Request for Input: Participation Permissions
Alanna Irving
Public
Seen by 373
In response to the feedback here, we've now added a tab to the group setup process called "permissions", which gives you options about participation in your group.
Coordinators can now determine whether group members can invite new members, create subgroups, start discussions, edit the context panel, edit their comments (even after activity has occurred), raise proposals, and vote on proposals.
We hope this offers a range of options to suit the various use cases you shared with us!
original post
We recently updated group privacy settings, which is about who can see what. Then we released an update to options for editing content, which is about who can change what. Now we’d like to discuss participation permissions settings, which is about who can do what.
We’ve received requests for more fine-grained control over:
- who can start proposals
- who can start discussions
- who can state positions (vote on proposals)
- who can comment
There’s a lot of potential here to empower groups who want to use Loomio for consultation and engagement with levels of decision-making stakeholding that are right for their situation. The magic of the Loomio process lies in nudging groups toward more distribution of that stakeholding in decision-making. But sometimes the real power of collaboration is as much about great delegation as it is about inclusion. We want to go for the best of all worlds here and create a featureset to support that.
Right now, you can accomplish various combinations using subgroups and privacy settings. For example, you can have a subgroup including the decision-makers for a certain subject matter, and have their discussions visible to everyone in the main group. People not in the subgroup can see what’s happening, but they won’t be notified of new discussions and proposals, and they can’t comment without being given full membership. We think we can do better.
Here are some examples of permissions people might want:
- All group members can start discussions, but only certain people can start proposals
- All group members can start proposals, but only certain people can state their position (vote) on them
- All group members can make comments and state positions on proposals, but only certain people can start discussions and proposals
- comment-only mode, so people could have input but not start discussions or participate in proposals
So… lots of possibilities here, but also a fair amount of complexity.
If you're in a group that would benefit from more control over the participation permissions, tell us about it. What kind of decisions are you making? What kind of input are you seeking? Who are the decision-makers?
Ryan Gillespie Wed 25 Jun 2014 8:46PM
@alanna but doesn't that also grant them full group membership (that's how I read the next screen after clicking the invite people button)? I'm thinking only having access to that specific discussion.
Alanna Irving Wed 25 Jun 2014 9:10PM
Good question @ryangillespie - maybe @richarddbartlett could clarify?
@robertbeck - interesting! Can you tell me more about how it works in your group where only some people are allowed to block? Is that the only difference between those users and others?
Richard D. Bartlett Wed 25 Jun 2014 9:52PM
@alanna yeah that is unclear at the moment. @ryangillespie has it right, currently the 'Invite people' feature on the discussion page adds people to the group. The aspiration is definitely to enable per-discussion membership though.
Robert Beck Wed 25 Jun 2014 10:24PM
@alanna We have a group of siblings that share the ownership of a vacation property. The siblings would have the right to block a proposal.
Each of the siblings has adult children that occasionally use the property. They would have the right to vote on proposals.
Each family can block, but only with the consent of the parent owner.
Alanna Irving Wed 25 Jun 2014 10:40PM
Thanks! That's a really interesting use case @robertbeck
Joshua Vial Wed 25 Jun 2014 10:45PM
For me making proposals and voting on them is the same in all the groups I'm part of.
I would be happy with
- everyone can comment
- only this group can start a discussion, proposal or vote on a proposal
A slightly more flexible option of "and this group of people can start a discussion" would be an improvement that I wouldn't mind but could live without.
Joum Thu 26 Jun 2014 6:49AM
In our small group I made everyone coordinators. We had a lot of sub-groups created and it made things confusing.
I have since limited the number of coordinators, but wonder is it still possible for any member to make a sub-group?
** I would like to permissions to make sub-groups.
** Another wish would be the ability to make sub-groups of sub-groups (with restrictions on the ability to create them).
Jon Lemmon Sat 28 Jun 2014 5:27AM
Great discussion! Awesome context you've given @alanna.
My take on participation permissions is:
Participation permissions
Who can start discussions?
- Members
- Admins only
Who can start proposals?
- Members
- Admins only
Who can vote on proposals?
- Members
- Admins only
Are there really any scenarios where you want people to be part of a group but unable to comment? Not sure this is a strong enough use-case to cater for.
Also, ideally you'd be able to specify certain "subgroups" as able to do the above actions (instead of just admins). However, I think for now just starting with "Admins only" and "Members" is a less-expensive but still super-useful way to go.
Alanna Irving Sat 28 Jun 2014 7:57AM
Thanks @jonlemmon that's a good clear description. I agree that in the future we'll probably want more categories of users, but for now different options for all members and coordinators is a good starting point.
@lbjoumcommonlyknow brought up the interesting idea of another option around the ability to create subgroups as well....
Robert Beck · Wed 25 Jun 2014 8:45PM
I hope that we will be able to give names to groups, such that everyone in the group has the same voting rights