Re: Joinless groups?
David have you seen this plugin:
http://buddypress.webdevstudios.com/blog/2009/11/13/buddypress-registration-options/
It pretty much does what you want and helps jumpstart your community.
What I would like to is some kind of option for an admin to create a group which not gets listed in the users group list but the member is actually part of (without choice) and receives updates from. Something you might call a “sitewide group” or something!