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Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

Group Admin Housekeeping Headache

Is there a way to remove many images at once from a group's Rejected Images without having to go to each image and edit it and remove the check mark for that group?

It is so time consuming to do this one at a time. Most of these say to resubmit the images to keep things more current, and I get that the Admin is cutting back on the number of current images to help everyone. I agree with the process, but not the way that it is being done by some Admins. If nothing else, the Admin should give members a couple of warnings and a deadline.

Of dozens of groups that I am in that have put scores of images into Reject mode in the last few weeks, only one Admin has done it right - she sent email asking people to remove their images that are 2014 or older and to let her know in the group's discussion forum that they have done so. Efficient AND considerate!

I regularly remove images that I submitted over 6 months ago for the groups I am most active in, and others as I submit images for the Admin's consideration. So it isn't like I have really old images in any group.
I am now just quitting groups where this has been done because I don't have the time to waste on editing every single image for every single group.
Anyone have a solution?

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Floyd Snyder

8 Years Ago

"I am now just quitting groups where this has been done because I don't have the time to waste on editing every single image for every single group.
Anyone have a solution?"

No solutions what so ever. But I have done the same, quite because too much time needed to manage some groups.

I personally think that there should be some standardization in the groups.

I do know that over all the groups are managed very well. A lot of folks that have never tried to admin a group themselves don't realize how much work it is.

Overall they do an excellent job, imho.

 

Andee Design

8 Years Ago

No one should be asking members to remove older image from a group just because of 'too many' in there. That is ridiculous. Members spent a lot of time in adding their images according to the rules on how many to submit. That to me is a disrespect of all the time it took members to add them. Besides that is more work for the admin to add those same back in only to have the group fill up again. Vicious circle!

I will never ask the groups I admin to do that.

 

Floyd Snyder

8 Years Ago

I never looked at the group area all that close before. I just looked and you can go to the the group itself and look at your Active Images and go through the list and remove what ever you want a page at a time or one image at a time.

Does that help or is that not what you are asking?

 

Richard Reeve

8 Years Ago

Click on the administrator tab.
It pulls up images in groups of 50
Select the images you want to remove (select button at top for all 50 in one click)
Confirm.
Done

- Richard Reeve
ReevePhotos.com

 

Jessica Jenney

8 Years Ago

If you want to remove YOUR images from a group (that you don't manage) go to the tab: My Group Images and click the image box at the top.

 

Richard Reeve

8 Years Ago

Oops, my bad I misread :-(

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

I must not have been clear in explaining the problem - sorry about that!
Floyd and Jessica and Richard - it isn't MY removing my own images - that is easy enough and I've been doing that all along.

The problem is that the ADMINs are removing a number of my images from Active and putting them as Rejected Images, which then no one else can see.
And it is from there that there is only one way I know to remove it - that is one at a time, by going to each image, hitting edit, then scrolling down to the list of groups and unchecking the group that put that image into the Rejected images category, then saving it. And then, as they suggest, I can re-submit it again to that group for the Admin's consideration.
And that is what I am asking if there is a solution to not have to do these one at a time.

I agree wholeheartedly that administering these groups is a huge undertaking and commitment of time, and with very few exceptions, all the ones that I am in are terrific.
But even among some of these terrific ones, this mass removal from Active to Rejected Images has been a problem for me recently.
Isn't this happening to anyone else?

Andee, whether that really makes sense and is fair, perhaps is another aspect to this problem. Is this recommended by FAA, or Admin's came up with this idea - I don't really know.

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

No one has a solution or a suggestion?

 

Floyd Snyder

8 Years Ago

I can not offer a solution because I don't see that as a problem. But that's just me.

I am not sure what the problem is with the image being put in the rejection list in a group. It just sits there. It can still be seen everywhere out side the group.

What is it you are trying to achieve by removing them? Are you trying to get them back in the same group where they can be seen?

