Everything posted by Shawn Gossman
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I got off TT long ago. I wish I had never got on it, though. I don't feel like my rights have been violated by the gov axing it, personally. -
I have 5 forums on XenForo 2.3, 2 forums on vBulletin 6, 1 forum on SMF, 1 forum on phpBB3, and 1 forum on MyBB. The forums on SMF, phpBB3, and MyBB are more there for me to play with the software since its been years since I used any of them. I don't really plan to make those communities active. So, I have 7 forums that I try to keep active. I told myself just 1 forum when I came back but I know me and I'm too addicted to them LOL but so far, I'm not overwhelmed.
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Welcome to the community! :)
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Well, Russia is in wannabe Soviet Union mode, so I'm not shocked. I watch a YouTuber called Sabatical. He travels the world. I noticed he got arrested and imprisoned in Russia for a little while. They look for every chance they get to mess with a foreigner.
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I haven't used ProBoards since the very early days it came out. I'd hope the admin control panel has changed. I found SMF to be difficult for a while. I think the admin panel could be organized a bit better. For example, why not put all settings in one tab rather than a settings page for each tab? But it's merely personal preference rather than the way it should be. Opinion. But SMF was quick to get the hang of it. vBulletin 6 has been a learning experience. Channel manager is how you add forums, and it can be tricky, too, but once you get it, it becomes a lot easier to manage.
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To me, that's a whole different topic. I thought it was about software. The ads and spam were something added. I've never joined a phpBB or SMF forum and got a spam ad, and I've been on forums for over 20 years. Your experience was manipulation of the software, not an out-of-the-box feature.
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Oh, man! Beat by Pete LOL
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Upgraded. Am I the first?
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I love the use of the table in this post! :D As for the topic, yes, it works. It could create toxicity really quickly, though, and if it does and you posted it, you have you to blame. You have to be careful about it. I do it occasionally with my blog. I run ads on my blog. It usually goes a little viral, and I make a little extra from the ads. However, it's easier to avoid it turning too toxic on a blog versus on a forum. A forum is too user-generated to control much of it.
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Why not use the Wikipedia strategy? Do a donation drive. Don't just do one campaign. Do a few a year to meet your cost goals. Back when I was an assistant fire chief, our department needed money. Our village was poor and underfunded. We couldn't justify raising taxes or charging more money if we responded to their fires. We all were 100% volunteers as well. So, we did multiple boot drives each year. That's when you stand at an intersection with a firefighter boot and ask drives to donate. If you did that a few times a year, you'd usually make enough for the annual expense of your firehouse. The same concept can work with a forum. Although, I think it's important to go into making your forum if you can afford it in the first place. It might take years to make money, even through donations. If you're too broke, you might consider not making a forum or at least using a free hosting platform.
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It wasn't very easy. What made me mad about it the most was my staff policy, which stated that no one could be a criminal or felon of major crimes. He was a felon. He was an adult. His victim was a teenager. They weren't too far apart. It created even more drama for me. I then required all staff to give their real names so I could search to make sure they were legit. They then accused me of not trusting them, which was a right accusation. I handled it all wrong, but it was the first time, and I was really young. It was a tough one. I totally understand everything you mentioned above, too. While I don't regret doing it, I do get what you're getting at. Could I ban someone for being a criminal? If I did, I would be a hypocrite. I purposely drive 5-10 miles over the speed limit. I've done it since I've started driving. I knowingly break the speed limit. It was actually from a forum long before me, and you met. One of my old weather forums.
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I try to hire from within. I do like to put a posting up to see who's interested. Then I look at the ones who are and see hoe they have been on the forum previously. Many of them will get really active once you post the listing, but you also want to look at past activity. I'll usually go with someone who matches my own style. :)
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I terminated one (and banned him) after I discovered he was a registered sex offender. I first asked him, which is confirmed, but he said since it's the internet, he didn't feel he needed to say anything. I couldn't have it. I banned him for life, and in all honesty, I don't regret that decision. We had child members on the forum, too. Other than that, I only "demoted" staff members when they became inactive and never came back.
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I've coordinated a lot of volunteer organizations in the past. They've mainly been related to disaster response or firefighting, but I think you can often take the same concepts and apply them to a forum of volunteer team members. :) For starters, the best volunteer is a busy volunteer. Give them something to do, a task to work on when they log on to the forum, an assignment that they own and feel responsible for. Just make sure the task helps lead up to a large goal of the forum. That helps to instill responsibility to complete their task. I've noticed a higher retention rate in volunteer groups when they are in a family-like environment rather than a workplace-like environment. Befriend your staff members and make your team feel like one big family. Know each other's lives, get personal, ask one another for life advice, and be real friends. That's how loyalty is formed. This is at least what I would try to do if I was leading a larger staff team.
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I'm sure you're right. The bigger picture is they're not doing well. But for the standard user, myself, my page and community are doing well. I have several large FB groups that are not on the decline. I have a growing page that nears a million impressions a month and keeps rising, and I am still earning pretty big ad and performance bonuses from them. I figure once the money starts decreasing, I'll know Facebook is on the decline because I really pay attention to engagement rates on my page and groups. Nonetheless, I know Facebook is a rented space. I've continued to try to convert followers and fans to my newsletter, where I have access to the contact list. FB is a great tool but should never be the main product. I wish I had started my group on a forum first. I've tried to convert, but it's not been promising. I have a group with 47,000 members. It's very active, too. That would look good on a forum!
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They've been fairly successful stealing ideas form others, though. LOL
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Most of the time, it's off-topic posts. The "What did you do today?" and "What are you listening to?" types of content. They're just easier for members to respond to. For niche topics, in order to get more replies, we need to be more engaging and post replies that continue the conversation forward. A lot of folks post answers but don't really post anything to keep it going. It really should be a goal to make every post a couple of pages long.
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I focus on searchable terms that relate to my forum. I also try to make sure I name something in a manner that tells the viewer exactly what it will be. Google wants anchor text to be descriptive. That's for links. For categories and boards are links so the anchor text needs to be explanatory and lead to content that the viewer expects to see based on the terms that are in use.
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Typically, I will only lock informational threads that I want people to create new topics about. For member posts, if a debate has gone so long that now it's just an argument that is not contributing, I'll lock it. That's usually the only time I really lock posts.
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What caused it? I ask for those of us who have XF in case it happens to us. :)
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I'm listening to a podcast about buying silver. It's pretty interesting. I need to buy more silver.
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If you can do it, try to have a target audience before you even start your forum. Finding your target audience is best done in the planning phase. This allows you to create a community based on their needs, wants, and pain points without trying to figure it out after you've launched and effectively giving yourself more work after you discover it.
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Interesting. That might be a very good feature for blogging as well as forums.
