GrabCAD Groups Feedback

Created by Mikk Olli on 10 January, 2018

Where did everyone go? Granted you guys likely have jobs to do, and I'm the only unemployed person hanging around here :)

I was thinking about groups, and my take is that they are meant to be a type of forum where discussions take place. I think Groups can work, but at the moment they sort of overlap with other areas.

Library is clearly the place to post data. It also has a Comments function which allows some limited dialog on models (i.e. What software did you use? Great job! ...etc.)

Inbox/Messages allows for some expanded 1:1 dialog between members. It would really benefit from the ability to attach files though. Many dialogs have to be moved to email.

Tutorials, like Library allows for comments. I have not seen many discussions take place there, I think if additional details were needed, then people go to the inbox/message system. This can result in the author getting the same question(s) repeatedly from multiple members.

Questions seems to be the place where discussions happen now. The answers and comments are likely not meant to be used for back and forth dialog, but that is the only option right now.

A question I have is how will Groups interface with the other areas of the site?
If someone posts a question that is more of a discussion, is there a way to move it? Would a new Group need to be formed for that single topic? Would someone first look for a related/existing group and add to it?

Taking a tutorial as an example, let's say it is a great tutorial and people want to discuss it in detail. Would Groups work for that? Or, does it make sense to have a Discussion tab on each Tutorial?
I believe the Groups option would be difficult. Where would one go to find others discussing that one tutorial? Did the author start a group of their own (maybe that is another thing to track on the Engineers page?). Is there a general group for discussing all tutorials (that can get very messy)? Is there a group dedicated to that one tutorial?

I'm not a "website" guy, so I don't know of the work involved, but what if Groups remained as Groups, and everyone sees how they are used by everyone, or by a smaller segment (1,000 test subjects?). Then, a Discussion tab/option is presented to every other page on the site. Every library model, question, tutorial, and engineer page has a discussion option. Maybe a little flag can be posted next to the link like how the Notification icon works to show how many unread items are at that link?
Giving each page a discussion option seems like the best way to keep longer dialogs out of comments and answers. It also makes it very easy to find the related content and contribute or take from it.