 

Chuck De La Rosa

8 Years Ago

I don't worry about it. Adding an image to a group only has relevance for a short period of time. After a bit it goes farther and farther down the list. Few people are going to click beyond 10 pages so your images end up in obscurity. If they want to delete my old images they are welcome to. I stopped playing the group game a while ago and it hasn't affected sales one bit. Not that I sell a lot, but It's become apparent to me that it's marketing outside of FAA that generates sales. Moreover, I belong to too many groups to look and see what's been deleted. It's just too time consuming.

 

Floyd Snyder

8 Years Ago

" I stopped playing the group game a while ago and it hasn't affected sales one bit. Not that I sell a lot, but It's become apparent to me that it's marketing outside of FAA that generates sales. "

This guy get's it.

I average more then one sale a day and I have not seen any evidence what so ever that groups or contests have made any difference at all. I used to do them all and I tracked and tried to make some connection. Zero... none what so ever.

I only do groups now so when I get three features on an image I can take that outside of FAA and use it as a marketing ploy.

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

Perhaps the best advice is to stop 'playing the group game' - since I have sold almost nothing here, I thought it would help find my images, particularly when there is some theme to a group that works with some of my photos.

Floyd - it is the Admin's that are suggesting to re-submit the images again for listing to keep the group fresh. It can't be resubmitted while it is in the Reject group - that was the issue.
And while, of course, the image can still be seen on my site, but it can't be seen in that group.
And I also thought, as you mention, that the group features could be a marketing plus.

And since it really doesn't matter at all anyway, I can just take the easy way out and quit the groups if I notice the Admin has done this to too many images to be bothered with re-submitting.

I thank everyone for the advice - and I will stop trying to find another solution.

 

Chuck has the best advice.

From an administrators point of view... 35% of the images submitted to the group that I look after (for the past 1.5 months) are irrelevant and dumped mindlessly by their creators. They don't meet the group guidelines and I have to manually reject them. I sent out advance warning as to changes and gave a time guideline. I also asked each member to re-read the criteria for the group. Takes my time to check each image. The difference is that I can't just mindlessly remove them in the same way as they are posted.

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

Glenn - I understand how that must be a nightmare for all the wonderful people like you who volunteer their time to administer these groups.

In my case, these are mostly images that were not only accepted, but were featured by the group Admin's. So I know they were not put into the Reject group because I didn't meet the requirements, or I submitted more than allowed, or any other rule-breaking. I only have 87 images here and I take care where I submit them and when.

It was simply an act of housekeeping - but one that could have been easier on me had the Admin asked ME to remove and re-submit, rather than putting it in the Reject category. themselves.
Only one group's Admin has done that (of the groups I am in) - to her great credit! I know we aren't supposed to shame anyone here, but I hope it is OK to say something positive and applaud her here - it was Barbie and the group was the Allstarz.

 

Barbie Corbett-Newmin

8 Years Ago

Thanks, Andrea!
By the way, AllStarz has over 12,000 featured images and each feature removal takes 3 steps (delete, confirm and return page to usable portion), so I am wondering how I will EVER get the 11,950 extra features off without some bulk feature removal mechanism!!!!!

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

Barbie - that is exactly what I was looking for. A bulk removal feature for both of us - the Admin's and the members - that would be the best solution!
Have you as an Admin asked anyone at FAA to consider this?

 

Frank J Casella

8 Years Ago

Andrea -- I have not read the thread but want to comment on your original post ( OP ):

In one of the threads in the admins group Abbie mention that she will talk to Sean about a bulk removal feature. Until then, it takes time for admins to feature images so for now it also takes time for admins to remove them. Personally, when I took over a group I removed the features in ten minute time slots ... this broke up the daunting task into bite size work. It went faster than I thought it would.

