User Groups

[Kilted in Maine]

Is there a way to receive a notification when a message is posted to user group that one is a member of -or- send a message to all members of a user group?

[Mike1]

No there isn't.

I wouldn't anticipate seeing any enhancements of that type for the best part of the next 12-18 months. There are going to be some social group 'fluff' enhancements offered in vBulletin 3.8, but it seems the big push is on now to get vBulletin 4.0 ready for Beta testing.

4.0 will represent a near total re-write of the vBulletin system software, so I figure we're pretty much lame-ducking the 3.X series, from here on out.

Some of what you can expect to see in 3.8 -

Social Group Discussion Topics
This is probably the most-requested feature since the introduction of social groups in vBulletin 3.7. While the current 'social group messages' system allows messages to be posted to a social group, unlike forums it does not allow messages to be divided up into discussions. vBulletin 3.8 rectifies this, and social groups in 3.8 now have the ability to contain individual topics, each with reporting, inline moderation and many of the other tools one would expect from vBulletin.

Private Messaging Improvements
Since vBulletin 3.0, the private messaging system has remained largely unchanged. vBulletin 3.8 sees a number of changes and improvements to make the system easier to use and manage.

We have added Quick Reply to the private message viewing page, removing the need for a visit to a separate interface.
Users now have the ability to change the sort order in private message folders from the existing date-newest-first default.
In order to find what you are looking for more quickly and easily, there's now an inline search system too.

Also, as an anti-spam measure, it's now possible to limit the number of private messages any user may send in a given period of time.

Most Recently-Updated Albums
Bringing users' album pictures out of the dark recesses of their profile, vBulletin 3.8 has a system to display the most recently-updated albums from all users in a unified interface. Now everyone will know when your members upload new pictures!

Moving Album Pictures
It's now possible to move pictures from one album to another, rather than having to delete and reupload.

Thread Prefix Permissions
For those who want to be able to limit the ability of their users to access thread prefixes and prefix sets, vBulletin 3.8 now gives you that ability.

Social Group Categories
To allow users to more easily find a social group that they'd like to join, the administrator can now create categories to which social groups can belong.

Social Group Avatars
A picture is worth a thousand words, so when users create a social group, they can now upload a picture to represent the group, which will be shown both on the group page, and on the list of groups.