I have prepared a simple tutorial that demonstrates the changes to how to access and use Social Groups. and If I may have the permission of the hirachy, I would like to make it useble to others so that may learn how the new setup works.
The tutorial uses 8 JPEG format images accompnied by typed explantaion that is not part of the images.

Thanks
Saber

EDIT: Went ahead and did it anyway, mainly to prove that I was not bluffing about a tutorial. I don't joke about serious buisness. See second post.
Any feedback from Mods would be appriciated, Thanks.

Saber

 

Un-authorised Guide to new Social Group layout

You may have noticed that you can no longer access Social groups the way you once could. Do not be alarmed. A site upgrade has also changed how Social groups work and added new features to the groups as well. I will try to keep this brief and easy to understand while looking at the change in three sections

1) How to get your groups.
2) The new group layout
3) New Group feature – Multiple Discussions


How to get your groups:

Social groups used to found under the ‘Quick Links’ tab. This is no longer the case. In order to access the Social groups menu you must goto the ‘community’ tab. Under which you will see “Social groups” I’ve pointed out the areas in question with MS Paint.


Once clicked the link takes us to the new Social Groups Front page. Layout is speaks for itself but either way. One Random group is shown on the left side with the groups you are a member of underneath. On the right side we have a Table that lists the newest groups to be created; Starting with the latest as per the nature of the list.

This page can also be accessed from your User profile by clicking on “Join Social Group”
NOTE that any groups you are a member of currently are not visible from your profile.
EDIT: This has now been resolved and fixed

Click on any group and you’ll notice yet another new layout is greeting you.
Let’s not panic! This is all part of the upgrade.

The new group layout:


Because groups can now support multiple conversations there is now another stage before you get to the discussion that you were in the middle of. All discussions that took place before the update were part of the same topic. (Here the topics are referred to as discussions)
The original Group discussion will share the name of the Social group itself. In this case I’ve used a group I’m part of as my reference.

Click the discussion and you are back in the group discussion from before the update however you will need to go to the LAST page to vies the latest posts of that group. It’s just like browsing any other section of the forums.



Now… to demonstrate a NEW feature for social groups.
Multiple Discussions:

Many Social groups may never use this feature but it’s still useful to have around. For example you wanted to have a conversation as part of the group but wanted to have it separate from the general chatter. Well that’s where this feature comes in. In order to start a new discussion click the hyperlink “Post New Disscussion.”
This will take you to a screen with an empty message box where you start the new discussion from.
Just like writing any other Forum post you type your message and when you’re happy with it, “Post Message”

Your message will be posted as the start of a new discussion.




I hope this answers many users questions and helps you to continue being up to date with activity amongst your favourite social groups.

Even if it doesn’t help you all that much, Thanks for reading.
Saber