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Managing Online Forums
Posted by
samzenpus
on Mon Feb 09, 2009 02:06 PM
from the read-all-about-it dept.
from the read-all-about-it dept.
stoolpigeon writes "I vividly remember the first time I was able to dial up a BBS with my Commodore VIC-20. It was Star Trek themed, and I was excited to see that the Sysop was online. We typed a few lines of text back and forth while I hollered to everyone in the house that I was talking to someone through the computer. Things have come a long way since then, and I've put in quite a few hours experiencing one of the more exciting sides of the internet: participating in community. Of course it hasn't all been great. Communities on-line are just like any other, in that there are differences of opinion and issues that arise. Some are handled well, some are not. Social interaction can be very complicated, and learning how to manage a social site can be a process that involves a lot of painful lessons. Fortunately not all of our learning has to come through direct experience. Sometimes we have the opportunity to learn from the experience of others. Patrick O'Keefes book Managing Online Forums is that guide to the budding leader of the web's next great community. Keep reading for the rest of JR's review.
Since the reader will be relying on O'Keefes experience and opinions, his personal history in the subject at hand is extremely relevant. He has been involved in web site design since 1998 and managing online communities since 2000. As the founder and owner of the iFroggy Network he has extensive experience in managing site policy, staff and members. O'Keefe is also active in other communities including his role as a moderator for Sitepoint. Patrick has also published articles there on forum management.
The book's byline is that it provides everything that you need to know to run a successful community discussion board. There is a wide range of topics covered though the emphasis is primarily placed on what I would call the soft side of community management. The technical discussion is limited, though it is there. There is no real discussion of how to go about setting up software. There are some suggestions as to choosing a domain name and software. Two options are given for software, vBulletin and phpBB. Each is described in a summary consisting of a few paragraphs of basic information. There is little discussion of installation from a technical standpoint. The most technical information deals with the core issues of security and backing up data. I didn't see this as a real weakness as there is already plenty of documentation on these choices and many more. Adding it all in would have really bulked up the book while distracting from the primary mission which is informing the reader on building successful communities.
While there is not much technical detail, there is discussion of features from a social perspective. O'Keefe doesn't discuss whether or not a feature should be used because performance or storage ramification but rather focuses on the positives or negatives in terms of managing how participants might view or use those options. This is the information that is not already out there in multiple places. O'Keefe is able to discuss from experience how he has seen users react to these features in the past as well as warning of any possible benefits or pitfalls. This is of course his opinion on these matters. This fact about the nature of the book is going to make or break it for the reader.
I envision that someone would come to this book from three possible positions. They may already have a strong opinion of the issues presented and disagree with the author. On the other hand they may agree. The last group would be people who come without strong presuppositions. I think that the first group would not enjoy the book, there is no objective evidence or argument that will bring these people over. This is after all, subjective opinion. The other two groups I think have a lot to gain, the third group most of all. A person who comes to the material with an open mind, looking for options and guidance will I gain a strong preparation for dealing with a number of issues that are almost certain to arise in online groups.
The book begins by quickly reviewing a set of basic questions that should be asked before a site is set up for a new community. They are fundamental but important and I think it is surprising how many endeavors to build communities don't seem to have considered them. The are, "What will your community cover?", "Whom do you want to attract?", "What will the benefits of your community be?", and "How will you support the community financially?". All of these questions, the naming of the community and site, hosting and software are covered up front.
In each of the following major sections, the author's advice is accompanied by example templates and policies. In chapter three, "Developing Guidelines", the community guidelines for KarateForums.com and SitePoint.com are printed. There are excellent documents in the chapter on managing staff that give good examples of staff guidelines that can be used in those communities that grow and the work of management needs to be shared. All of these are built on real policies and guidelines. The staff section also includes a nice decision matrix for various situations that may arise, such as hot linking or cross posting.
The chapter "Banning Users and Dealing with Chaos" is of course full of interesting examples and history. It is also very valuable. The fact is any successful community will need to deal with adverse conditions and this is where inexperience can be the most costly. O'Keefe outlines likely scenarios and how to handle them. He also gives further examples of guidelines that can help the administrator in staying above the fray and maintaining their sanity when things can be very contentious. From the personal anecdotes, O'Keefe has already been through much of the worse that the web has to offer. This chapter and all that it entails is balance by a chapter on creating a good and healthy environment as well as the importance of keeping things interesting.
