Interesting Ideas Regarding Forums

[Wayne]

Here are some interesting articles I found on a blog, I picked out some of the ones
I thought were the most interesting, and I thought I share it with you guys,
feel free to input your own thoughts or your disagreements with these articles

I included a short excerpt from each article so you guys could get a taste of the content.
Oh and the views presented in these articles do not necessarily reflect my own views.

Ethical leadership strengthens communities

It is all too easy to forget that behind every username, every visitor statistic and every
email is a real, live human being. The same social and ethical rules should apply to
online interactions as they do in the offline world. Unfortunately all too often for the
sake of a quick buck or because we forget that online people are real people, these
considerations go out of the window.

Use controversy with caution

Nothing gets people emotionally involved in an argument more than controversy. Just as
you may consider religion and politics a subject you do not want to get involved in,
these same subjects can generate a huge amount of interaction and content for your
community. A community where everyone agrees with everyone else, and the only
posts are those where members say hello and goodbye is boring. A community that
enjoys a little controversy and upsets some of its members from time to time can be exciting.

Forums don’t have to be popular to be good

What makes a forum good is the number of posts each member makes, the quality of
the posts within your community, and your forum’s atmosphere or personality. Sure, a
member count may be an initial attraction for a first time visitor to your community, but
it is the factors I just mentioned that will determine whether they actually stick around

Current events can strengthen communities

Talk about current events on your website. Don’t limit such events solely to those that
interest you, but tailor your coverage to the interests of your community. If your
community is based on a specific niche, then write or encourage debate on the topics
that are relevant to your audience and community.

The real purpose of forum moderators revealed

The biggest mistake forum owners make when taking on forum moderators is expecting
them to police the community. Many see the main role of moderators as enforcers of the
site rules, as people who delete posts they don’t like and lock topics the moment they run
off-course. If these are the priorities of your moderators, you are doing it all wrong.

The first 5 things a new forum visitor looks for

Visitors to your forum are a fickle bunch of people - if they see something they don’t like,
they will leave: simple as that. You have to blow them away if you want them to
register and become a valuable member of your community. In this article, I will
present you with what I feel are the top five things a visitor to a forum site first looks
for when deciding whether to register.

Fantastic forum members make fantastic staff members

While topics which are stupid, or who’s tone is a bit negative about your community
should not be locked in order to let all your members have freedom of speech to a
certain degree, they should be ignored by your staff members. Your staff members
should post when they have something to say and keep away from the topics which
you’d rather not have on your forum, but which do not conflict with your forum rules.

Why are active forum members like gold dust?

Make sure you don’t just write a generic ‘Welcome to the forum’ sentence each time -
this doesn’t really help you to engage with a new member. Instead, try to tailor your
welcome - address them by their name, mention any hobbies or interests they have
included in their profile and ask questions.

Starting a new thread can be intimidating - particularly for a new member. You can help
reduce this natural hesitancy by encouraging members to create new threads. Tell your
members that you are looking forward to reading their posts, and tell them not to be
afraid of starting new topics or threads. When they do, thank them for starting a new
thread and reassure them by telling them what a great post they have made. The more
you encourage your members, they more they will interact and get involved.

5 early warning signs that your forum is failing

Nobody likes to see a huge crack appear in their home - it is a sign of weakness and
acts as a warning: if you do not invest in the property it will soon crumble and end up
as nothing more than a pile of rubble. The same thing can happen to an online forum.
Ignore the early warning signs at your peril.

5 ways to show your members you love them

If you are developing an online community, it is vital that you convert as many visitors
into members as possible. It is no good going to all the effort of converting visitors if
you are unable to get them to stick around and contribute, though! In this article I will
describe the five best ways of showing your members that you love them! Members
who feel loved are more likely to stick around, get involved and become loyal, long term
enthusiasts of your community.

How to deal with abusive forum members

If a forum member makes a post that is against the site rules, you should edit it. If you
edit the post of a member, it is important that you contact them to explain the reasons
why you have made the edit. Your message should be professional and constructive:
you do not want to alienate your forum members. By remaining friendly and
professional, you are showing that you still value them, and want them to remain part
of your community. You are also reducing the likelihood of them taking offence at your actions,
and therefore preventing a potential escalation of the situation.

Who are your most valuable members?

Many people would say the most valuable member of a community is the one who posts
the most content. I can understand why many people agree with this logic - particularly
when it comes to new forums. The people that stand out the most in a new forum are
very often the people who post the most often - this doesn’t make them the most
valuable, though.

