My only group riding is with my Brothers and it's side-by-side, and about 2-3 feet away from the guy in front of you.
No staggering, not even in the corners. If a guy can't stay in his half of the lane, I don't care to ride with him.
I'm too old to learn how to ride any different, but no disrespect to anyone who chooses to.

 

90% of my rides are solo 2-up with my bride and best friend. She's really the only company I want when I ride, and it's not all about safety. We just like doing our own thing.

The exceptions are poker runs and large rallies. When headed to Sturgis the moment you head north off of I-80 you're in heavy unorganized group riding all headed to the same destination. One slow rider will hold up the line of traffic and the idiot bikers will pass on the right to get one more bike length ahead. And for God's sake don't get me started on the scenery rides around Sturgis. Good Lord, bumper to bumper with all levels of skills mixed in. We're going this year, but it's just getting to be too much of a hassle..

 

I think there's a huge difference between a "group ride" and riding with a few friends.

I've done & still do some big group rides, mostly for charities, but I"ll admit that I'm usually paranoid and stressed/frustrated the whole time.

But I've some friends that I ride with, usually no more than a group of 4 or 5 total, and we all know each other's skills and styles and habits now that it's almost never a question or problem. We know what to expect from each other and we just get on our bikes and go.
Great times. But I don't really consider those "group rides".

 

Pretty much the same reasons I won't join a club - always some body with big conchos telling everyone else what to do, how to do it, and when to get it done. But you have to have discipline in any type of group.

I'm not big on following orders.

There are three guys I'll ride with. But then, we've hunted, fished, and biked together the past thirty years. You get to know someone by that.

 

I haven't been in any group rides and I even shy away when an 'acquaintance' says "we need to get out and ride, man!". Guys always tend to get out to see who'd dick's the biggest. Not interested.

 

I love to ride solo when I do I tend to wonder my entire lane . I love to ride with my wife , we stay side by side. I love to ride with my family , we ride side by side tire to tire. I can adapt to about any ride with people I haven't rode with before , I just leave myself some wiggle room, but I still enjoy the ride. I ride in a few poker runs a year, usually by the third draw a small band of us hits the left shoulder and passes the group and just do our own thing...but at least we contributed some cash. basically I guess I love to ride

 

I ride with my brother. I taught him to ride and I trust him. Can't say that about anyone else I know so I guess we will just keep doing our own thing...

 

Interesting! The OP asked about group riding protocol, and everyone who doesn't group ride, or dislikes group riding responds.

Bottom line: the OP chose to ride in a group. Group protocol is to ride in a staggered formation, unless road conditions/safety mandate single file. If you don't like groups, fine. Stay out of them, but if you choose to join a group, follow the group riding protocol. Complaining that "someone is telling me how to ride" when you don't follow the group riding formation is just plain childish.

 

That's cool, until you have to make an emergency maneuver and run the person on your right off the road or left into a head on collision with another vehicle.

 

I had 4 friends I used to always ride with before everyone just kind of moved away. There was no worry about formations, it was more about making sure you keep enough distance between you and the person in front of you at any speed so that you won't go down because you don't have enough time to react.

Worrying about the formation is assinine when that's all you're worrying about. Staying staggered won't do anything for a group that's bunched up or intruding in someone else's space.