The last time we checked in on the many User Groups of the Spiceworks Community was in 2015. At the time, we focused on a few of the SpiceHeads who had created such groups as 1-Man Show and Library IT Pros Unite .
By now, several months have passed since we last touched base with our special-interest SpiceHeads – that means its time for a Texas-styled roundup!
Our criteria? Find the six groups with the highest engagement within the past week. Our mission? Explain what each group is and interview the founding member to learn about the group’s goals, ambitions, and why new folks should join.
Before we start, let’s recap on our still young user group feature: Let’s say Joe the IT God likes dinosaurs a whole lot. Joe goes to the user group page and can’t find any groups on dinosaurs, so he requests we create one by entering a group name and description. If, and when, the group is approved by the community managers, he becomes the group administrator, and can invite whoever he wants from the community to join him in talking about the latest in dinosaur news, dinosaur discoveries, and whatever else he wants.
Now, let the games begin.
1. 1-Man Show
Image credit: Tim Norris
In first place stands 1-Man Show, which has attracted an enormous group of lone-wolf IT pros who are Active with a capital “A.” @markmoyer , the founder of 1-Man Show, says he never thought the group would grow to its present size of more than 1,000 followers. In his own words:
I initially launched 1MS with the idea of creating a small niche group where people who were lone-gunslingers in the IT wild-west could gather to share tactics, ideas, thoughts and experiences away from the abundance of posts in the forums that make up the main thoroughfare of SW thought-exchange.
What did we end up with? Well, the core concepts are still in place – a place to exchange information from the singular-entity IT ‘department’ – but fellow SpiceHeads came out of the shadows in droves… driving the 1MS group’s membership up from a base of about 50 in early September to 1,000+ today and its admins from 1.
2. Military and Veterans Group
Image credit: The U.S. Army
The progenitor of the Military and Veterans user group is none other than rayaustin2, who says he wanted “to connect with fellow veterans in a private place where anyone could talk about anything.” And in terms of being eligible for membership? “The main factor in joining this group is military service of some kind, it doesn’t have to be recent and it doesn’t have to be in the USA. I don’t ask for specific proof beyond a persons word.”
3. HelpDeskHell
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Known as @redbeard in the Community, James Boyd, the founder of HelpDeskHell, says he “could tell some IT pros wanted to vent, but feared doing so in public.” When the opportunity to create a more private space arose, he jumped. In his own words:
IT Pros who need a private place to vent and to tell stories of what their version of hell is like will enjoy HelpDeskHell. Folks from help desk all the way up to administrators (sometimes its the same guy) come to share stories and laugh with us.
I was blown away at the response and the growth! Who knew we would grow to be the 3rd largest and one of the most active private groups in the community.
4. IT Banking
Image credit: epSos .de
If you’re one of the IT pros keeping the banks in line, then you’ll want to venture over to the IT Banking user group, which claims 128 followers and fourth-in-class when it comes to activity. “Reserved for IT folks who are currently in charge of everything IT in a bank, Credit Union, or other financial institution,” the group’s description reads. Founded by @lauren7060 and @tonystahl , IT Banking is a place “to get answers from your peers,” in the words of @tonystahl . As @lauren7060 says, “We cover topics from the latest and greatest FFIEC regulations, to what things examiners might zing you for in your next exam. And of course people want to join the group because we are all super cool people!”
5. HomeLabs
Image credit: O.Taillon
That GPU/CPU combo that smokes everyone you know didn’t get there by itself and that dual-monitor setup sure didn’t come with your box. We call these setups our home labs and whether you’ve got a server, a box, a decked out laptop, or just a great gaming rig, there’s a reason we geek out over them. They’re awesome.
Lucky for you, there’s a user group for that – it’s called HomeLabs. Here’s what the founding father, @jamesroberts6855 , has to say:
HomeLabs was inspired by my own history of playing around with computer projects at home, where computers and software can be broken and pushed to the limit without generating 30 Spiceworks tickets 
Anything goes in HomeLabs really, from a virtualization project, to hardware hacks on WiFi access points.
If your friends don’t know a CPU from a PSU, and your family don’t understand why you have so much computer ‘junk’ laying around, then HomeLabs will take you in! Personally I don’t have a lot of space for a stack of servers in the house anymore (I have to hide them at work now), but with devices like the RasberryPi and Intel NUCs there’s more opportunity than ever to setup your own HomeLab.
6. Spicepilots!
Image credit: Daniel S.
You know those dreams you have where you can fly? Well you still can’t actually fly in real life, but for a select group of SpiceHeads, piloting a plane is the next best thing. That’s the takeaway from the user group Spicepilots! that has 15 followers who are active enough to win the group a sixth place standing. Describing itself as a “group for pilots and student pilots to get together and talk shop,” Spicepilots was created by @robiewan , who encourages anyone and everyone interested in learning how to fly to join up.
For a full list of our user groups, or to create your own, head on over to our User Group Directory .
@rayaustin2
