We always have posts about the best ways to create thriving communities. I'm interested in seeing everyone's #1 tip for community success!

~Natalia

Well, I find that, as an administrator, you have to be present!! Somebody's gotta get things started, and if you're not there to talk to your members, who will be?? You can't count on them to entertain themselves.

However, that's assuming you have people coming to your site to begin with. I'd love to hear some other tips. . .

Kate Sloan
Customer Support
Infopop Corporation
Moderator: Community Management Forum

"Barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon." - Masahide

I can't really say what my number one tip is. I have to say, either post LOTS or listen to your users. If i didn't listen to my users requests for hacks, colors, forums, etc i wouldn't have a forum.

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Regards,
Greg Hard (aka, MasterMind)

UBB Developers Network

As a last resort, you could advertise your community in newsgroups and and search engines with the phrase "Pictures of Naked Women Here".

Well I have a low amount of users I think about 23 but they are regulars! I had a mare and had to start again from scratch with 6.3.0. The old members are coming back and within the last 4 days I have already had nearly 400 new posts so not bad. I have a lot of posts that get people interested in conversation, start a topic that you can talk about and gets people to mouth off! Good tip that!!

Good ones like Q&A Word association always work... I'm lucky tho' because I already have 7k members using my email and I get new people from the banners that I run on that.

Anyways stop by and let me know what you think!

I got some more tips but You'll have to PM me to get those!


http://chat.spl.at

Jon

Come join the buzz, come chat with us!
http://chat.spl.at

Jonpanky,

I like the way you've done your board.

I think the best way to get a lively community is to have pertinant categories...though not too many. You don't want people going to a category that only has one or 2 posts. That can be kind of depressing as a user...to think you've found something relavent but then not finding usefull information.

I also think posting news or some sort of current events can keep your board fresh. People are always willing to talk about something they heard on the radio or saw online in the last few days. Since we can't talk about the weather, we should have something to fall back on.

As far as design goes, I think keep it readable and easy to navagate. Other than that I could really care less. You are in a forum for information, not because the pretty colors didn't make you want to leave. On the other hand, really obnoxious colors or design can make a user get fed up and leave early.

Design and structure all help, in my opinion the single most important thing in making a community is to (as someone else pointed out) ... listen and react to users feedback, comments and suggestions. It really does help you if your users see the admin as an approachable and helpful person and that a users idea gets implemented.

I think the main reason our community has proved so successful was down to pure luck....I spotted some early members of the site who I approached to become moderators and they have done a great job. We average about 120 new registered members everymonth and now have a great moderator team who are always coming up with new ideas and suggestions. And as has been pointed out already listening and implementing the best of the suggestions has worked a treat.

You can check our site out at MixMeister community

TF

Great feedback guys! I think "great moderators" can sometimes be overlooked in examining a successful community. Thanks for sharing this thought Travelfox.

I'm really pleased with the amount of fantastic feedback this post has generated! This is an excellent source for our community.

My tip would be to have you on line 24/7.

On my site I am the only moderator, however I don't list anyone as a moderator. I do this for two reasons.

1. I tried having moderators once. I chose them from active and insightful members. Unfortunately, those helpful active members, became rude and overbearing once they were given moderator status. Since that time I haven't attempted to pull anyone else in as moderator.

2. I have felt like having no moderators listed for the board, makes people feel as tho they are all the moderators/helpers, helping each other, rather than waiting around for a moderator to chime in with the "right answer".

I'm not sure how strongly I feel about #2 now, but I would like some feedback on #1 and how to get around that problem (or maybe "how to choose good moderators").

Julie

Julie, I think your going to struggle to get round 1 easily. Once someone has the power to do more they often (in time) become complacent and behaviour like you've already experienced is common. I've experienced it myself in my own community (and on more than one occasion).

People sometimes change in the way they post because they are a mod, when in reality all you want them to do is continue in the way they posted before you made them mod (and for the reasons you made them mod).

The only way I can see you getting around it is by working very closely with a chosen mod, make sure before they are made mod they fully understand and agree to the 'rules' you lay before them

My board had been slowly dying off of late. Still plenty of people visiting the board, but very few people posting. I've done several things over the last month or so to try to increase postings but this one seems to have worked the best.

I created and emailed out (to all my registered users as well as to my regular mailing list for the site) a digest of posts on the message board from the last week. It was quite a bit of work to go through and summarize all the major topics that had been discussed in the previous seven days but once I saw the results I knew it was worth the time.

Immideately after the digest went out I saw an increase in not only traffic to the message board but also in posts (to both old threads and new threads created). That increase has stayed in the 4 days since that digest initially went out.

If you can get a few more people posting and starting good topics you'll get others replying. I've even seen the return of some of my old faithfuls that had dissapeared from the board completely.

A couple of other things I've done to help encourage posting...

1. Set up an Introductions Forum - for people to come in and introduce themselves.

2. Enlisted some regulars from the board to be "welcome wagon" members, making sure to reply to anyone who does introduce themselves and make them feel at home.

3. Private message most of the new registrants saying hello and welcoming them to the board and inviting them to post.

4. Posting a link in the header on my main forums page to a post on HOW To Post (amazing how many people don't see those buttons for "post reply" and "post new topic".

Julie
The Swingers Board

Hey Julie,

Thanks for sharing. The digest is an excellent tool. All fantastic ideas.

I'm impressed, you've become quite the pro administrator!

