Groups - New Feature (Updated)

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Hello Buddies.

We have enabled Groups. You will find the new menu item in the lower menu bar, below 'Browse'.

(Note that the system often refers to 'clubs'. These are actually 'groups' - it just that we have not yet updated all the language strings to reflect our preferred term, 'groups'. If you come across use of 'clubs' in system text, please let us know and include a link and/or the exact text used and we will fix it.)

Potentially, any established member might start a group. However, the group must be approved by BB administrators and fulfil certain criteria.

What are Groups Anyway?

Groups are standalone, semi-autonomous forums. They can have their own information pages and their own sub-membership. The membership options should be chosen to match the needs of the group. A general interest group probably would not need to restrict membership at all. Whereas, a group centered around a sensitive subject might need to apply checks on membership.

A group creator or 'Custodian' will manage their own small team of moderators and admins. Apart from the Custodian, we suggest at least one other admin, and a number of moderators to suit the nature of the space and to match its level of activity. Custodians also have the option of operating their own chat room.

Group admins and moderators should moderate their group to standards in keeping with BenzoBuddies community rules. You can create your own group rules provided that they do not clash with general community standards.

Although groups are intended to operate semi-autonomously as self-moderating spaces, Custodians, their teams, and group members will not be abandoned. The wider BenzoBuddies team are available to help, and always can be contacted if a situation arises where more immediate action is warranted and no group team member is available.

Why the Changes & Basic Criteria

Groups is our replacement for a limited number of deprecated forums and for threads within the archived 'Groups' forum.

However, we have decided that groups:

• Should be focused on topics generally neglected within the core community forums
• Should not be overly narrow in focus
• And should not detract from (or repeat) core parts of the community.

The Team view is that:

• There is far more commonality between different benzodiazepines than there are differences
• Individuals generally vary in their reaction to benzodiazepines far more than different benzodiazepines vary in their effects
• Recovery rates vary enormously - how an individual feels at 1, 2, 6, 12 or 24 months off is not generally reflective of how others feel after similar periods of time. Those at 1 month and 24 months off might feel similarly well or unwell
• Good, general benzodiazepine use or withdrawal discussion within a group can detract from similar discussion within the core areas of the community.

For these reasons, it is our view that benzo-specific, and timeline-specific threads are too narrow in focus for the creation of a group, and detract from broader discussion within our core community forums. These changes are intended to integrate such discussion with our general withdrawal support forums.

On-Topic Groups

If you wish to start a group which compliments BenzoBuddies' mission to help people with benzodiazepine use and withdrawal, we would like to hear from you. The group should not detract from core community forums, and should compliment the main form spaces. For example, we expect to have a support group for those suffering from protracted withdrawal symptoms within a few days; and an alternative therapies group shortly thereafter. These will form quite direct replacements two archived/deprecated forums, and are considered complimentary to BB core support.

Off-topic Groups

Off-topic forums might focus on nearly any subject. They should be broad enough to attract a good level of interest, but not so broad as to lack focus. For example: Gardening; Music Lovers; Cooking; Writing; etc. might make good off-topic groups. (These are just a few examples, not specific suggestions).

How to Create a Group

You might go straight to groups and create a group for approval. However, so that we do not end up with undeveloped groups or groups which generate little interest, proposals will be vetted. It probably would be better to first contact us about your ideas so that we can iron out potential problems and hopefully steer you towards a successful proposal.

If you have an idea for a group which does not significantly detract from the core forums of the community, is not too narrow in its focus, and caters for a neglected area of support or for a broad (off-topic) area of interest, we are eager to hear from you with your proposal.

Please contact us via the Contact the Team forum.