@ThantiK so I have a question for you. I know you don’t care for MeWe and that you don’t really have an alternative to G+. You had previously mentioned that people could just go to Reddit instead but I know a lot of people like the layout of G+ so my question is, since Redit is something that is already out there and you aren’t going to create your own space for people to go, would you be against letting me advertise my 3D printing group (on MeWe) here as an alternative to Reddit? I just know that we have a lot of good people in here and it would be a shame to just let the group die off with G+. It’s up to you though. It’s your group. I’m just glad I was able to be a part of it while it was around. Maybe make a poll and see who’s interested?
Yeah, unfortunately MeWe has stated that they aren’t going to allow posts to be visible without an account. I don’t think it’s the right move. Everyone jumped over really early because MeWe pushed a bunch of people over here in order to advertise for them. If they’re willing to stoop to that level, I just don’t see them going anywhere.
Have at it. At the end of this month I’m gonna sticky a post suggesting Reddit to everyone.
@ThantiK They are walking back that plan a bit. They have just rolled out "open " posts which still requires people to be logged into MeWe but not requiring special relationship between people, and it sounds like they are still discussing allowing open post to be visible outside MeWe. However this is not a commitment an there isn’t a hard date for if this will be implimented or shot down. Might be worth a quarterly checkin to see if Reddit is still the way you prefer.
@Joe_Morrison Reddit has always been the way it currently is. Doesn’t require any login to view posts. There’s a bunch of information that would be otherwise trapped, and there are a handful of shills here on G+ pushing it hard. I don’t know if they’re actually paid by the company, or just confirmation bias of people who were convinced to join, but MeWe is a walled garden.
@ThantiK I hear you. Sounds annoying that people can NOT even view posts without having an account. I’m wondering then also about the impact of posts being visible in Web searches. I know I’ve posted on this Google forum, and when I have done certain searches on the Web - those searches have actually displayed my postings. With MeWe - I bet this is not the case! Or - at least, that’s my WAG.
And - I know a lot of people are NOT thrilled with Google these days - especially with shutting down of the G+ groups! Was shocked to also hear they are shutting down the Hangouts! Luckily - the other types of Google group forums are not going to be shutdown - AFAIK.
So, one option is this forum I am on (nope - I’m not an Admin - I just think its a great place for people to hang out - and there are some Great folks who participate there - like Ryan, WhoSaWhatsIs on occasion, JetGuy and some other big wigs in desktop 3DP). And, its always good to see that forum grow - and get more active! As such, yeah, I do like to help spread the word. Hope this doesn’t come across like SPAM - as that surely is not my intention. Anyway - here’s the link to that forum: https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/3d-printing-tips--tricks
@ThantiK I totally agree. It sucks that it’s closed the way it is. I’ve been consistently giving feedback to make it public to at least view the info without requiring an account but who knows what’ll happen. I’m hoping they change things so it’ll actually be a good replacement for G+. Right now everything out there feels like a compromise.
@Kurt_Wendt you are correct. Because of how closed off it is, you won’t find any posts online which REALLY limits people being able to even find MeWe, let alone join a specific group. I’m still pushing for it though.
I will so miss this group. I look more than I speak, but I try to post some and answer questions when I can. G+ is as close to social media as I ever want to get.I don’t think I will use reddit. Never have. I loaded mewee or whatever but don’t feel like checking it out yet. So good buy to all of you out there( when this is gone).
David was Here!
Update from MeWe (direct quote) for those interested;
… “We will make further enhancements to open posts this year too – as some members want their open posts to be visible outside MeWe too. Stay tuned.”…
I’ll hang around there a bit and see how it goes. The interface is the most G+ like I think. Facebook groups are a pain. Pluspora is way too messy.
… and who knows when goggle will «sunset» google groups as well. I am still wondering what the comments of blogger will become when they close G+. Back to disqus??
@david_merten I’ve already created a 3D printing group over at MeWe and if people from here join, it’ll be very similar to what we have now. The current downfall of MeWe is that you can’t do a Google search and find content. But if others go there, it won’t feel too different. Aside from this, MeWe is a great platform and even has a live group chat which is really nice. I’m going to make a post about it here pretty soon and hopefully get some people to come.
Would anyone be interested in trying out spectrum chat? https://spectrum.chat/
It seems to fit the model we had in G+ a lot better, its publicly accessible content without signup, has support for long conversations, and I think the message size limits are not ridiculous.
Thoughts?
@Ben_Delarre so I never came across this in my search for a new home. It does have some appeal but is still a work in progress. They don’t even have a mobile app at this point. All notifications are done via email… So if you’d like to stay with the group, just join my MeWe group and who knows, maybe we’ll migrate over there as I do like how it’s open. I created an account and I’ll do some more digging.
@Kevin_Danger_Powers turns out they have gone the very modern route of not needing an app. They’ve built their site As a PWA, basically a web app that can install onto your phone in the home screen. So it acts like an app but is basically a web site. Seems to work pretty well too!
@Ben_Delarre yeah I read about that but I also read that they were working on an app so who knows what’s really true.
If you’re looking for “chat”, Discord would be the way to go. Is there any interest in a G+ 3D Printing Discord server being set up? I could certainly do that.
@ThantiK I don’t want chat style that Discord provides to be honest. Its not topic based and so easily just becomes a stream of noise. I much prefer the G+/forum style where we have topics of conversation and commentary within that topic. This is the same model that spectrum.chat follows. It feels more like a forum, but has good support for video and image in your posts.
The PWA is fully capable, and though they said that they are working on native mobile apps I’m not entirely convinced they’re necessary any more. The PWA functionality on Android and iOS is now good enough to replace native apps in terms of features, and I suspect that Android are moving in this direction anyway.
There’s a tiny community there right now, but obviously hasn’t got much attention as its basically empty. But I do like how I can link publicly to all the content. Really is a valuable thing to be an open garden and not a walled off thing like MeWe.