MESKOS Forum Development Blog

Should communities ban the discussion of certain topics?

It’s a fact that more controversial topics may encourage hatred, flaming and other negative sorts of behaviors. But on the other hand, it motivates members to engage forum discussions. What should we do?

What is the subject of your forum?

If you decide to ban the discussion of certain topics, you must acknowledge what your forum subject is. For example, if you run a world news forum, the banning of topics regarding politics would limit and affect the community. Why? Because politics is a significant aspect of the news in today’s world. Even though the topic may develop heat within the discussion, it will psychologically encourage members to re-visit the forum to emphasis their point again.

What level of moderation should be executed?

To prevent the discussion traveling off-topic, reasonable moderation will be needed. But remember, to maintain a successful forum, you can’t just sit on your back side. Staff don’t need to sit at their computer, refreshing their window to keep track of the topic. To moderate it, simple visit it once in a while to make sure all replies are responses to the subject.

If you encounter any unhealthy replies, simple remind the members with a friendly notice about staying on-track and encourage a healthy debate. A great example would be topics regarding religion or politics, members often have strong views about those subjects. It is expected that members may become extremely passionate when discussing them, so the best way to prevent any abuse would be a friendly PM.

What type of members does your community attract?

Every community should attract their own type of members - if not, they should be! If your forum is targeted to more mature members, you will notice their will be a dramatic drop in flaming (or any other form of unhealthy acts). Usually mature forums don’t need the banning of any specific topic because they are handled/discussed appropriately, in a mature manner.

But if your forum is targeted to the younger generation, or those who are sensitive to disagreeing in them, you might consider the banning of specific topics.

Give your members a chance.

I would suggest all members adopt a laissez-faire approach in setting rules for your community. The more strict you are, the less you encourage your members. Allow the discussion of topics, take the risk. If you notice an up-rising of flaming, take action.

Your thoughts

Do you ban the discussion of certain topics? Do you actively encourage controversy and passionate debate? Has this ever come back to haunt you? Share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.

Tags: banning, flaming, forum, successful, topics

Successful Forum Tips

Successful Forum Tips
Here are some additional tips on developing a successful forum. These tips do not guarantee a successful forum, it all depends on how well you integrate them into your community.

• Make sure you know your topic. Do not create a forum which you don’t know much about. Don’t leave topics or discussions empty, Google for answers if needed. I’m not saying you need to know everything about the topic, know enough to create discussions, join in etc.
• Unique hacks and features. Many forums are successful due to its unique features. Additional hacks and mods for a forum can really bring a new atmosphere to the community and may even spike new interests from the members. Such as: Currency (money), banks, stores etc really boost up activity.
• Not too many topics. (In response to my Establishment Tip entry). Yes, do have topics when you open your forum but don’t have pages of them and left empty. The fewer the topics the better because it will condense your content and appear more active.
• Affiliates. Affiliates are highly useful for new forums. Affiliate with related forums to build up your member base and name. Don’t affiliate with forums which have relevance to you or your wasting your traffic.

Good Luck again everyone.

Written by
Michael. W
© MESKOS Forum Development Blog 2008
Redistribution of this article will be violating copyright laws.
Please contact me if you would like this doc. submitted to your forum/website.

Tags: creating, forum, successful, tips

Tips on Maintaining a Successful Forum

Tips on Maintaining a Successful Forum
Maintaining a successful forum is difficult, but if you use the correct methods to satisfy your members and motivate them in regular contests, discussions etc. the job will not be as difficult. Here are some tips which i would recommend you put into action to motivate your members and maintaining the forum activity.

• Improve the registration rate and activity rate to eliminate any sense of inactivity. How? Invite friends and family to register and post once in a while.
• Give incentives to members who are active at your forum. Rewards may include: Free advertisement, a custom group, profile/account enhancement, etc. Depending on your forum genre, you can provide a service.
• Requirements, don’t hide all your resources from your members. Hide the “premium” resources from your regular members. Many admins make the wrong decision by making 25 post requirements for gfx requests, then another 10 posts to use these resources etc etc. This just encourages spam. I found that if you set one standard requirement to view all resources/access to services, it will improve the forum activity/less spam in general.
• Don’t act GOD! Many administrators close topics, abuse power and intimidate members, obviously this will cause disputes and loss of activity. Learn to acknowledge members input.
• Moderation - Not too strict, not too lose. Keep it moderate. But definitely remove spam no matter what.
• Offer interesting titles to users, forum awards and other offers to keep people posting in your forum.

I hope this article helps you in maintaining a successful forum. More tips will come soon in “Tips on Maintaining a Successful Forum Part 2″.

Written by
Michael. W
© MESKOS Forum Development Blog 2008
Redistribution of this article will be violating copyright laws.
Please contact me if you would like this doc. submitted to your forum/website.

Tags: maintain, successful

Creating a Successful Forum

Creating a Successful Forum.

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General

Lets begin with “why do you want to create a forum?”. Lets do some research.

1. Will you dedicate enough time and effort to create a successful forum?
2. Are you entering a solid competition market?
3. Will you be able to convince members to join your forum and leave others?
4. Do you really need to run a forum?
5. Is your idea unique? Will it be useful?
6. Am i re-creating another forum with a different name? (Same services etc)

You should take a few moments answering those questions yourself honestly.

Recently and in the past i have seen an overwhelming number of resource boards coming into play. If you are deciding to create a resource forum - don’t. Only if you have the knowledge and experience to out-run some of the largest resource boards out there, including the IFSZ.

Key Aspects of a Successful Forum:

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Skin. The skin is perhaps one of the more significant aspects of a successful forum. You will notice, most of the active forums have a nice looking skin. I do not encourage you to find a whored skin which is seen on all IPB, IF etc forums but a unique theme which suits your forum genre. Take a few days searching for a suitable skin and working on the forum layout.

Content. Content is the heart of your board. Members join for content, your resources and your discussions. That is what the forum is made up of, text.

When creating a forum, who joins a board with one member online and only 100 posts? This is where you need to work a little. My suggestion is gather friends who you know will dedicate their time to post around your forum and help you create some activity. Keep topics detailed and interesting which will motivate members to discuss. Example: If you’re creating a Prison Break forum don’t start topics like, “How did you find Season 1?” take some time and extend the topic so more discussions can be made, Eg. Discussing the plots, twists, backstage etc.

Once you have around 10-20 dedicated posters, your forum is on a steady level.

Staff. Staffing, many new forum owners find promoting a large number of members to work for them is beneficial. Do Not. If your forum is small, only have 1-2 staff members max. Overloading teams just creates confusion. Honestly, you won’t even have the time to keep track of each associate.

Why is my forum so slow? Members are always thinking beyond expectations. Gaining 1,000 members is not a daily experience. Members are lucky to even gather 500 dedicated members within a whole year. So don’t give-up if your forum is slow, an active community takes to to develop. Keep promoting, open daily topics for new discussions, motivate members to post with recognition, prizes etc.

Innovating. When your forum is on a stable level, you should then decide, “Can my skills be taken further?” Shock your members, bring new services/discussions etc to your forum. To keep your old members dedicated, changes are needed. Imagine visiting the same forum(s) everyday for a year, how boring would it be?

Now its your turn, after reading this article, i hope it has helped you decide if you should create your own forum and if you do, the tips i provided.

Written by
Michael. W
© MESKOS Forum Development Blog 2008
Redistribution of this article will be violating copyright laws.
Please contact me if you would like this doc. submitted to your forum/website.

Tags: development, forum, success, successful, traffic