How do you use Gather Groups?

I try to read as much as I can, but hoenstly I am not sure when the stuff is from my groups or from individuals.. Still trying to get the hang of it all here.

How are you Peter? Happy New Year!!

mostly i use 'em to give friends a boost.

I never actually visit a group, but I do publish to them. Mosr so on the images I post....I'll keep adding groups until the image is uploaded!

I try to read my connections first. Then when I'm running low on connections stuff to read I pop in one of the groups and go thru it.

I read connections first then group stuff.

I don't think groups make much of a difference. There are times I've published an article to 20-30+ groups then turned around and published another article without selecting any groups and the comment count was nearly identical. If you're making connections and people are subscribing to you, that's what matters, or so it seems.

I never read from the groups. I only publish to them because I know that's how some people read the site. I'll get a few new readers every time I publish to groups that are specific, such as cats or gardening.

I don't think it matters when you publish to "everything" groups, although I do it, too. I think if someone is looking to read just any old thing, they'll do it without going to a group.

Basically, I only read my connections or people I find through stalking my connections. :o)

I don't really pay that much attention to where the articles come from. I don't have time to read them all, anyway so I don't focus on that but when posting them myself, I do pretty much as you do.

I do. Not so much the everything groups, but the groups on a particular subject or theme, I check out often. Specifically the Geocaching, Coke Reward Points and Television groups that I belong to I do visit at least once a week if not more. I also try to make sure to visit the Capture This and Capture This Quickie groups to see other theme submissions that are from people I am not connected to.

I like to check out the Vegan groups for recipes and ideas. I post to everything that my article applys to. I like the points.

i am new to this, and just received an email from the today.gather.com group, asking me not to cross-post. i don't even know what that means...anyone???

I have a wide variety of groups myself. Alot freebie, recipe and everything groups. I post to my groups as well. I try not to post to as many groups any more. But sometimes I do get carried away.

As for your last question : I do. Yes, I read articles from groups. I actually get certain group email right in my email.

I post to most post all groups but check out the ones as pop ppop write image and such that I write for and compete in contests for.

I keep my groups to a minimum and only post to those whose purpose fits in with my subject matter.

I use the groups as an inspriration for articles and I read from them when my connections aren't publishing much.

I too don't think anyone reads from their groups. I certainly do not. However I do post to MY OWN groups and all groups relevant for that post!

I'm with Ashley on this one. I get notified every time any one of my connections publishes content. I have a few, select, specific (e.g., not those publish-anything-type-groups) groups that I have my email preferences set to notify me of new content.

I don't really use subsriptions but instead have my email preferences set to notify me when certain groups and all of my contents publish content. I belong to some of the "freebie" type groups on Gather (where people talk about stuff that's free), and it's good to be notified when content gets posted to those groups as it's usually something time-sensitive that you have to do in order to get the freebie they're giving away.

I also belong to just about every LGBT group that I can find on here, although I don't always pay attention to them.

Then there are the photo groups (which I post to when I'm posting an image) and the poetry groups, and the techy groups, and the groups dealing with my disability (Depression, mental health, etc.).

Other than gaining content, one of the ways that I view groups is as a way of letting others know about you. For instance, on Orkut, I joined a bunch of groups that I'll probably never visit but they concern topics that are of interest to me so it's kind of a quick way of letting people figure out what you're about. Of course on Gather with their current method of displaying groups (I've suggested a way to improve this), it's a bit difficult to sort out all of the "meaningful" groups from the "post anything" groups.

Does this make any sense?

You know I really should turn my comments into articles and then just link to my article/comment from the comment, shouldn't I? :)

I belong to around 200 groups - most are the post anything, points, etc. type. So obviously I cannot go to each and every one. In fact, I believe the only group pages I actually visit are my own, and then not even those much.
I start out by scrolling down through the days new 'articles for me' and reading whatever/whoever catches my eye. Then I may go back through and be more discerning. Or may just go to 'recent' - seems like if I post to about 150 groups, I would get more than 4 or 5 comments... but *sigh* seems to be the way it goes.
My best bet I guess was getting into an argument with a fellow gatherer - got more comments than ever before on my rebuttal article. Most from the gatherer that had blocked me!!!????

Viki...I think it means you've run into a anal group owner :)

The only groups that I tend to go to looking for things to read are my own... other than that, I find articles by following my connections around

I read the stuff from my connections, then I go to my groups.

I only read from Gather publication E-mails that come in...never to groups themselves...or to direct mass E-mails from individual Gather members. Belonging to over 200 groups, when I did post; I only posted to those applicable, however to all applicable. If they were 'post anything' or 'points' groups; I'd post to each and every one of them. I only join groups with large amounts of members...and reject any group I know I wouldn't ever post to. I figure groups with small numbers of members; those members are already in other groups where they would see my posts anyway if they read through going through groups.

I go to the few groups I own and read what's there. Gather still hasn't straightened out a couple of my groups so I can't feature any articles in those. It's frustrating because I like to feature a new article about once a week. Sometimes if I am in the mood to see what people are saying about a specific subject, I'll go to a political group or whatever. Otherwise, I publish to mostly the same ones over and over. I am, however, very careful about not posting incorrect articles to groups. If I do, it's a mistake on my part and I didn't mean to!

Most of my groups are "everything" groups too. I belong to a couple specialized ones: book reviews, poetry, writing, crafts, and holidays.

Peter,

I don't believe that 'post anything' groups really help with the visibility of your content, and I advocate eliminating them from your publishing options whenever possible. It is a far better approach to build up your connections and readership, and publish content to groups with a specific purpose that match the premise of your article/image, etc. (assuming the group is maintained and kept on-topic by the group leader).

You are likely to get just as many comments and page views publishing to a few select groups as you would to a list of a hundred 'post anything' type repositories.

Yeah, I don't think the everything groups do anything either. I don't post to them anymore and the comments still come. I may go to specific groups, like for recipes but that doesn't happen much either.

I have the option of publishing to about 115 groups, I would have to check to be sure, I just removed myself from a few, I don't fit their purpose. But, I subscribe only to a couple of groups I don't own, and that is to get e mail notices of activity. I figure that since Gather gives the paper away for free I should use as much of it as I can. I post regularly to several moderated groups, accept rejection as a fact of life, and then try to fit my postings to those groups a bit more carefully. I have enough Gaul to be divided into three parts with a bit left over for dessert, so I will speak up any time the spirit moves me.

I do the "publish everything" groups because I would NOT know where else to put most my stuff.

Hi Peter. Thanks for your article, and thanks to those who commented. I found it very helpful.

Great article Peter, I use the "publish everything" also, because like you I would not know where to publish articles

I use the publish everything groups to. I have only checked the travel one a few times because I'm notified when any of my connections publish and I can never view them all.

I just read what comes my way

I belong to a few groups but just learned how to publish to the. LOL. I asked a question to a couple of my groups and got 5 comments. LOL! Hey I am just glad to be anywhere. Kidding. I look at the group sites daily. I have a lot of time on my hands before I start back to school next week. It has been lots of fun.

I read articles primarily by my connections only. I look at the new images for images to view. I almost never look at groups. I do a lot of commenting, just not through the groups. I really don't think they have much of a purpose with the exception of running contests.

There are too many groups. Often I just publish to one or two of my own because I don't want to take the time to go through the others.

Well, I am also guilty of belonging to too many groups, and a good deal have no purpose really. Those I post everything I publish to, though I don't get emails from them nor do I check their page. There are only 3 or 4 groups I get notifications on, dear Peter's of course and Landens's and one or two with sex in the title, so sue me!! :~D