Have you guys seen how social group systems are managed on www.ning.com or www.myspace.com? Groups on there have become massive, very active communities because they opened the flood gates and allowed anyone to make them.

If the worst case scenario is that there will be some dead groups, is that really so bad? People just won't join dead groups (or they will and revitalize them). Websites like Ning were created because of the popularity of the sub-feature of social groups on other sites, and it now has over 8 million users.

This issue is like the difference between it being a "pretty ribbon" feature on the site, or it being it's own active community aside the forums. The only way you can lose here is to underestimate the market trend.

But it's not up to me. Just throwing out my two cents as someone who cares about the website.