The Chainlink

I realize I am probably going to open a group can o' worms but when I look at the groups, I noticed so many are very old - not touched in over a year. So I want to put this out there to all of you. I would love to have Groups be a more meaningful space that helps people connect, plan, or do what they need by using Groups.

So to do this, should I delete old groups? Any criteria I should consider? Should I keep them out there and just close them, marking each closed group with an "Archive"? 

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I'm old and out of date- please don't be rid of me.

Bicyclists are so widely varied that it is certainly too vast a group to count as a single unit and gain any clarity of understanding of an individual by labeling them as a member of it. The reality is that Chainlink has morphed into a commuter/utilitarian cyclist community with some members crossing over to other cycling interests.

I have always found it humorous when the "news media" will interview someone driving a car as a "motorist" as if they speak in harmony (if not unity) with all "motorists". The same could be said about "cyclists".

Joe Guzzardo said:

We may participate in the forums, but your average bicyclist is not a groupie. We're independent minded. Kind of like trying to herd cats, I guess. As long as the entries are still there and searchable, what's the harm? 

I like having groups - having the option of open or closed groups, and having topics specific to those groups organized under the groups. 

Tony Adams 4 mi said:

Yeah. I wonder if the purpose of the groups could be replaced by functionality of the site redesign. 

How about applying the same rule to the forum?  24 months would reduce the page count from 1100 to under 400.

Sorry, deleted my last comment after I misread your post. I'll take a look at old forum pages. Some of the content is helpful and useful so I'm ok with it staying up. Mostly, I am looking at groups because people accidentally think a group is alive and well when it is not. I think it's a great time to bring some back to life and retire others. 

Mike Schwab said:

How about applying the same rule to the forum?  24 months would reduce the page count from 1100 to under 400.



Joe Guzzardo said:

We may participate in the forums, but your average bicyclist is not a groupie. We're independent minded. Kind of like trying to herd cats, I guess. As long as the entries are still there and searchable, what's the harm? 


Great point! This deserves it's own thread! People are always telling me to join a biking group since i like biking so much. They dont realize how antithetical it is to what i like about biking. The more people and vans and sponsors and the more complicated you make it, the less of an adventure it becomes.

I agree with Howard, and most of the posts, but I wonder if it's current site design that is the issue? Because it's hard to see immediately how long forum threads OR groups have been dormant. I was super excited to find a folder group a year or so ago when a friend got a new folding bike, but she checked and it was dead. What a bummer for a newbie! 

At the same time, sometimes there are great discussions with good information in groups and forum threads that wouldn't necessarily be findable by titles, so I'd hate to lose good content. I wish there was some better storage/archiving solution! Anyway, you go, Yasmeen - good on you for taking this all on. 

- Hoarder Sarah D.

I think that old forum topics often contain relevant information even if they're not active. Material in some open groups may remain relevant, or maybe not, depending on the subject. If a closed group has been dormant for a few years, perhaps it's outlived its purpose.

On a side note, I was a bit puzzled by VW's comment.  Joining a group doesn't automatically mean lots of complication and baggage. More often it's just about finding like-minded people to do fun stuff with.

Just my $0.02. Your mileage may vary.

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