Two other chapters deal with what I think of as the business side of running forums. There is a chapter on developing traffic. I was glad to see that this included not only what to do but also what not to do. And there are similar warning within methods that can be used in a positive way or a negative way. O'Keefe cautions against activities that may bring what appear to be short term gains but do not really build sustainable community. While physically separate in the book, I found that this section dovetailed with the chapter on generating income. O'Keefe basically runs down all the various methods for making money with a site. Once again he give the pros and cons as well as strong warnings against the things that are going to be counter productive.
There are three appendices. The first is a list of resources, the second is a set of blank templates that match the examples given in the body of the book and the third is a glossary. I think that glossary is an important because I believe that this book would be an excellent guide to anyone who wants to not only form an online community but is new to the whole idea. These folks may be very caught off guard by the things they will probably need to deal with, beyond the technical issues of getting a site up and running. This book would probably be something that anyone out there setting up sites for others could quickly recommend to help the new manager to be be successful once the site is up and live.
I think there is a lot here also for those with some experience on-line if they don't have a lot of experience running a community site or if they are just looking for some new ideas. I've been corresponding with others electronically for quite a while and I still found quite a bit here that was of value. There is also the strength of going in with policies and actions that are built to head off problems rather than respond to them once they have taken place. I would think this gives any new community a much higher chance of growing and thriving. Managing Online Forums is unique in this regard, to my knowledge. Taking on the human side of managing a site rather than just the technical components.
You can purchase Managing Online Forums from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
The book's byline is that it provides everything that you need to know to run a successful community discussion board. There is a wide range of topics covered though the emphasis is primarily placed on what I would call the soft side of community management. The technical discussion is limited, though it is there. There is no real discussion of how to go about setting up software. There are some suggestions as to choosing a domain name and software. Two options are given for software, vBulletin and phpBB. Each is described in a summary consisting of a few paragraphs of basic information. There is little discussion of installation from a technical standpoint. The most technical information deals with the core issues of security and backing up data. I didn't see this as a real weakness as there is already plenty of documentation on these choices and many more. Adding it all in would have really bulked up the book while distracting from the primary mission which is informing the reader on building successful communities.
While there is not much technical detail, there is discussion of features from a social perspective. O'Keefe doesn't discuss whether or not a feature should be used because performance or storage ramification but rather focuses on the positives or negatives in terms of managing how participants might view or use those options. This is the information that is not already out there in multiple places. O'Keefe is able to discuss from experience how he has seen users react to these features in the past as well as warning of any possible benefits or pitfalls. This is of course his opinion on these matters. This fact about the nature of the book is going to make or break it for the reader.
I envision that someone would come to this book from three possible positions. They may already have a strong opinion of the issues presented and disagree with the author. On the other hand they may agree. The last group would be people who come without strong presuppositions. I think that the first group would not enjoy the book, there is no objective evidence or argument that will bring these people over. This is after all, subjective opinion. The other two groups I think have a lot to gain, the third group most of all. A person who comes to the material with an open mind, looking for options and guidance will I gain a strong preparation for dealing with a number of issues that are almost certain to arise in online groups.
The book begins by quickly reviewing a set of basic questions that should be asked before a site is set up for a new community. They are fundamental but important and I think it is surprising how many endeavors to build communities don't seem to have considered them. The are, "What will your community cover?", "Whom do you want to attract?", "What will the benefits of your community be?", and "How will you support the community financially?". All of these questions, the naming of the community and site, hosting and software are covered up front.
In each of the following major sections, the author's advice is accompanied by example templates and policies. In chapter three, "Developing Guidelines", the community guidelines for KarateForums.com and SitePoint.com are printed. There are excellent documents in the chapter on managing staff that give good examples of staff guidelines that can be used in those communities that grow and the work of management needs to be shared. All of these are built on real policies and guidelines. The staff section also includes a nice decision matrix for various situations that may arise, such as hot linking or cross posting.
The chapter "Banning Users and Dealing with Chaos" is of course full of interesting examples and history. It is also very valuable. The fact is any successful community will need to deal with adverse conditions and this is where inexperience can be the most costly. O'Keefe outlines likely scenarios and how to handle them. He also gives further examples of guidelines that can help the administrator in staying above the fray and maintaining their sanity when things can be very contentious. From the personal anecdotes, O'Keefe has already been through much of the worse that the web has to offer. This chapter and all that it entails is balance by a chapter on creating a good and healthy environment as well as the importance of keeping things interesting.
