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parallellogic β€” Groups: Back Room

Published: 2009-10-05 11:20:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 28822; Favourites: 179; Downloads: 146
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This is a continued walkthrough of groups. This one covers the area where most of the communication occurs between mods: the Back Room.

Special thanks to =Raishuu for providing images from the Rules tab from #GimmeFeedback and #hq 's recent blog [link], all other images are obtained through #devBUG

Points of interest:
The Bug Tracker is currently exclusive to #devBUG
The Log has been expanded to include statistics on recent group activity as explained in #hq 's recent blog [link]
The groupies category will now be merged with the watchers category to remove confusion between the two: [link]
Individual blogs can be taken in and out of storage much like deviations
Favs drop down -- multiple clubs interface
Revamp of Founder Controls
Public/Private comments on Correspondence Items
Group mods are notified when users leave the group in the same way they are notified when a user joins a group (Action Item in group message center)

To cover in next issue
Group Creation
Widgets
Changes to structure (Groupies, bulletins, conversations)

Q&A with development staff
-- We can not answer many of your questions as we can not comment on the specifics of features that have not reached beta-testing status.
-- The groups system is in the beta-testing phase and many portions are subject to change or complete revision; no decisions are final unless otherwise stated.
-- [Note to readers: most of these statements were made in restricted areas and thus the links do not appear to work for users who do not have access to these areas]
Is there any idea when groups will be released that is more precise than "soon"? Either for Beta or officially?
beta, soon
[link] 10/28/09

What portions of the groups system are most susceptible to change right now? Will watchers of a group remain the only user list that is unlimited in attendance at the Basic group level?
It looks like watchers will be the only unlimited class, this seems fairly certain. Everything is pretty much subject to change though, we're all still working out the details.
[link] 10/28/09 [EDIT 11/24/09: Unlimited Members class added [link]]

Is there any word on the pricing structure? Are Pro groups still intended only for companies and are priced around $1000 per year?
The way the system is used will be taken into consideration and some adjustments will almost certainly be made even after the final release.
[link] 10/28/09

I have not heard much about pro groups in a while. I'm pretty sure that Basic and Super are going out before we revisit Pro groups - the feature set for pro isn't even defined yet...
[link] 10/28/09

On Correspondence Items, such as a join application, it is possible for a user to make one and send one, but once it is sent they cannot see the comments made by the admins on it while it is being approved or after it is rejected/approved. Are there plans to allow the submitter to see the comments?
we are contemplating implementing two threads. private (for group members to gossip) and private+submitter to correspond with applicant
[link] [link] 10/30/09 [As of 11/3/09, this feature has been implemented]

Will it be possible to designate permissions specifically for each user rather than for an entire group like watchers or Contributors? If I want one watcher, =uae4u , to be able to submit work, and another, =parallellogic , to not be able to, can I do that if they are both in the watchers class?
no. privileges are per role (class), not per user. there never will be a system to assign permissions to specific user.
[link] 11/4/09

there is no such thing as watchers class, this is a common misunderstanding. there are group members (broken up into classes such as founder, co-founder, moderator, contributor, custom) and than, there is any other deviant thats not a group member.

there is group member (in various role, however you wanna call them) and the there is everybody else on deviantart. you can choose to allow/accept contributons only from group members, or you can open it up to everyone, its your choice
[link] 11/4/09

Is it true that group conversion will be one way only? Once you convert a club into a group, you will never be able revert the group back into being a club?
yes, migration is irreversable as it removes content from userpage, and populates account with group specific pages and widgets
[link] 11/4/09

Will a group retain the subscription the club had previously? If a Super group subscription costs $120 per year and a club subscription costs $30 a year, then will a club that purchases a year subscription and immediately converts into a group retain the year-long subscription when they are a group?
likely. but club conversion will not run forever. its being made available for clubs formed prior groups release
[link] 11/6/09 [EDIT 12/12/09: Club to Group conversion will be avaialble until March 1st, 2010. New FAQ article: FAQ #414: I have a Premium Member club, how long do I get Super Group access for? ]

What will happen to group News Articles? Given that users cannot blogs like they can News Articles, will there be a way for groups to generate News Articles in a similar way to blogs where the author's username appears under the title of the article? When a group gets converted, will the past News Articles still be accessible through the group (like in the current profile page widget that lists the recent News Articles)?
articles will stay where they are, on news page. there is no news widget for groups, and none is planned. news is rather low impact and traffic section of the site. if anything we will enhance blogs to allow to collect them the future
[link] 11/11/09 [EDIT 1/31/10: Refer to the 1/30/10 post below, it appears that news features such as faving and featuring on one's profile page will be granted to blogs in the distant future]

