Training for forum administrators

You know, I once was thinking of developing a forum or website surrounding this idea and years ago purchased a domain name for it. Maybe we should develop a forum and wiki for this sort of thing. It is a need in our industry.

Thanks Patrick for the reply. I was replying before I had seen your reply. Will look at the links.

 

i learnt how to admin forums from being a member on loads of other forums before making my own, and seeing how they were run, what i like about how they are run, and what the members like best in a forum, and there were some forums that werent well managed and i looked, saw from members posts and stuff, what went wrong and when i was admin of my own forum i used my experiences on other forums to decide how i was going to run the forum.

on the technical side of things, i was a mod first, so i saw a little bit of what to do and learnt the basics, and the rest i got from the support forum and other admins

 

I've always wanted to do something like this, and add it to AA... but it takes a lot of effort and work. I've never gotten around to planning it. :shrug:

 

This is a great point, too. A great way to learn is to become a moderator under a respected administrator. Very good.

Being a member, you really don't get access to the behind the scenes stuff and the really challenging situations and the inner workings of running an online community.

Patrick

 

Well, I have ModeratorCollege dot com and ModCollege dot com when I had plans of doing something like this. It does take a lot of work though to manage a community and develop a new one.

Unless there's a charge for the forum, forums are really not all that great for producing income. I've been more focused lately on building affiliate sites and mini-sites because I have no one PMing me about complaints between members and since I've sold my forum, I'm not getting any more reported posts to deal with or the bickering. LOL. In the end, forums are more trouble then they are worth.

Aaah the beauty of affiliate marketing versus the drudgery of managing a forum.

I'd like to add though, that forums are fun and provide a plethora of content and a format which is compared or like no other. I guess that's why I love forums. Expensive, time consuming, headache at times, but great hobby and excellent for sharing information.

 

Exactly. I have always been a research nut and forums provide one of the greatest ways to gain insight of a particular subject: You gain vast amounts of knowledge from experienced members, and solidify your own knowledge and what you know by passing it on to others.

Forums provide a learn-teach-learn process, with some fun and good times thrown into the mix. Anybody who enjoys learning and teaching most likely enjoys forums as well.

 

We were, but that wasn't the bullying, that was our lunchtime recreation.

 

I am not allowed to repeat what happened in class nor what happened at lunch. Lets just say, I am scarred for LIFE. Physically and mentally.

 

Is that really so? Everyone agrees?

 

I am eager to hear about what you've learnt, BananaQueen!
Please share your thoughts with us!

 

I have his book as well, I think it has some invaluable info
It talks on how to manage your members and staff, along with other key points, but those are what I really enjoyed.
I'll back up anything Patrick aka (iFroggy) says, he's one of those admins that I've been looking up to for years, ever since I started on phpbb2 almost a decade ago :waiting:

 

I've got the book, too. I honestly did not sit through and read it, because much of it is for very novice administrators. However, I did skim through and get a sense of his approach of different situations. I don't necessarily agree with him on everything (which is to be expected; everybody is different), but it's a great resource to reference when having trouble with specific aspects of management.

I really wish I could write or help develop some sort of elaborate resource for experienced administrators. We have day-to-day tasks and management to take care of, but we know how to do most of that with our eyes closed. But there are in-depth issues, long-term scenarios, and unique situations we've encountered that I think could be beneficial to administrators both new and experienced.

Edit: I buy a lot of books from half.com, which I had never heard of until a friend recommended it; they have great prices on both new and used books. The one we're discussing here is available for $1.43 'like new': http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQitemZ340959230505QQtgZvidetailsQQprZ64187567

 

Yes, Nick, that would be very beneficial.
I know that writing an e-book takes time, though.

I guess we can learn almost everything by associating on this wonderful forum: asking questions, helping others and sharing our experience. :heart:

 

Sad but definitely true.

 

That is what I found. Very novice, which I am just a bit beyond :p

I actually want to interview people for my book. I am writing it again.

 

negative..
You can make a great deal of money from forums and not have to slap banners all over the place or charging members to use your forum.
knowledge and information are worth far more than I think you realize

 

Perhaps you can share your techniques and ideas in an article?

 

Or in a nice detailed private message to me.

 

sounds like a good idea

:unhunh: I'll see what we can do