Question

Can we get an earth sciences section?

Answer 1

I know open study wont let us have our own groups. But an earth science section would be nice!

Answer 2

Good suggestion.

Also, OpenStudy admins have created private groups in the past.

Answer 3

There is a geography group for questions relating to geography and earth sciences.

Also, although groups have been created after user requests and discussion (the geography group is a good example, actually), there are no private groups. We try hard to keep the 'open' in OpenStudy...

Answer 4

I know for a fact that there are unlisted groups like HippoCampus. No one would ever find those groups unless linked to them.

Answer 5

Compassionate, there is an enormous difference between unlisted groups and private groups. Any user who finds an unlisted group is free and welcome to join it. The unlisted groups appear in the members' profiles - for example, https://openstudy.com/users/blues shows a number of unlisted groups, a couple of which were less formal groups like the book club and some of which I found my way to in course of moderating difficulties - and you can join any of them. Feel free to verify that for yourself.

By contrast a private group would not be listed under a member's profile so as to be invisible and inaccessible to everyone else. There are no private groups on OpenStudy. They raise interesting ethical issues about whether OpenStudy is in fact Open, and there is the minor implementational detail that they are impossible to code and successfully run on the OS platform.