Could you provide further insight into the eventual group creation process? What kind of information will need to be provided for a group to be created or converted from a club? Will a group need to provide updates on its operations in order to retain group status?
you'll see it soon enough. its simple
[link] 11/14/09 [EDIT 12/3/09: Please refer to #makeagroup and #convertaclub ]

Are there plans to implement a search field for a group's gallery?
I don't know if this will be implemented or not - note that group galleries are quite different from regular users' galleries ... the art is not "by" the group and some groups might not even want their galleries to be searchable... I think it'll remain like this for now at least.
[link] 11/15/09

the gallery browse/search is on the roadmap but not gonna be available for initial release.
[link] 11/15/09

Will it be possible to hide 'Spam' comments and to block users through a group?
eventually, yes
[link] 12/1/09 [EDIT 1/31/10: The ability to mark GroupDesk notes & comments as spam and block users has been implemented]

Is the configuration of the 'Groups' widget for a user's profile page final, or can it change? Will there be a way of separating the groups you're a member of from the groups your an admin of within the Groups app?
I don't think it's the final version. The popup is pretty ghetto if you ask me, we can definitely improve that widget post-launch.
[link] 12/4/09

How many admins can be in a super group?
1 founder, 99 total admins, super, pro, basic - same limits
[link] 12/4/09

I'm an admin in #GimmeFeedback , but my duties have nothing to do with the submissions, so sending submission correspondence items to my folder for that group doesn't serve any purpose since I will never vote on those items. I propose a system where users can opt out of certain group related messages, much like the friends system allows us to do.
i agree completely, and that will be a focus (one of) of the serious message center overhaul project soonish
[link] 12/9/09

Is there any way to get confidential information/updates to your group's Members all at once without it being there to see for people who have not joined?
We wanna do it right, and we could not squeeze 'members' backroom into this release. it will be coming in next iteration of group improvements for sure [link] 12/9/09 [EDIT 1/31/10: A Members-Only Area is in development]

The FAQ (401 ) states that everything from clubs gets converted over to the new groups platform, yet I can't find the old club notes and I will need to delete all the old club submissions and re-upload them through the group. Are there any plans to fix this?
[=parallellogic 12/11/09 There are two widgets that currently address these issues. Both can be found by going to the group's Back Room, clicking the "Edit Page" button and selecting the "Misc" widget folder. The first is called "Ye Olde Notes Center" which will permit you to access the club-notes from before the conversion. The second widget is called "Gallery Migration"; when edited, this widget will allow you to supply a url/thumbCode for each of the club deviations that links to the original artist's submission. This app will save time and prevent sending message to the group's watchers that would otherwise be generated by re-uploading all the old club-submissions as group-contributions]

Bug Report: FAQ 401 states that every forum post will be converted from the old club to the new group, yet this [link] is the second instance I've come across of users not retaining the original forums during the conversion
FAQ is wrong. journal forums are not migrated (as are other minor things like shoutbox, webcam, deviousinfo, etc)
[link] 12/14/09 [=parallellogic : Also, as mentioned previously, news will not be preserved either. Scraps are also lost. Custom Boxes are still available (1 for Basic Groups, Unlimited for Super) but the data in any pre-existing Custom Boxes that are not on the group's Profile page is lost in the conversion. Data in Custom boxes from subscribed clubs is saved during the conversion -- the widgets are removed, but when the custom boxes are re-added, the widgets appear populated with the old data]

Bug Report: When I first started sending invites, it would let me have 25 pending invites before I got that "limit" message, but now I can only send 11. Is this an error?
its not a bug, its throttled depending on ratio of accepted invitations
[link] 12/15/09

The algorithm is not set in stone. It's still a beta release. Preventing loads of annoying "spam invites" from the many enthusiastic new group admins without taking away the ability to invite people was an issue that was considered with serious deliberation but the implementation may be adjusted to be less restrictive to responsible groups while still reigning in the potential for bothersome invite spam.

