[Blue_Bird]

Does anyone use the social groups on here anymore? They don't seem very active. I don't mean their forums but the actual group pages, I started a few but had a lot going on plus no internet so didn't have time to post for a long time. I was just wondering if newer members knew about them or were interested in them, there's a lot of different ones to choose from and you can make new ones too.

[Nammu]

Used to go on a few quite a bit, had great convos but they changed the format and I can not access them anymore. Can't see what people have written. Makes me sad they were my main way to be in touch with some people as I mostly sick to bipolar and games forums and don't see those people outside of the social groups.

[nonightowl]

Originally Posted by Nammu

Used to go on a few quite a bit, had great convos but they changed the format and I can not access them anymore. Can't see what people have written. Makes me sad they were my main way to be in touch with some people as I mostly sick to bipolar and games forums and don't see those people outside of the social groups.

There's another thread about this that I want to comment on as well, but I have to find it first which is hard now, since some things don't work for ME anymore.

Personally, I've always preferred the groups to the forums. When I joined back in 2008, they weren't on there. A couple of months later, they added them. I thought it was so cool that members could create and manage groups. And they had an option of whether they wanted to create a forum for the group or leave it as is. Some members added forums to their groups, which made the group portion "die off". I didn't add forums to my groups.

Then last December or so, they changed the format so you could start individual threads, like a forum. You could also "subscribe", like on a forum. Until they added that, you had to check manually for activity. I think people forgot they joined the groups since they didn't know if a new post was added. Then, since they didn't go to the much groups anyway, they don't know you can subscribe to them now......

But I noticed since that change, the groups have been even LESS active. They were never as active as the forums, BUT a few I belong to were moderately active, like the books group.

No more...I left a few, and I just check for activity once in awhile. I've given up on them.

Nammu, sorry you're having trouble too. I thought it was just me. There are some things not working for me anymore either, hence I don't come here much anymore.... It's not the supportive place it used to be, as I came on here to socialize.

I miss you in the groups.I miss the conversations I've had too, when the groups were moving pretty well......

[Nammu]

The book and sci fi social groups were great. I miss you too on those groups. We had some great conversations and it was a cool way to hear about new books to read.

[downandlonely]

I just joined in March, so I didn't know about the groups.

[nonightowl]

I forgot to say.... hence the limitations of technology to "connect". I still prefer the old-fashioned face to face way or over the old-fashioned landline phone.

The Internet and the sites on it we can't control. If they change it, "upgrade" it, or remove it altogether we lose those "connections" unless you know those people in real life. No need to worry about security, browser versions, and stuff like that that only exacerbates the haves and the have nots....

There's another site I abandoned because they changed it. I can no longer even log in anymore, as the button is missing.

[DocJohn]

Yes, I agree, change is hard, and it's annoying to have to change when we're used to the way things were. We had no choice in the matter when they changed the way social groups worked in vbulletin, however.

So all of the social group messages for a social group have simply been moved into a single thread and the groups have become miniature forums unto themselves (negating the need for the old social group forums, but we've kept them there anyway). It's a bit confusing at first, but social groups work just like the forums now.