We have decided to start the process of removing the 'groups' here. We see this as a good thing; every discussion going on in the groups will eventually be replaced in the Forum area. So you can talk about the same stuff, just in a different place.
This will allow more people to see what people are talking about and to participate without having to join a group. We may keep some groups, or even restart others; we'll just see what happens. But most groups will be deleted and new forum categories started accordingly!
We have to figure out what to do with some of those great long discussions, though. We'd rather not delete a lot of content, but move it instead. We'll take this process slowly.
Ehh... this might be just a dumb question, but...Why not just close the groups for new people, leave the groups as they are and together decide that all new discussions are to be posted in one place?