Groups.io is proving ideal social media for amateur radio
Groups.io seems to becoming increasingly popular with amateur radio enthusiasts as a friendly and safe form of social media. I think a lot of people have become quite disillusioned with some forms of social media. Although it is possible to join Facebook ‘Groups’ on specific topics and escape to some extent, all the screaming and shouting on the Facebook ‘Home’ page, Facebook can be very annoying. It is distracting and there is always the temptation to get drawn into distracting arguments. Similarly, Twitter can seem like shouting in an echo chamber, although Twitter ‘Lists’ can be used as a kind of group for messages.
However, one form of social media that seems to be become increasingly poplar is ‘groups.io’. The popularity of ‘groups.io’ came out of the demise of ‘Yahoo! Groups’. A major software change to ‘Yahoo! Groups’ in 2010 was denounced by users. There was also allegedly some controversy about illegal use without government regulation. ‘Yahoo! Groups’ blocked new content in 2019 and deleted existing content in January 2020. Out of this shadow stepped ‘groups.io’.
Signing up for groups.io couldn’t be easier
It is easy to sign up for a ‘groups.io’ account. Once signed up and logged in, the toolbar at the top of the page gives you the option examine ‘Your Groups’ or ‘Find or Create a Group’. You might want to search for ‘Amateur Radio’ or ‘Ham Radio’ groups, and from there join groups that interest you. I have listed below, some groups that I found interesting and have joined.
- BITX20 – This group exists for constructors of the various BITX projects, to discuss all aspects of the design and construction including problems, components, modifications and experiences using the rigs. I recently built one of the uBitx V6 transceiver kits.
- Yaesu FT-817 Owners Group – Dedicated to owners and operators of the Yaesu FT-817 all-mode, all-band wonder rig. I have one of these transceivers.
- GQRP Club – The GQRP Club is a non profit organisation run entirely by volunteers to promote Low Power Radio. I am a member of the club.
- QCX – This group is for those constructing the QCX QRP radio. I recently built the QCX+ transceiver.
- RSGBTech – an independent group open to ALL radio amateurs to discuss amateur radio related technical matters, be it a technical query or area of interest.
- RSGBForum – The Group was formed following suggestions on RSGBTech for a “Sister Group” to discuss general, radio related, topics.
It is very easy log in to groups.io, select a group you have joined, and browse the topics. However, it is also very easy to browse through posts sent by email to your email account. I use ‘mailbox.org’, the secure email provider, for most of my emails, and this email provider gives excellent rule based email sorting and transfer into sub-folders. As each ‘groups.io’ group is also associated with an email address of the same name (e.g. XXX@groups.io ), rule based sorting into email sub-folders suits me best.
Some words from groups.io
Here are a few words from ‘groups.io’ and how it describes its services:-
- Groups.io supports all the options you’d expect in a modern groups service.
- Create an announcement, moderated, or restricted group.
- Customize the various welcome, goodbye, monthly, and pending subscription messages.
- Then define multiple owners and moderators, using our full permissions system.
- Monitor the group through the activity log, and track email delivery to members.
- Approve messages from moderated users either through the website or via email.
- Automatically moderate or lock individual group topics after a set number of days.
- Relax knowing that Groups.io handles bounces and autoresponders automatically, and that we’re DMARC compatible.
Some of these words from ‘groups.io’ will only be applicable if you want to create your own groups. However, I think you can see that ‘groups.io’ is trying to provide, or perhaps I should have said, is providing, a very professional service. Go to https://groups.io
Enjoy.
