Knowledge of other helper groups?

This is the largest helper group, so I'm asking this here. On another topic I'm asking about combining groups, including some of the other "helper" groups.

I want to know how many of you are familiar with the other helper-type groups on LT. Do you also follow them? Do you feel that they should be separate from this group and from each other? What standard should we have for the creation of feature-specific groups?

* Combiners! https://www.librarything.com/groups/combiners
* Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing https://www.librarything.com/groups/commonknowledge
* Flaggers https://www.librarything.com/groups/flaggers
* LibraryThing Series https://www.librarything.com/groups/inallseriesness
* Author and venue pictures https://www.librarything.com/groups/authorpictures

I am a...
Combiners! member
Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing member
Flaggers watcher
LibraryThing Series member
Author and venue pictures visitor when it comes up in topic searches

Yes, I think these groups should be separate.

The creation of feature-specific groups is rare, so I don't understand the question about standards. These and others such as Book reviewers, LT reviewers, Member Giveaways, and Taggers! seem to have persisted a long time without duplicates. Each group feels as if it's doing the minimum of what it was created to do.

* Combiners: member
* CK WT HT: occasional visitor. I typically don't do this kind of Helping on a community level
* Flaggers: member. I mainly visit for the "why I flagged / counterflagged" threads.
* Series: member. I mainly visit for the calls for help threads and discussions on best practices and the like. That includes specific cases that people bring up and then decide on how to handle.
* Author and venure pictures: barely aware of its existence. Not my kind of Helping.

I'd vote to keep them separate. They represent separate areas of Helping to me, and I can subscribe to the types I want to engage with and ignore the others, which makes it easy for me to target the specific threads from the smaller Groups

That said, I can definitely see an argument for lumping them together into one Helper Hangout, though I would then also perhaps include other Groups not listed in >1 timspalding:. Case in point: the "Community Projects", most obviously (to my mind) the Frequently Asked Questions Group, which is also about helping newbies with questions about LT and its inner workings, something the other Helper Groups do regularly. I do think of FAQ as very much a separate Group with its specific Helping purpose to serve, but not more so than Series is different from Flaggers, and if those are both subset of Helpers, than so should FAQ be. I think I could even entertain the possibility of including the Group Legacy Libraries, which is barely active as it is, on the grounds that it gathers together volunteer contributors to that particular area of LT (Just like Series, or Flaggers). I do have to admit that that last one would be a stretch even for my lumping tendencies. But I can definitely see a case for it being made. (Honestly!)

As for standards for Group-creation... I feel that having separate buckets for feature-specific groups helps in focusing the discussions, especially when developing best practices for that specific subject area. I also think there might be siginificant overlap in membership between this Group and the smaller ones, but they might have more unique members not shared with the others? If so, that would be another argument for keeping them separate.

Coming at it from the other direction: perhaps there should be standards for combining rather than standards for creation, just like we do for Works and Authors. Assume that Groups are created for a good reason, and put the onus on the combiners rather than expecting niche interests to justify their existence.

Right now, the following Groups are the most recent:

1. Book Discussion : The Skeleton Room by Kate Ellis
   This is the group for the book discussion by the Mystery and Suspense Group
   
   
2. What We're Reading: Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month
   
   
3. Quantum Philosophy - The Era Of Consciousness Evolution
   Is there more to being human than we have been taught?
   
   
4. Rialto Readers
   Camp Broadway is pleased to present our debut Book Club, Rialto Readers!
   
   
5. Neil Gaiman Collectors
   For people who collect the works of Neil Gaiman
   
   
6. Neil Gaiman Collectors
   For people who collect the works of Neil Gaiman
   
   
7. Collecting Discworld and Pratchett
   A group for all Discworld and Terry Pratchett fans, whether you are a collector or not

Of these, 1, 2, and 4(?) are, I think, legitimate groups even though they were created with a limited shelf life and for a specific purpose. The limited shelf life is the main argument here for me.

3 would perhaps be better off as a thread in a Philosophy Group? Are there Transhumanist Groups on LT? I honestly have no idea. I'm not familiar with the subject.

5 and 6 are obvious duplicates that ought to be combined.

