Maybe add a club feature?

[SarahUmbreon]

I'm not one for suggesting stuff often, but I was thinking about, and how this feature has great potential for this website.

You see on MAL (Which I know is not a Christian website, but hear me out please), they have a feature called “Clubs” where people can create their own club, put it as a public or private club, and depending on if it’s public or private, people can freely join public clubs, and need a invite to join a private club. The amount of clubs is huge and there is a huge variety cause you can basically make any idea into a Club, like a club for K-pop lovers, or club for people who like romance anime, or a club just exclusively for manga readers, etc.

So this was my idea, what if people used clubs as a way to hold bible studies? Like if they only want to hold bible studies with the friends they’ve made on CC. I know stuff like Zoom, Discord, and Skype exist. But having it to where you can do the Bible study, and talk to friends on the same website might make people happy. Also, with those other options I mentioned, you gotta download them and then learn to use them, which I think some people might not want to do.

I know we have chat rooms, but for what I saw it’s basically “Random chat”, having a controlled room where you know who will be in it, I think can be beneficial, especially for people that want to do bible studies with their friends. I’m not against a group of random strangers doing bible study together, but that is what a “public club room” would be for.

Also, it can make it easy for Christians to chat with other Christians of similar hobbies to make new friends, like having a “Christian anime fan club”, “Christian videogame fan club”, “Christian sports fan club”, etc. Cause from what I can tell so far, if a thread isn’t commented on in a long while, it “dies” and falls off the main page of said forum. Hopefully with clubs like these it will prevent from threads dying and keep discussion up.

Overall, I think it would be cool to have this feature. I’m not against what we have cause I get to hear from so many different people, that it is interesting. But when logging into the “Chat room”, I guess I was let down that it is “random chat” and not “select your friend’s name off a list and start talking”. I know about the paid features, but this club thing could help people who don’t have money right now to afford those said paid features.

I forgot to mention I don’t use MAL anymore, but it did help me to form my understanding of online website forums.

 

[Mii]

I haven't joined the chat rooms yet (though I plan to at some point) but forums just work differently.


An edit feature for approved forum threads would help. Like I'm sure you've seen megathreads before...

I'm finding it a bit unclear what you mean by clubs. Private threads? Or stickied topic threads?


"stickying" would help for not having multiple threads created with just a few interactions but it also might create a bit of clutter since there are only so many "sections" here.

A stickied basketball megathread with editable first page led by an interested OP who can add navigation as things develop has worked on other sites, but there are considerations. Is this what you mean? This would require a lot more forum mods though. There aren't that many active from what I can tell and that takes a lot of dedication and time.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

I haven't joined the chat rooms yet (though I plan to at some point) but forums just work differently.


An edit feature for approved forum threads would help. Like I'm sure you've seen megathreads before...

I'm finding it a bit unclear what you mean by clubs. Private threads? Or stickied topic threads?


"stickying" would help for not having multiple threads created with just a few interactions but it also might create a bit of clutter since there are only so many "sections" here.

A stickied basketball megathread with editable first page led by an interested OP who can add navigation as things develop has worked on other sites, but there are considerations. Is this what you mean? This would require a lot more forum mods though. There aren't that many active from what I can tell and that takes a lot of dedication and time.

So I'm gonna use pictures to describe what I'm trying to say, these are MAL's public forums, anyone who is a member of the website can access them:




Here is there setup for some threads look, like I entered the "Anime Discussion" to get this photo:



Now, to describe the difference, here's what my list of clubs I'm apart of look like on a profile.This would show people what clubs you're apart of:



Now here is what a club looks like, some clubs use pictures, some just use simple text, but what matters is that it is managed by the creator of the club and the creator can assign "admin" positions to members they feel worthy to be a admin:




And finally, these are threads from this club, and the only way to access these threads is to join the club:




So I feel like a system like this can be applied for the use of bible studies, or making it easy to talk to friends. As the forums right now are "free to anyone", of course a adult should not use our teenage forums when looking for friends, but you get what I mean. I wish the chat rooms were a list of friends to contact and talk to, rather than it being random chat, lol.