If you were on Facebook a year or two ago you surely remember the wide spread "app invite spam" that grew to ridiculous proportions before adequate controls were put in place to limit the impact on user experience.
[link] 12/16/09

It is currently possible to submit a deviation twice to a group and the group gets notified twice with two identical correspondence items. The second CI serves no purpose since once the first CI is closed, the second cannot be closed. Can duplicate Correspondence Items be removed from the group message center?
this is something that is fairly difficult to implement .. not sure if that will happen. pending submissons are not eazily searchable by their content
[link] 12/19/09

I'm an admin in #GimmeFeedback , but my duties have nothing to do with the submissions, so sending submission correspondence items to my folder for that group doesn't serve any purpose since I will never vote on those items. I propose a system where users can opt out of certain group related messages, much like the friends system allows us to do.
technology wise, its not possible with current message center
[link] 12/22/09

Hi, maybe adding a group quota for members to limit the amount of submitted stuff and prevent flooding the message center of people would be nice.
We've gotten this suggestion a lot, it's definitely a most-wanted feature and we'll likely implement that at some point soon after launch.
[link] 12/22/09

For the Random Group (available in the Diversions section of the dAv6 nav bar) will there be any activity filters? Or is just a random group from the set of all groups? The current random user button only pulls from online users to ensure the users selected isn't 'dead', I'm just curious if there is a similar setting for this feature.
I'll make it pick among groups that have been active in the past 48 hours [=parallellogic groups that have not accepted/denied any correspondence items in the last 2 days are marked as 'inactive']
[link] 12/28/09

Ok, so using the correspondence items generated by the group? So if a every group had the Weekly Stats widget shown and you could see that there have been no correspondence items in the last two days in any category, then the group is considered inactive right?
It's based on the group stats, some of it is used to generate what's in the weekly stats. I can't remember the list of actions that generate entries in these stats, but it's pretty wide. They're mostly content-related though, rather than based on what you see in the action log (i.e. admins rearranging widgets, permissions, etc.). [link] 12/29/09

Could you talk a bit more about the club-deviation conversion to group-submission process? Will favs on the old deviations be added on to the new submissions? Will comments be moved as well?
[=parallellogic 12/28/09 Favs and comments are lost in the conversion from club-submission to group-contribution]

Will forum posts in the private forum (from subscribed clubs) be converted into conversation topics in groups?
[=parallellogic 12/28/09 They will not be converted]

So what's the difference between "Has Full Control" and "Can Add/Edit/Delete Most Content". If Co-founders have the latter setting enabled, what can they not do that the Founder can?
full control means they can edit the privs for that app + everything else and most means they can edit everything except for the privs for the app [link] 12/28/09

Raise the limit for the number of admins (currently 99 for both basic and super groups) in super groups. Moar features equals moar profits
sorry, this one is really not gonna happen
[link] 12/30/09

In addition to the public forums idea someone else suggested, it'd be nice to have shoutboxes, at least for super groups. I realise there are chatrooms, but those are less effective for smaller groups and people can't see messages posted before joining.
we are not building a group shoutbox

between forums and chat in the future, we see no reason for another widget to maintain [link] 1/5/10

Super groups are limited to 80 thumbs in blogs [link] 1/17/10

Why can't I, as an admin, leave user-visible comments on fav contributions like I can with submissions?
cause there is no correspondence message sent to the submitter for the fave .. so the have no way to access those comments [link] 1/19/10

The notes center has the ability to add folders and file notes into them, I feel a similar system should be in place for the GroupDesk
We are improving the group notes system - we won't be implementing traditional folders but some type of organization will be provided (Tags, perhaps?) [link] 1/20/10

Deleting GroupDesk notes is a common suggestion; since we can hide Bulletins and Conversations can we hide notes as well?
working on it [link] 1/20/10 [EDIT 1/31/10: GroupDesk notes can be marked as 'Spam' which effectively hides them]

Hello, can groups accept scraps?
Type in "gallery:username/*" into the search box (without quotes) [link] 1/21/10

How do we allow certain admins to hide comments and not others?
next sync will enable hiding on any comment in a group, even on devmeet, polls, notes, correspondence threads, etc.
the ability to hide, report as spam is determined by 'can-edit' privs of the application widget that owns the comment. so, if you can edit blog, if you can vote on submission message, if you can reply to notes - means you can hide comments on them. if not then no [link] 1/22/10

Group news articles?
there will not be group news. period. news/journals-blogs merger is entirely separate project, once completed the blogs would have all the 'newsy' features currently desired. [link] 1/30/10