7 has a single thread in which it is suggested that its needs are served by a single thread in the now-dormant Group All things Discworldian. The new Group's creator states that their Group is an extension of their Facebook community, and that they have no desire to resurrect someone else's defunct Group. Lumper me would combine the two, on the grounds that the new Group is not populous enough and copies a pre-existing thread in a pre-existing Group.

Combiners!: member
Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing: not a member, but will read/post if a topic in the group looks interesting
Flaggers: Member
LibraryThing Series: not a member, don't particularly care about series, but lurk occasionally
Author and venue pictures: member

As I said elsewhere, I think these groups should remain separate.

Combiners! active member
Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing active member
Flaggers active member
LibraryThing Series active member
Author and venue pictures never heard of it

I think it might be okay if all of these are combined into some kind of "helper" super-group, but they should remain separate groups. That makes it easy for people who are only interested in a few types of "helping" to only see those topics, and easy for people who are looking for a particular kind of help to know where to post about it.

Member of all, though not exactly active in most. They should remain separate.

A super-group concept or portal may make sense.

I think the Bugs Collectors group and the Spam Fighters! group could well belong under the same umbrella in that case. Also possibly the Welcome to Librarything! and BETA groups.

* Combiners!: member
* Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing: watched I use it mostly for reference
* Flaggers: member I rarely visit the group
* LibraryThing Series: watched I've been relatively active recently because of the new series help threads, but they're starting to slow down.
* Author and venue pictures: I'm not a member, nor do I watch it. I tend to forget it exists and only visit it if I happen to see a thread about flagging.

* Combiners!: member
* Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing: watching
* Flaggers: member
* LibraryThing Series: watching
* Author and venue pictures: not a member

Also watch Spam Fighters, and am a member of Taggers which seems more a theory than helper group.

Combiners! - Member
Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing - Watching
Flaggers - watching
Librarything Series - watching
Author and venue pictures - watching

Also a member of Bug Collectors and Spam Fighters, and watching Frequently Asked Questions.

I think simply combing them might make things more confusing, unless we get an option to subdivide requests by the type of help that's requested. (A sort of sub-groups).

ETA: >1 timspalding: Ah, I only found your other post after commenting here.

Me:

* Combiners! member
* Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing I'm aware of them, but don't use or watch them
* Flaggers I'm aware of them, but don't use or watch it
* LibraryThing Series member
* Author and venue pictures Didn't know about it

I'm also a member of Bug Collectors & Hacking LibraryThing, and watch Recommend Site Improvements & Talk about LibraryThing.

It might be more useful to keep the groups separate, but better organise the Talk page into 'proper' fora. Each group is then a sub-forum which can be ignored, mark all as read etc.

Compare this style: https://www.librarything.com/talk to this style: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/index.php. It's easy to ignore what you're not interested in, and easy to spot what you are interested in.

I know you said the decision has been made, but just for the record I'm a member of or watch all the listed groups.

I am a member or I watch 4 of those groups, I'm not particularly interested in the pictures group.

>1 timspalding:

I am a member of the Combiners, CK Flaggers and Series groups. I am a watcher for Author and Venue pictures although only have a very small interest in that area.

I think the groups should remain separate.

Combiners! member, but mostly to learn
Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing member
Flaggers member (creator)
LibraryThing Series member
Author and venue pictures not my thing

In fact, Combiners should be split into two groups, one for lumpers and one for splitters. Then we won't get into so many arguments. ;)

I watch most of these groups and like them being separate.

Combiners! - I watch/use this
Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing I don't think I am a member, but is shows up under my groups
Flaggers https://www.librarything.com/groups/flaggers I don't think I am a member, but is shows up under my groups
LibraryThing Series - I watch/use this
Author and venue pictures - not member

I definitely see the argument for combining the groups; I think combining them would be most advantageous for those who dip their foot into helping, or those just starting out. Those of us who are active (and giving you our opinion) are more likely to have figured out where to find what we need to find, what we want to be paying attention to, etc.

* Combiners!: member
* Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing: not a member
* Flaggers: not a member
* LibraryThing Series: member
* Author and venue pictures: not a member

* Combiners! watching but active
* Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing watching but active
* Flaggers watching but active
* LibraryThing Series watching but active
* Author and venue pictures don't get deep enough into pictures to care