What makes someone a good leader for their forum

I've noticed something over the years and its the fact that good leaders seem to have more successful forums than those that don't have a good leader.

So, in your opinion, what makes someone a good leader for their community? Leading by example also comes to mind.

 

Well, them being active on their own site helps. If you run a forum and you haven't done anything on the site within the last 24 hours or more (and you haven't announced it), then you kind of brought your site's failure on yourself. So persistence and determination helps.

 

This is self-explanatory to long-time administrators but your best leaders are those who lead by example without being told how to lead by example. The members who show up regularly, post quality over quantity, avoid the baiting, trolling, flaming, off-topic B.S., personal attacks, and such are the best leaders. The worst ones are always the ones who ask to be leaders.

 

It's not as cut and dry as it seems. A good leader can provide answers but a better leader will leave people wanting more so that the conversation continues. If someone posts an answer and that sums it up definitively then there is little incentive to keep posting.

You know you've ended the thread when people start posting "thanks" and that's not always what you want.

 

I’d say there are several things that make a good forum leader. Passion and drive to make the best experience for your users is a good start. A good leader must know where he/she stands on the forum. They much play an important role when it comes to discipline on the forums. You don’t want “trolls” to have their way on your forums, you much notice them and take care of them asap. I think being well networked in your niche is also good. You’ll rarely get anyone on your site if they don’t see you on other well-known forums in your niche.
Here is a good list from CNN.

 

Someone who knows what they're doing, who's kind (I've seen too many rude and cocky admins), who has decent grammar and spelling (yeah...) and preferably people skills. If you don't know how to communicate with your members and your staff in a proper way, then I can assure you your forum will die in no time.

 

They just have to run their forum like I do lol.

I think a great leader for a forum is someone that knows how the manage their community, creates updates/new features, contributes quality discussions, and interacts with their members.

 

Doing things in the interest of your members over your own. I might want to do something or make a rule about something that annoys me, but then I have to step back and think about the members and what's in their interest.

Listening is not enough. Being willing to implement suggestions or fixes without your ego getting in the way. That even means reverting recent changes and ending stuff that's been as is for a long time.

 

I think a good forum leader tends to care about the right stuff, and not care about the wrong stuff. For example, admins that even have the ability to be emotionally riled up by users probably isn't cut out for it.

As Juna said, a good leader will focuses on what is good for the site, not what is (necessarily) good for certain users (including themselves).

 

Lots of posts, lots of reactions to the posts and a well respected opinion are what matter most.

The qualities above are all great for a leader but if that leader can't manage to take care of those three things then it doesn't matter.

Once well respected the person can post very little and make each post count, but not until that respect is earned!