Blog Post
I think this is a good time to talk about groups in general :-)
Groups are getting a big change. Before we talk about that more, let's take a quick look at how groups have been used in the online network.
(1) The online network now doesn't have a discussion categories. Members have created groups to pose questions about a specific topic. When the question is answered or there wasn't enough interest in the topic, the group became inactive. Examples include Tamoxifen side effects and Declined treatment.
(2) Some groups are announcement boards for offline groups. Little or no conversations happen in them.
(3) Some groups are a great resource for members seeking greater peer-to-peer support. Examples of these are the breast reconstruction and secondary breast cancer groups.
We have 151 groups. A handful of them are active.
Our current vision is to create Groups for members seeking greater peer-to-peer support. We also want to ensure that every Group in the online network has an active members facilitating conversations in them. Groups are not intended to be a substitute for discussion topics. They're also not intended to be announcement channels.
Most of the groups are being dissolved. Their content is being integrated into discussion categories. For example, announcements about meetups will appear in Community News and Events.
The surviving groups are:
- Choosing Breast Reconstruction (previously 'Breast reconstruction' online group)
- Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer (previously 'Living with advanced/secondary breast cancer')
- Christians Diagnosed with Breast Cancer
We can and would create more groups if the need arises.
This is what the main group page looks like. Keep in mind that it's missing its images and design.
Group Facilitators will remain (they're called Group Leaders on the new platform). They'll be able to edit the Group's details, edit, close, and delete discussions (posts). They can edit the original post, but not the comments.
There is a search bar within Groups.
Right now it's returning results from the entire online network. There is an option to search only within Groups, but it's not working properly at the moment. The developers are looking into it.