DK has official support documents for how to do all sorts of things necessary in groups. This diary you’re reading isn’t official, it’s just a tutorial for friends, so be sure and check out the official stuff, too.
E.g., if you use a mobile device, there’s a 2020 staff diary, A-Tour-of-New-Groups-for-Group-Admins, where you can scroll down to the MOBILE VIEW section, which might be better for your purposes. That diary also talks about how-to for desktop computers & laptops ... for experienced admins. This diary you’re reading right now is good for admins new on the job or nearly so, who are using PCs and laptops. If that’s you, read on!
In this diary, you’ll find:
- Section A — how to add members to your group even if you’re a total newb admin.
- Section B — how to promote contributors to editors & eds to admin even if ibid.
More and more groups these days are promoting pretty much all contributors — “entry level” group members — to editor role right away because editors and admins can freely reblog/republish to their groups, but contributors can only put diaries (or drafts) into the queue and then need to ask an editor or admin to help complete the publishing process. That uses up time and kosmailing! Less loss (and glitches) for everyone in a group if they all can reblog on their own!
Every group has its own policies about speed of promotion, though, depending on varying issues, and that’s THEIR RIGHT: being invited/added to a group and being promoted are privileges, not an automatic right any kosak owns. Admins have no obligation to expand their groups with more members; they’re not obligated to go on operating their groups, either. They have a real-life, after all, that might be problematic where continued DK responsibility is concerned. And the fewer the skilled admins in any group, the heavier the responsibility on those few. So, a nice large cadre of experienced admins and editors does make all group things easier. But again, it’s up to the admins already there.
BTW, kosmail to the diarist if details in this post don’t work for you: site tech is sometimes changed without wide announcement, so updates may be needed here.
SECTION A. How to Add Members to Your Group
<big>Prep</big>: Keep this diary open in a separate browser tab when you’re using the info, so you can refer to it step-by-step, as follows. And If you’re a first-time admin starting your own group, think about recruiting editors and admins experienced at other dk groups that share your group’s interests, so they can share operating your new one, and you can learn from them — a group without skilled leadership rarely gets off the ground.
<big>[A.1.]</big> Have ready the screenname[s] of kosak[s] you want to add to your group. Exact spelling, spacing, & upper-case/lower-case helps a lot! Best to know in advance that they actually do want to join to your group —maybe they requested an invitation in a comment or kosmail— so you save on wasted effort if they don’t. For others, kosmail to ask! :)
<big>[A.2.]</big> Go to your group’s homepage. There’s a couple of ways to get there:
- In a separate browser tab, click on your avatar near the top right corner of any Dk5 page. That will make this <big><big>➡️</big></big> drop-down menu appear. Click then on MY GROUPS, then on the individual one from the list you get.
- OR click on the name of the group in your WELCOME BACK box if you’re at a DK4 page (e.g., your messages page, your activity stream).
- OR if you’re at your group’s blog page, click on the group name where it shows in bright blue, the way “Climate Fight” does in the illustration below.
<big>[A.3.]</big> In the left column at your group’s homepage, below the group’s name in black (e.g., <small>Beta Testers Rock</small>) and below the clickable list of group admins, you’ll see 5 gray-on-gray bar-type buttons labelled:
- <small>FOLLOW GROUP</small>
- <small>READ BLOG</small>
- <small>MESSAGES</small>
- <small>MANAGE QUEUE</small>
- MANAGE GROUP.
Click on that last one!
<big>[A.4.]</big> That block of 5 buttons will then be replaced by a section that looks like the next illustration down.
Click on the blue
Invite button.
<big>[A.5.]</big> That gets you a window/ “modal” labeled:
<big>Find a user to invite</big>
as shown in the full-width illo below.
In that modal’s searchbar — to the right of where the the circled white-on-orange <tt>2</tt> is in the illo (it’s not there in reallife, of course) — goes the EXACT screenname of the kosak you want to invite — type it in.
<big>[A.6.]</big> Now click on the orange FIND USER button (white-on-orange “3”) at the lower right corner of the modal, to get...
<big>[A.7.]</big> ...the below SEND INVITATION form.
The blurred-out gray bar next to the avatar-box, above the blue word “Community”, is where the being-invited kosak’s screenname will be displayed, just as you typed it in [A.5]. If you don’t get this SEND INVITATION form, the name typed in probably had an error in it: in that case, do step [A.5] again and continue from there.
For the MESSAGE in the invitation, you can go into all kinds of detail. I strong recommend you just type something like “Here y’go! :) “ because I also strongly recommend that you kosmail to everyone getting an invitation from you.
<big>Why? Read on!</big>
First, though <big>[A.8.]</big> go ahead and click the orange SEND INVITATION button.
<big>OK, so, the reason kosmailing to everyone getting an invitation is a good idea is, it can save a lotta do-over trouble.</big>
For one thing, sometimes the invitation never actually hits the invited person’s email . so it’s good to supply the work-around for that in advance, in the form the invitee will receive — kosmail!
The work-around is also for accepting an invitation even before it arrives, too — no waiting!
For another, sometimes you might invite someone to join your group who didn’t request an invitation, and with whom you haven’t spoken about it. In that case, of course, you’ll want them to know some attractive info about the group, to encourage them to decide that they want to accept your invitation. You can say it’s en route if you already sent it. Or you can just tell them about them group, and wait to see if they reply and request an invitation. Kosmails are easily than invitations to do.
So, here’s a set-up when you’re sending your first invitation ever, so you do as little extra work as possible forever after — always something an admin hopes for!