Always avoid repressing your members

The most frequent way I see members being repressed in online communities is due to
over-zealous enforcement of the site rules. I am a strong advocate of the laissez-faire
approach when it comes to moderation and rule enforcement within online communities.

Your online community should be a drug

The most important method of ensuring a visitor remembers your community is to have
unique, compelling content. If your content isn’t up to scratch, a visitor will not
remember your website. Similarly, if your site looks like everyone else’s you can hardly
expect a visitor to remember your community. Ensure you customise your design, have
a strong brand and use a good domain name.

How to recruit forum moderators

I always advise you to approach the users who appear to be committed members and
post a high number of quality posts. Approaching them can be as simple as simply
private messaging them, asking them to become a moderator. Make it clear why you
are choosing them and clearly define their role.

How to effectively moderate forums

Before you have to take action against a member, you should always contact them and
try to get them to remove or edit the post themselves by referring them to the rule you
feel they have broken. In this way, you are making your site user feel far more valued
on a personal level - this is far preferable to the member simply returning one day to
find their post(s) or account deleted.

How to respond if a forum moderator goes crazy!

Remain calm, professional, friendly and approachable. Use examples, and explain why
you disagree with their actions. Don’t exaggerate, don’t generalise and don’t attack your
staff member. Remember - the chances are, they are working for you absolutely free of
charge. This in itself demands a certain level of respect from the outset.

Using other forums as promotional tools

Don’t sit back and wait for visitors to come to you - go out and find them for yourself.
Work out what type of sites the visitors you are looking for will be visiting and search
them out. Once you are there, get involved in those communities. Don’t spam forums and don’t
direct users to your website. Find out the signature policy of the forum you are visiting -
many will allow you to link back to your site. Add your link, and get involved.

[charlie.]

interesting.
very interesting.
hmm.

just out of curiosity, how did you manage to find this, and what other articles do they have? xD
just from reading the excerpts, though, it looks like there's someone out there with an awesome view on the potential of forums.

thanks a bunch for sharing, wayne! i'm gonna go look through the site when i have some more free time

[Wayne]

Originally Posted by Charlie

interesting.
very interesting.
hmm.

just out of curiosity, how did you manage to find this, and what other articles do they have? xD
just from reading the excerpts, though, it looks like there's someone out there with an awesome view on the potential of forums.

thanks a bunch for sharing, wayne! i'm gonna go look through the site when i have some more free time

Yep, just go through all the archives, you will be done reading all the
article titles in probably 10 minutes. All the articles are on how to
make you forum basically, including how to make money with your forum,
how to get more traffic, etc etc. Very interesting indeed. I stumbled
across it while googling for some ideas.

[Faye]

Really interesting info there Wayne, it's interesting to me to see how much I already knew or agreed with

Edit I think for me I apply the same principles here as I do in my working life, things like team work, communication and feedback.

[Rafi]

i think some things that similarly apple here are the articles:

The real purpose of forum moderators

5 early signs your forum is failing *dz isn't all 5, but the one about making contact really applies >_>*

and probably the biggest (that this forum is practically opposite of):

5 ways to show your members you love them.

very interesting articles that people should read ._.

[Wayne]

Thanks Rafi for your support,
as for my opinion though, I think the articles we could all learn from the most are:

Why are active forum members like gold dust?
Current events can strengthen communities
Forums don’t have to be popular to be good

I really learned some interesting things I'll be keeping in mind
whenever I post on on DZ

[Rafi]

me too wayne. I actually learned alot from all of these articles. that Martin guy is really smart. It's all sociology and psychology XD

[Brad]

Nice find. Now all we have to do is get everybody to read them

[TripelS]

Cool Find!

I read the two articles

1. About the Moderators
2. Active Members like gold dust

These were interesting... may apply some stuff while posting here~!

[Myles]

That one about the Mods was interesting. XD I've been on police-state forums before. It's awful fun sport to push the mods as far as they can go before banning on those type of military-style forums. n.n Not that I'd EVER do such a thing...

I kinda think an awesome mod forum is where mods are there to do all that stuff as a kind of side job- if they have the time because their too busy contributing or having fun to have to spend half their time chasing members around the forum and kicking their butts into line. o.O

And it's kinda sad on my part. XD I sorta see people on the internet in some bizarre Futurama fashion. I still treat them like real people, just I'm more confident about interacting with them so to speak because I view them as some sorta generic face type-thing. XD


Wow. That was interesting to read. o.O No idea people even WROTE stuff like this.