 

[Subhumanoidal]

I'm not one for suggesting stuff often, but I was thinking about, and how this feature has great potential for this website.

You see on MAL (Which I know is not a Christian website, but hear me out please), they have a feature called “Clubs” where people can create their own club, put it as a public or private club, and depending on if it’s public or private, people can freely join public clubs, and need a invite to join a private club. The amount of clubs is huge and there is a huge variety cause you can basically make any idea into a Club, like a club for K-pop lovers, or club for people who like romance anime, or a club just exclusively for manga readers, etc.

So this was my idea, what if people used clubs as a way to hold bible studies? Like if they only want to hold bible studies with the friends they’ve made on CC. I know stuff like Zoom, Discord, and Skype exist. But having it to where you can do the Bible study, and talk to friends on the same website might make people happy. Also, with those other options I mentioned, you gotta download them and then learn to use them, which I think some people might not want to do.

I know we have chat rooms, but for what I saw it’s basically “Random chat”, having a controlled room where you know who will be in it, I think can be beneficial, especially for people that want to do bible studies with their friends. I’m not against a group of random strangers doing bible study together, but that is what a “public club room” would be for.

Also, it can make it easy for Christians to chat with other Christians of similar hobbies to make new friends, like having a “Christian anime fan club”, “Christian videogame fan club”, “Christian sports fan club”, etc. Cause from what I can tell so far, if a thread isn’t commented on in a long while, it “dies” and falls off the main page of said forum. Hopefully with clubs like these it will prevent from threads dying and keep discussion up.

Overall, I think it would be cool to have this feature. I’m not against what we have cause I get to hear from so many different people, that it is interesting. But when logging into the “Chat room”, I guess I was let down that it is “random chat” and not “select your friend’s name off a list and start talking”. I know about the paid features, but this club thing could help people who don’t have money right now to afford those said paid features.

I forgot to mention I don’t use MAL anymore, but it did help me to form my understanding of online website forums.

The software the site is built on has a limited ability to customize, that's why there are so few on here now.
We switched platforms a few years ago, the one before this one allowed private groups to be made. The problem was, nobody used them. There were countless groups full of people that sat unused. So that feature did exist on this site for years and was a waste.

As far as the chat rooms, don't hold your breath. There is still no iPhone app after 2-3 years. And the apps we do have often don't work for many people. This has gone on over a year with no fix. It is no longer even acknowledged.

If what we have doesn't work it's doubtful a new feature that would be that much work (if it's able to work at all) that's free isn't going to happen. The entire site and chats all used to be 100% free. Costs have been added to what was once free. And even things people pay for don't always work.

 

[Mii]

Thank you for being utilitous as usual @Subhumanoidal Edit: apparently utilitous isn't a recognized word, but I like it and think the meaning is clear as "of utility"

@SarahUmbreon this site works that way to a point. You are simply suggesting a closed forum (sub forums) from what I can tell. This is an "almost" entirely open forum (besides the ladies only forum) and private messaging.


I had thought about this a bit deeply the other night. Myself I wanted to open a line of communication with a mod, but I haven't yet attempted this. It could be that there is a lot of productive communication that can be had, but it is also an option to branch out and merely have a "brother site" (sister site) connection.

Lately I seem to be fighting uphill in a lot of ways. It may be that's what life is, but I am not consigned to that until other avenues are considered.

I agree that I want additional restructuring but it may be the path of least resistance (and actually accomplishing aims) to branch out. This takes people...if you'd like to have productive discussion to this end @Mii in a focused thread on the topic.

Or perhaps the owners need inflow of capital and are open to discussion...but more financial support is necessary. Consider the cost as well as people with spare time (that they may be willing to volunteer). Not everything has to be paid, but spare time when one is not being paid is quite sparse for some people. Of course, this is in addition to collective interest. That's a first step. Each of us would have to invest in order for ideas to become reality...This could be time, money, creativity, etc.

What are you willing to invest and who should manage the investment. This perhaps is a bit much, so I digress. I like your idea for customization but my format is slightly different, although similar.

