Exploring the Website Part 2 - Blogs, Forums, Subgroups, Oh my!

In part one we discussed where on our website you could find our core philosophy, policies, and our events.  This blog post will discuss our new ideas for how we can continue to grow as a group. 

In May, The KGS will be celebrating our 1 Year Anniversary. It's been an amazing experience getting to meet all of you and watching this become what it has. Some feedback/interest from members have been to explore having options other than weekend events. The KGS website will be starting hosting weekday event, blogs, forums, and subgroups. 

Blogs ~ Learning more about our Community, “Hay Ya’ll”. 

Blogs are a way for us to share our journey, how we are growing this community, new social mixer opportunities and fun local restaurant reviews and recommendations.

Blogs have taken the role of keeping you up to date on our growth and how we hope to utilize our website. This will continue in the form of weekly to monthly posts that will be similar to these updates. Announcing ideas and plans for upcoming events and projects. In addition to this we have had some members interested in contributing content including the food/drink review blog, narratives on the gay experience and more. A sneak peek into what we have coming up is a monthly ‘Gay Icon’ of what it means to be gay and a nightlife review. We also have a new member who has a great knowledge of downtown and the bar / restaurant scene that Knoxville has to offer. This feature will share local bars and restaurants you may or may not know are local. This author is also a strong advocate of supporting local businesses that are ethical and LGBTQ+ friendly.. 

Forums ~ Turn your Notifications on!

This is our whiteboard, this is the place to keep the conversations going and share content amongst the group. These forums will be moderated by admins to ensure no soliciting and things are appropriate and fun.

General Discussion - This will be our equivalent of a Facebook wall. Here you can post any content you would like to share with the group. From funny videos to articles or events that you want the community to know about. This could also be where you find a member who may want to join a run, market square shopping, or tag along for a festival or a great BBQ places etc. So feel free to check-in, post, respond, and react. 

Questions and Answers - This is our FAQ section. There may be a question you have regarding our group or questions regarding Knoxville and resources / services you may need. This is different from the General Discussion forum as it allows for the original poster to mark responses as the “answer” to their question.

Announcements - This forum will be reserved for making quick announcements to members at large. Consider this the BREAKING NEWS! LIVE UPDATE! Forum. We have utilized this to coordinate meeting locations and times. Definitely turn these notifications on if you are attending events. There may be times we have to change something and need you to know asap. 

Event / Post Ideas - Do you know of a local gem or event you’d like to suggest for our Event Calendar? Let us know here. Do you want to have a Sunday Brunch or a plan a hike? Content for blogs and discussion you’d like to see more of. We always welcome new event ideas or locations.

Subgroups ~ Lets Geek Out! Meeting Beyond Events

This is where we can share what we love in common interests or hobbies. We are piloting four groups to see how these can take shape as another resource for our members. These groups also may provide opportunities for members to share their passions and get involved as moderators. While our main events are biweekly “weekend” events, those who want to meet more frequently or during the week have the option to join our “weekly” groups. These groups will schedule their meetups on the Event Calendar so there will be no overlap. Thus far we are thinking of rotating them weekly allowing each group to meet at least once a month for now. As we get more feedback we may be able to add more subgroups and special interests. 

Knitting with Balls - Moderator : Timothy Raper (Admin)

This is a fiber enthusiast group. We have knitters and crocheters. This group will be meeting to learn knitting basics and just to have a fiber group to work on projects with while we catch up and spill the tea. 

Gaming - Moderator : TBD 

This will be a possible mix of online/platform/computer  and board/tabletop games. This group would potentially have a Discord server and other platforms to allow for virtual-based events. Your moderator will discuss further plans in future posts. Some ideas are hosting game nights or virtual gaming sessions.  Let us know your favorite game or game system, there may be others that are fans of the same ones!

Volunteering - Moderator : Matthew Roach (Digital Community Coordinator)

We have a passion to explore all the amazing things our community offers us but we too want to give back to our greater community. Here we potentially could organize a KGS volunteering group. If one volunteers that’s awesome, but if others join we could do a lot of good. 

Short Story and Creative Writing - Moderator : Chase Sisk (Editor and Content Contributor)

This subgroup will be open to anyone who would like to be a part of writing short stories - these can be personal narratives, or simply reflections on nature, life, etc.  There are so many things to write about, we'll meetup once a month, share our written works and discuss.

Thank you all for your patience and being part of this passion project that is truly a labor of love. We love ya gays. This is a lot to take in. Leave us a comment or feedback! Also head over to the Forums if you have any ideas or questions you’d like to post.