Advice From The Masters

I long time ago in a forum far, far away I posted in the Community Owners forum asking what their advice was on building a successful forum. Here are what the experts (at least to me) have to say:

(Tom (C-YtEK)) Popular, broard, [controversial] issues.

Don't limit your subject matter too much. the broarder the topic the more discussion you can have on it. [...]

Advertise but don't spam. Word of mouth will do a far better job of attracting members than by pissing them off in other communitys with spam.

Find a topic a group of people (your friends is easiest) is already interested in, tell them about your intention to start the community, a community started with one member tends to bomb out, but if you have a handful people see potential for discussion.

(Carolyn) Some of your decisions will piss people off, and some of them will have even people you like disagreeing with you. Own your decisions. That doesn't mean that you should be unwilling to reconsider if you've been wrong, but don't be afraid to say, "I made a decision, live with it."

(Dr. Awkward) I'm in favor of strong moderation. Some (but not all) of my communities are strictly English and I delete all Portuguese posts. [...] All off topic spam gets deleted too and so do troll posts full of hatred. I'm sure most members appreciate this and if not...tough luck.

One of the tones stressed is moderation of forums. Although I generally try avoid being the "censor police" (unless of coarse it is violent and threatening) I can see their point in why filtering out "the trash" helps promote discussion. Forums without rules are forums without purpose and only by checking out their communities do I see their advice producing fruitful forums.

Gabrielle also had some suggestions, which I consider the "icing on the cake" for those seeking to build successful forums. Here are some of her suggestions below:

• Have an descriptive profile for your community. Basically, what the prospective members can find, who should join, etc...


• Announce it to your friends, in Orkut and outside


• Inform members of related communities (i.e.: if you create a community called science, people hanging in other communities such as mathematics, biology, chemistry, engineering, etc... are likely to have some interest in your community too. Silly example but you get the gist of it.). In the threads not in messages, this pisses me off so I do not inflict it on others;


• Equally important, ask the owner for their permission and create reciprocical links


• Post. I see communities where the owner/moderator has created a community just go away without ever posting anything, what is the point? Also, you give the tone by posting...


• Try to spend time with your members. Get to know them. By doing so, you are most likely to know what makes them tick and then source the relevant information that is likely to interest them


• Use gimmicks to make them loyal to your community, wanting to come back. My ebook community allows me to post my list and offer to share my books with them. Painstaking time spent on this but worth it


• Keep the motivation up. It is easy to spend two hours a days for three weeks and then disappear for a few weeks, but this is a mistake. Even ask somebody to moderate for you while you are away or if your need a break.

Gabrielle last two suggestions are probably unheard of throughout the Orkut forums, but both of them are probably the reasons why many of her members visit her communities. It would be fun to collect everyone's tips and write them in a small book, but for now a weblog will have to do. ;)