This site has a lot to offer and I'm not intending to disparage or "knock on it" via this post, to be clear. If there are barriers to creativity then building another site from the ground up to partner with this site may be an option eventually.

 

[SoulWeaver]

I legit thought for a second the title was about clubs as weapons...
To "fight the disagreements off" when people get tired of discussion... Basically like a little vote feature, that would automatically conclude the thread after the dead horse had been beaten and all people reach out for their weapon, by clicking a little club emoji...

 

[SarahUmbreon]

Thank you for being utilitous as usual @Subhumanoidal Edit: apparently utilitous isn't a recognized word, but I like it and think the meaning is clear as "of utility"

@SarahUmbreon this site works that way to a point. You are simply suggesting a closed forum (sub forums) from what I can tell. This is an "almost" entirely open forum (besides the ladies only forum) and private messaging.


I had thought about this a bit deeply the other night. Myself I wanted to open a line of communication with a mod, but I haven't yet attempted this. It could be that there is a lot of productive communication that can be had, but it is also an option to branch out and merely have a "brother site" (sister site) connection.

Lately I seem to be fighting uphill in a lot of ways. It may be that's what life is, but I am not consigned to that until other avenues are considered.

I agree that I want additional restructuring but it may be the path of least resistance (and actually accomplishing aims) to branch out. This takes people...if you'd like to have productive discussion to this end @Mii in a focused thread on the topic.

Or perhaps the owners need inflow of capital and are open to discussion...but more financial support is necessary. Consider the cost as well as people with spare time (that they may be willing to volunteer). Not everything has to be paid, but spare time when one is not being paid is quite sparse for some people. Of course, this is in addition to collective interest. That's a first step. Each of us would have to invest in order for ideas to become reality...This could be time, money, creativity, etc.

What are you willing to invest and who should manage the investment. This perhaps is a bit much, so I digress. I like your idea for customization but my format is slightly different, although similar.

This site has a lot to offer and I'm not intending to disparage or "knock on it" via this post, to be clear. If there are barriers to creativity then building another site from the ground up to partner with this site may be an option eventually.

Okay, thanks for the answer. I don’t know how to build websites, but that might be a interesting idea. I would be doing private messaging but it cost $24 for a year long membership. I’m not against paying, I just don’t want to pay, and then see the people I want to contact not having paid the $24 for the full CC experience.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

The software the site is built on has a limited ability to customize, that's why there are so few on here now.
We switched platforms a few years ago, the one before this one allowed private groups to be made. The problem was, nobody used them. There were countless groups full of people that sat unused. So that feature did exist on this site for years and was a waste.

As far as the chat rooms, don't hold your breath. There is still no iPhone app after 2-3 years. And the apps we do have often don't work for many people. This has gone on over a year with no fix. It is no longer even acknowledged.

If what we have doesn't work it's doubtful a new feature that would be that much work (if it's able to work at all) that's free isn't going to happen. The entire site and chats all used to be 100% free. Costs have been added to what was once free. And even things people pay for don't always work.

Thanks for the answer ^_^, I guess if a website doesn’t get income, they can’t upgrade. In fact, MAL started about 2 years ago selling digital manga on their website, they probably get a margin of the funds to maintain their website.

 

[Mem]

I legit thought for a second the title was about clubs as weapons...
To "fight the disagreements off" when people get tired of discussion... Basically like a little vote feature, that would automatically conclude the thread after the dead horse had been beaten and all people reach out for their weapon, by clicking a little club emoji...

what about this one

 

[SoulWeaver]

what about this one

Now we're talking

 

[Mem]

Hi SarahUmbreon

I do not mean to take this thread off topic but it reminded me of your user2user tech support question that I wanted to answer earlier... as I knew how to post gifs without using giphy but couldn't recall right away having done it so long ago, sooo... I took this particular opportunity to try and figure it out again, and as you see, I did! (and can let you know unless you have learned how since then

 

[Mii]

Okay, thanks for the answer. I don’t know how to build websites, but that might be a interesting idea. I would be doing private messaging but it cost $24 for a year long membership. I’m not against paying, I just don’t want to pay, and then see the people I want to contact not having paid the $24 for the full CC experience.

