add “Request Membership” link/button that sends PM from user to group owner(s) requesting membership (requested here) with link for owner to approve user
add “About” group description based on field on groups admin page (discussed here and here)
add “pretty” Group Name field to group admin page and replace Group Slug on group page (like categories)
add “pretty” Group Names to profile pages to replace Group Slugs
add filter/search box to help find users (change text from “filter by username” to “search users”)
add Groups directory (requested here) like currently available to admins at http://example.com/admin/groups/custom, excluding system groups and groups set on group admin page for “Don’t display in group directory” option, except with Group Name (not slug), Group description, and link to Group landing page (not admin page)
why
easier for group owners to manage group members (the “Add members” button is displayed to group owners at top of the Members page)
more intuitive experience for users arriving from groups via link on profile pages (groups are about users, not content)
self-serve model for sites with lots of groups; reduces work on admins/moderators; scales better
badges are more about achievements, not grouping people
groups are mostly hidden to users (except on profile pages)
very manual / partial workaround
build your own Groups page with manual links to group members pages
add “Groups” page to header menu and hamburger menu to let users find groups
add “request membership” link using pre-populated PM feature
Some good ideas here! I agree we could improve this page a bit but it is not on the 1.6 roadmap at the moment and I don’t want to block the other critical work that is going on at the moment.
So perhaps you could select your top 1 or 2 things that could be accomplished easily?
Request membership needs to be ablw to be disabled on a group by group basis. Last thing a group owner for a special group (like @team here) needs is to be bombarded with requests that won’t ever be granted.
Also agree that changing the landing page is priority #1.
Also could toggle the “Request Membership” link with “Leave Group” so users could remove themselves from group, with related group setting for, “Allow users to request/leave group membership.”
I’m not sure they should be the same setting. I can see times where members can leave a group, but shouldn’t be able to request membership, and vice-versa. I do agree the button should look the same/be located in the same spot, however.
I would love to see a feature of a group description above the member list
I am using the group feature for premium members of our community. that way visitors would learn how to get access to that group and what the benefits are
But yes, generally speaking I agree it’s a good idea to provide a full name and description option for groups, which would go a long way to “promoting groups to full citizenship” alongside users and help people make sense of them.