Marcus101RR
Master of Ravens
I think its pointless in my strong opinion to set a Social Group Public given the fact that its not public at all. As there are a total of 4 options to choose from on how your group appears in the public list when users see it from the menu, and when viewing it. Here are some pointers and fixes that need to be done. As this is sadly affecting the excuses of users on the server and the group such as the following:
Issue: I cannot register on the forums!
Reason: Most likely because they are too young, not allowed, or parental control has been added. This forces the user not able to register! Leaving the group not view-able and its contents.
Issue: I have been banned from TCF, I cannot see the group!
Reason: Banned is bad, usually if they are banned from the forums here, we say you are banned from our servers because there is obviously a good reason you are! However, we may let them slide if they can just see it without being a registered user.
Issue: They do not want to, period!
Reason: They obviously have reason to say that, and I don't blame them!
These are the common issues I am getting reported and they are blaming me for it, I have told them, this is a TCF issue, the plugin, or addon they are using to allow social groups needs to be re-coded a bit to fix up the 4 options as they make no logical sense in choice for both the owner and its users to this community. There was an obvious reason why these groups were created and allowed, it is so owners can post and advertise their servers, create clans for their team regardless of system they use, and even just have a social group for whatever idea it is!
Now, we have four options to choose from and a few make absolutely no sense given the situations: Public, Read Only, Private, Invite Only
Public
The first and easy option, its public, simply stated, anyone, and everyone can see it. Here is the catch however, not EVERYONE can see it, and not only that, they are FORCED to register an account. Oh wait, there is more, THEY MUST join the social group in order to even see and read its contents! That means threads are not available, especially our rules that everyone is required to read before playing or joining our group! That is extremely illogical! Here is a screenshot of a user who doesn't have an account VS one who does:
IMAGE 1: You can see on the left the guest has no account, also appears to apply to one who does. They cannot read the threads, therefor they miss out on important things they should be reading. Being forced to register, and join the social group defeats the purpose of "PUBLIC" option. Its better to be "Invite Only" or "Private".
IMAGE 2: The second image above demonstrates the exact concept of what PUBLIC OPTION should be doing. You notice that all social groups appear PRIVATE. However, we know for a fact that not all of these groups are actually PRIVATE. They didn't select this option. The one of the right is what should appear to any user, including those that have no account on TCF.
Now, What exactly do the other options do?
READ ONLY
This one clearly would mean the social group is only readable, but you cannot post. This obviously only goes for the members, but not the Admin or the Moderators of that group! That is great, but its an oxymoron at its best. Read only, yet, its not readable to a guest again. It doesn't show any threads! Option, useless! Please fix that.
INVITE ONLY
You must be invited to see the group, which gives it a REASON to be non-readable for guests. So obviously this is fine, we don't want people reading our threads unless they are invited. That would make this option vital for servers or groups that don't want guests to get their hands on anything...destructive.
PRIVATE
I suppose this one means for yourself only. Not that I care about this option so whatever it does, is for those who use it.
Bottom line, the use of Public / Read Only are actually nothing more than Invite Only, you must join, and then can you get the option to read these threads! They do not appear for guests who are not part of that group. Please fix this, a lot of players are complaining that they cannot read any threads, they have reasons not to register/login to TCF. They have the right to, but our server requires that you read all important threads. Just like your TCF community asks that all users read the rules before joining. Guess what? Those threads are public to guests before they register. That is logical, and important. Please consider doing the same thing to the Social Groups.
I am sure there are a few other public groups out there who are experiencing the same problem. We hope you take this into consideration as it makes the interface more enjoyable to the community and less of a hassle to the unfortunate.
Issue: I cannot register on the forums!
Reason: Most likely because they are too young, not allowed, or parental control has been added. This forces the user not able to register! Leaving the group not view-able and its contents.
Issue: I have been banned from TCF, I cannot see the group!
Reason: Banned is bad, usually if they are banned from the forums here, we say you are banned from our servers because there is obviously a good reason you are! However, we may let them slide if they can just see it without being a registered user.
Issue: They do not want to, period!
Reason: They obviously have reason to say that, and I don't blame them!
These are the common issues I am getting reported and they are blaming me for it, I have told them, this is a TCF issue, the plugin, or addon they are using to allow social groups needs to be re-coded a bit to fix up the 4 options as they make no logical sense in choice for both the owner and its users to this community. There was an obvious reason why these groups were created and allowed, it is so owners can post and advertise their servers, create clans for their team regardless of system they use, and even just have a social group for whatever idea it is!
Now, we have four options to choose from and a few make absolutely no sense given the situations: Public, Read Only, Private, Invite Only
Public
The first and easy option, its public, simply stated, anyone, and everyone can see it. Here is the catch however, not EVERYONE can see it, and not only that, they are FORCED to register an account. Oh wait, there is more, THEY MUST join the social group in order to even see and read its contents! That means threads are not available, especially our rules that everyone is required to read before playing or joining our group! That is extremely illogical! Here is a screenshot of a user who doesn't have an account VS one who does:
IMAGE 1: You can see on the left the guest has no account, also appears to apply to one who does. They cannot read the threads, therefor they miss out on important things they should be reading. Being forced to register, and join the social group defeats the purpose of "PUBLIC" option. Its better to be "Invite Only" or "Private".
IMAGE 2: The second image above demonstrates the exact concept of what PUBLIC OPTION should be doing. You notice that all social groups appear PRIVATE. However, we know for a fact that not all of these groups are actually PRIVATE. They didn't select this option. The one of the right is what should appear to any user, including those that have no account on TCF.
Now, What exactly do the other options do?
READ ONLY
This one clearly would mean the social group is only readable, but you cannot post. This obviously only goes for the members, but not the Admin or the Moderators of that group! That is great, but its an oxymoron at its best. Read only, yet, its not readable to a guest again. It doesn't show any threads! Option, useless! Please fix that.
INVITE ONLY
You must be invited to see the group, which gives it a REASON to be non-readable for guests. So obviously this is fine, we don't want people reading our threads unless they are invited. That would make this option vital for servers or groups that don't want guests to get their hands on anything...destructive.
PRIVATE
I suppose this one means for yourself only. Not that I care about this option so whatever it does, is for those who use it.
Bottom line, the use of Public / Read Only are actually nothing more than Invite Only, you must join, and then can you get the option to read these threads! They do not appear for guests who are not part of that group. Please fix this, a lot of players are complaining that they cannot read any threads, they have reasons not to register/login to TCF. They have the right to, but our server requires that you read all important threads. Just like your TCF community asks that all users read the rules before joining. Guess what? Those threads are public to guests before they register. That is logical, and important. Please consider doing the same thing to the Social Groups.
I am sure there are a few other public groups out there who are experiencing the same problem. We hope you take this into consideration as it makes the interface more enjoyable to the community and less of a hassle to the unfortunate.
