Non-Drupal related groups being submitted

Posted by Walt Esquivel on February 21, 2008 at 4:42pm

Although I highly support the entrepreneurial spirit, I'm very much against groups.drupal.org becoming saturated with groups that really aren't about discussing Drupal and instead are self-serving.

Here are two examples I came across in the moderation queue this morning and they appear to have little, if anything, to do with Drupal:
~~http://groups.drupal.org/m-s-public-relations~~
~~http://groups.drupal.org/kolb-net-works~~

Would it make sense to spell out in clearer language that g.d.o is not for an individual, a business, the government, a non-profit, etc., to set up a group whose focus isn't Drupal?

The create a group link contains the following but perhaps it's not clear or specific enough?

The focus of your group should be drupal related discussion. We don't host groups that discuss other topics like politics and fundraising. Drupal can be popular for powering sites like those, but thats beside the point. We discuss Drupal here, exclusively.

And if the Drupal Association wants to help generate funds by allowing advertising in a directory to which we can redirect those folks who want to advertise, I would support that. I just don't want a bunch of clutter here on g.d.o. by folks who are really doing nothing more than advertising.

Comments

well, please delete those

Posted by moshe weitzman on February 21, 2008 at 4:55pm

well, please delete those groups when you see them. and please suggest clearer wording.

Happy to help!

Posted by Walt Esquivel on February 21, 2008 at 5:50pm

I wasn't even aware that I had "moderator" status here on g.d.o so, after your reply I was surprised when I clicked on the "posts in moderation" link and saw the various groups and what I could do to them. I went ahead and deleted the above 2 groups I mentioned.

As to clearer wording, how about changing the wording I quoted above on the "create a group" page just a tad to the following?

The focus of your group should be Drupal related discussion. We don't host groups that discuss other topics like politics and fundraising and we don't host groups that are focused on an individual, a business, a government, a non-profit, etc. Drupal can be popular for powering those types of sites, but that's not this web site's purpose. We discuss Drupal here, exclusively. Please do NOT set up a group whose focus isn't Drupal because your group will be deleted.

Also, I'm a bit confused by your intent here:

Don't overlap much with an existing group. We want fewer big groups given a choice. Groups can split apart organically after some time.

Are you trying to say that you want big groups given a choice over lots of smaller groups? The wording "fewer big groups" is confusing me, and we may have less redundant group applications if you can clear that up just a bit.

Thanks Moshe!

Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing

yes thats what i am trying

Posted by moshe weitzman on February 21, 2008 at 7:33pm

yes thats what i am trying to say. care to reword that phrase also?

How about something along these lines?

Posted by Walt Esquivel on February 21, 2008 at 9:28pm

In creating a new group:

Please avoid overlapping an existing group as much as possible.
It's better to have larger groups with lots of user activity (subscribers, discussions, events, etc.) than smaller groups that are so specialized hardly anyone even bothers to join them and/or post to them.
When breaking out a smaller group from a larger group, only do so after user activity in the larger group demonstrates the proposed smaller group can succeed on its own as a new group.

Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing