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Managing a collection: basics and best practices

Collections make it easier for users to discover trusted, quality content about the technology or area of practice associated with a collective. While Admins must create new collections, collective Members and Recognized Members have important roles to play in curating and contributing content to them.

How to create a collection

Only Admins of a collective can create a new collection. Learn more about the different user roles in a collective here.

Admins will see a “Create new collection” button on the upper-right side of the Collections tab:

Image of Collections tab in a collective, with the "Create new collection" button circled in orange

After clicking “Create new collection”, you will be prompted to add the following:

  1. Title – Minimum of 15 characters; maximum of 150
  2. Description – Minimum of 15 characters; maximum of 600
  3. Tags – At least one tag from the collective is required
  4. Posts – These are the different content items to be grouped in this collection: questions, answers, and articles.

Note: To make it easier to add posts, search by title or paste the URL.

Image of "Create new collection" screen, with example text in title, description, and tags fields, and cursor in search bar showing dropdown with recently viewed posts

How to edit or delete a collection

Admins and Recognized Members of a collective can edit a collection. Learn more about the different user roles in a collective here.

Navigate to the chosen collection and click the “Edit collection” button on the upper-right side of the page:

Image of an example collection page, with the "Edit collection" button circled in orange

From there, you will be able to:

  • Edit any of the input fields
  • Add or delete an item
  • Change the order of items

Once you have made the necessary changes to the collection, you can:

  • Cancel (if you change your mind)
  • Save your edits

Collections can also be deleted from this page.

Image of "Edit collection" screen

Best practices

  • When creating a new collection, use a clear title and specify the goal and intended audience in the description.
  • The Admin that creates the collection should add a few items to start, but should not feel obligated to fully fill it out with content. The community can work together to add more content and curate what others have added.
  • Admins can pin a collection, which temporarily places it at the top of the Collections tab and the collective's Overview page, in order to draw more attention to that collection. Pins automatically expire after 28 days.
  • Admins should use private discussions with Recognized Members to brainstorm additional topics for collections, discuss potential changes to existing collections, and determine if any collections should be pinned to the collective.

Thought starters for collections

Here are a few general ideas for collections that will be interesting and useful to collective Members (Recognized Members can help with determining the specifics):

  • A "Fundamentals" collection for each technology included in the collective, for those who are in the first stages of their learning journey

  • An "FAQ" collection for each technology included in the collective

    • This can be based on the content with the most views or votes.
    • This may help reduce duplicate questions by highlighting the best questions related to a subject.

  • A collection of content that is relevant to solving a specific problem, or relates to content curation goals specific to the collective