer is "nobody every asked." You can post feature requests for groups to the infrastructure queue or to this group. More specifically, there isn't an easy way I can think of to do this within the organic groups module.
6. I think I've partially fixed this with my solution to #4, but please suggest textual improvements.
Regarding redoing it so that a group can have a fully functional site...that won't happen any time soon within the *.durpal.org infrastructure - mostly because people who are interested in doing that lack either the technical knowledge or the long term commitment necessary to trust them with that access.
However, we are always very interested in new feature ideas, especially when they come from people who are interested in providing advice and work to make them happen.
Thanks for your help to make g.d.o a better site.
--
http://growingventuresolutions.com | http://drupaldashboard.com | http://drupal.org/books
So glad you chimed in Brian
Brian,
We've started something good here. I don't know where it's going to go, but it's happening and I expect other's will join the thread.
GDO is not a local group friendly environment. Many of us thought that the move to D6 would bring us closer. I don't know what will become of your comments and observations. We've asked for maps before. If you look around there threads upon threads of conversations about how GDO can serve local groups better.
It's going to come to the point where we who manage these local group pages will just have to throw a post on our front pages that says "plz visit our site at www.blablabla.com"
I'm left to conclude that GDO is for "Working Groups" primarily. I don't know. Maybe they have some of the same concerns we local group leaders have.
Any way... I'm just rambling now...
My disappointment not withstanding, I continue to make efforts to improve GDO. One of my goals is to get some links on the front page that point to information pages. Please visit http://groups.drupal.org/local-user-group-organizers/static join the group, and see Moshe's comments and those of others.
I'm not going down with out a fight. Maybe some day we'll all just use our GDO as a link to our own sites, but until that happens I'm doing my best to add value to it.
Just had an idea
If GDO isn't very local-group friendly...
How about meetup.drupal.org as a spinoff site where OG can be used in a manner more conducive to the demands of local group organizers? For all I know this have been suggested before.
I don't know... I'm just watching the Colts kick some TN Titans tail and this thought occurred to me.
what would the different features be?
It is unlikely that another new site would be created (ask Killes if you want to do it), but just let us know what the additional features are that you want and we can see about adding them here to g.d.o.
Adding features to g.d.o is not as easy as it may seem. Whenever we add a new module we have to do a security review, do a performance review, and commit to supporting it if the maintainer decides to abandon it. When we're dealing with many thousands of users that's not an easy.
Also, the traffic to the site has remained growing at a fairly consistent pace (see attached). So, while I appreciate your stated goals of making the site better, I would appreciate a little less drama (e.g. the title of this thread).
--
http://growingventuresolutions.com | http://drupaldashboard.com | http://drupal.org/books
Following up
Sorry for the dramatic thread title. Where possible I try to use song titles [or parodies thereof] in my post titles. In this case I can see where it would be construed as drama.
Personally, I want to see groups using GDO as a primary means of communication. I like the idea of having ALL that content posted, archived, and crawled on GDO.
I started this thread because I wanted to keep a discussion going on this topic. There is no shortage of threads on this topic but I had hoped that this could be a more productive one to occur after the D6 move.
I met Brian when I spoke at the Ohio Linux Fest a few weeks ago. When I saw his posts about gdo and alternative options I knew that this was at the heart of my desire to see local groups flourish.
Greg, I'll hit you up directly with some more thoughts on the topic. I really want to see the Local Group Organizers succeed so that the local groups themselves succeed as well.