My view is that conduct rules can evolve.
What however requires urgent attention is the what type of groups are allowed, since it will be more disruptive to try and change that later.
Commercial Groups:I'm sort of neutral about commercial (user) groups.
It would be simpler to exclude them, but then we exclude a big part of the Joomla community.
On Facebook (with all its privacy shortcomings), I've never felt bothered by commercial activity, since it would be my choice to join a commercial group or not.
Perhaps the software could be tweaked (similar to what Andrew said) to filter out the commercial feeds, or make it an opt-in choice.
One rule that we could already bring in, is that company/commercial groups are not allowed to send Friend requests or unsolicited private messages, and if they do, they should be reported.
The distinction between person and company is also not so black and white. For some, for instance, their name is their brand.
Allowing, or not allowing company names as user-names is also complicated, since the Forum allows it, and some may prefer to use the same nick. In my case I was lucky enough to be able to use my own name on the People site. (since I prefer that to a company name)
Regarding User Groups: Official JUGs (that have already been approved) should be somehow identified as such (either the category or name), and should have to official contacts as Admin.
Those busy applying might have some Pending status to identify this, or some other mechanism to deal with this.
Perhaps the JUGs should also have at least 3 or 5 Admins, to be more inclusive.
Un-official User groups for greater areas (regions, states, countries) and language groups shouk be allowed (again with 3 to 5 admins minimum, within a certain time frame)
Groups with official-sounding names:(like Joomla Training, Joomla Templates, Joomla Hosting, etc)It may be better not to allow names like that, or to have strict rules for that. (like having a certain number of
approved admins) This is to prevent abuse by individuals or companies.
Allowing too official-sounding group names may also limit the project (Joomla through OSM) from launching certain new initiatives in future.
Is the intention of "Joomla Training", for example, to offer training/support to people on the site? (that's what this and other forums are for, though some may prefer using a social site rather then a forum). Or to share training ideas with other training companies? (perhaps unlikely) Or just to share free training material (tutorials, videos)?
I'm not sure what alternative names could be used to the official-sounding ones, but I'm sure people can be a bit creative.
Involvement:How do we get the 791+ people who already signed up to express their opinions, so that we don't end up with only the views of the regulars and the more opinionated on here?
Perhaps have a poll module on the People site to get feedback on certain questions?
(could formulate questions and options here, and then post a poll there?)Or some announcement area on the front page there that links here?
(the poll idea may be less intimidating to new or less vocal users)(Edit: looks like I inadvertently discovered a long-lost profile name... will ask the mods to merge with my active profile: jconsultingza)
