New membergroup class - Opt in

[WizardHawk]

I'm not sure whether this is something bloc or this community can do, if it should be done as a separate mod, or if SMF should look into adding it as a main feature but I'll start here.

Right now there are two membergroup types:
Post count ~ where you only get into a group by increasing your posts.
Regular ~ where someone with rights has to add you by hand.

What I'd like to see is a third membergroup called:
Opt In ~ where individual users could check a box on their profile page to add themselves.

The thinking is that if you allowed users to be able to add or remove themselves from specific groups, you would be allowing them to see or turn off features they want/don't want. They could hide forums they are not interested in and have a bunch of control over the blocks for TP.

One use for my board would be for RSS feeds. I have the front setup to use front blocks and have the top block set as our intro. It would be nice to create opt in groups for the news such as CNN US, Fox US, BBC World, etc... and allow the users to check the boxes of which feeds they want on their home page. All I would have to do is set the groups allowed to see each feed from TP admin and leave it to the users to decide.

I would also make some left and right block features dependant on opt in groups as well. Let the user decide if they want to see the shoutbox, stat box, and the clock block.

The power of such groups could be used for many different mods and/or SMF features.

Admins would create the opt in groups and decide which existing groups were allowed to change their own status in the new group. Admins would also be allowed to decide the default option for each group so that new users were automatically added to some and the user would have to opt out to remove that feature.

This would be easier and more versatile to give user choice than adding upshrink to each block wouldn't it?

[eldacar]

I'll be including this in my Groups Mod once I have time to develop it more

[bloc]

Actually..I would rather go for making some groups, and then make checks which allow those groups to turn off things for example...rather than jumping out and in of groups. Delegating members to a group should still be a permsission thing imho.

But def. an exciting feature to have.

[WizardHawk]

This is what I mean bloc.

My idea is that an admin would create one of these groups and assign which groups have the ability to opt themselves in or out.

Example: I want to allow only my guild members to have the ability to see a guild news block on the front page. I'd create an opt in group named guild news and allow anyone in the cttc guild group to have access. Only guild members would have the check boxes on their profile page. I'd like the ability to have a default setting so that I could say that everyone in the cttc guild had this block by default, but can opt out of it by unchecking the box in their profile.

The beauty of this system is that it takes full advantage of the systems already in place for handling permissions and setting up what users can see and use. The only thing that has to be created is the setup on the goup to allow users to add or remove only themselves.

This little addition would go along way toward allowing true user freedom. I could offer up 3 different kinds of user blocks for instance. One with minimal features turned on, with will full features but no avatar and one with the works. The users could decide how much room they want taken up by any feature. While this is an extreme example, it shows how much flexability an admin would have in allowing choice for their users. After all, all of us want to make the majority of our users happy and having one theme, one menu bar, one header, etc.. is never going to make everyone happy.

[eldacar]

I plan on having groups which you can apply to and the group mod will then approve. But it also wouldn't be too hard to have groups which approval isn't necessary and which you can join or leave by yourself.

[bloc]

I have been thinking some more on this...and I think in fact it could be something for TP too. Having a separate interface/page for apply/subscribe to membergroups, where the actual groups is of course made/changed by SMF admin - but TP can assign members to them and this can happen automatically.

It can also be tied more in detail with blocks/sections/etc. within TP, while of course the forum access is controlled by SMF as before. Members "applying" for example, can be "approved" in this interface, with notice being sent as well. And at the same time keeping tabs on these "super-groups" so that many can be converted in one shot - should you need to. Or just delete the access, without having to do one member at a time.

How does that sound?

[WizardHawk]

However it works out easiest for you to setup. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that a user selectable membergroup option will add a lot of power and functionality to this platform.

And yes, having some method for mass changing of status within one of these groups would be a valuable tool.

I've talked to a few of my users and they are all very excited about the concept. They know that I can setup several different ways for them to see and interact with blocks and front page content and allow them to choose how they want it on their machines.

I did submit the idea as a feature request for SMF as well. They could use this new group to allow users  to decide such things as inline links or folder view, Show news or hide news, Stats and members listed on main forum page or none, etc...

I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys can do with this idea. Anything that allows me to give options to my users is a welcome tool.

Thanks Bloc!