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How do I create a group?

Creating a new group on answerMug is easy and any Mugger can do it. Follow the steps outlined on this page. If you need help after reviewing this, feel free to send a message to Just Asking. This tutorial starts you out on the main groups page, which you can access by clicking "Groups" in the main menu, below "Muggers." 



1) Use the group search form to make sure a group like yours doesn't already exist. During the final stages of group creation, the admin will review it. If yours is a duplicate, it won't get approved, so make sure it's unique.

2) After you've verified that your group does not already exist, click "Create a Group" from the Groups menu that appears at the top of most group-related pages.



3) Take a moment to review "6 Things You Should Know Before Creating a Group."

4) Select a title or name for your group. If your group is intended for a geneneral audience, please remember to keep it clean.

5) Your group URL should ideally be your group's name, but with the spaces removed or with dashes where the spaces should be, but you can customize it if you wish. Again, keep if clean if your group is for general aduiences. 

6) Enter tags, or words that describe your group. Pull out the thesaurus if you like. These words will help people find your group with search engines like Google and on the site. The better you tag it, the more group members it will have. 

7) Select the proper category for your group. This will help people find it when they want to find people with interests similar to their own. 

8) Write a short group description that tells people why you created it, why they should join, and/or what the group's purpose is. 

9) Add a photo to represent your group. 

10) The "Approve Muggers" option allows you to select whether people gain automatic entry into your group or if they'll need to be approved by a group admin. Unless you have made arrangements with Just Asking to appoint a special group admin already, please leave the "New Muggers Can Join Immediatley" box checked. Otherwise, people will try to join your group, but nobody will let them in. Eek!

11) The "View Privacy" setting allows you to choose who can see the content of the group. Everyone will be able to see the "Info" page, but you can hide the rest of the group for certain people, depending on what you choose. Your choices are:

-Everyone (Even non-members will be able to see it.)

-All registered Muggers (All Muggers can see it.)

-Group Members Only (This stops people from seeing inside the group until they have become members of it. It also prevents it from appearing on the activity feed for people who aren't members of the group.)

12) "Networks Selection" lets you lock down your group so that only 18+ Muggers who opt-in to our adult network can see it. You should select "Adult" if your group will have any kind of adult theme, be it sexual, cursing, or drug references. We keep the rest of the site clean. By choosing "Adult" at this step, you are making the group invisible for anyone outside the adult network.

13) Clicking "Advanced Options" gives you #14 and 15 as detailed below.



14) You can choose whether only admins or all members can invite people to the group. This is a personal choice.

15) If you choose to save your group as a draft, you can go back and edit it later. It isn't made public. If you choose to publish it, a letter will be sent to the admin to review your group and approve it. She's mostly looking to make sure you have the proper adult settings if your group contains adult content and will also check to see if it's unique.

16) Click "Create" when you're ready for the admin to review the group. You'll receive a notice when it's about to be approved that lets you know the admin has taken over the group. You can continue to make edits until you recieve the message. We don't have an official timeline on approvals, but it's usually done within 24 hours. 

***Anything After This Point is Optional***



17) After you click "Create," you will be brought to the "Get Started" page. This lets you add content to the group, so there's already activity when new members join.

18) The "Edit Info" tab on the left takes you back to steps 1-16.

19) If you haven't already done so, upload a suare photo to represent our group.



20) The "Manage Announcements" lets you set up announcements that will appear on a tab on the group's home page.

21) Click "Create New Announcement" if you want messages to appear for members on certian days.



22) The "Announcements" Create page works just like most content creation pages here on the Mug, though you have the option of setting days when the announcement will appear. It might be helpful if you want to send holiday wishes to the group, remind them of a chat meetup, or say happy birthday/ anniversary to a Mugger.



23) You will have temporary access to the admin page, where you can appoint admins to the group... Anyone you add will be removed, as any new groups to answerMug are managed by the site admins and mods. However, if you are a tenured Mugger (6+ months of continuous activity and no reprimands), you may request to be admin of a group. Contact Just Asking if you have an interest in this.



24) The final tab on the left is "Edit Features." If you choose to edit the main group page, please only edit the options outlined here. If you change more than the items in the red box, your group may be denied or Just Asking might reset the whole profile. Most groups benefit from having all features as-is, but if you have a group geared to stories, photos, or videos, you may remove the unused features to make the group more intuitive and easy to use. You can also click on one of the bars and change the name, so instead of "Discussions" you can have "Questions," "Stories" or "Quotes." 

A: Group Profile Discussions is your discussion area. If you remove it, the members will be forced to have discussions around specific pieces of content, such as photos or videos. 

B: Group Profile Albums is the group's photo section. You can remove this if your group is geared towards videos or written content.

C:Group Profile Announcements can be removed if you won't have a dedicated group admin to update it.

D: Group Profile Videos can be removed if you want people to focus on written content or photos.

E:Group Profile Notes gives the group admin a place to add extra pages of content to the group. It's ideal if your group has widgets to incorporate, rules, or a motto.

25) Be sure to save any edits you make to the group layout!