Hi Guys! I was wondering if there is any feature to create groups? I mean there are members from all over the world with different cultures and societies. But I felt that someone like me from a different society/culture cannot completely relate to others in this forum. So is it possible, or is it a good thing to start a feature to create groups based on regions/countries ? Thanks!!!
I'm pretty sure that this has come up before, and the answer has been no. We try to avoid any feature that could risk making EC too cliquey, and groups would definitely have that potential.
I totally get the "cliquey" argument which groups might definitely foster. On the other hand, I know a lot of gay people (myself included) feel isolated because you don't feel like there is anyone with similar backgrounds that are gay. A lot of people's only notion of what a gay person is is what they see on t.v. and in the media (i.e., the flamboyant type). Most of us don't have gay people in our immediate group of friends (our baseline of people with like characteristics) so I have nothing to dispel that notion besides people stating it in the abstract. And I get the security issues with all that too. You guys have to be protective of people sharing too much personal information and there are a lot of users to be regulated. I think it is just a shame that there seems to be a lot of good people on here and it seems hard to foster any sort of personal connections apart from slogging through thousands of posts in the "chit chat" section. It would be nice to chit chat with other gay (using myself as an example) law students or lawyers, or other gay people who like X or Y. When you boil it down, what is a primary reason people come on here? Loneliness? Isolation? In love with a friend? Trouble Coming Out? Yes, people all over the forum spectrum offer advice can offer advice on this, but is it a bad thing if (using myself again) if I was able to locate someone that could say, "hey I'm 28 and graduated from law school 2 years ago, I came out blah blah blah, my experience yada yada yada" (whatever the connection to that user is, school, college major, geography). That is more relateable and quells the isolation/loneliness people feel than a user existing more in the abstract (i.e., unknown likes/unknown interests/anything that would form a "group"). Alas, I understand forum guidelines, security, the moderators decision making process, but am just trying to foster discussion on the idea. Is connecting people in a more meaningful way inherently bad?
It's basically antithetical to what EC has traditionally been focused on, which is online, community-based support. There are lots of websites, apps, and communities where you can meet people in your area focused around common interests. Meetup.com is a good example. But EC is not, and isn't likely to become, a source for making local or real-life connections, at least it's not something we want to focus on, because it poses a lot of problems and is simply not something that is currently anywhere in our plans.
If that's what you're looking for, you can always start a thread on a specific topic in Chit Chat (or a different forum if it would be more appropriate).
while the thread is still active I wanna ask why there isn't a notification when someone quotes you in a post? I think that will would help the site allot.
It's something most of the staff wants, too, believe me. It's right there on the top of our wish list for things to get when we upgrade our forum software. There are just certain technological obstacles that keep it from being straightforward to do.