Thanks for the great ideas. I am glad I stumbled upon this thread. I came here for a tech question because I messed something up on my board when I upgraded, and I am happy to see so many others so interested in making their forums better. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was just a matter of time before I joined a community about communities

We have a fairly new board and I am still trying to build it up... it's great to have the luxury of knowledge of so many people with similar interests. I appreciate the fact that I can learn from you guys and hopefully some day I can share some info that might help you as well.

Every fishing board I have been to so far has been at least a year or 2 old. I enjoy reading and posting on several, however I have not been able to figure out a way to get the word out about our board without being blatant. Obviously I wouldn't want to join a forum and solicit my own forum. Can anyone share ideas on how you inform people you even have a board? I am going to make postcards that specifically talk about the site and community to include in internet orders. We will also leave them at all of the vendors currently carrying our t-shirts. There will be several uses for the postcards but I was just curious as to how those of you with active communities informed people you had a board in the first place.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

HotFish, I see you're in FT Lauderdale. Maybe you could advertise at the IGFA or in the IGFA members newsletter?

Instead of postcards maybe attach a removable paper tag to your shirts. The customer will have to remove it and will look it before removing it and it is guaranteed their eyes will see it this way.

One of the most popular (and successful) ways to advertise a site IS to reply to questions on other boards and newsgroups. Your demonstrating your knowledge on the subject and if it's complete people will want to learn more about you. Just put your name and the URL to your site in your signature. Don't include anything else...If you don't make it look like a blatant advertisement most sites will permit it and you will get visitors from it.

Get yourself listed in all the search engines if you're not already. Try to do link and banner exchanges with other sites.

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Steve
Moderator - UBB™Central's Advanced UBB.classic™ Forum

BowlingFans.com™ | BowlingCommunity.com™
Sorry, I won't answer support questions by e-mail, PM, or IM.

Steve has some great ideas there!

Do you have an email list for your clients? You could certainly set up a book in your shop for them to sign up. Then you can send them notices about events, news and encourage them to check out the community. Much better than just spam!

Have you also registered your board with the Show & Shine directory? If not, do so immediately!

It Gurks Me!!!!!!

Capitol Grilling - The Political Parlor Game
http://www.capitolgrilling.com

I get about 30,000 hits per day on my UBB, www.ffcobra.com . I think it's because we keep it simple and keep it working. UBB classic is great, except that the search engines can't find our 6.3 pages

Also, keep the pages loading quick. Our hosting cost is a bunch because we use about 50 gigs of band width each month, so we need advertsiers. But I try to limit advertising so the pages load quick.

One last thing. If you have a trouble maker, get rid of him/her right away. I have another automotive website, www.nsxsc.com that was doing very well, but then a few people came in a ran people off. I should have banned them right away and moved on. Now I have to build that one back up.

Good luck!

- Bill

I have no hard and fast rules: the approach is what I believe is most important. And there are as many approaches as there are purposes for creating an on-line community. Some focus more or mostly on content, because the raison d'être of the board is topically defined or specific (e.g., a company/product board) while others seek to expand on form, because the topic or focus is defined mostly by the participants (e.g., a support group board.)

Having said that, my generic approach to make a succesful, lively community would be captured in one word: consistency.

Be consistent, in tune with your community, because your visitors define and declare its success. As the owner/admin of the board, the job is to streamline the path from "a board" to the community where your target audience feels at home. And a community -- that's especially true when it's a larger one -- evolves over time: the better you're "in touch" the easier it becomes to make the right choices. That's one aspect.

Be consistent, as in the choice of (co)admins and mods: if your key is content, than a keen eye for separating chaff from the real stuff is most precious. If your focus is more on form, then the social skills come much more to the front. That's another thing that plays a big role.

Be consistent, as in the decisions you make as an admin/mod: make sure the rules are patently clear. Set up a "sticky topic" (or a "no posting allowed" forum in UBB.classic) where the rules, conduct code, "repercussions of infringement" and expectations towards behavior are spelled out. As well as tips / instructions on how and when to reach "the staff." That makes it all-round clear what game is played. With clear rules and their predictable application you get a "predictable atmosphere" and people will tend to settle in. Communities are much about a "recognizable" place, and predictability helps.

Be consistent, too, about how the board is ran: once you start listening to suggestions, and instate voting on "big" issues such as mods, setting the clock back is nigh impossible. Think before you leap but: since trust in the mods is an important thing, some form of voting is a good way of committing that trust both ways, by the community as well as the ("elected") mod. It's an obligation to perform well.

Personally, I like to keep a "split persona" on the board: kiko, the admin, and kiko2, the (fellow) member. I use those separate (but similar) nicks, so that it's clear when I'm "playing along" and when I'm "wearing a badge."

And: I don't think it's a good idea to discuss admin or moderation issues "out on the board." Unless you feel like ending up being run by the community...

Sometimes, being an admin is highly ingrate. But just like a captain on a ship, there has to be someone keeping an eye on the target of the enterprise, and the more you succeed in personifying and applying consistency, the greater the stature of your particular management style for the community will become over time, something from which any type of community can only benefit.

Also, what Capitol Grilling brought up, concerning "being true to your chosen branding strategy" should merit a chapter on its own - that's so important!

Some like to keep a "high profile" on the board, other are "low profile" - whichever you feel most comfortable with, and whatever plays best in your community and its purpose. But beware of "cliques."

Ok, I'm running out of key ideas now... I thought I'd cram in here what came to mind, thinking about "community management." Hope it wasn't too longwinded.