ALUP - Google Groups

[Naseer]

dostaan-i-giraamii

This is a trial post to see what kind of response is encountered. As there are only 4 members at the moment, I suppose it will be minimal.

I like the interphase as it reminds of the "mother" group, being similar in appearance. The added advantage is that it has the facility for font size and other basic requirements as well as the facility for attachment of files.

On the negative side, I couldn't copy/paste or cut/paste. Maybe I am doing something wrong. Also, is there a way to hind one's email in the "Members" section? It's not a big deal but I would prefer not to divulge this to the rest of the world.

Amit SaaHib. Can you please provide me some guidance to "Discord". I'll try to post something there and then give you some feedback.

I agree with UVR SaaHib that we can post in all three and then it will become obvious where most of the action is! :-)

Naseer

[Naseer]

dostaan-i-3aziiz

I should also add there is no "edit" facility that I can see.

Naseer

[Naseer]

If it had "edit" facility, I would have changed "interphase" to "interface"! :-)

Naseer

[Amit Malhotra]

Hello Naseer sahib,

This is definitely a moderated group, not open to the whole world in the way the old usenet alup was, to join and see everything here, someone has to approve your membership (I assume it's UVR sahib), probably that is the reason why the emails are visible but I know that in google groups, there are settings that can make it so members can't see who else is member here with the right permissions.  UVR sahib probably has good control on these permissions.  Perhaps there are permissions to enable Edit as well. 

DIscord guidance, not a problem, I can help.  The idea of Discord is basically, you have a server where you are now (for example the ALUP server), then you have channels in the server, some are text channels (for general chat), and you have some forum channels where you can create new posts.  Also there's a voice channel where people can do voice chat as well. Discord also has some documentation to explain their interface (https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412085582359-Text-Channels-Text-Chat-In-Voice-Channels) and (https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/categories/200404398-Discord-Interface) 
Once you start using it though, it becomes easier as you are mainly just doing these things: 
* create new message in text channels or new posts in the Forum channel
* Replying to a message or to a post
* reacting (with emojis) on messages or posts
* turning a message into a thread within the text-message channels
* ping people directly by name (@tanhaa, @naseer) 
* visiting different channels and seeing all the new unread messages 

* Post multi-media messages, you can post videos, images, links, etc

These are probably going to be the main actions to do there. If you need any help with any of them, just ping me directly in the general-chat channel with @tanhaa and I'll get a notification on my phone. :-) 

Facebook on the other hand has the easiest learning curve, go to the page, post a message, and communicate with others on the replies using text or emojis, supporting multimedia, direct notifications to uses by using the same "@" method or just start typing their name I believe.  

Hope all this helps!
Warm Regards,

Amit Malhotra

[UVR]

Naseer saahib,

Amit saahib is right; this is a "moderated membership" group unlike the other one.  However, please note that it is not "content moderated"!  This is an important distinction: it is who can join and start posting is what is controlled by group admin(s), but what members, once joined, can post is not moderated. The "(s)" of "admin(s)" is in parentheses right now because I'm the only admin right now, but I have always intended to add more admins as time goes on and membership increases.  I do not envision myself having the bandwidth or ability to manage the group entirely by myself.

I do not believe I or any admin should be arbitrating anyone's opinions, therefore this group will ALWAYS remain "content unmoderated".  Members are supposed to exercise their own judgement as to what is and is not appropriate to post, the admin(s) do not get to dictate terms!  (We do have a way to guard against rogue admins trying to stage a coup and converting the group to moderated content -- I hold that "chaabuk" in my hand, and will use it if it ever becomes necessary to ensure that the group retains its character as a place for open exchange of posts.)

I will seek additional admin volunteers here when the group membership exceeds 21 members.  "1" for 'shagun" as they say in my family.  (And "51" for the ALUP FB group)

There is also a setting that controls who all can FIND the group online: this was the setting that needed to be opened up so that you could all find the group and request to join.

Regarding hiding emails, I'm not sure that's possible unless we hide *everyone's* emails.  There's a setting for whether emails should be visible to (a) only admins (b) other members also, (c) anyone on the web, and I've chosen (b).  I believe this is sufficient, since only "known" people can be approved (by the admins) to join the group, you'll always (come to eventually) know who is reading your post.

I cannot find a setting for allowing members to EDIT their posts.  My guess is Google groups do not support that feature (and I can understand why -- because they support reading/posting via email instead of on the groups interface, and obviously, while editing can be allowed for posts that appear on the Google groups interface, such edit are not possible to propagate to individual users' emails in a fail-proof manner.  If we value the post-editing option, we should use Facebook.

As Amit sb. has pointed out, Facebook also allows one to directly "tag" other users, this is also not possible at Google groups, but is, on FB.

Attaching files and media IS possible here on Google groups, but there's a catch: a file you attach will be copied and distributed to everyone who has opted to read the post via email.  This is environmentally unfriendly and I dislike it quite a bit as a sharing mechanism. In addition, if you ever wanted to unshare the content or take it private, you cannot (because you can't edit posts).  Even if you were able to somehow delete your own copy of the file, you'll never be able to get to all others who may have viewed your file or downloaded it and made a copy. On Facebook, the file/pdf/audio/video/... is held by the Facebook server, and you view it when you want, there is also more control (not full) on unsharing and deleting (but the rule about "never share anything that you don't want to lose control of" applies equally to all online forums).

Let's continue to evaluate the merits and demerits of all available options for replacement of Usenet a.l.u.p -- I have no doubt that one will eventually emerge a winner if only by a hair, even if AFTER Feb 22, 2024 has passed into the history books.

-UVR.

[Shoaib Tanvir]

Thank you UVR sahib.

As for the sharing files, once can always post a Google Drive link. That way, there is no bandwidth issue to deal with.

With best regards,

Shoaib Tanvir
---
Do. Or do not. There is no try.

[UVR]

True (Google drive), but then the space is coming from "your" Google drive, which brings us face-to-face with a different issue: the fact that you must retain the file in your drive until it is no longer needed.  With FB, once you've uploaded it to their system (servers), you can simply get rid of copy; this is useful when you're posting screenshots or other such items, that are useful for your readers long after they've outlasted their value to you yourself. 

Still, posting a link to a unique shared location is far better than attaching files and generating multiple copies.

-UVR.

[Shoaib Tanvir]

I agree. All valid points.

I am sure between this space and Amit sahib's Discord server, we are in good hands.

With best regards,

Shoaib Tanvir
---
Do. Or do not. There is no try. 

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ALUP" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to alup+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/alup/1bd4654a-dc9d-4196-b718-c69f74d77fd9n%40googlegroups.com.