Welcome back, all you Cranky Users ... and if you asked for an invitation and didn't get one, blame Markos.
I'm not putting much in the body of this diary because I doubt whatever I write will post. If it does, pile into the comments and BITCH!
NOTES ABOUT GROUPS AND HOW THEY SHOULD WORK:
When you join a group there are three levels of membership: admin, editor, and member. At first, everyone who joined any group was automatically an editor, which means you can write for the group.
I asked for that to be changed so that everyone is initially admitted to Cranky Users as a member. (I can quickly change anyone’s status to editor upon request, so shoot me an email about that.) New Cranky Users are being admitted as members: Thank you Jesus and Elfling!
What didn't change is the requirement that people ask for an invitation. Screw that. Let groups choose to be closed access, i.e., an invite is mandatory, or open access, where anyone can join.
Markos’ concept of groups is based on the Frontpagers, all of whom require an invitation before they can write for Daily Kos. Fair enough. MY concept of groups – and, apparently, I’m not alone – is that they will be formed for a variety of reasons. Perhaps three environmental writers will form a group so they can write joint diaries. In their case they probably won’t want open access. They’ll use the group function to produce their diaries, then post them to the recent list with one or more environmental tags.
In the case of most Community diaries, people have been “members” of their communities for years. Words matter, goddammit. Folks want to “join” a group as a “member”. They don’t want to “follow” their group; it sounds odd. They don’t want to ask for an invitation, either.
Example: I’ve been a pootie person since my lurking days. I don’t write pootie diaries (April Fools’ Day excepted) but I consider it an insult that I have to request an invitation to join a community I participate in daily.
Markos, I told you this once before: Groups is an inspired idea. It’s also an idea that has evolved beyond your narrow concept of Groups.
Let my people go! Let my cranks and gimps have open access!