With regards to the reject bin, it is a good move to ask group members to remove their images both older and in the reject bin. Some admins tell them they will not be featured until it is done. In my groups each member has an image limit. Some admins limit the time images can sit in a group, mine are one year. Likewise, I update features once per month or per week and clear out the old features. Many artists have their work included in the images pages but may not get featured that often, so the direction groups are going is less features for more exposure for more artists and artwork. It should be considered a 'privilege' to have our artwork added to a group, and icing on the cake to have it featured. ... admins can have control of this if they want to.

When I add features I separate the artists work so there are not two of same artists work together because with the new slideshow feature I want visitors to see a more broad range of artist and artwork, and this is the reason for the measures above ... so that more artists get more exposure and so visitors find what they are looking for and maybe click through to an artists profile page - This is the true reason for groups. We don't know how much time the average visitor spends in any one group.

Hope this answers some of your questions. Enjoy your day.


Frank J Casella
Groups Moderator




 

Nikolyn McDonald

8 Years Ago

Frank (or anyone who knows),
With contests, it is possible to see which contests a member is administering as well as which ones s/he is participating in.
Is this possible with groups? IOW, if I want to see all the groups administered by John Doe, is there an easy way to do that?

 

Frank J Casella

8 Years Ago

Nikolyn -- go to the contest page an put their name in the search box.

EDIT: ( Trigger finger ) you can also do this with search in groups as well. I put your name in and came up with five groups you're featured ... as I know you don't admin any groups.

 

Nikolyn McDonald

8 Years Ago

It's not working for me - must be doing something wrong.
Went to Community tab.
Groups
Search Frank J Casella
Got 11 groups starting with Group and Contest Administrators (which you are associated with but not named as administrator of)
followed by
Posters
For Animal Lovers
Let the World Know What it is YOU Want to See More Of
The American Southeast
Lake Tahoe California Paintings
Dance Desire 3D
Mental Health Awareness
Painting with Light through the camera
The Wilderness Painters Group
Vintage America

Are you the administrator of any of those groups?

And I put my own name in and yes, five groups came up. I have a feature in the first three but am not even a member of the other two. Plus what about all the other groups I belong to and am featured in that do not come up?

 

Frank J Casella

8 Years Ago

Okay ... well that didn't work ... I should have tried it before suggesting it. But I did try it in contests and it sort of worked. Otherwise, I don't have an easy answer to your question, Nikolyn.

 

Kerri Ligatich

8 Years Ago

Interesting subject from group members perspective. I administer a group that has grown too large to manage and am trying to figure out what to do. I started it in 2011, have over 900 members and about 24,000 images. My personal number of hours invested is huge. We are being asked to limit our features to 30 images now. Only the first 500 now show up on the home page and I know I far exceed that since I've never removed a feature.

The problem is most of the images are buried so far back they will never be seen again. With that many members I'm working with a couple hundred images each time I add work to the group. Since you can only move back 5 pages at a time when viewing images work seen may only be a few weeks old at most.

I just posted my question in the Group Administrators group to see what others have done with this same problem. Some have closed large groups and started over. Some are deleting work or asking their members to do it. I don't have faith in sending out a message to members and having them delete up to hundreds of images of their own work especially knowing how much time that takes. I also don't have the time to pull up 900 names and do it myself. It was suggested to delete everything over 6 months old. I have not been able to see how that is possible. The group editing may need to wait until there is a way to bulk edit things such as by date, etc... Nobody has time to do everything one image at a time. There are many groups that have reached this point. I have small groups that would be easier to manage if I have to do things by individual members but their numbers are not out of hand.

My other thought is to keep everything there, change my group to be very selective in allowing only the best images. I plan on sending a message to my members either way. If they know their work isn't being seen they may want to delete it and try resubmitting it. There is just a lot of time consuming duplicated work on my part and the members. I don't want to close the group and loose everything I've done along with all of my members. It seems to have worked for some administrators.

So, it's really all about numbers and has nothing to do with your work having been featured or fitting the group guidelines. I've received messages from other administrators asking us to reduce our numbers. Some members are quitting those groups who are reducing but it's really about work that will never be seen again, and if resubmitted to a group with a lot of members it will only take a short amout of time before it's buried again.

