Esri Community User Group Guide
About User Groups
User Groups deliver an enhanced experience for Community members to engage around a common theme or purpose. Each group has its own set of content boards (question, blog, documents, events and idea exchange) to organize content and communication. User groups can be used for everything from special interests within the community to focus groups and more.
There are three types of user groups:
- open to anyone in the Community
- closed (requiring an invite or a request to join)
- hidden (invisible to the public and accessible by invitation only)
To discover and browse groups find the User Group Landing Page from the main navigation, All Communities, User Groups.
User Group Member Roles
There are four member roles in a group: Owner, Curator, Inviter, and Member. The group owner can change a member’s role.
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An Owner can:
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A Curator can:
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An Inviter can:
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A Member can:
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*Manage Content and Float Posts includes:
- Edit Post (in edit mode, a curator can update the labels and tags associated with the post)
- Mark accepted solutions on any post
- View Edit History for all posts
- Delete post and replies
- Block new replies
- Float topic for all users (pin a post to the top of the board page)
Pre-requisite to Joining a Group
Before a community member can join a group or receive an invitation to a group, the member must have private messages enabled (these are enabled by default for all active users*, but a member can manually override this feature).
The community member receiving the invitation and receiving the approval notification must explicitly opt-in to receive private messages in My Settings > Preferences > Private Messenger and the user must have a verified email address.
*an active user community member is one who has taken at least one action in the community, posted a comment, given a kudo.
Joining a Group
For open groups, a user can request to join a group using the button at the top of the group page. By joining a group, you are automatically subscribed to that group.
For closed groups, a user will request access to join a group through a request, which will be sent via private message to the group owner. Once approved the member will receive a private message indicating their change in status.
For hidden groups, the group owner will send an invite, which the community member will receive in their private message inbox. In the message there will the option to accept the invite and join the group.
Group Overview Page Layout
Collaborating in a Group
- Depending on the boards the group owner has selected, you can post a question, write a blog, create a document.
- To do so you can access one of the specific boards for the group from the Contents menu along the right side
- Or use the Create a Post button at the top of the group activity feed.
- To reply to an existing post, click on that post, at the bottom you can add your reply
Search in Groups
- Like the other places in the community, a user can search specifically within the group or choose to search the broader community from the search bar in the header:
- All users can see content in open groups in community and board-level searches. Open group content is accessible to all.
- Content in closed groups is accessible only to group members.
- Hidden group content is searchable and accessible only by group members. Any relevant results in the community-wide search bar will also surface content inside of groups to users who have permission to access it.
- Open and closed group nodes and child nodes appear in Places search results to group members and non-members
- Hidden group nodes appear in Places search results to group members only.
Questions about groups can be posted in Community Feedback or emailed to esricommunity@esri.com
