Running a forum group

Any profile can start a forum group for a breed club, a rescue network, a neighbourhood or a class, and run it from the Dashboard. You own the group and choose its moderators.

Where

Forum → My groups in the Dashboard sidebar (/dashboard/forum/groups) lists the groups you own, moderate, belong to or asked to join, with your role (Owner, Moderator, Member) or status (Waiting for approval, Banned). Each group opens at /dashboard/forum/groups/<address>. Create a group on the forum’s Groups page brings you here too.

Creating a group

1. Click Create a group.

2. Fill in the form:

   Field	Notes
   Name	3 to 80 characters, for example Golden retriever owners of Ottawa.
   Address	The end of the group’s link, /forum/g/<address>. Lowercase letters, numbers and single hyphens, 3 to 40 characters. It can’t change later. A few words are reserved for the forum.
   Description	What the group is about and who it’s for (up to 2,000 characters).
   Rules	Members read these before they post (up to 4,000 characters).
   Who can see it	Public: anyone can read it and join; members post. Restricted: anyone can read it; only approved members post. Private: only members read it; search engines never see it.
   Approve new members	Join requests wait for you or a moderator. You get a notice for each one.
   Main topic	The topic the group’s posts are filed under (optional).
   Accent color	Colours the group’s page. Starts from your brand kit.
   Icon and Cover image	Choose a public image from your media, or paste a link that starts with https://. Private images can’t show on a group page.

3. Click Create group. The group’s page opens.

A profile can own up to 10 groups (You already own 10 groups, the most one profile can.). If some words break the content policy, the form tells you which field to edit.

Running the group

Owners and moderators see the group with five tabs. Everyone else sees a read-only card with the group’s rules and moderators, and members can Leave group there.

Settings

The same fields as when you created it, except the Address, which never changes. Only the owner changes who can see the group (Only the owner changes who can see the group.). View on the forum opens the group’s public page.

Requests

When the group approves new members, each request waits here (the tab shows how many) and in your bell. Click Approve or Decline.

Members

Each member’s row has an actions menu:

Action	Who can	What happens
Make moderator / Make member	Owner	Gives or takes away moderator rights.
Remove from group	Owner, moderators	They leave the group and can ask to join again.
Ban from group	Owner, moderators	They leave and can’t join again until someone unbans them.
Make owner	Owner	They get full control, including who can see the group. You stay on as a moderator, and only they can hand it back.

Remove, ban and make owner ask you to confirm first.

Banned

Everyone banned from the group, with Unban.

Flags

When members flag a post, answer or comment in your group, it lands here for you and your moderators to decide (N open flags). Each item shows what was flagged, who wrote it, the reasons and who flagged it.

• Hide it: the item stays hidden. If it was flagged as spam, rude or unsafe advice, its author loses reputation.
• Keep it: the flags close and the item stays (or comes back) in view.

Add a Note for the record (optional) saying why you decided that way. Switch Show flags between Open, Hidden and Kept to see past decisions. Three open flags hide an item automatically until someone decides.

Note

The United Pet Club team can also act on any group: archive a group that has run its course, or suspend one that breaks the community rules. A suspended or archived group takes no new posts or members.