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

Kerri and Frank and everyone else - I appreciate the thought you are all putting into this. I don't think there is an answer other than the investment of time on both the member and the Administrators of groups.

Kerri, you are obviously not alone - as FAA continues to grow, so does this problem of the groups getting too large to be manageable.

So I am wondering then, what would be the reason to continue with Groups at all? Is it all just a huge waste of everyone's time?
I've read over and over again that it makes no difference to our standing in searches.
So of what benefit is it for us besides the 'fun' of being a part of it for the members from within FAA, or the generosity and devotion to art by the Admins?

Do visitors actually look in a group to find something specific?
If they are looking for something specific, does a group with those types of images come up for them in the results?

 

Digital Art Cafe

8 Years Ago

I don't have a problem with too many images in my groups, that is what the group is for.

What I do have a problem with is; A group I took over last year has apparantly featured ALL of the images in the group, so if you remove a few, you still have 40 or 50 pages of "featured" images on the front page. This I feel really defeats the purpose of having someones images featured, and I have slowly been trying to "unfeature" them for weeks.

What I would really like to see is a way to bulk un feature images, as this is more imporatnt to me.

I woul like to feature only 12 to 15 images tops on the groups front page, bit ALL of them.

Is there a way to make this happen?

 

Joshua House

8 Years Ago

I run two grouos. They are both fairly small but very worthwhile. The trick is to not cast a wide net with your topic.

One of my groups is for the Adirondacks, is your art outside the adks? Then it isn't in the group even if you submit it.

The other is a world wide group for war memorials. Also simple enough although several times a month I reject pix of the washington and lincoln monuments because people on faa can't read.

 

Abbie Shores

8 Years Ago

I do not understand this sudden need to delete images from groups. Featured images, yes, they should be kept small but not the actual groups images as a whole

Featured images should be for special treatment. There is nothing special about having 100 or more images as featured. It should be something group members aspire to reach not something handed to all and sundry, Especially not to work not suited for the group or not printable.

I am waiting to hear back about a group feature bulk editor.

---------------------------
Community Manager

 

Digital Art Cafe

8 Years Ago

Lady Isabella, that is awesome! Keeping fingers crossed!

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

Abbie - from the Admin's messages that I am getting, it sounds like reducing the size of the groups, particularly the featured images, is something that FAA is suggesting or asking - though, I don't know who would be the source of it. But from you comment, it sounds like that is not the case.

I wonder if the thought may be to make the group rise in the activity level by having to re-submit previously submitted images rather than having them stagnate on page 1,000 or whatever? That certainly would increase activity, assuming the member doesn't just quit the group, like I did with a few.

Although this is going a bit in a different direction than my original question, I'm happy to see the input from both members of groups and the group administrators about some time consuming chores as well as the value of some of the routine practices.

 

Abbie Shores

8 Years Ago

The group size can be large. We have no problem with huge groups or small ones

The features should be special and small

That is a suggestion, or guideline, not a rule

Hope that helps

 

Frank J Casella

8 Years Ago

The trend the groups are going is less features means more exposure for everyone. I am pushing this, as not all members get featured as much as accepted into the images pages. Also, as Abbie said, being featured should be icing on the cake and accepted artwork a privilege.

With that said, the guidelines on the admins group homepage makes it a suggestion but NOT a rule for 30 or less images on a group homepage. So, yes, as Abbie said it is up to each admin what they want to do ....

.... the present admins contest stated 50 or less images. This is the only place I know of where it is mentioned mandatory for this number and this rule, if you want to enter that contest. Check the admins group to look for it. However, it is now open to all groups until a bulk features removal button is in place.

Hope this answers your questions. Enjoy your day.

Frank J Casella
Groups Moderator

 

Andrea Lazar

8 Years Ago

I think this pretty much covers it - until maybe some welcome changes are made to help the Admins.

 

This discussion is closed.