Introducing "Clubs" Here on TST

[iacas]

When we upgraded the site to IPS 4.2 a few weeks ago, it brought with it a number of great changes and new features.

One of those was the introduction of "clubs." Clubs are basically sub-sections of the site that groups of people can form and control. A regular member can create a club, invite people to join, and post their own images in their own galleries, have their own topics and discussions, etc. Creators of clubs can assign leadership roles, can limit the club to privately invited members or make them public, and many other things. They're uniquely customizable and controllable, by regular members.

Clubs can be created for regional groups of people who want to organize outings (even those like the Newport Cup). Clubs can be organized for some off-topic things like my Apple Fans club to discuss the iPhone, Mac, etc. Clubs can be organized for fans of particular equipment makers. You could start a club for your fantasy football league. The possibilities are endless, and I would ask only that you carefully consider the type of club you want to create. Make it too narrow and it's not going to be very popular (which in some cases could be okay), and make it too broad and you may as well just start a forum topic on the things.

But again, YOU can control the club. In fact, when you first create a club, you're essentially the owner/leader/moderator of that club. Right off the bat you can choose the privacy mode of your club:

• Public - Everyone can see the club and its posts, and can participate without joining.
• Open - Everyone can see the club its posts, but only members can participate. Everyone can join.
• Closed -  Everyone can see the club and who's in it, but only members can see posts and participate. Users need to ask a leader to join.
• Private - Only members can find the club and see its posts. Users need to be invited by a leader to join.

As a group's leader, you can also choose whether your group has even has Topics or just a gallery, or a mix of both. You can create different "topic areas" too, by creating different "discussion groups." For example, should the "Apple Fans" group grow large enough, we could create discussion topics around just the iPhone or just around iOS, with a separate one for Macs/macOS.

Check them out. If you're in doubt about what kind of club you'd like to create and lead, PM me or PM a few of your potential members/fellow leaders.

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You can find the clubs, always, right here:

https://thesandtrap.com/clubs/

Their content will show up right along-side forum posts and topics in the "activity streams" many of you have bookmarked as your home page(s), like https://thesandtrap.com/discover/6/.

[dennyjones]

Thanks for all of the hard work you do for this forum.   It is greatly appreciated.   

I just wanted to drop a note to make people aware that there is a "Michigan" club.   It is golf related, reviewing Michigan clubs and information related to golf around "The mitten".  

[iacas]

56 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Thanks for all of the hard work you do for this forum.   It is greatly appreciated.   

I just wanted to drop a note to make people aware that there is a "Michigan" club.   It is golf related, reviewing Michigan clubs and information related to golf around "The mitten".  

Yes, that's here:

I also just approved @cipher's club:

 

Remember, if you're going to make a "regional" club, aim for the proper size… make it too small, and only a few of you will ever be in it. Make it too big, and people will be planning events ten hours away from you.

[cipher]

I like the "invite" feature to the clubs as well.

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, cipher said:

I like the "invite" feature to the clubs as well.

Yeah, two things that may be unclear at first. When you first create a club…

• I have to approve it. If it takes me too long, PM me or something.
• Clubs come configured with nothing. If you want to add a "discussions" tab, go for it. Or a photo gallery. Or a second photo gallery, or a second (or third, or fourth) discussion tab for different broad topic areas (each discussion tab can have multiple discussion topics inside it).

[klineka]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

Yeah, two things that may be unclear at first. When you first create a club…

• I have to approve it. If it takes me too long, PM me or something.
• Clubs come configured with nothing. If you want to add a "discussions" tab, go for it. Or a photo gallery. Or a second photo gallery, or a second (or third, or fourth) discussion tab for different broad topic areas (each discussion tab can have multiple discussion topics inside it).

Eric, would you want to create a club for LSW readers? I noticed there is one for Evolvr students already. 

Could be a private group and only people with the achievement for owning the book are allowed in? Just an idea

[iacas]

3 hours ago, klineka said:

Eric, would you want to create a club for LSW readers? I noticed there is one for Evolvr students already.

Who dat?

3 hours ago, klineka said:

Could be a private group and only people with the achievement for owning the book are allowed in? Just an idea

Might work out pretty well. I'll think about it. I'd have to specify it's more for somewhat in-depth questions that aren't public consumption type things. That'd be the only real point.

[iacas]

There you go, @klineka.

[iacas]

One other note… while groups for golfers in an area is fine, let's try to avoid making groups that would be better served as a forum.

For example, if you wanted to start a group to discuss golf course architecture… I'd not approve that club, because we have a forum for that: https://thesandtrap.com/forums/forum/8-golf-courses-and-architecture/.

[billchao]

I created a Mid-Atlantic Golf group.

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, billchao said:

I created a Mid-Atlantic Golf group.

And I approved it.

[iacas]

As of today I shut Clubs down and moved any discussions here (mostly):

https://thesandtrap.com/forums/forum/73-clubs/