Following Noob Bible #1: Everything you wanted to know... and Noob Bible #2: All about the Forum... is Noob Bible #3, everything to know about groups. If you are new to making groups, or if you're new to learning about groups, this is for you.
What are groups?
A group is an assemblage of people or objects located together. In the case of Minitokyo's created groups, members
share similar interests. There are some members who collaborate with other members and get the approvals of them before
making a group so the group will not have any major faults. You need to be at least level 20 to make a group. Prior to
creating a group, please search for existing groups as a newly created group may be a duplicate of an older group. Note
that when registering groups, you cannot have any spaces if more than one word is intended to be used. Instead, use
either a hyphen ( - ) , an underscore ( _ ) , or you can join the words together to keep the group name in a single
string.
How do I join groups?
You may join groups by going to the group you wish to join and clicking on Apply for
this group, which is located on the left side of the page under the user box (or where you receive your
notifications). A group moderator or administrator may eventually change your status from being an aspirant member to
being either a member, a moderator, or an administrator.
How do I leave groups?
You may PM a moderator or an administrator in the group, and eventually you will be removed by request. You may also
post in the group guestbook stating that you want to leave, but keep an eye out for other members who post, as your post
may no longer be on the group page (you may view all the posts made by group members by clicking View all posts which is immediately above Guestbook Entry). Note that moderators and
administrators have the ability to remove themselves from groups (more details about the abilities of moderators and
administrators are below).
What are the basics of group interaction?
Groups are usually created with a purpose; there is no point in creating a group without a purpose. Members join groups
because they have similar interests with the creator of the group. Basic group interaction usually involves getting to
know fellow members and learning about their interests.
Other ways of group interaction
There are multiple ways for members in a group to interact. Contests can be held to maintain the interest of the group.
As long as the contest doesn't cause any harm to other members, then it will be just fine. Art contests are usually
the most promoted contests, and members in a group share their art with each other. Members who have similar interests
may also want to get together in the offline world so they can really understand each other.
What happens if something goes wrong in a group?
If a member decides that he or she doesn't feel a certain kinship towards another member or other members in the
group, the member can leave the group or can ask for help interacting with other members. It is also possible that
discrimination may be a result of negative interaction. Members should try to either cooperate with each other in
solving issues or they should call a moderator to help sort out the issue. Furthermore, if there are members who applied
to groups and the moderators or administrators are not active in the group at all, the members can send a support inquiry to the Minitokyo moderators, filing
a technical inquiry about what is wrong with the group.
I don't see the threads I created and I don't see my gallery items I submitted
on the main page of the group. How can I get them to show?
After members become part of your group after changing their status from aspirant member to either a member, moderator,
or administrator, their threads and their gallery items also become a factor. While your threads may not be recently
posted in, their threads may have recent posts. With concern to the gallery items, the gallery items which attained the
most favorites will be displayed in the group, and this cannot be changed unless those members whose gallery items have
the highest favs out of all the members' gallery items that were submitted are removed from the group or other
gallery items that are not viewed as highlights in the group attain more favorites than those that are
highlighted.
Various levels of group administration
Members who are at least level 20 can be given the ability to administer or moderate the groups. If a member is lower
than level 20 in a group, and he or she is appointed a moderator or administrator of the group, then that member will
not be able to moderate or administer the group until he or she reaches level 20.
- Group Moderators have the ability to add and/or remove members from the group. If a member, by request, wants to be removed from the group, or if a member needs to be removed from a group due to insubordinate behavior, moderators can remove them from the group.
- Group Administrators not only have the same abilities as group moderators, but group administrators can also modify the group settings and edit the group page. Therefore, group administration should be given to members who know XHTML coding and members who will not abuse the privilege of being an administrator; the group will more than likely stay current.
Also, if a group is to remain active, the moderators and administrators could send notices to fellow members about certain dates or events.
Group Customization
Customization can only be done by a group administrator. When customizing groups, XHTML coding is used the same way it
would be used in a member's own user page. Customization should also feature the purpose of the group to make it
easier for members to know where the group is going with their ideas. You can even sponsor contests in customization so
the other members would know of what is currently going on. It is recommended, in some way, that a list of members be
created so the members would have easier access to others instead of having to only look up the 25 most recently joined
members. Thus, older members wouldn't be forgotten at all. It is always a good idea to have 2 or 3 administrators
in the group in the event one of the administrators leaves Minitokyo for a prolonged period of time.
