When you announce alternatives to G+ it would be helpful if you said whether we can create communities there
When you announce alternatives to G+ it would be helpful if you said whether we can create communities there
Many of us are looking for sites where we can migrate our communities, not just individuals doing our own thing and posting stuff on a stream. Thank you.
Many of us are looking for sites where we can migrate our communities, not just individuals doing our own thing and posting stuff on a stream. Thank you.

There are no reasonable alternatives to Google+ Communities.
ReplyDeleteThat is just a matter of fact.
Certainly, the list that is pinned is just an introduction to various sites with links. An index, if you will. In the section about features, people should make comparisons, which should include if the service has communities (or some sort of groups.)
ReplyDeleteFriendica has special user types you can use in place of collections and communities.
ReplyDeleteRobert Wallis Quite right.
ReplyDelete"Google+ is the worst social network ever, except for all the others."
John Lewis I see your Public announcement post but I dont see any list. (confused)
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres thanks. I am not sure how that would work for workshopping poetry.
ReplyDeleteMartha Magenta let me get a screen shot of it and upload it
ReplyDeleteFacebook Groups is quite similar and not so bad ... except that it’s Facebook.
ReplyDeleteNicolas Quentin Yes, I already belong to some facebook groups and they are clunky compared to G+.
ReplyDeleteIn settings, you decide on advanced user type. See image:
ReplyDeletehttps://pasteboard.co/HHXXfAG.png
So far the only thing i know of that comes close to Community functionality is Slack. slack.com - Free Plan | Pricing
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres that looks promising!
ReplyDeleteMartha Magenta You're in the right section, or possibly a more general question could be posed in Considerations & Features.
ReplyDeleteKee Hinckley ah, essentially not free, that is sad
ReplyDeleteNicolas Quentin you cannot create publicly visible groups within Facebook and members cannot talk to each other on Facebook outside of the group.
ReplyDeleteIf those factors are not important to you then Facebook is probably the most feature rich alternative right now.
Google+ communities, though not culturally "popular" are / were still way better.
Martha Magenta I am using this Friendica node that accepts open registrations as a test. You can see in the browser url where to go to create your own account and check it out.
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres It's not just for phones is it? I use a pc and laptop
ReplyDeleteMartha Magenta I am on a PC
ReplyDeleteYes, Communities are a key and very important function. Yes. Facebook Groups work pretty well.
ReplyDeleteTwo other possible alternatives. With their own problems.
- GoogleGroups
- Yahoogroups
re Googlegroups. Try and find a group on there talking about Google+. It's hard !!!
MeWe has groups, open and private.
ReplyDeleteJulian Bond Google groups still exist? I have tried yahoo groups in the past but I had in mind soemthing more modern.
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf thanks, thats good to know :-)
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf one big drawback for MeWe is no one can see your posts unless they have a MeWe account i was told... for someone wanting to promote art events etc that is not ideal... second drawback is limited community size since it is not federated... if that is what someone is looking for great! but for those wanting broad reach not so great
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres They are working on that and a public post solution for this should be released tentavely November. Also everyone in a group can see all other members posts. So you could post into the most relevant community instead of just your wall until you have a solid following.
ReplyDeleteThey are very much willing to tweak the platform for us G+ Peeps.
Marcus Burggraf to get a broader reach into federated networks they will have to adopt the protocols ... have they done that?
ReplyDeleteIs that a feature G+ has Shelenn Ayres ? I tried pluspora and I don't care for the whole federated networks thing myself so it is not something I pay much attention too.
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf other relevant questions you can ask them are: is it centralized or distributed and decentralized? who runs and controls it? what's to stop you from shutting it down like Google shut G+ down? do you have an integrated event calendar? do you have full privacy and data controls for users? how do you handle authentication? do you encrypt all data in the db itself to ensure hacks do not gain access to data? I am open to looking at MeWe to compare to federated solutions... but everything i've been told so far has not been attractive for me personally... that doesnt mean it is a bad option... just not the best option for me at this point :)
ReplyDeleteI'm more concerned about what I'm hearing about MeWe as a haven for alt-right groups, 4channers and others I really don't want my content associated with.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reviewopedia.com/mewe-social-network-reviews
(See comments). My partner, who used to crawl the dirty underbelly of the Internet, calls MeWe "a toxic nest of whiny boys, 4channers, Libertarians and ultra-rightwingers."
Shelenn Ayres It is centralised The MeWe owners own it, nothing is stopping anyone from shutting anything down. Not even on the federated stuff as your pod can just disappear. It has an integrated calendar. Not sure what you refer to when it comes to privacy and data controls. It is a very private network so only people you approve can see what you do.
ReplyDeleteThe last two questions I have no idea about and is not in my ballpark. I am just a new user there. If you want to learn more I suggest you try it with a fake account and ask them.
I consider the community and worse, the collection concepts as a very bad idea of Google, a deviation of Google from the original idea of Circles. So, I won't mention it. It creates thousands of ghettos, attracted spammers.
ReplyDeletePat Kight These asshats are there as well as they are here on G+, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and everywhere else. You don't have to interact with them and they can't force themselves on you if you don't let them. I am there since Monday and have not seen any of these idiots because I stay clear of their communities. That said the biggest political community there is pro trump with only 10k members. Everything else is less then that. Just a tiny influx of G+ people can drown the shitlords out of importance. And the culture can be shaped by the plus people. I see joining there as not leaving a network to these idiots and instead claim it for the good side and drive them away again. And that does not even require much work. Just be there and do your stuff and grow in number until you push them out again because your voice is bigger then theirs.
