For those that have a Google plus login, I've created a 'metalworking community' that hopefully will become a more on-topic version of this newsgroup. (I guess time will tell if Google's automatic spam filtering system is up to the task).
Mike
Isn't Google shutting down Google+ fairly soon?
Google plus is really just a collective brand name for a bunch of minor services which happens to include 'communities', photos, circles etc.. The major services are Gmail, maps etc. The Google plus brand name may disappear one day, but I doubt they will delete the data as that's what they use to attract viewers and therefore generate revenue through paid advertising.
Once you have logged onto a Gmail account you effectively have a Google Plus account so in practical terms they are the same thing. You can enter bogus information in your Google Plus profile if you are worried about identity theft etc..
The community I've created is unmoderated. Whether or not Google's own filtering system is smart enough to distinguish between metalwork related topics and other junk remains to be seen. The Google Plus woodworking community currently has 374 members and the content looks to be 100% on topic as far as I can tell. This rec.crafts.metalworking newsgroup is perhaps 10% on topic on a good day.
I was told that they were shutting down their google+ experiment which is the feature that you're using some time in 2013. I no longer have the message that had the information.
I have had a Gmail account for years, am on Google+ and have a Veteran's blog that needs a lot more time than I can give it.
Wait till the trolls find it. :(
You can create private newsgroups on Google Groups, but most people find the user interface to be so screwed up that they won't use it.
This is incorrect. They never planned to shut Google+.
Google Plus is a very high profile project to being social interactions and community aspect to all google services.
i
I think Google+ is something extra, over and above a regular Google account. I signed up a while back. And then unlike Facebook, found all sorts of crap being posted from and about, people I know nothing about. Worse, somehow people were able to spam my calender with bullshit. Spent a bit of time trying to find ways to prevent all this, if it was doable, Google sure didn't make it easy. So I bailed on the + account, and have had no further intrusions into my calender....
Jon
I dislike Google (and other web-based fora), so I will probably not be there.
[ ... ]
I have my doubts -- since it seems to still be discussions, and I'm not at all sure that Google can tell the difference between politics and metalworking. :-)
Hmm ... are there provisions for banning someone? Or is the woodworking one moderated?
FWIW -- today (after not reading yesterday for various reasons) I found that 6.79% was left after the killfile/filtering did its think and I unblocked one discussion as wrongly killed. (I recently changed settings a bit so I see what is killed, and can unkill before it takes effect.
Enjoy, DoN.
That's a shame; I for one absolutely refuse to give Google my identity, and they are very steadfast about acquiring it to use their "free" services.
Same thing with facebook groups.
Regular web-based forums aren't a problem, as they generally accept a pseudonym, while they still have the moderation to keep the trolls away.
It's getting to the point where most people are so used to losing their privacy online that they just don't see any problem in handing it over to Google, Facebook, et al, to the point where I wonder how long it will be possible to maintain privacy when online.
Jon
Hmm... I think that people are so used to lying, making stuff up that they don't even consider telling the truth anymore...
Maybe you're too honest Jon. Not a bad thing, don't get me wrong, but I suspect the phony/bogus names, addresses, profiles far outnumber the real.
The target audience appears to be people who re-sell and support CAD software. There is little or no mention of anything to do with metalworking.
The target audience are people who use CADCAM software. The majority of people that engage in discussions on my LinkedIn group CADCAM Technology Leaders are end users of CADCAM Software. The group now has well over 400 members and is growing very rapidly.
Suggest you start a group for machining on LinkedIn if you aren't happy with what exists now.
What advantage does Linkedin have as a host for a discussion group compared to Google Plus?
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LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It has been accepted and is used by professionals who wish to network far better than Usenet, Google Plus or advertising driven machinist / CADCAM forums will ever be.
Even before Usenet and advertising driven machinist / CADCAM forums started dying, they never succeeded in attracting the kind of professionals that are now what LinkedIn calls "connections". My "connections" and the membership of my LinkedIn group CADCAM Technology Leaders reads like a who's who of the CADCAM business.
As it pertains to what you wish to do, if you wanted say machine tool company employees to post to your machinist forum, you would have a much better chance of having that happen on LinkedIn because that is the site they have already decided to use / that's where they are.
How does a hobby group such rec.crafts.metalworking fit into this business to business model? To me they seem like separate worlds.
Please don't feed the troll, Mike. But many of us here own businesses and "do" LinkedIn. I wasn't aware of their hosting discussion groups for metalworking, but after checking, I found 35 of them there! Amazing.
From what I understand..Ive been a lInkedin member since its startup. Shrug...I only recently posted my data and let it do its thing with it.
I pay less attention to it than I do Facebook. Facebook, I get on about every 2-3 Weeks and save some of the better photos and whatnot.
Gunner
The methodology of the left has always been:
Twenty years ago or so these were metal working and had professional members who helped each other. One company provided a data base for information to be stored for all to see - this being a news feed and not a graphic or attachment group. This was long before Yahoo groups, and even Google. Pre-web for a lot of it.
Nasty politics took over and the metal workers vaporized - as did good data and help.
Sad indeed.
Mart> >
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