I'm making a poll for the most popular suggestions for groups, any ideas?
please do not include things in the poll that have next to none chance of being implemented in a forceable future. news, user-style-notes, private polls, etc - those have far bigger dependencies than groups project, those are big subsystems in need of complete overhaul before groups platform can tap in and interoperate with them. Before groups can work with another deviant-art system, that system needs to understand a concept of not belonging to a user profile, and supporting permissioned access. those and many others dont, and enabling them to do so requires a complete re-architecture [link] 1/30/10

Can we have the ability to add custom folders to the GroupDesk notes center? The current Notes Center has that ability, why not the GroupDesk?
Won't Fix [link] 1/31/10

Will the "Members-Only" app will be a Super group exclusive app? Or will it be for all groups?
I think all groups but I can't say for sure about that. maybe just more appealing for super groups' version [link] 1/31/10

We can't convert a club after March 1st?
i've just checked with $chix0r and she says that you will still be able to convert a club but it will cost you (she wouldn't say how much >.>) [link] 1/31/10

Two submissions were sent to #VarietyClub . I declined the first two submissions and then when the member tried to submit a third, they were shown an error that stated that they had tried to go over the 2-submissions-per-week limit I had set for the members class. I presume this is an error since none of their work was successfully posted to the group and thus wouldn't count against their submitted-to-the-group quota.
if the submission is withdrawn then it won't count towards the limit. rejection by the group does not count is withdrawn. [link] 2/3/10

Conversation with site staff...
Oh, and stacks are getting a major do over again soon, but sorry cant show it [link] 2/19/10 [referring to showing the design early before the beta-release]

Browsing #devBUG comments...
[Concerning the development of a new Affiliations widget , a section for "Outgoing Affiliation Requests" and "Incoming Affiliation Requests" has been added to the Admin Area >> Log page] [link] 2/21/10

How do I get additional key words to be applied to my group so that my group comes up in the search but the words don't appear in the group's description?
Use [link] 2/26/10

I want to delete Featured folders from Gallery and Faves. I tried to rename them and turn into a normal folder, but it is not allowed.
They are part of the implementation, not likely to change any time too soon. The featured folders act as the "root" of your gallery and collections - their submission limit settings are inherited by the other folders. Allowing them to be deleted would cause havoc. [link] 2/26/10

--

Currently In Development
LAST UPDATED 2/9/10
Affiliations Widget
Members Only Area (polls and forums expected but not verified)
Chip In for group subscription (This feature is completely coded and is awaiting legal clearance before being released)

Nearing Completion
These are features that are currently in Alpha Testing and *will* be released to the groups system (general public) soon (within a few weeks)
Submission Cap (limit the number of submissions members can contribute per time period) - this feature is currently in Alpha Testing - the feature will enable admins to limit the number of submissions to Gallery/Favs as well as each folder independently. Submissions range from <1-10 or Unlimited> per <1 day, 1 week, or 1 month>.
Revamped Group Submission System (Revamped User Interface, Multiple selection, Full browse experience - with categories and newest/popular, Specific folders on your own gallery/faves, No more alert() errors/messages, Automatic resizing - to take advantage of your mighty monitors, Choose to see more thumbs per-page [link] 2/9/10)

--

Memorable Quotes:

you guys want option for everything [link] (it's rather true when you look at all the suggestions as a whole)

you guys never get tired asking for more settings, then complain about UI looking like control panel of the nuclear power plant [link]

screwing with margins on the blog page seems to make the problem come and go. it's one of those IE heisenbugs [link]

--

Questions and Comments greatly encouraged
Related content
Comments: 255

shsn In reply to ??? [2009-12-15 05:28:18 +0000 UTC]

No. I'll try it again but this is how it was for me last time I checked...

I (as an admin) could submit to the club and I saw the option submit exclusively, but... I also joined with another account as member and as a contributor and I messed arroud with some of the privilages.. anyway I say an option called contribute art and when I clicked on it.. I could only chose art that I had already done to be contributed and so ther was not exclusively contribute button

am I confusing you? sorry

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

GuardianSpirit In reply to ??? [2009-12-10 19:18:06 +0000 UTC]

I have a few questions I'm wondering if you can answer.

1. One of the group admins deletes something from the group message center such as a comment for example, will that message be deleted for all the other admins group message center as well? Or will it only be removed by the person that deleted it, and still remain for all the other admins?

2. It is still possible to submit/edit deviations exclusively to a group without having it link back to another deviation? I know there's an option for it on submit deviation, but my group admins tell me that when they use that option the deviation doesn't show up at all in the group's gallery. Is this a bug? Or something else?

