AnimePaper Community Guide

7. Groups

This section of the Guide covers everything relating to Groups.

You will find information on:

> What groups are

> How to join a group

> Creating a group

> Running a group
- Things to consider

> Rules for groups
1. Spam
2. Site rules and groups
3. Individual group rules

> Reporting a group

Scroll down, or use ctr+F to go to a section directly.

What are groups?

Groups are, like the name suggest, places for a group of people with a similar interest or passion to get together. They can be about anything, but the idea is that the people who join are genuinely interested in the topic at hand.

You can discuss things, share wallpaper resources, hang out, have fun, talk to people who are interested in the same topic - whatever, the group is almost entirely in the hands of the groups administrator.

How do I join a group?

Simply click the application button and the confirmation button and wait for one of the group's administrators to approve your membership request, if required.

There are several different levels of vetting for the groups, from totally public where you can join and get access immediately, to invitation only groups.

Can I create my own group?

Yes. To apply to create a group simply go to the main groups page and click the "Create New Group" link.

Creating a group costs 2,000 papers, so please do not enter into it lightly. When you apply for the group, don't forget to make sure you put it in the right section and that you complete the description fully. Also, please do check the main groups page for any duplication. Duplicate groups are not allowed and it's an expensive error to make.

All groups pass through an approval process, where an admin will check the purpose of the group as well as its title and description, etc. If they are not satisfied, the group may well be rejected and you would loose your paper.

In addition, please note that if the group is seen to be inactive it may be removed, or handed over to someone who will take a more active roll in running it.

How do I run a group?

How you run it is almost entirely up to you.

As a group admin, you have the option of promoting members to the roles of Administrators, Moderators or even expelling them from the group. You can set application to be public, by invitation or through vetting.

You can also post news for the group and customise the page (in the same way as for user pages - see the User page Guide). Each group has its own forum area, where users and/or you can create new threads, edit existing ones and delete unwanted material.

Access, theme and content of these forums and functions are entirely at your discretion, however you must comply with all of the rules laid out in this guide. You are free to add additional rules governing content and submissions for the group, but you are not permitted to have a group that disregards any of the rules. Please familiarise yourself fully with the rules of the entire guide.

You should also note that mods and admins will police groups in the same way they do the rest of the site.

We would also encourage you to invest some time and effort into running and managing your group on a regular basis, as inactive groups will be pruned on a periodic basis.

Things to consider

Some things you may like to consider in the running of your group are:

1. What is the focus of the group?

Try to pick something unique and interesting and stick closely to it. Your group's focus will both determine whether it will be approved by a mod and how many people will want to join.

Are you offering something useful to wallers or artists? Are you focused on anime and j-pop mp3s? Do you have a particular passion about a subject like the art of Ugetsu Hakua, and do you think you could maintain a lively and interesting group that people will want to be a part of for many months or even years?

2. Are you going to limit membership, or accept everyone?

You can set the access type for your group to one of several different options. The main ones are:

> Open/Free - users can join your group instantly
> Approved - users apply and you approve their membership
> Invitation - users can only join when invited

This also sets how you want people to approach your group. Do you want everyone to be able to join, or do you want to only allow a handful of people to join, but everyone else can "spectate".

3. Is there anything for members to do?

All groups need something to do. Whether it be requesting, uploading and downloading mp3s, sharing wallpaper resources or simply discussing and critiquing the latest movies, members of the group need to have something to do.

It's also best to offer a variety of things for different people to do. Not everyone has broadband or large amounts of web space, so how can these people contribute and join in?

4. Will there be prizes or awards for doing this?

Now that you've decided on cool activities for your members to get involved in, are there going to be any sorts of rewards for them? Maybe you could highlight one of them as the best contributor that month, or maybe membership of the group itself is it's own reward. Or perhaps members get access to an exclusive set of scans/mp3s after they have contributed some themselves?

It's worth thinking about what the members are going to get out of the group as well as what they are putting in.

Rules

1. Spam

Don't spam the group's board. If you want to contact someone in the group, it's best to send them a PM.

2. Rules of the site

The group is part of the AP site and is therefore bound by all rules relating to everything from wallpapers to forums. Please read all relevant areas of the guide.

3. Individual group rules

Group admin's have the option to set rules that relate to their particular group in addition to these rules laid out in the guide.

These rules must be followed for that group. However, please note that if any rule seems unreasonable, you should report it to a mod or an admin who will check them out. Unreasonable rules will be removed or edited.

Reporting

If you see anything on a group page that violates the site rules, please inform the moderation team via PM.

Remember to provide a link to the group as well as any specific problem when reporting.

Other Sections of the Guide

1. Wallpapers
2. Scans
3. Vectors and Re-cg's
4. The forum
5. User page Guide
6. Paper Guide
7. Groups
8. Deletion Policy
9. Quick Help (FAQ)

Click on one of the links above or go back to the start of The Guide