Something has been irritating the heck out of me lately, and I'm not sure if it should be or not. Every day when I log on to Gather I check all of my e-mail notifications about new stuff being posted to my groups. When I go to that group to check out many of these articles, I start to wonder "why was this posted here?" Even in the groups that I am an administrator for, but not the owner of, this happens almost daily. Why?
One reason that I can think of, that I am also "guilty" of, is accidentally checking the wrong box when initially posting an article. This is understandable as we've all done it I'm sure. And if you are sitting there thinking smugly "I've never done that, I''ll never get that careless to allow that to happen." Just wait until you own/belong to several pages of groups...it will happen eventually. It's usually pretty easy to tell when something was accidentally posted to a certain group if you look at the list of other groups the article was posted to. Recently I had a submission posted to my poetry group that had nothing to do with poetry and upon closer inspection, mine was the only poetry group the piece was published to. That told me that the author knew it was not appropriate for poetry groups, and that it was probably an accident. I removed the article from the group and sent a Gather-mail to the author explaining my denial of their article in my group. A little while later that author replied to my e-mail apologizing (unnecessarily) for posting that particular article to my poetry group and went on to explain that it was an honest mistake. No problem, it happens, I've done it too.
Could it be that some people simply don't care whether their articles are on-subject for any particular group? There have been some instances where I either remove or decline articles from groups from the same people, over and over again, and always it's the same type of thing they are trying to publish. While many of the articles in and of themselves may be well written, entertaining, and worthwhile, they still might not belong in every group. After all, why would anyone think their latest dissertation on "the socioeconomic benefits of worlplace safety implements in third world countries" would also be appreciated in a food/recipe group? Do these people just not care about what is appropriate and what is not for each group they belong to?
Maybe it is as simple as some people just being greedy for Gather points. They figure that if they can sneak their "Lawrence of Arabia" movie review into the group about "Pet Grooming Tips" it will get them more points by posting to more groups in hopes of more comments/feedback/ratings. Could greed be the reason? Maybe. I suppose it is possible that some people automatically "accept" any and all group invites just for the points associated with joining groups, and then somehow thinking that everything they write belongs in that group as well. Maybe I'm the only one, but I do not automatically join every group that I'm invited to. If I'm not interested in the theme of the group, no offense, but I'm not going to join. I have declined numerous group invites by many of my connections on Gather, not because I don't like the people that own/are in the groups, but they honestly hold no interest for me. I have lived in Minnesota my entire life and while I appreciate the invitation, I do not feel that I could contribute to a group whose content is based in/around/about Pittsburgh. Nor do I have any interest in model airplanes, specific political party support groups, or parenting groups (as I do not have children.) I'm not saying that these groups aren't wonderful groups to belong in, but as I really have nothing much to contribute to them that woudl be appropriate to their respective themes, I respectfully decline the invitations. So is it possible that the insatiable quest for more point earning opportunities is part of the problem? I have to believe that it is.
On a similar tangent from the one above, could certain people be just too lazy to look up a group's "profile?" The "about this group" link on every groupspace home page is a place for group owners to tell what their group is about and in some instances, what it is not about. Some group names are fairly clear on what kind of content is appropriate for the group. Other group names are a little more "ambiguous," and it can be difficult to tell what belongs there and what doesn't based solely on the group name. Hence, the "about this group" option. Does anyone else (besides me) ever read these little blurbs about potential groups they may join? I always read them, just to make sure it is a group that I may have some interest in. Sometimes it feels that members post their articles, regardless of subject/content, to every group to which they belong. I'm telling you that group owners (at least some of us) do not appreciate having to go through and clear out a bunch of stuff every couple of days from our groups that do not belong there. Especially when it's obviously not in sync with the theme of the group.
Of course there will always be a few exceptions. There are going to be some articles that depending on the intent of the author and interpretations of the reader(s) that may or may not fit with the content guidelines of a particular group. I recently had this happen, again in my poetry group, where I decided that the particular work did not fit with the group, but it was very close and I completely understood why the author decided to post it there. Again, I e-mailed the author and explained my logic as to why I didn't think it belonged there. That author worte back and said that they weren't really sure if they were going to post the article in question to my group, but decided in favor of it in the end. I was not upset at all by the article, in fact I read it, commented on it, and gave it a "10" rating because it was very well written but the bottom line was that it was not poetry and therefore did not fit the guidelines of appropriate group content. In fact, I read/rate/comment on many articles submitted to various groups where I have some degree of authority as to what gets published and what doesn't that are great articles in and of themselves; but they fail to meet a specific groups criteria. Then I remove/decline them from an intended group.
I try very hard to publish content only to appropriate groups. I even pay attention to which poetry groups I publish my poetry to. If I write a Haiku, I don't publish it to Limerick groups. I also do not publish poetry to groups on education, military, pets, cooking, games, sports, medicine, etc. unless it fits within the theme of that group. Likewise, if I publish a game, movie/music review, rant/rave, essay, or anything else not poetry, I don't post it to poetry groups.
