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Discussion » Questions » answerMug » We have many groups on the Mug but, in most, little activity.
Benedict Arnold

We have many groups on the Mug but, in most, little activity.

I'd be interested in joining the Short Story group. There are a few members but there has never been any activity. What are the other groups like? Which are the most active? How do those active groups motivate their members?

Here's a link to the short story group: http://answermug.com/group/short-stories

Posted - January 30, 2017
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Responses


  • Good question Didge. I've looked at a few myself but have seen the same thing. Hope some of the others come out with suggestions! 
      January 30, 2017 5:27 PM MST
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  • It fairly clear that the interest is there but it may take two or three active participants to get things rolling. 
      January 30, 2017 5:29 PM MST
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  • Yep!
      January 30, 2017 5:30 PM MST
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  • I haven't even looked at groups that are offered here. I'm not much for joining groups. 
      January 30, 2017 5:54 PM MST
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  • They're not for everybody, Jaimie. It's just that I have a special interest in this one. 
      January 30, 2017 6:56 PM MST
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  • Well  since you're a published  author I can understand your interest in that group ;)
      January 30, 2017 7:00 PM MST
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  • They didn't fair well with the site move.  stinks :/
    Groups was one thing that was better on the old site system.
      January 30, 2017 6:04 PM MST
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  • 7939
    How were they better before? (Aside from activity.)
      January 30, 2017 6:23 PM MST
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  • Oh I just meant because of the activity.  Ambiguous wording..
      January 30, 2017 6:27 PM MST
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  • 7939
    Fair enough. I am open to promoting specific groups if you guys let me know what's most important to you. TBH, I actually did some marketing for our crossdressing groups because a member requested it. We got something like 5 new members in a single week because of it and then the guy went MIA. lol But, I can do promotion here and outside the Mug if there are members within specific groups who are really driven to create activity. It's kind of like the diversity group... I think it worked pretty well. We have several people having fun with it, but I can't do it alone. I've gotta be able to drag 1-2 people into it who will help lead activity. If any one group or area is important to a member, I will blitz the heck out of it for a couple of weeks until it gets going. I just need a partner in crime. 
      January 30, 2017 9:04 PM MST
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  • 7683
    If there's a short story group I would like to give it a shot;))
    I also want to learn blogging and write about things which maybe of interest.
      January 30, 2017 6:16 PM MST
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  • Sorry, Veena, my bad. I should have added a link to the question. I've done that now but I'll repeat it here for you. http://answermug.com/group/short-stories

    As for blogging, almost anything goes. I've been posting an entry every two or three days but you post what suits yourself, when it suits you. If you want to exchange ideas we could do that in the short story group.

    You can look forward to getting anything from 20 to 100 reads on here, which is pretty good for a relatively small membership. From what I've seen of your input I think you'll enjoy it. 
      January 30, 2017 7:04 PM MST
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  • 7683
    Oh that's wonderful input you have given Didge,thank you so much and umm I think it will be good to try.
      January 31, 2017 3:04 PM MST
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  • 7939
    The groups are kind of a quirk. AM is a melting pot of sorts. The original members are from the original Answerbag. Their only real interest was Q&A. We added a few groups, like adultMug and free-for-all, in order to provide what we couldn't have in the main Q&A. Aside from that, the groups were largely dormant. I don't remember how many we had... but it was probably only 10-15.

    Then, Experience Project closed, and they had a whole different style there. There wasn't anything that really resembled what they had- it started off as a support site and somehow wound up as a hybrid between that and almost a Twitter.  Instead of actual discussions, people posted things like, "I'm hungry," or "I'm sad," and discussions formed around that. Some did long-form content, but really, it was mostly micro-quips that doesn't inspire much talk. Anyway, a lot of them wound up here and they created groups as a means to try to recreate what they had on EP. We tried to make it feel like"home," to them, but really, we're usually here for discussion. The EPers added a hundreds of groups, but then most of them left when Similar Worlds opened. That was intended more or less to be a carbon copy of EP, so it suits a lot of them. I'm not going to knock it, there's certainly a niche for it, but we don't offer the same things and I wouldn't want to. We just cater to two totally different types of people. Also, this site isn't the original "answerMug" either. I had a new site built last year and we migrated the data in September. A lot of the group content didn't transfer for some reason.

