User Group - Questions and Feedback

[LiliMcDonald]

Are you a GroupAdmin with questions about your user group?

Or a member of a group wondering about the new functionality?

First, we recommend you reading the following topic where you might find the information you need:

• Using Groups in the NI Community
• HTML Templates for User Groups

If you're wondering what has changed with the migration, a summary can be found in the post here: Changes to Community Functionality

• Groups are either open (content is visible to the entire community) or closed (only group members may view content). During the migration, your group privacy options were respected, and all of your members and content were migrated over with your group.
• Groups are segmented into different categories such as Local User Groups, Product User Groups, Special Interest Groups, and Partner Groups.
• Groups can be found via the community navigation. Group names cannot be searched for, but you can search for content within open groups or closed groups that you are a member of.
• Closed groups will not be accessible in the community navigation unless you are already a member.
• You can find groups that you're a member of in the My Groups component on the community homepage.
• GroupAdmins will be able to invite members directly from within the user group.
  • This function is currently not working as epexcted for closed groups, but will be available in our next release. Until then, you will need to send the user a direct link to the group and the user can then request to join.
• The group overview page layout is standardized across all groups. The layout includes a component which features the group avatar and group description, and an HTML component that can be used for whatever content a Group Admin chooses to add.
  • GroupAdmins will need to recreate your group overview page (including your group avatar and description). If requested, we can provide a screenshot of the overview page and a copy of the HTML of your old user group.
• Groups now only contain threaded topics. There are no documents, blogs, or projects within a group.
  • Any documents, blog posts, or content within a project were converted into the topic format within the group during the migration.
• The URL to your group will redirect to the new location after the migration is complete.
• Links to projects will not redirect. You will be able to locate the content from projects within the user group that the project previously exisited within.
• New user group creation is limited to Community Managers. To avoid the duplication of groups, each group will pass through an approval process to certify that available groups are distinct and helpful in their own respective ways. Community Managers will work with you to identify the best fit for your group.

You may also want to check the Known Issues with Migration list if you suspect you have encountered a bug.

If your question regarding user groups is not covered above, or if you have any feedback to provide, please post below.

[GerdW]

Hi Lili,

before the migration I was a member in several groups. After the migration I'm a member in just two user groups.

Where is my membership of "UI Interest Group" or "NI Linux Real-Time Group" gone? (Why is it gone?)

How do I become a member again? Where is the "Join the Group" button mentioned in your "Using groups…" document?

[RobertoBozzolo]

I cannot see the My Groups components in the Community Home (neither in ni.com/community nor in forums.ni.com). Neither I can see the groups I am member of in my profile. Does this mean I am no more member of any group?

[RobertoBozzolo]

"Groups now only contain threaded topics. There are no documents, blogs, or projects within a group"

This is not true for product groups the still hold documents (already noted in Documents - Questions and Feedback discussion)

[Tilee]

Hi GerdW,

In performing the migration, some of the existing user groups did not lend themselves well to being created as user groups in the new system. Specifically, we were concerned with making sure that content from groups with many documents, discussions, and blogs would still be easily accessible. In these cases, we made the decision to split the documents, blogs, and discussions, because users groups contain only one content type.

Right now, there is no option to subscribe to the overall category. You will need to subscribe to each of the lower level content types (i.e. "UI Interest Group Discussions, UI Interest Group Documents, etc...).

Thanks!

[Tilee]

Hi RobertoBozzolo,

If you cannot see the My Groups component on the NI Community Home page, it does mean that you are not currently a member of any groups. You should be able to see the component on the left side of the homepage once you join one.

User groups do only have one content type (discussions). The "Product Groups" are actually now categories and not true user groups. Please see my comment to GerdW for more information.

Thanks!

[altenbach]

The link in my signature currently goes nowhere. Will that be fixed ultimately or should I update the sig?

[Tilee]

Hi Altenbach,

The problem you're seeing is due to something we put in place to fix another issue. For now, users will need to join that group (http://forums.ni.com/t5/2016-Advanced-User-Track/gp-p/5332) in order to access the content you link to.

This should be fixed in the long run, so you may leave the link in your signature if it's not a huge concern. If it is, I would say remove it for now until we get the issue fixed.

Thank you!

[altenbach]

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@Tilee wrote:

For now, users will need to join that group (http://forums.ni.com/t5/2016-Advanced-User-Track/gp-p/5332)

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Well, it asks me to join, but the only option is to leave the group. Mixed messages! (And no obvious way to join :().

Do you want me to first "leave" and then "join" again or should I wait until the dust has settled on your end?

[altenbach]

Thanks, it is working now. 😄