I know that I could officially moderate my groups, but I feel that I shouldn't have to worry about what people publish to them. It should be a given that if they're posting a musically themed game, then they will publish it to Musical Chairs and not the Poet's Nook; if they're posting a poem, they will post it in the Poet's Nook, but not in Musical Chairs. Is that too much to ask; for people to pay attention to where they post what content? If you're not sure what you're posting is appropriate to a certain group, by all means post it there and the group owner/moderator(s) should let you know if it isn't. Then you'll know for future reference. It's as simple as that. Isn't it?
So in review, are people just greedy for points? Are they too lazy to learn what each group is looking for as far as content? Do they just not care what they publish and where? I don't know the answer for sure, but I am curious if I'm the only person here who feels this is a problem.
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Comments: 22
And then there are articles that walk the line. Like lyrics - are the music or poetry or both?
What I do, with all the groups that I belong to, is I save them in folders right on my computer so that if needed, I can access them quickly and also read any of them whenever I choose - also, I can relook-up a groups description.
I've noticed this mostly on my games group and my aromatherapy group, where I've seen freebies, jokes (weird, cuz I have a jokes group too) and all manner of things and yes, it's the same people, so I'd have to say it's probably greed.
I don't think I ought to have to moderate my groups either - people on here should be responsible enough not to do this, but they do it anyways and probably always will. No answers here for you, other than it happens...
Marilyn
I would also like to take this opportunity to offer a collective apology to anyone whose article(s) I may have declined or removed from groups; especially if I did not send an e-mail explaining why. If if the future it happens that I decline/remove someone's article and you would like to know why, feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll do my best to explain the situation.
I send a story to. I haven't put much poetry on line as of late. But I do when the urge hits me. I want to say that I enjoy your work. I know you put a lot of your time and hard work into this site. Thanks for all you do. I think you are the first to feature one of my poems on your group. I thought that was great .Thanks a third time.lol.
I have seen many articles posted to groups where the content of the article did not fit at all with the focus of the group. I have also wondered why members would do that intentionally. Since I don't own any groups, it is not as irritating for me as it is for you since you are so conscientious about making sure the articles posted to your groups are content-appropriate.
Excellent rant!
I have in the past make a suggestion that Gather could implement to help catch the mistake and reduce the more intentional misposts. That would be to allow group owners to use article tags to automatically filter the articles and/or images that are posted to a group. This would be a boon both to group owner/administrators and courteous members who write on such a wide variety of topics that they belong to a lot of groups.
While implementing this suggestion could lead to the abuse of tags such abuse would be indulged only by a few and disciplinary action taken by either Gather or group owner when it is detected.
Another suggestion which would help alleviate this problem is to allow Gather members to subscribe to groups which they are interested in only as readers. This would allow members to received notices when articles are posted to particular groups, but those groups would not appear in groups listing when a member goes to publish an article or listing.
MM ~ You are not lost; nor are you the only one. I was a bit overwhelmed in the beginning as well, and honestly Gather can be a difficult website to utilize. It is about both points and communication/making friends. The two concepts generally go hand-in-hand here. The more you write, the more connection/friends you make, and the more your articles get read/commented on, thus the more points you earn. Then the cycle starts over. As far as what is appropriate or not, it is usually up to the whims of the group owners. If your articles were denied by certain groups, try e-mailing the group owner and politely asking why? Under what grounds was your work not accepted into the group? In the group Two Word Challenge a few of my contributions were denied, not because they didn't fit the group's focus, but I didn't follow the proper posting requirements. I asked the owner/moderator(s) what happened, and they had me repost. Some groups (like the example here) get so much material posted to them that the group owner/administrator(s) oftentimes quickly go through submissions and every now and again something gets deleted when it should have been allowed. Check the groups' posting criteria, and if you're sure your article belongs, ask! In my case(s) the moderators were very nice about it and explained why they declined my submission. On the next attempt, my work was submitted without problem. I also learned what I did incorrectly and now I know what to do.
Don't be too hard on yourself...Gather can be confusing for a beginner (and veterans alike.) Keep trying; you'll find your niche in time. Like any writer, it's important to also learn how to take rejections from fickle publishers as well as picky group members. I wouldn't worry about it too much, just go with the flow and enjoy!
One thing I would like to see from Gather eventually is a way of organizing the list of groups that comes up when you post an article, maybe even a way of creating "group lists" so that you could check one box to publish to all of your poetry groups, for example.
Another contributing factor is is ambiguous titles. Is a group called "Authors" a place for writers to post their fiction pieces for critique? Is it a place to review books and discuss favorite published authors? Is it a place for writers to share tips and do networking or to post essays about the craft of writing?
It's not always convenient to re-check all of the group descriptions when you go to post, and I'm sure I've guessed wrong on what is acceptible for what groups on many occasions in spite of my best efforts. Maybe Gather could provide a space to add notes in the list of groups?
In the meantime, it's good to be aware of the issues of misplaced content and the efforts we can make to avoid it.