Well gifting membership is an option to a members only feature. CC is too cheap to not, but I haven't felt led to do so. On my profile page I have a "wall" (as do you) and the top message I'd like to pin but I don't think I can. Anyway, it's a work around. If I had tons of people requesting a PM and was depriving CC of revenue I might consider additional support, but as it stands right now...I'm not having as much interaction from others to necessitate considering that.

If everyone pays that's how a closed forum could work. You could even partner with CC and support them at the same time this way. ( " x " site membership gives access to CC membership as well)

I don't know much about site building either except I can buy help. If people were interested and the legwork weren't just "theory" there is a lot I would be willing to do at present.

Also laying out the costs for everything so people can see why $5/month or even $8 isn't unreasonable and what that price entails, budgets, etc. GOOD security is probably quite expensive, then again, that's a matter of priorities for the end user.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

Hi SarahUmbreon

I do not mean to take this thread off topic but it reminded me of your user2user tech support question that I wanted to answer earlier... as I knew how to post gifs without using giphy but couldn't recall right away having done it so long ago, sooo... I took this particular opportunity to try and figure it out again, and as you see, I did! (and can let you know unless you have learned how since then

I learned thanks to other responses on that post, but thanks for checking if I got my question answered, really appreciate it ^_^

 

[Subhumanoidal]

@Mii
The cost has long been touted as an issue for this site. But some of what has been stated sounded iffy in terms of how much things are costing. Many people began criticizing some of what the supposed costs were for certain things. And those details have not been released since, roughly seven years.. So no one really knows the financial status of the site as it's not released.
Also there is one person doing all work, upgrades, maintenance, etc... on the site and chat rooms. The sole owner. As well as taking an income (but not their only source).



If you are to seriously discuss making another site you'd be best doing it off cc. Even promoting other chat sites is rather frowned upon.
Personally i see the idea needless. There are other sites already out there, and most are worse off than CC. And typically they are spread too thin and too difficult to navigate. People want to add all these things thinking it will improve the site, but it seems the opposite is true. It instead becomes overwhelming.
I went on one that tried to have a separate subforum for every denomination.
It went into various categories, each category had different subforums then each thread. So each category could have between 6-20 subforums. It was a mess. And nearly every thread I tried was dead.


@SarahUmbreon
People who were members Before the costs came in were grandfathered in, and i believe a few others have been favorited in as well. That's why some don't pay.

 

[ev4989]

@Mii
The cost has long been touted as an issue for this site. But some of what has been stated sounded iffy in terms of how much things are costing. Many people began criticizing some of what the supposed costs were for certain things. And those details have not been released since, roughly seven years.. So no one really knows the financial status of the site as it's not released.
Also there is one person doing all work, upgrades, maintenance, etc... on the site and chat rooms. The sole owner. As well as taking an income (but not their only source).



If you are to seriously discuss making another site you'd be best doing it off cc. Even promoting other chat sites is rather frowned upon.
Personally i see the idea needless. There are other sites already out there, and most are worse off than CC. And typically they are spread too thin and too difficult to navigate. People want to add all these things thinking it will improve the site, but it seems the opposite is true. It instead becomes overwhelming.
I went on one that tried to have a separate subforum for every denomination.
It went into various categories, each category had different subforums then each thread. So each category could have between 6-20 subforums. It was a mess. And nearly every thread I tried was dead.


@SarahUmbreon
People who were members Before the costs came in were grandfathered in, and i believe a few others have been favorited in as well. That's why some don't pay.

how do you get in contact with the mods?

 

[tourist]

how do you get in contact with the mods?

On the top of the page click on Members underneath the main heading. To the left scroll down until you see Staff Members. Click on that and click on a mod that you want to contact.

 

[Scotty]

Long ago, back in the day (I’ve been a member since 2010), CC actually used to have a “club” feature. However nothing ever happened with them; they were very rarely used and they just sat dormant.

 

[Lanolin]

I asked a lot of people on singles forum if they were in clubs and. most of them said they werent or maybe they actually were and didnt want me to join.
I know any club Ive joined then kinda complains they dont have enough members lol.