What Can I Do With 'Clubs' or 'Groups'?

You can use groups on your network to meet people with your interests or in your region. For example, some clubs are about a specific local course or real world club, some are topical, like Disc Golfers Who Love Great Beer. Groups come equipped with their own discussion forum, RSS reader, text box and comment wall, and several privacy settings. on DGRUS, we have chosen to permit members to create endless numbers of both public and private clubs. (In a private club, only those the person who created the club allows to join can see or participate in the club—except, of course, for DGRUS administrators, who have access to everything.)

Joining a group is a great way to get started on a network and to meet new people. Depending on the size and age of the network, there could be groups for all sorts of different interests, types of people, and locations!

To join an existing group, go to the Clubs tab. You can browse existing groups by most active, or sort them by latest activity, most members, or latest created. Just choose your option from the "Sorty by" menu.

Once you find an interesting group, click on its title. If the group is public, there will be a link in the top right of the page to join the group.

If the group is private, you can apply to join the group from the group's page.

Participate in a group

Once you join a group, you can participate in it! You can add a comment to the group's comment wall (like to Comments article). You can also check out the group's discussion forum and start or reply to discussions. To view all of the discussions in the group's forum, locate the Forum box and click the "View all" link.

When you join a group, you'll automatically follow the group. You'll be subscribed to changes on that group. This means that any time someone joins the group, comments on the group, or starts or replies to a forum discussion within the group, you'll receive an email notification letting you know. This is a great way to keep you involved in groups you belong to and keep you in the know about activity happening on the group.

You stop following a group you belong to at anytime by clicking the "Stop Following" link on the group's page.

Create a group

If you don't see a group you'd like to join, create your own! Groups are a great way to meet other members with the same interests as you. You can invite anyone to join your group, even people who haven't yet joined the network!

To create a group, go to the Groups tab and click the link at the top right of the page to "Add a group."

Next, fill in information about your group. Give your group a name and be sure to upload a group image that's roughly square in size. Fill out a description for your group, which members will see when looking for groups to join. If your group has another website, or a location, you can add it here!

In the right side of the page, choose which features your group will have. You can add a comment wall, discussion forum, text box, and RSS reader to your group.

Don't forget to choose the privacy settings for your group! You can allow anyone to join the group, or moderate membership. If you choose to moderate membership, new members will have to apply to join and you'll be able to review their request before they can join. You can allow members to invite other people to join and allow people to request membership if you'd like. If you turn off both of these options, the group will be invite-only - and you'll be the only one who can send invites to join the group.

Finally, choose whether or not members of your group can send broadcast messages to the whole group.

Click "Add Group" and your group will be added to the network!

Invite people to your group

To spread the word about your group, invite people to attend it! You can invite people by typing in email addresses, selecting from your list of friends across Ning, importing your web address book, or importing from an address book application. If you're the Network Creator, you can also invite all members of your network to the group.

To invite people to a group, go to the group's page and click the "Invite More People" link.

People will need to join the network in order to join the group.

Manage your group

You can always make changes to your group once it's been created. The one thing you cannot change, once a club is created, is whether it is a private or a public one. You can update the features, change the description or title, and add to the text box on your group's page. You can also promote group administrators to help you moderate the group, and ban any members from the group if you'd like.

To add content to the text box on your group right on the group's page, just click the "Edit" button in the header.

To update your group, go to the group's page and locate the "Admin Options" section. To change anything about your group, click the "Edit Group" link.

The only thing you cannot change once a group has been created is its privacy setting.

You can ban members from your group by clicking the "Manage Group Members" link on your group's home page. Locate the member you'd like to ban from your group, check the box next to their name, and click the "Ban from group" button.

If you've set your network to be "moderated membership," you can moderate new members easily. Click the "Pending" tab to view members who have requested to join the network.

Promote Administrators to help you manage your group

You can also promote group members to Administrators to help you manage the group. To promote a member to Administrator status, go to the group's page and locate the "Admin Options" section. Click the link to "Manage Group Members."

Next, locate the group member you'd like to promote to Administrator status and check the box next to their name. Click the button to "Promote to Administrator" and you're all set!