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parallellogic In reply to GuardianSpirit [2009-12-10 19:23:36 +0000 UTC]

~will that message be deleted for all the other admins group message center as well?
The messages go out to all admins' message centers at once, and since every message center is independent, the message will continue to appear in all but one of the admins' message centers when one admin deletes it. So yes, it will only be removed by the person that deleted it, and still remain for all the other admins

~Is this a bug?
It is a bug that appeared within the last day or two, it has been reported and is currently being worked on. In the working system, the deviation should appear in only the group's gallery, but all comments should go to the original artist who posted it (from what I'm told - I haven't actually tried it yet)

Hope that helps, please feel free to ask if you have any further questions

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GuardianSpirit In reply to parallellogic [2009-12-10 20:05:03 +0000 UTC]

This answers everything. Thank you.
I'll be sure to check back if I have any more questions.

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photoshop-tutorials In reply to ??? [2009-11-13 20:33:35 +0000 UTC]

oh oh oh... another question

I was browsing through #resurgere s gallery today, looking for stock, when I realized that groups don't appear to have a search field like regular galleries. This seems like a huge drawback to me - I had to look for the stock pack I wanted manually instead of just typing in a key word. Will anything be done about this?

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 2

parallellogic In reply to photoshop-tutorials [2009-11-16 05:47:33 +0000 UTC]

Are there plans to implement a search field for a group's gallery?
I don't know if this will be implemented or not - note that group galleries are quite different from regular users' galleries ... the art is not "by" the group and some groups might not even want their galleries to be searchable... I think it'll remain like this for now at least.
[link] 11/15/09

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

parallellogic In reply to photoshop-tutorials [2009-11-13 21:05:55 +0000 UTC]

A very good point, though this is more of a suggestion. The Conversations (group forum) widget is currently glitched in groups right now, so I can't ask the question, but I'll put it on my list for when it returns

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

photoshop-tutorials In reply to ??? [2009-11-08 02:48:30 +0000 UTC]

I'm a bit concerned about what will happen if I convert this club, so I've chosen to sit back and wait for a friend to test it out first. My main worries are:

- what will happen to our favorites and critiques?
- if I contact someone who has submitted their tutorial to the club and convert the deviation in the gallery to a member submission, how will this affect the favs and comments this deviation has received?
- will I lose the ability to give critique and post articles?

I've also noticed that Group's Statistics (on the profile page) doesn't display activity or amount of deviations in the gallery.

But it's a great guide - it answers some of the questions I had, if not all. Thank you

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 2

parallellogic In reply to photoshop-tutorials [2009-11-12 04:24:05 +0000 UTC]

~will I lose the ability to give critique and post articles?
articles will stay where they are, on news page. there is no news widget for groups, and none is planned. news is rather low impact and traffic section of the site. if anything we will enhance blogs to allow to collect them the future

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

parallellogic In reply to photoshop-tutorials [2009-11-08 03:01:17 +0000 UTC]

Favorites will ported over to the new group, I'm 95% sure of that (the programmers have stated they're trying to preserve what they can, and there is a favs section in groups, so I don't see any reason they would toss the old favs aside, and given the fact that groups like #SydneySyders and #GimmeFeedback existed as groups previously and retained their favs as groups makes me believe you will not loose the club's favs when the club is converted).

Conversely, there is no section in groups for critiques (groups for all intents and purposes cannot post comments -- only the mods can post comments as themselves on comments left on the group's profile). For this reason I believe the critiques will remain on the deviations you posted them on (thought the group) but there will no longer be links to them from the group (ie the Critiques module will be removed and your group will no longer have the record that you have made '3 critiques'.

~if I contact someone who has submitted their tutorial to the club and convert the deviation in the gallery to a member submission, how will this affect the favs and comments this deviation has received?
Heh, funny, I've never thoguht to ask that, but that's an excellent question, I'll put it on my list of q's to ask the admins and will post the response at the bottom of the comments area on this deviation if I get a response

~will I lose the ability to give critique and post articles?
Critiques I am quite sure you will not be able to make for the reason that groups cannot post comments as the group, but mods can make comments through their own accounts on group related user comments. As for News articles, that's another excellent question, I've added that to my list as well, they haven't mentioned that either way since blogs can't be faved...

