I was horrified when I turned on my blackberry and read all the emails this morning. My deepest and sincerest apologies on the whole Grouply matter. I had no idea it would turn into a spam machine. My blackberry was loaded with spam as well as messages pleading for help and not a few angry ones, but rather cargo plane loads!
Obviously Grouply is NOT the solution.
For a temporary fix I've disabled ALL messages on all my Grouply groups until such time as I can delete all of them. Any help with how to delete a Grouply Group would be appreciated.
Again I'm so very sorry for the disruptions. I had no idea that Grouply would do this. It WAS very unprofessional of me. I did NOT do my usual Due Diligence on such things.
~ Zoe Connolly
UPDATE:
Our best solution is just to use the inworld group version of Second Life Bloggers. I won't make any attempts to save the NING or migrate to another online site.
I've reset the inworld group to "Open enrollment"
UPDATE 2:
My email to support@grouply.com
I'm writing you because there is no obvious or simple way for me to delete my Grouply groups similar to the way NING is able to immediately delete.
I had migrated content from my NING groups to Grouply and was horrified when I noticed email after email of very angry bloggers. Frankly I'm angry as well. I had no idea Grouply was "Opt-Out" and would start spamming members who had not even officially crossed-over to Grouply.
Please immediately delete the following groups
http://rcaf.grouply.com
http://secondlifebloggers.
http://timeforce10.grouply.com
Your policy has irritated nearly 1500 bloggers, micro-bloggers and podcasters and I suggest you may want to take greater consideration toward privacy issues and website usability. Make your site easy to opt-in AND opt-out, including adding an easy way for group owners to delete entire groups.
As a final note, here's something I wrote on my blog to my own members of the Second Life Bloggers group. And there are MANY unflattering blog posts about Grouply out there now. It is unwise to poke a stick at such an animal ;)
http://zoeconnolly.blogspot.
Seeking a swift solution,
~ Zoe Connolly
UPDATE 3:
A Call To Action!
Support me in my request to delete http://secondlifebloggers.grouply.com
send an email to support@grouply.com mention this post and express yourself.
UPDATE 4:
I'm working on an inelegant but effective solution...
I'll delete all members from each group, make sure that the groups are closed and invitation only, then leave all 3 groups once I verify that all other members are gone and settings are setup to disallow anyone joining.
Whew!
UPDATE 5:
All member profiles have been deleted and the Grouply versions of SL Bloggers, RCAF, and TimeForce 10 have been set as invitation only. No invitations will be sent and no memberships will be accepted.
UPDATE 6 (10 May 2010):
Now satisfied that all member profiles have been deleted and the Grouply versions of SL Bloggers, RCAF, and TimeForce 10 have been set as invitation only - with no invitations sent and no memberships accepted - I deleted my own account today. Grouply... You're dead to me!
Response from Grouply...
Per your request, we have deleted your Grouply account, including all
personal information.
We constantly strive to improve our product. May we ask why you decided
to delete your Grouply account?
Please reply to this email if you have issues or questions.
Thanks for trying Grouply.
The Grouply Team
8 comments:
No worries, Zoe - This was a good heads-up about needing to take steps and insure our personal privacy. I've dropped all my Nings except Steelhead and PrimGraph until things get more settled.
I also went into Grouply, reset all their privacy settings, left both the groups I had there, then deleted my Grouply account. I did this by following the directions Eddie Haskell gives on his blog: http://eddihaskell.blogspot.com/2010/05/second-life-blogger-group-has-some-very.html
It was a lil surprising, lol.
Not to be too concerned Zoe...stuff happens.
By the time I got to their site I think Grouply Support had gotten the message. see below...(edited)
***
"Per your request, we have deleted your Grouply account, including all
personal information.
We constantly strive to improve our product. May we ask why you decided
to delete your Grouply account?"
***
Yes...you spammed my email with 21 messages...thats way beyond the pale...
***
As was so perfectly stated by Riven Homewood, it's just an indication of the direction much of social media's headed.
Per your request, we have deleted your Grouply account, including all
personal information.
We constantly strive to improve our product. May we ask why you decided
to delete your Grouply account?
Please reply to this email if
This is similar to one of those horrific Facebook privacy concerns that pop-up now and then. I had no idea Grouply was Opt-Out too.
My big puzzlement is that I do not have a Grouply account, went to their "unsubscribe" spot to "opt out" of invitations. But am still getting friend requests. I can't see signing up just so I can make them stop the spam :)
Any suggestions?
And not to worry Zoe - it isn't like these guys warn you that they are going to spam your entire list when you join - certainly don't think you intended it!
I did take a look at Grouply's FAQ - under the question regarding the "rumors that they are spammer, phishers, etc" they specifically mention that they are mining passwords from Yahoo. So be aware.
I did take a look at Grouply's FAQ - under the question regarding the "rumors that they are spammer, phishers, etc" they specifically mention that they are mining passwords from Yahoo.
With all respect, that's a misreading of the FAQ. They don't "mine passwords from Yahoo." Like many other services, they give you the option of giving them your own Yahoo password yourself.
Zoe you were just as much a victim of Grouply's underhanded policies and poor user experience as all of us... no hard feelings at all! (Have you seen all the backpedaling they're doing now about "rumors about us on the internet?" it's catching up to 'em...)
I too have a ning site and although it came at your expense, I am grateful to have learned to avoid Grouply... as I could have easily found myself in the very same mess.
I'm currently investigating other options that offer forums, photos, and similar features... including groups at Avatars United, a group at SL Universe, and another "ning-like" option called www.spruz.com. Their privacy policies claim that they do not share info with any other third party sites and I have yet to find any "internet flap" about 'em.
I'm tempted to try a test group over there... if you do too, feel free to keep in touch!
Stacia
http://virtualneko.com
(the girl who interviewed you for her neko blog a loooonggg time ago) ^_^
I have a Ning group I admin that I was wondering what to do with and this experience with Grouply was an eye-opener. I'm sorry that it brought pain to other members and you, especially.
The only e-mails I was receiving were requests to the discussion board to unsubscribe and vitriolic vituperations that went beyond the limits of civilized behavior. I am sorry you were put through that.
Thank you for all you have done to bring us together to share our SL experiences through blogging.
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