ReplyDeleteOlivier Malinur That is just going to show that there won't be one replacement for us all as for me communities and collections where the best part of G+.
ReplyDeleteOlivier Malinur I think you have the wrong idea of communities. They are nothing like circles. They do attract some spammers but we have spam catchers in communities and if well moderated, they function well to enable people with similar interests to share stuff, as well as workshops for various kinds of writers, fiction writers, poets, coders etc. it is possible to learn and de velop skills through these comms. photography is popular.
ReplyDeletePat Kight ugh alt right- no way
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf the current active G+ userbase is 3.5 million. The current active userbase in the federated social web is 2.18 million. All posts except those shared explicitly with another user are publicly visible. For people wanting to reach a broad base, numbers matter. MeWe is a private social network. What are their numbers?
ReplyDeletePat Kight I would be concerned about that as well. One of the first things I did with the test Friendica account was access global community posts to see what the community at large is like and it is not alt-right overall. I have heard some diaspora pods may be run by alt-right folks and I did see a screenshot by Lauren that was disturbing. But the folks I have in my list trying pluspora are not alt-right folks.
At this point, let's remember we have many months to make decisions. My goal is to look at all of the choices I can, share info with others to help, and then make the best choice for my family. One thing I like about the federated options is that we don't all have to make the same choice to be able to connect and share.
You can create groups/communities on Hubzilla, they're implemented as "Forum" channels.
ReplyDeletehttps://project.hubzilla.org/help/en/member/member_guide#Channel_Permission_Roles
Shelenn Ayres Then I guess in that scenario the federated networks work better for you. I am not their sales person, I just try to provide as accurate as information about the social network I am trying out as I can.
ReplyDeleteFor your comment regarding alt right: Just proof of what I am saying. They are everywhere, but you don't need to interact with them. On federated stuff they could actually reach me by faking hashtags if I understand it correctly?
Marcus Burggraf On the federated social web, because it is decentralized and anyone can host their own pod, node, instance, etc, no one will ever shut the whole thing down - hence the reason for the question.
ReplyDeletePrivacy and data controls at the user level is entirely different than the concept of the private network which WeMe is proud to say they are. I think what they mean is that they are not Facebook which is who they are competing with and that is ok. But that does not relate to user controls. G+ provided some nice user controls - better than FB. Friendica provides privacy and data controls for users -
more than G+ did.
As for other questions, these are the same questions I ask myself about all of the choices so that I can compare. This community and a couple of others are being used as planning tools where users are sharing info about various choices. We do not all have the same use case. :)
Given what I know so far about MeWe, it is not an attractive choice for me because it is centralized. Without a change to decentralized (which is not likely), it won't matter what the answers to the other questions are. I've already made the decision for my family to choose a federated option. That does not mean MeWe is not a good option for someone else.
mathew that looks complicated. I can't see where you would join.
ReplyDeleteI did mention it on both of my reviews.
ReplyDeleteMartin Krischik I shall search for your posts
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf When the MeWe founder says that they are adding public posts, I think he's meaning "public -- inside MeWe". "Public - inside MeWe, and visible to anyone without an account" is something quite different. Ideally you want the option to choose which meaning you want.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason I think this is that I saw a mention of "no permalinks" in migration discussions that I think applied to MeWe, and without permalinks there is no usable URL to share with the outside world. (i could be wrong about which platform the comment applied to.)
Alan Peery You are right, there are no permalinks yet. One of our RPG guys are having the MeWe Head Developer in a video chat today, I will relay that point to be asked.
ReplyDeleteI think Google Plus was self sufficient with circles. That's my opinion. This is the reason why I do like, despite some limitations, Pluspora.
ReplyDeleteMinds has permalinks. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf Thanks, permalinks are particularly important for three reasons:
ReplyDelete1) The "need a permalink for publicizing things" reason
2) The need for a permalink to share with close friends who aren't on MeWe (yes, this is different case, and calls for unguessable URLs)
3) Ability to save to external bookmarking solutions like Pocket and Instapaper where I can tag a post with things like "vmware-study" and "hometown" and "vote activism". Note that these may well point to posts that are not publicly accessible.
Olivier Malinur I think you make a very good point.
ReplyDeleteAlan Peery From what I have seen MeWe is unsuitable for publicising things. And it's not just an oversight. The whole philosophy is MeWe is closed – member only.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I want or need that.
Martin Krischik Their founder's been on Google+ in the last couple of days, and I think they're looking at making some significant changes. The conversation planned per Marcus Burggraf in the comment above points to that.
ReplyDeleteThat may have some stability and usability impacts, of course. ;-)
Honestly, slack (and there's a free version, it just won't save history past a certain point, and that's actually a plus in my book) strikes me as the best fit for communities.
ReplyDeleteA substitute for collections has been a lot harder to find. There's stuff that will let you follow hashtags, but you can't do things like follow only specific hashtags posted by a particular user (tends to be all or nothing). Actually DreamWidth has enough privacy features you can get collections set up after a fashion.
Circles are implemented in many places, under various names.
So if different elements are more important to you, then that may direct your ultimate choice.
Martha Magenta And for the real old school.
ReplyDeleteUsenet.
Cindy Brown Circles and collections do not trouble me. My communities mean the most so if I can migrate them successfully that is the main thing. Before Collections many of us were using communitied for collections and back ups
ReplyDeleteMartha Magenta Hyacinth and I are looking at that right now. The advanced user type in Friendica for community seems to work fine to replace G+ communities
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres sounds great thanks!
ReplyDeleteMartha Magenta forum.friendi.ca - Friendica Forum (help)
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres thanks, it's on my list :-)
ReplyDelete