~I've also noticed that Group's Statistics (on the profile page) doesn't display activity or amount of deviations in the gallery.
Yeah, they've made some changes to what stats are displayed, I believe that which stats are subject to change is greatly up in the air.

~But it's a great guide - it answers some of the questions I had, if not all. Thank you
Certainly, I'm glad you found this useful

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

photoshop-tutorials In reply to parallellogic [2009-11-08 13:07:53 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for that thorough reply

I'm sad to hear that the critique system will not be implemented in any way... is there a chance to put that up for suggestion? Perhaps the mods will be able to critique as themselves, and have their critique appear on the Group's page (obviously only if they choose so - if the critique isn't relevant for the club they should have the option to "turn it off") I would imagine that clubs as *Critique-It would be completely dependant on such a feature as all their critiques are made from that one account, with the staff just signing their names.

"Heh, funny, I've never thoguht to ask that, but that's an excellent question, I'll put it on my list of q's to ask the admins and will post the response at the bottom of the comments area on this deviation if I get a response"
Please do! According to our stats our deviations have 45,298 favs and it would be terrible if those couldn't be transferred or saved in any way

I'll get back to you if I come up with more questions^^

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

parallellogic In reply to photoshop-tutorials [2009-11-08 19:59:02 +0000 UTC]

~Thank you so much for that thorough reply
Certainly

~is there a chance to put that up for suggestion?
I'll put it up as a question to make absolutely certain, but they've stated in no uncertain words that they do not intend to allow groups to comment as themselves. The mods of the group are certainly allowed to comment through their own home accounts and link their replies to the group though, that seemed to be their intended solution

~Please do!
I've asked them about the News Articles first since that seems a more direct question, they prefer not to be asked specific questions about things not yet released like the submissions conversion widget, so I'll hold on to that one for the next set of questions in a few days...

~I'll get back to you if I come up with more questions^^
Cool

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WDWParksGal In reply to ??? [2009-10-29 05:36:50 +0000 UTC]

"Pro Groups"? What? Why does the Group concept have to be so complicated? I have been trying to keep up and you have been so good and kind to write everything out, but let's face, you're a whole lot smarter than the average deviant, so everything must seem pretty simple to you. My brain hurts trying to comprehend all this.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

parallellogic In reply to WDWParksGal [2009-10-29 07:43:47 +0000 UTC]

You know, I'm not really sure what they intend to do with the Pro groups concept, or why it's necessitated. It seemed like they wanted to initially gear it for companies that wanted another outlet for advertising, but given the lack of specifically promotional features (like a competitions widget or better organizational tools) I'm really questioning if they intend to continue down that path. I wouldn't honestly be all that surprised if they nixed the Pro groups concept at this point ... though that may just be because they haven't done all that much with the concept just yet

~but let's face, you're a whole lot smarter than the average deviant
Thank you, but I'd like to think I have the advantage of being behind the group that the site programmers are spending the most time in and can thus pick up on a lot more.

Heh, perhaps I should diagram this whole system out, and maybe include what I think would be a more straightforward structure, it seems like they haven't really covered the basics with their official news releases, like how to actually create a group and what kind of organization is behind the group...

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dbestarchitect In reply to ??? [2009-10-10 00:37:09 +0000 UTC]

Whoaaaa, lots of information in this one! Definitely going to be a good asset to have once the feature is released. Again, I can definitely see this one being used in some big important news article.

Waiting for number 3!

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parallellogic In reply to dbestarchitect [2009-10-10 00:55:30 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much. And yes, I agree, it would be really cool to see this featured

And as always, I'm open to suggestions and ideas

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DemosthenesVoice In reply to ??? [2009-10-06 19:51:16 +0000 UTC]

im curious about the conversion process. in your first entry (the basics of groups), you briefly talked about the conversion process, but you did not go into much detail.
By conversion, do you mean the current club profile will be directly converted into a group profile? (will the group retain pageviews, submissions, journals, etc) or will we have to start from scratch?
%Pr

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parallellogic In reply to DemosthenesVoice [2009-10-06 23:08:24 +0000 UTC]

~By conversion, do you mean the current club profile will be directly converted into a group profile?
Yes, that is what I mean. #SydneySyders would be an example of this conversion process: the account existed as a club for several months and then was converted into the group you see currently.

~will the group retain pageviews, submissions, journals, etc
Yes, the group will retain their stats, submissions and journals. I believe they will retain their subscription payments as well (so a subscribed account will become a Super group rather than a Basic group). The deviations should be converted into official group submissions by the group mods by using the soon-to-be-made conversion tool.

