Article How (Not) to Run a Community (1 Viewer)

[Cedric]

This thread is for the general discussion of the Article How (Not) to Run a Community. Please add to the discussion here.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I believe these are the reasons why forums end up being abandoned too quickly. Some people expect others to come flocking to their forum, even if it doesn't have any posts on it! Also anyone running a community thinking it's all about them shouldn't bother running a community, I wouldn't want to join a forum where the owner came off as a dictator.

 

[Joshua Farrell]

One of the forums I've been on before, the owner felt the need to constantly pay to get people to join, even if it meant forking out all of his disposable income, if it meant he got people to join and be active eventually without paid content. In the end, nearly all of the people who joined up because of pay, left. This same forum, also had overzealous moderation. While that in itself isn't bad if you want to make sure people you pay, are contributing quality, it also distracts from the purpose of the end goal, and people who aren't there to get paid from the paid posting, will end up getting penalized because all the moderators see, is content they think is low quality, without considering context.

By all means, run a forum how you like, but I don't want to be on a forum that doesn't have moderators that knows the difference between someone looking to get paid for what they post, and someone that genuinely wants to chat with people for no purpose other than to enjoy being around people who wants to contribute.

I wasted countless hours trying to drill in to the brains of these people that harsh moderation isn't what was needed, and actually looking into where things are posted and it's context, was much better for moderation. In the end, the main culprits of this overbearing moderation, refused to care enough to take what I was trying to drill in moderation practices, as legitimate help.

 

[Cedric]

One of the forums I've been on before, the owner felt the need to constantly pay to get people to join, even if it meant forking out all of his disposable income, if it meant he got people to join and be active eventually without paid content. In the end, nearly all of the people who joined up because of pay, left. This same forum, also had overzealous moderation. While that in itself isn't bad if you want to make sure people you pay, are contributing quality, it also distracts from the purpose of the end goal, and people who aren't there to get paid from the paid posting, will end up getting penalized because all the moderators see, is content they think is low quality, without considering context.

By all means, run a forum how you like, but I don't want to be on a forum that doesn't have moderators that knows the difference between someone looking to get paid for what they post, and someone that genuinely wants to chat with people for no purpose other than to enjoy being around people who wants to contribute.

I wasted countless hours trying to drill in to the brains of these people that harsh moderation isn't what was needed, and actually looking into where things are posted and it's context, was much better for moderation. In the end, the main culprits of this overbearing moderation, refused to care enough to take what I was trying to drill in moderation practices, as legitimate help.

I know what you're talking about. Truth to be told, there is always a doubtful quality matter on content. If they're not their genuinely for their passion but for the fact that they earn, then the quality often just bad.

 

[Timelord_]

One of the forums I've been on before, the owner felt the need to constantly pay to get people to join, even if it meant forking out all of his disposable income, if it meant he got people to join and be active eventually without paid content. In the end, nearly all of the people who joined up because of pay, left. This same forum, also had overzealous moderation. While that in itself isn't bad if you want to make sure people you pay, are contributing quality, it also distracts from the purpose of the end goal, and people who aren't there to get paid from the paid posting, will end up getting penalized because all the moderators see, is content they think is low quality, without considering context.

By all means, run a forum how you like, but I don't want to be on a forum that doesn't have moderators that knows the difference between someone looking to get paid for what they post, and someone that genuinely wants to chat with people for no purpose other than to enjoy being around people who wants to contribute.

I wasted countless hours trying to drill in to the brains of these people that harsh moderation isn't what was needed, and actually looking into where things are posted and it's context, was much better for moderation. In the end, the main culprits of this overbearing moderation, refused to care enough to take what I was trying to drill in moderation practices, as legitimate help.

When starting a forum, I do not see an issue with this per se. However, once the forum is established, let the community run the community!