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| The Google+ Discuss community |
Google+ Discuss on Google Groups (we know, confusing) now displays a notice on top of the forum, which reads: "Important announcement: the Google+ help community is moving! For the last 2 years, this forum has been our home and a place for users to ask questions about Google+ and receive answers from fellow users, Top Contributors, and even Googlers. Going forward, you can ask for help and learn new tips at the Google+ Help community here, in Google+. You’ll have 30 days to shift gears - then, on September 17th, we’ll freeze the forum, so you can still read helpful posts, but will be asked to post any new questions in the Google+ community."
The 80,000 member-strong Google+ Discuss community will soon be the only and default hub for users wanting to discuss everything Google+ and for those needing a helping hand. Contributors in the Google+ community are recognized (and there may or may not be a secret community for said contributors) and is a great way to connect with friendly and interesting people along the way.
The move is seen by some as another step towards the long-speculated shuttering of Google Groups, as Google+ Communities becomes more feature rich over time, and hopefully, eventually reaching parity (in features) with the former. I tend to agree, as it doesn't make sense to have two products which in essence, does the same thing.
On the other hand, we could just be over-speculating, and doesn't actually mean that Google Groups is on Google's product kill list, but as a move by the Google+ Community team to consolidate users looking for help into one location, for a more consistent help & support experience. The signal will get clearer if we begin to see more official Google Groups for other Google products being shelved for their Google+ Communities counterparts.