Another good point, thank you. I even started a group to try to understand their utility and there was no announcement in the general feed nor did my welcome message cshow up there so no one knows about my group and there it will sit with me as the only member. And even if others join, then what? I don't really have time to entertain anyone.

So the purpose of groups is to cut down the workload of site moderators?

@LovinLarge yes, that and whatever the hosts wants the group to focus on..

@Cutiebeauty I haven't seen any of the moderators ask members to focus on anything, except perhaps in the cooking group where the moderator asks us to post a recipe when we join but then nothing after that. And I'm not criticizing the moderators, I'm only trying to understand groups.

@LovinLarge each group has a home page.. That's where the purpose of the group is described..

@Cutiebeauty But if nothing happens in the group, that purpose is not being fulfilled. But my question is really trying to distinguish between being a member of a group or not and so far it is to cut down on the workload of the site moderators like you say because the groups are moderated by other members but that's not really enough to interest me in joining a group. The group posts don't even show up in my feed so I have to visit each group only to usually find that there is nothing new.

@LovinLarge there are hundreds of groups here.. Any member can create a group at level four and many do so before being established in the community.. It seems as though you've joined groups like this.. .

Broswe groups.. Most popular.. You should get better results

Remember, you're new here.. Things take time.. ☺

Also, edit your alerts per group.

@Cutiebeauty I will take your advice and I thank you for making the time and effort to assist me.

@MissKathleen All very true, thank you, thanks for the background. I know that some people enjoy the groups so there is validation in that alone, but I just can't find anything that the groups offer that is not available outside of the groups. It's really just a logistical inquiry, not a complaint.

@MissKathleen So the purpose groups is to categorize topics of conversation in order to remove them from the general feed as a courtesy to other members. Thank you, I will think about that.

Thank you for that.