~or will we have to start from scratch?
No, the admins have stressed this point a lot more recently, groups will not need to start over from scratch. The point of the conversion from club to group is to continue operation exactly as before, only more efficiently, and with a couple additional official features to expand functionality (like the devMEETs widget).

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DemosthenesVoice In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-06 23:44:56 +0000 UTC]

awesome! thank you for the in depth reply, this is great stuff. im super excited about the whole thing.

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parallellogic In reply to DemosthenesVoice [2009-10-07 00:51:33 +0000 UTC]

Certainly, and cool, I'm definitely looking forward to the release as well

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BlakerOats In reply to ??? [2009-10-06 04:33:34 +0000 UTC]

I wish I could think of something smart to say. Oh well, how about this?...

THIS!
IS!
'SPARTA OF A BALANCED BREAKFAST!!

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parallellogic In reply to BlakerOats [2009-10-06 05:36:17 +0000 UTC]

A random response is as good as a smart response, I'll raise you one "the cake is a lie"

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BlakerOats In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-06 05:47:56 +0000 UTC]

Bah, that one got old while Portal was still new. But it is a classic, so I will give you credit.

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pdan4 In reply to ??? [2009-10-06 03:59:26 +0000 UTC]

I'm posting this so I don't look like an ass for not reading the whole thing... I read the first line, first pic, then went to post this XD

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parallellogic In reply to pdan4 [2009-10-06 07:57:05 +0000 UTC]

Can't say I was trying to make it interesting, so I don't blame you for skipping through it. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to let me know

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pdan4 In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-07 06:41:16 +0000 UTC]

;D

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twistedCaliber In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 20:11:07 +0000 UTC]

Again, you've got me intrigued as to how groups work. I'm very impressed by the amount of behind-the-scenes work that is going on. I really like how the members of a group can talk privately about matters and issues.

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The-Blood-Diamond In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 20:05:44 +0000 UTC]

At some point you mentioned about applying to to have your group converted. Does that mean they would just create the account for you?

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parallellogic In reply to The-Blood-Diamond [2009-10-05 22:11:42 +0000 UTC]

There will be two ways to create groups: one will be to take an existing user account that functions as a club, apply for conversion and then have the club account appear as a group. The other option that I haven't heard as much about will be to create a new group from scratch (so skip the intermediate step of making a user account -- just make the group account to begin with).

~Does that mean they would just create the account for you?
I'm really sure how to answer this, the admins will be the ones who accept your proposal to convert or create your group, so they have final say in whether you can obtain group status or not... and in that way they create the account I guess. I mean group accounts are a part of dA, and at some level dA staff are responsible for making accounts. The staff won't be looking for clubs to convert into groups if that is what you mean.

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The-Blood-Diamond In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-10 15:44:50 +0000 UTC]

I would probably just make a group to begin with, because the one problem that many groups will face, is that they have a bunch of deviations in their gallery that are owned by the members, and those would also have to be converted. It would be a TON of work for the dA staff, so I will just make a new account. It would be a lot easier.

Also, have they made a specific announcement yet about when the groups will possibly come out of beta to be used by more people? If not, how much longer to you guess it would take for groups to become ready to use?

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parallellogic In reply to The-Blood-Diamond [2009-10-11 08:07:02 +0000 UTC]

~the members, and those would also have to be converted
There will be a specific widget designed for that (that topic has come up a lot, I'll cover it in the next tutorial when I get a chance). I've seen it briefly (only a rough outline of what it will look like, none of the actual working features) but its been extensively talked about and it's one of the fundamental features of groups along with the ability for a group to have an infinite number of contributing users (not members, or groupies, those are limited and don't seem to count ). The ability to convert existing deviations easily and efficiently will definitely be included as a feature for pre-existing clubs when they convert to groups.

~Also, have they made a specific announcement yet about when the groups will possibly come out of beta to be used by more people?
Only if you consider "soon" and "very soon" announcements, they've been making those types of announcements for months (even before #hq opened). So no, I have seen no dates listed by admins (not even rough estimates, they seem really non-committed to the idea of an actual release date). Personally, I don't see why they get people's hopes up with those kinds of announcements when they can't do it by any reasonable definition of "soon" -.- (prove me wrong, but I think it's just a marketing ploy)

My personal belief is that groups will go into beta late this year and that groups will be publicly released in early 2010. That's based on what I've seen thus far behind #devBUG , what is left to be done, and how weary the programmers seem to be getting over this project. I think the term "soon" should only be applied once the groups have gone into beta; when they go into beta, that means *all* the ground work has been completed code-wise and all that remains is to work out the true remaining glitches/bugs (not the structural insecurities that are currently being worked on since the project is only partially implemented).