    Anyway, that's why we have so many empty groups. There really isn't a need for so many these days... I do think it's possible to revive activity in the ones people have interest in- all it takes is a few people. I'd suggest adding content and then inviting your friends to check it out or mentioning it in the Q&A. That spot on the home page that has the Question Diversity block is actually a "featured groups" spot. I plan to start promoting different groups there- picking a new one each day, so that people know they're there. So, if anyone has a group that they want featured, let me know. If not, I'll just start picking them at random.
      January 30, 2017 6:22 PM MST
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  • Thank you, JA, on so many levels. As a newcomer it's good to know what's been happening here, and why. I appreciate you filling in the background. I'm not sure how many of the people in the Short Story group are still active and it seems that it never got off the ground. 

    Until now. 

    I'll be interested in trying to develop it into something worth while and, if the various posts are available to the membership at large, it may be possible to draw some active writers in there. The big thing is that it's not for accomplished writers but for people who ENJOY writing at any level. We'll see what happens. 
      January 30, 2017 7:11 PM MST
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  • 17261
    We still are a group of EPeeps here, but unlike those who left we never made a big deal out of coming from EP. Most of us have simply mingled into the group and i believe, if you ask any of us we feel ourselves as Muggers, and don't need that EP label as identity. I hope most newcomers one day will feel the same way. Mugger over ex anything. Hmm. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 31, 2017 2:30 AM MST
      January 31, 2017 1:00 AM MST
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  • 7939
    Of course you're still here. I said "many," not "all."   :) 

    You are right. Those of you who remained are indeed "Muggers" through and through. At the same time, we really did lose probably 1,000 people who came here initially. I think it would be misleading of me if I said otherwise, and those who moved on left their mark. I don't feel bad about that at all because the people who left weren't a good fit, and we got to keep the very best ones. ;) 

    However, I will add that I think our latest group of newbies are indeed full-fledged Muggers as well. 
      January 31, 2017 1:44 AM MST
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  • 17261
    Right. I know it takes time to feel so though. In a beginning one feels themselves pretty much as a guest in the house for a while. What we can do meanwhile is making them feel at home, and go a little easy on them to have us get them to know, but also have them to get us to know. To give a chance to look through how we are and how we act. :-)

    Btw, some of those we lost we lost out of different reasons. Not just format, in all fairness to those who left us. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 31, 2017 11:01 AM MST
      January 31, 2017 2:20 AM MST
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  • I'm sure that'll happen. This is home now. 
      January 31, 2017 2:30 AM MST
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  • 17261
    I'm happy you feel this way. I hope the others feel the same. I would love all of you to stay this time. Yay. :-)
      January 31, 2017 2:34 AM MST
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  • I few have come and gone. Those of us who have been here for a few weeks seem to have settled in. It's a friendly community, an exceptional site, there's lots of diversity -- questions, blogs, groups, and so on -- and lots of people willing to make an effort. 

    There's also a lot more interaction than we had on my previous site, though the one before that (Ask, which closed) also had plenty of conversation. 

    Some people are hanging on to the old site hoping for a rejuvenation but I'm not sure that can happen. Most of the more versatile contributors are already here. 
      January 31, 2017 2:49 AM MST
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  • 17261
    I've enjoyed meeting you guys,but I do always welcome fresh blood among us. Makes us stay young and in change too. Change isn't bad, it's evolution. Lol. :-)
      January 31, 2017 2:57 AM MST
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  • 2327
    There ya go! You have it from JA herself! "The original members are from the original Answerbag". AKA - The champs!!

    LET'S GO CHAMP!!!
      January 30, 2017 6:42 PM MST
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  • While we, the nenwbies, are the chumps. We'll just have to do the best we can, Righty. 
      January 30, 2017 7:49 PM MST
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