We never really pinned down what workflow we wanted for new group creation.
The most basic way it can work is on a similar principle to event moderation at present: i.e. anyone who is a host can create a new group. When this happens, Admins will get notified. All the act of ‘Approval’ does is publish the group page to Wordpress - there’s no block on the group actually being created in the Fixometer. If there was any issues with the new group (e.g. there’s another group already in the area, maybe we want to suggest working with that group), that would have to be done after the fact.
An alternative would be a workflow where a new group is only active and visible in the Fixometer once it has been approved. No events could be added, no volunteers invited, etc, until approved.
On the one hand, it would be good to keep barriers to group creation low (to make the process as easy as possible and reduce dependence on admins being around). But on the other, we do want to avoid too many groups springing up in the same area - there’s a risk of us ending up with a bunch of inactive groups that will just confuse people and make co-ordination more difficult.
I think for now, it makes most sense to go with the first option you outlined: anyone can create a fully functional group, but it will need admin approval to appear on Wordpress. At the moment, the network is small enough that we can still keep an eye on things and get in touch with people individually if we spot a problem or a missed opportunity to work with an existing group.
Looking ahead, if/when the network grows and we see the group creation rate increase significantly it may make sense at that point to lock the process down a bit more (e.g. the second option you outlined).
Light-touch to begin, and see where we are as we grow.