<big>[A.9.]</big> Open yet another browser tab and get DK in it.
- Use step [A.2.] to put your drafts folder there.
- Open a new draft, and title it INVITATION KOSMAIL. Don’t worry, it’s NOT for publishing, just for storage — as long as you never put a tag it it can’t be published by accident — so you can easily copy from it the information and data you’re gonna need to kosmail to everyone you invite to join your group.
- In this draft, first write a paragraph like for someone who’s not expecting an invitation.
- Next write a separate paragraph more or less as follows, filling in the actual group name and actual group homepage URL:
<big>Yr invitation for the _________ group is on the way, via the dk’s email system. To accept immediately, rather than wait (because sometimes the system glitches), click our homepage [put group homepage link here], go up to the URL there, add there, with no spaces:
/join
Then hit enter and you should then get a pop-up saying you’re in!
If anything goes sideways, just reply to this kosmail and we’ll get it solved!
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<big>[A.9.]</big> SAVE DRAFT and exit from it. Anytime you send another invitation, copy what’s in it for the kosmail to the invitee[s].
_____________________
BTW, On the rare occasions that the /join glitches, the funny thing is that it may actually have worked anyway. Your kosmail to the invitee has the homepage URL in it, so if they reply saying it glitched, YOU can use the URL yourself to go see if they’re now in the member list as invited!
And from there, if they’re not, you can easily send another invitation. Then kosmail back to try the /join again.
Which only works for someone the system “knows” has been invited. So, if you have a conversation in a diary thread with someone you suggest they join or who asks to, you can even safely put all the /join info there, and say to give you a day or two to send the invitation so the system “knows”. Nice, huh? Not just anyone can use /join on their own.
BTW, some admins say it’s a good idea to send two invitations to the same person right away, that that improves the chances that at least one will “fly”. But sometimes, still, it don’t. Go figure. ;-)
Section B. How to promote contributors to editor or admin, editors to Admin, etc.
<big>[B.1.]</big> Use steps [A.1] thru’ [A.4] to find your way to your group’s homepage, locate the MANAGE GROUP bar/button in the left-hand column, and click.
Below, as an example, is how the left half of the HOMEPAGE looks to an admin at the Arkansas Kos after s/he has clicked that button/bar.
<big>[B.2.]</big> Look down past the fields for <tt>Name</tt> and <tt>Description</tt>, and past the <small>SAVE CHANGES</small> and grey <small>CANCEL</small> button (you don’t need’em right now)…
<big>[B.3.]</big>... to the black-printed heading Members. Ignore the Invite link-button beside it and look one line lower to the Find a Member searchbox — THAT is for hunting up folks already in your group or invited when the alternative is a long list of members to scroll down past, hitting NEXT and scrolling some more, repeatedly, to find the one you want … because newly joined members (contributors) and newly invited names are way at the end, with admins listed first and editors in between.
<big>[B.4]</big] In the Find a Member searchbox, type the exact screenname of the member you want to promote (or scroll down, it’s up to you).
<big>[B.5.]</big> When you get the person you want, click EDIT at the right of their/his/her name, and you’ll get a clickable display roughly like this next illo, showing the current role/rank of that person.
<big>[B.6.]</big> Any admin in the given group can change the role of anyone else there. So, in the example above, I could demote myself to Editor or Contributor just by clicking on the word, or even Remove myself entirely from the group! :D But once I’m not an admin anymore, I can’t do any of those! (BTW, anyone who wants to leave a group, for whatever reason, can DIY by going to his/her own GROUPS page and using the button for that right there.)
<big>[B.7.]</big> After changing the person’s role, which will show with the ✔️ next to what you’ve just changed’em to, BACK-ARROW out and you’re done!
<big>[B.8.]</big> Treat your group members well, and they’ll usually treat the group well too, including you.
For more tutorials by various kosaks, click on the tags for them in the top left margin of this diary.
Besides tutorial diaries, kosaks can often request a bit of help from skilled kosaks there’s usually one or two or more of at the various friendly open-thread group diaries. And more material can be found at the DK Meta comm'ty & staff grps, tags, etc, for keeping up on site tech & issues plus common site how-to questions answered at this part of the helpdesk. Be courteous, appreciative and nongreedy for help —be prepared to put some time and sweat into learning what you’re taught, with a lot of effort on your own— because except for actual staff, no one posting tutorial diaries or responding to requests is being paid for it, and virtually everyone who is equipped to help is probably fulfilling a lot of responsibilities in the DK community already, besides who knows how much IRL. No one is obligated to to shepherd underskilled kosaks around, it’s just part of being progressive that people who “can do” also teach as their situations allow.
Friendly Open Thread Groups & Series
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■ Top Comments 💚 7pm leftkost, 10 pm east daily.
■ Overnight News Digest 💚 politics, art, science, culture. 9pm leftkost, 12midnight east daily.
KEY to DK Group & Series Indexes so far:
🔶 orange diamond = index Where the DailyKosgroups Are: Links to DK’s 290+ Local & Political Groups by State & Beyond, 2011-2023
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📌 red pushpin = Linx to DK Feminist & LGBTQi grps and 40+ women’s news & resource sites
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How Admins Can Remove Diaries From Their Group’s Posting History Because of Irrelevance, Obstructionist Reblogging/spam, or other good reasons:
Quoting tech-team member elfling’s comment HERE:
The function you need to remove a story from a group is now on the group page, ie /groups/[groupname]. In the upper right corner on every story, if you’re an administrator, there are three dots that will bring up a tiny baby menu that has the remove function in it. That’s the replacement for the X on the old list view.