Would group "at"ing be impolite? (@)

O Ye Helpful Ones...would it be impolite to create a group subject message in order to create a group announcement for group I admin where I use the symbol @ to each person in the group (there are 41)? Or is that just not the done thing in LT?

>1 DebiCates: Not sure that's come up before. I suppose it depends on the standards of the group and why you're using it.

Also, @-ing everyone may not actually reach everyone; I, and I'm sure many others, have that feature turned off.

>1 DebiCates: And it probably isn't even necessary. Anyone who belongs to the group will see new threads and posts either in Talk or when they go to the group, so you don't have to @ everyone to get their attention.

>2 amanda4242: >3 amanda4242: That's good info to know. I only know how I function within LT and I suspect it's rather poorly done.

I am notified when I am at'ed. My problem is sometimes it's not a good time to respond when I see it and then I forget. I used to use the Favorite Message feature to remember to go back. Hm, I need to reinstate that.

Do you have just at's turned off or does it also turn off the >'s too?

I would never be able to keep track of what I want to participate in if I turned those off. I struggle, though, within groups that interest me only by a subject that may come up. I use the Ignore Topic heavily in those cases.

Truthfully, I don't feel quite in control of all this. I don't even know what it is I'm doing wrong or not doing well in order to keep better track of conversations and subjects. Maybe that's why I want to blast everyone a message that I would like everyone to see; it's actually rooted in my own feeling of missing things.

Do you have any special pointers, by any chance? You must have zillions of things going on here.

ETA: I also have ADHD. So, yeah, there's that too.

If people don't like it they will leave your group.

>4 DebiCates: Don't forget you can also star a thread if you want to find it more easily.

And as an admin you can create a pinned topic for the group. When members go to the group page, it's always on top and will show new posts to it.

>4 DebiCates: Do you filter your Talk feed? I keep mine on “Groups and Posts” so most of what I see is relevant.

I doubt any of us in the group would mind, but I'm struggling to see the purposes of typing all those mentions. If it's a single post in an existing thread you want to highlight, there's a 'message from the admin', which makes it stand out from other posts. Also, once you've seen the post where you're mentioned, the link no longer takes you there and eventually is gone altogether. (I do appreciate 'mentions' about upcoming time to post a poem because it draws my attention to something I'd probably skim, but normally new posts and new topics in the group are visible without any additional effort since they appear around the top of my Talk.)

@DebiCates, there are many ways to do things here, as you've already noted, and keeping track of Talk is definitely an area especially relevant to that!

If you are not already, I echo the suggestions above about starring threads (you can see when a new post is added), filtering the Talk feed (also recommend using the left-hand nav bar to default to My Groups), and Ignoring threads you aren't interested in.

I use the @ feature primarily for a specific reply to a specific person, relying on the general group to chime in if and when they feel motivated.

I too use the Groups and Posts setting in Talk so I don't miss any posts in groups that I am interested in. Is there a reason that doesn't work for you?

>4 DebiCates: I turned off both mention and reply notifications because I don't really need them. I'll see new posts in threads I've contributed to when I filter for my posts, and I'm not particularly interested in seeing if I've been mentioned in a thread I've not contributed to.

One thing that helps me keep track of conversations is having the Talk module set high up on my homepage. I leave it filtered for my posts and sorted by last message, which makes it easy to see when there's been activity.

I also star threads and messages I want to get back to. There's a notepad module available on the homepage where you can put links to threads or messages and a note about why it interests you.

And don't worry so much about keeping up with everything! There's so much going on that it would be a full time job just to read all posts in groups you belong to. Remember that this is supposed to be fun!

>6 gilroy: >7 2wonderY: >9 elenchus: >10 jjwilson61: >11 amanda4242: Big thank you to everyone for your suggestions! After reading all that you guys are doing, I realize I mostly do the "right" things. So it must just be me feeling disorganized. (Wouldn't be the first time.) Then just projected that onto others which made me think I should maybe do the @ thing to "help," ha!

Amanda has put it in a new perspective for me, "don't worry so much about keeping up with everything!"

Here's what I do:
I do pin "permanent" topics in the group The Poetry Collective.
I do use star topics.
I do have my Talk set to Groups & Topics (and check Favorited Messages and Ignored Topics on demand).
I do have my messages displayed by most recent date.
I also use my wiki space to store links to topics that I frequently want to periodically visit even if I might have them set to ignore (too many notifications). I even have links to my own topics reflecting personal missions, like my reading log so I don't forget...though I still do. Ugh.

Here's what I don't do:
>8 SandraArdnas:
I have not yet used the Amin message option. That may be something to look into.

>11 amanda4242:
I access Talk using the top navigation. I have not customized my Home at all. I wanted to keep it in its original state so I could help GRers navigate by giving them step by step instructions when they first arrive.

In another group I just was recently reminded of the notepad feature. In fact, I helped a person find it! LOL. It made me realize I had used that feature in the beginning to store links but once I felt comfortable with navigating, I quit using it. I've been considering how I might use it to good use now.

Again, THANK YOU EVERYONE!

>12 DebiCates: I access Talk using the top navigation. I have not customized my Home at all.

Another method is to open a separate browser window and open Talk in that.

It's in that way that I have 1 FF window that always has "Your books" and a large countable number of tabs associated with finding my books in various libraries, fixing series or authors, etc. And I have 1 FF window that always has "Talk" open as well as a large countable number of tabs associated with what I find/learn there. And I can always quickly pop over to Talk or to Your books without having to scroll through tabs :)

YMMV, of course!

>13 LeslieWx: I have finally winnowed down my open tabs to just 3. Once it had been like 15 so this feels calmer for me.

1. My wiki member page where I keep notes and links to all the topics I want to be able to quickly go, and as reminders of what all I want to keep up though I even might have a topic on Ignore. For those I don't want all the notifications, but I do want to check in weekly.
2. My Your Books
3. Talk

Of course I open new tabs all the time. But I do my thing, then close them.

It works for me but I'm not on the big project that you are on, Leslie, with that huge library of books that you are managing and getting them to be accurate. Me, my library is just "good enough."

Again, LT is so nice for suiting our particular needs and personalities.

>14 DebiCates: Agreed!