Two other chapters deal with what I think of as the business side of running forums. There is a chapter on developing traffic. I was glad to see that this included not only what to do but also what not to do. And there are similar warning within methods that can be used in a positive way or a negative way. O'Keefe cautions against activities that may bring what appear to be short term gains but do not really build sustainable community. While physically separate in the book, I found that this section dovetailed with the chapter on generating income. O'Keefe basically runs down all the various methods for making money with a site. Once again he give the pros and cons as well as strong warnings against the things that are going to be counter productive.
There are three appendices. The first is a list of resources, the second is a set of blank templates that match the examples given in the body of the book and the third is a glossary. I think that glossary is an important because I believe that this book would be an excellent guide to anyone who wants to not only form an online community but is new to the whole idea. These folks may be very caught off guard by the things they will probably need to deal with, beyond the technical issues of getting a site up and running. This book would probably be something that anyone out there setting up sites for others could quickly recommend to help the new manager to be be successful once the site is up and live.
I think there is a lot here also for those with some experience on-line if they don't have a lot of experience running a community site or if they are just looking for some new ideas. I've been corresponding with others electronically for quite a while and I still found quite a bit here that was of value. There is also the strength of going in with policies and actions that are built to head off problems rather than respond to them once they have taken place. I would think this gives any new community a much higher chance of growing and thriving. Managing Online Forums is unique in this regard, to my knowledge. Taking on the human side of managing a site rather than just the technical components.
You can purchase Managing Online Forums from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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first? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
One of the better features of Slashdot is that posts don't get removed, just moderated.
Scientologist? (Score:2)
I thought Slashdot had to remove the posts the Scientologist abjected with?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes?
It's just not as easy to start your own topics, but otherwise it has pretty much all the features a (normal?) forum has.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:first? (Score:5, Funny)
Keeping with the theme, it should be the third or fourth chapter ;)
Parent
Does this really need a book? (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, it needs a book (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Nope -- it's more difficult.
Rockets don't have emotions, and they won't get you in trouble by posting child porn to your family-oriented website.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If you don't care about the quality of your online discussion, then no, I guess it's not.
Re:Does this really need a book? (Score:4, Funny)
One example: We could use a moderation system to clear out unhelpful, anti-intellectual comments.
I know, hard to believe some people still haven't heard of that, but it's true.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly the greatest issue is that forums usually represent a commercial interest and that forces a certain biased viewpoint that can effect forum users. I know of no fix for this built in conflict and basic fairness is often flushed right down the tubes.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I have to agree.
Also people dumb enough to need a book on how to run an online forum probably aren't smart enough to read anyway, making the likelihood of them running a forum even lower.
Re:Chapter: how to fight BOT spam (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
1) If your users hate registering force them to key in the text on a hashed image. Get 40+ hashed images with text and you are good to go. Better if you get a program that will randomly generate them.
2) If users don't care about registration, then use that and include the hashed image.
Now you just killed bot-spammers. I had a client with the bot-spam (thousands of messages each day killing the 50-100 posts from her users). She didn't want them to have to register to post so we did the
Re: (Score:2)
Anyhow, the site is: http://executivemoms.ning.com/profiles/blogs/speaking-as-mom-of-the-month [ning.com] & tge registration is http://executivemoms.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp?target=http%3A%2F%2Fexecutivemoms.ning.com%2Fprofiles%2Fblogs%2Fspeaking-as-mom-of-the-month [ning.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. I'm running a phpBB3 forum and have noticed a sharp uptick in bot traffic in the last week. Added a couple of hacks to fix it today, and I'm ahead for the time being...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So sc
Re: (Score:2)
Usually the SYSOP or Admin asks to be sent an email to verify the user is real and not a bot. Posting privileges are not given until the admin can talk to the user via email.
Once the user puts a bot on their account or the account gets hacked, you just ban by IP address so it does not happen again.
huh? (Score:2)
Re:huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
How absurd! You don't get mod points UNLESS you contribute.
Re: (Score:2)
I believe you have to post to get /. mod points, but the whole thing about /. mods is that even if they are retards, there are a lot of them and things that get modded up to a visible level have impressed several retards (um, moderators) without un-impressing a larger number.
