Training for forum administrators

Is there any online training for forum administrators? Any online degree or course? Any e-books worth reading?

Where did you receive your training as forum's administrator?

 

I received my training at the school of hard knocks. Some of the classes I highly recommend are

"Staying up all night because the site crashed" university
"I want to throw the monitor out the window", vocational school
"Pull my hair out and scream", community college

But nothing can compare to either "your sites been hacked and defaced" or "restore from last good backup" and its online classes

Regardless of what you may learn from a book, nothing can beat hands on experience.

 

I know those schools and classes all to well. Tis a shame they don't give you that sheepskin to hang on the ego wall. Not only have attended all those schools but find that I still am on an almost daily basis.

 

Like they said, hands on experience is the best training.

However, I went about it slightly differently. I didn't jump right into being an Administrator.

I started as a Moderator, and eventually made it to Super Moderator, then I decided it was time to try my hand at Administrator, so I started my first forum.

 

I went to all three of those schools in one week. They kicked the shit out of me.

As for learning, there is one book out there, but after reading it, all I learned was most of it was common sense. As of now, I am writing an E-Book, but just so lazy to continue it. (Around 20 pages :speechless

 

An e-book from an experienced forum administrator would be great. I would be the first one to buy it.

 

Noted.

 

You can put me down for one of those E-books as well

 

I was joking at first...

... but now I'm wondering if it would actually be worth doing.

 

I bet it! There are so many forums! So many administrators need training.

 

They have one for everything else, why not. I've been to all the above and a few.

My personal favorite is "Runaway Vacation with a Virus" and "Moonlight Dinner with Spam".

 

My personal favorite is "I'm leaving, do my job until I come back."

 

I went to the local book store and read up on child development : )

Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

 

I guess I should put it out. I have like half of it left, but I am going to add on and start up again. Although, I am currently redoing my site, so that comes first, but I will certainly finish it up soon and possibly give discounts to a few members.

 

There's actually a book out there, and though I have not bought it, I've seen many of his videos and he knows what he is doing.

Check it out.

 

I have read most of it. I skimmed over some of it. There is a bit biased since he started back in the day and took off. As you can look at most of his forums, they are like Photoshopforum, Karateforum, etc. All are perfect for the niche and such and it leaves it more up to you on what to do. Mine will give more how-to's and such. Oh well, to each his own.

 

I went to all those schools too, but I got bullied while I was there.

 

At least you weren't beaten senseless and taped up to the flagpole naked with your clothes flying high. Even the teachers laughed at me.

 

Thanks for the mention, Noles. I really appreciate it.

Good management strategy is good management strategy. It's not impacted by domain names and the like. But, making good decisions is a part of being successful and so you want to be smart about picking your domain name and picking your niche. It's not something that should be taken for granted or underestimated. Proper planning is something to be desired; not frowned upon, as it helps you to be successful.

I have been managing online communities for around 9 and 1/2 years and what the book contains is everything I've seen and dealt with and what my actions were, what the results were and so on. It's steeped in actual experience and situations that happened; not so much theory or hypothetical. I took my time writing it and it is very detailed.

To the point of this thread, Ramya108, there are a lot of great resources out there. Online training is an interesting idea and one that has rolled around in my mind. I don't know of one such program, but there is a lot of good writing online. Part of managing your online community is developing your management style. Each community is different, has different goals and needs to be managed in line with that.

So, when reading information online or offline, the goal should be to add to your knowledge and consider the author's viewpoint and adapt it into your style, if necessary. That goes for my writing and others. The point of my book isn't for you to agree with me - that's short sighted and not what this is all about. The point is to make you think, to share experience and to encourage growth.

One blog that I enjoy is Community Spark (Community Building Online | Community Spark), authored by Martin Reed. Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer (Social Media Explorer - Social Media Marketing And Social Media Consultant Jason Falls) has great content on related subjects, as does Chris Brogan (chrisbrogan.com ? Learn How Human Business Works - Beyond Social Media).

My teacher was experience. I jumped in, learned as I could and just went at it. At the end of the day, you don't need a book or any resources, etc. Just jump in, be open and do your best. You'll make mistakes, as we all do, but you'll learn. Books, resources, etc. simply aim to help you get a big head start and to provide you with a wealth of information and experience, but your own experience, as it grows, will prove to be vital.

I hope that this helps.

Thanks,

Patrick