-.- I'm *not* really sure how to...

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The-Blood-Diamond In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-18 19:38:07 +0000 UTC]

I guess that it seems smart to make a widget to do this type of work, but a lot of the time there are very unorganized groups that poorly upload submissions with no credit to the artists like they should be doing (their not intentionally doing it, their just not organized). I foresee troubles.

Thanks for the information, I think that your probably a very accurate source, since you can see the inner workings of the group, so I shall trust your quote on its release. It seems pretty reasonable, though I really hope that things will start working soon. My group is floundering, because I have way way WAY too much school work, and that is effecting my ability to update the club. I hope they can work really hard on this in the next while to have it released in the beta stage. Thanks again for the information!

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parallellogic In reply to The-Blood-Diamond [2009-10-18 22:04:47 +0000 UTC]

~I foresee troubles
The way I see it, they would likely have an option that auto-detects the link to the original art piece in the description of the club submission and would display that as the option you would approve (so you'd approve one submission after another if you did the formatting correctly) whereas if you didn't use consistent formatting, you'd need to manually navigate to the deviation and select it to be turned into a group submission. So if a group is disorganized, there would still be a way for them to convert their deviations

~so I shall trust your quote on its release
Thanks, just recognize I am not basing that on anything the admins have said about the release dates, only what I've seen through #devBUG and what the admins have been saying

~because I have way way WAY too much school work
Heh, same here.

~Thanks again for the information!
Certainly

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The-Blood-Diamond In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-19 01:28:11 +0000 UTC]

OK, that sounds good then! Things will definitely work out then.

Frankly, I think your more reliable than the admins.

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Hitman-Spike In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 18:59:50 +0000 UTC]

Why did you censor =DEVlANT if we all know which one is him? =3

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parallellogic In reply to Hitman-Spike [2009-10-05 22:19:53 +0000 UTC]

Consistency

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Hitman-Spike In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-06 00:44:14 +0000 UTC]

Touchè...

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Pyritie In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 14:12:41 +0000 UTC]

You might want to mention that the issue tracker page is only going to be found in #devBUG - other groups are just going to have the other four.

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parallellogic In reply to Pyritie [2009-10-05 18:24:47 +0000 UTC]

Alright, if/when I update this, I'll be sure to add that in

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Stormartic In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 13:37:00 +0000 UTC]

From: God

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parallellogic In reply to Stormartic [2009-10-05 18:16:47 +0000 UTC]

Well, that's what =DEVlANT has renamed the founder position to be called.

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Stormartic In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-05 18:27:54 +0000 UTC]

Very amusing

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pachunka In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 11:43:31 +0000 UTC]

Some of this might be about to become out-of-date.

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parallellogic In reply to pachunka [2009-10-05 18:21:52 +0000 UTC]

That's a risk I'm willing to take, I figure it's better to have something that's out of date than to have nothing at all. I'll do what I can to keep this up to date, but my goal was to cover the core features that wouldn't be changed; now I'm rather curious what changes you are referring to

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pachunka In reply to parallellogic [2009-10-05 19:06:43 +0000 UTC]

Not saying I don't like it. I think it's great. You'll see! Mostly changes to the manage group box.

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RalfMaximus In reply to pachunka [2009-10-05 13:00:46 +0000 UTC]

Goddamn it. Already tattooed on my forearm.

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5ammu In reply to RalfMaximus [2009-10-05 16:43:38 +0000 UTC]

You too??

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AaronBradford In reply to pachunka [2009-10-05 11:55:14 +0000 UTC]

Hehehe, I love it

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Onyxsoulclaw In reply to ??? [2009-10-05 11:34:46 +0000 UTC]

eeeppp that's quite a bit to read but i shall try my best. The pricible of it sound good, and i can't wait to see it all in action. Take care and happy drawing.

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parallellogic In reply to Onyxsoulclaw [2009-10-05 11:41:13 +0000 UTC]

Sorry, but yea, I tried to fit as much info into the space as I could. There are already a few groups (I have them listed in my front page journal) if you'd like to take a look at a few .

Thank you and you too

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