This, combined with the absurd volume of posts on any given article, allows /. to bury most of the chaff (and a good bit of wheat), while presenting at least a few worthwhile comments.
Back on your average mom and pop blog you'd expect
Re: (Score:2)
Also, I think your point is overstated. A person who makes a real attempt at a good post is almost never modded troll. The very worst threads, IMO, are on global warming where the modpoints do fly even against well-made arguments. But in general it is extremely rare
But... (Score:2)
When will Slashdot book reviewers learn... (Score:5, Insightful)
That one specific example is worth a hundred vague statements? Remember the standard writing mantra: "Show, don't tell." Show us examples of cases he's dealt with, solutions that worked, solutions that failed, etc.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Go!
Buy this for the Editors (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
The VIC-20 memory lane... (Score:2, Offtopic)
That it had 4K of RAM and 8k of ROM.
That the best game for it was UBISOFT's "Spiders of Mars"
That the 5.25 floppy drive was model # 1701, just because... you know... that was cool.
That the disk drive was a huge luxury in itself, and most software shipped on cassette tape.
That the VIC-20 was from the FUTURE, and therefore Commodore's first celebrity spokesperson was Bill Shatner.
Keep 'em coming....
Re: (Score:2)
We had a 1540 and 1541 floppy drive. Got about 170K per side. Single sided double density 5.25" floppy disks. Very slow, but you could load a game in 15 to 20 minutes. For the datasette drive you could load a game, eat dinner, and be done and it was still loading. But by the time you used the bathroom and washed the dishes the datasette game was loaded.
Re: (Score:2)
Good book - useful info for all experience levels (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow has it been that long?!? (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder... (Score:2)
It would be great (Score:2)
if it listed forums of moderators who already follows that advise. So we can cut out time on forums populated by trolls, astroturfers, and fascist admins who only allow their political views to be aired and censor everything else or chase away the users by becoming bullies and trolls to them.
Covered in Chapter 3... (Score:2)
The quickest way to ruin a good forum is to tell other people where it is.
My advice, save a few bucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
I've run several social sites, here's the only advice you need for moderating:
1. Use a light touch, gentle moderation works wonders.
2. Always handle things in private if possible.
3. Avoid posting as an administrator.
4. Never, EVER, EVER make it personal.
5. Use a light touch, gentle moderation works wonders.
I started in 1985, C-Net 64, I've seen enough users, flamewars, and total meltdowns.
Why my forums disappeared (Score:3, Interesting)
I had to shut my forums down because the spam problem got so out of control. Funny how far blogs are ahead of forums in keeping control of this stuff.
Re:Trolling? (Score:5, Interesting)
I run a website that, among other things, includes local restaurant "reviews". I have found myself constantly combating not your typical troll (I get some of that, but for the most part it's minimal) but astroturfers. Restaurant owners rarely like what I have to say about their restaurant and being that I usually outrank them on Google, they are trying to get people's opinion swayed their way.
I have to pay close attention to logs including e-mail addresses and IP ranges as well as referrers to piece together their lame attempts. I wonder how many other people out there have a similar problem. Are you noticing an uptick in traffic from mailed URLs with friends, family, and others (sometimes paid via Amazon's Turk) to attempt and negate what is being said on your website/forum?
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I probably think that way because I am not a fan of censorship. You're providing a soapbox and limiting who can use it. Which is your right, it's your soapbox.
If anything it would promote people to go and try the restaurant and make the decision on if it is good
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Please don't misunderstand... I ask for the input of the public and I really want to hear it. What I do not want to see are several comments, all from the same IP address, originating from the same Yahoo Mail referrer, using e-mail addresses which bounce, and giving words of praise about how awesome everything was for them.
If someone is an owner or otherwise affiliated with an establishment, I want to hear them say exactly that. They don't want to say that because they know how it looks to others reading th
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with this, backed when I said: "pretending to be different people; that would be crossing the line"
I was commenting on this portion:
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
whether it's a BBS, Usenet group, listserv, or Wordpress blog with feedback, user groups are user groups and it doesn't take more than a couple of bad actors to spoil the experience.
Moderators who care and connect well with the group seem to be key to a thriving open community, regardless of technology.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
*Reply to All* - "Please take me off this list and stop spamming me."
Like dropping a lit match into a gasoline tanker.
Re: (Score:2)
Use NNTP. Listservs are an abomination.