Hmm. Not sure what to make of this. Main rival has just joined my forum. The other place is virtually dead - which is partly why I started a new forum last year. They wrote an introductory post about themselves and their (superior?) knowledge and expertise. But didn't advertise their forum. I guess I should just keep an eye on things but I'm wondering what their motivation is.
Rival has just joined my forum
- Thread starter Alvin63
- Start date
eL_
Well-known member
cwe
Well-known member
I've joined many forums that were focused on the same niche as a forum that I owned. Every forum has it's own style/voice/flavor. For my part, I just participated as normal and did not link to my site in my posts or signature (unless it was encouraged and something everyone was doing). I would include a link to my forum as my homepage in my profile if the forum allowed it. Other than that, I'd engage in topics that interested me.
Then again, I once joined a forum in this fashion and got an email from the owner a few days after registration informing me that I was banned for 1 year because the owner noticed that I owned a competing forum. It was the dumbest ban ever. I remembered about the site a few years later and started participating as normal infrequently. About 10 years after I had first joined, the owner of this forum decided to pull the plug and some of the community there migrated over to my site.
Then again, I once joined a forum in this fashion and got an email from the owner a few days after registration informing me that I was banned for 1 year because the owner noticed that I owned a competing forum. It was the dumbest ban ever. I remembered about the site a few years later and started participating as normal infrequently. About 10 years after I had first joined, the owner of this forum decided to pull the plug and some of the community there migrated over to my site.
Well the other forum was a very established one for many years and had a name for itself - but has been dead as a dodo for a long time and a mess. But the owner is an expert in the field off forum. And the initial post displayed all their qualifications and expertise. So I'm wondering if it's a bit of a hook to try and get my members to have a look at their forum - where they are recognisable by their photos and expertise.
Yes I am still a member on the old forum - I wonder if I will be banned now as they have just realised who the admin is in my forum! I wasn't posting on their forum - because it's dead! Not quite dead - they do have the odd new post but nobody replies to it. Ok so I did pinch the only other two members who were posting on their forum occasionally but we were in contact off forum and they egged me on to start another one. But the rest of my 100 members came from my own efforts.
I think they are trying to get their forum going again as they recently upgraded it to https and some things seem to be working again. So maybe they are checking out the (much better) Xenforo software!
Oh well - just see what happens.
Yes I am still a member on the old forum - I wonder if I will be banned now as they have just realised who the admin is in my forum! I wasn't posting on their forum - because it's dead! Not quite dead - they do have the odd new post but nobody replies to it. Ok so I did pinch the only other two members who were posting on their forum occasionally but we were in contact off forum and they egged me on to start another one. But the rest of my 100 members came from my own efforts.
I think they are trying to get their forum going again as they recently upgraded it to https and some things seem to be working again. So maybe they are checking out the (much better) Xenforo software!
Oh well - just see what happens.
You're right, my forum does have a different flavour - and that's a good thing - the other one had outdated info. But this person is someone who thinks their outdated information is correct so I hope they don't cause trouble. One member thinks they might try and undermine me. They have only posted twice. Once as an introduction (displaying their superiority of qualification!) and once in a reply to a post which definitely disagreed with something I had advised a member on and did seem to be trying to undermine me.
It makes me think - why not post on your own forum more?! Because the problem with their forum is - admin and moderators never post.
Ok - so I’m wondering if there is something I should do yo protect my community. This person is logged in and clearly reading through everything and I think they mean trouble. I didn’t want to ban them as that would be blatant . All I’ve done so far is restricting messaging and reviews. If I block too many things that will be obvious too. I know there is the discourage option but some members commented they don’t like the idea of that (ie site not working properly for someone) in case it gives the forum a bad name.
I think what they don’t get is my forum is a nice place to be and no bullying - it is not just what it looks like, it’s how it’s run. I know I’m blowing my own trumpet there but I’m very proud of it and of the members. This person should be sitting out their own forum!
Mr Lucky
Well-known member
I would only ban someone if they break rules.
Discouragement can be effective but they may know about it. When not logged in it won't work unless it's also an IP discouragement and that may not work if their IP changes and they have a VPN.
It won't affect Google unless you discourage Google!
Thanks. Well yes maybe slightly paranoid but a reasonable assumption! Another issue which may or may not be related. This person made a slightly contradictory post about something which I had recommended - and the post starter was a fairly new member. This fairly new member has now removed their Avatar. I went to message them to say - did you mean to remove your avatar - as they have posted quite a lot so far and got very involved. Only to find I couldn't send them a message! It says "Oops! We ran into some problems - this member limits who can see their full profile" Now ok maybe they have set their profile settings to "nobody" but does this include admin too! Surely admin can see a member's profile and message them!
Mr Lucky
Well-known member
I think there's a permission that for admin to bypass privacy settings
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In the admin panel I changed them back from nobody to "members only" and sent them a message saying - I've just turned them back on temporarily so I can message you but feel free to turn them off again. So the rival joining has spooked at least one new member. Removed their avatar and turned all visible stuff off on their profile and prevented conversations.
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