What advice would you give to a new community owner?

[AjayJunkies]

Many of us have been building communities for years so we know what to expect and how to handle things, especially when we fall into issues.

For those who are new to creating a new community and are a new community owner, they in most cases will not have a lot of experience and will often make errors.

As someone who has been a community owner for many years, what advice would you give to a new community owner? Anything in particular you would focus on?

 

[Old Nick]

Don't get your hopes up... have fun.

 

[Itworx4me]

Get out while you can....lol

 

[Rusty Snippets]

Run!

 

[Davyc]

Do it because you want to. Do it for yourself and keep expectations low to avoid disappointment. But most importantly, do something no one else has done and everyone wants (that's the looking for the Holy Grail part).

 

[⭐ Alex ⭐]

I recently asked the same question in the Xenforo community and the IPS community: "what advice would you give to a new community owner?" It was the same question, word for word, with the same exact topic and same exact text. Same question, two different client communities.

The responses are a small sample size, but the responses could not be more more wildly different. There is only one community that is positive, enthused, and believes in the future of community building.

The other has an existential crisis.

Thread 'What advice would you give to a new community owner?'

Jun 30, 2024

Many of us have been building communities for years so we know what to expect and how to handle things, especially when we fall into issues.

For those who are new to creating a new community and are a new community owner, they in most cases will not have a lot of experience and will often make errors.

As someone who has been a community owner for many years, what advice would you give to a new community owner? Anything in particular you would focus on?

• AjayJunkies
• Replies: 19
• Forum: Forum management

https://invisioncommunity.com/forum...vice-would-you-give-to-a-new-community-owner/

This thread sounded like a pretty canned question and there is no one here who needs help so this thread didn't get much real attention or real responses.

I come on xenforo community forums to help people with their problems, not brainstorm ideas for a thread that sounds like it's part of a content bundle.

Besides, I can't access the second thread and I have a scientific idea about how forum staff can attract a certain type of people to a community and how a canned question can be taken differently by different communities.

 

[ForumFan]

If you want participation, you've got to prime the pump. That means you will be posting the most in the beginning. Post thought-provoking questions or even controversial aspects of your forum's special focus. Content is king! Create that content.

Be the conversation starter.

Don't bog the forum down with onerous rules or overbearing moderation / censorship. Treat your members like the adults they are. Also, don't be strict about "staying on topic" or not allowing threads about other subjects your members may have in common or find interesting. Have a section for jokes. Have a section for "off-topic" or "current events." It keeps members coming back and engaged.

Have fun! As a previous comment said... Do it because you want to. Because you enjoy it. Because you have a passion for the topic. If you make it all about being a profitable business, that will come through and turn people off.

 

[JamesBrown]

For what it's worth, here's what works for me.

Build your forum, fill it with valuable articles and content, then:

Go where your audience is already. Be active, be kind, be informative, and be generous.

Be Active: Engage on every platform where your potential audience is. Answer questions, pose questions, and participate in discussions. This is time-consuming hard work.

Be Kind: And approach everyone with humility. No one wants to follow a pretentious know-it-all to a forum.

Be Informative: Ensure the articles on your site are the best in your niche. Think of all the ways you can help and educate, and then deliver. Even if no one is there yet.

Be Generous: Give things away without asking for anything in return, not even an email. It’s refreshing to receive something without strings attached. Consider offering checklists, courses, and ebooks (with link-backs to your forum in the products of course).

A few random thoughts, I might add more later as they come to me

Never, ever, post a Niche FAQ. Questions are your forum's life-blood, you want people to ask them. I must have answered the same questions 1000 times. You Must Answer the 1000th with the enthusiasm that you answered the first. Never tell a newbie who has taken the time to register and post, to read a manual or visit an FAQ.

Avoid publishing rules: Many forums have prominent sticky posts filled with rules, which can be off-putting. Sticky posts should be content people want to read. If you must have rules, keep it simple. “Don’t be a d*ck” is all you need.

Avoid using moderators: Moderators can kill communities. Utilise self-moderation add-ons—they work. We have a large forum that’s celebrating its 17th anniversary on Thursday, we have over 2000 posts a day and we've never had a moderator. Not one.

When you think you’ve found the perfect person to be an administrator, wait at least a further 12 months before making them one.

 

[ForumFan]

Never, ever, post a Niche FAQ. Questions are your forum's life-blood, you want people to ask them. I must have answered the same questions 1000 times. You Must Answer the 1000th with the enthusiasm that you answered the first. Never tell a newbie who has taken the time to register and post, to read a manual or visit an FAQ.

^^THIS X 1000!^^

Avoid publishing rules: Many forums have prominent sticky posts filled with rules, which can be off-putting. Sticky posts should be content people want to read. If you must have rules, keep it simple. “Don’t be a d*ck” is all you need.

Yep!

Avoid using moderators: Moderators can kill communities. Utilise self-moderation add-ons—they work. We have a large forum that’s celebrating its 17th anniversary on Thursday, we have over 2000 posts a day and we've never had a moderator. Not one.

Yep! Same here!

When you think you’ve found the perfect person to be an administrator, wait at least a further 12 months before making them one.

I'm the owner, admin, chief cook, and bottle washer. One man show!

 

[AjayJunkies]

Taking a step back, the very essence of the word Moderator is incredibly antiquated and a legacy overhang: to make or become less extreme, rigorous, or radical. Most of our communities can handle traditional moderation at scale at this point with very few people. Yes, we will be hit with spam or an unruly member every once in awhile, but our tools are better than ever to eliminate these pesky problems.

Where we really need human capital is in positions like Advocates, Cheerleaders, Champions, or Community Experts to support and cheer on our members. Our highest and best use of our strongest members is not to manage down but to lift up our members.

 

[AjayJunkies]

I have a scientific idea about how forum staff can attract a certain type of people to a community and how a canned question can be taken differently by different communities.

Would love to hear more!

One of the things that we, collectively, fall short on is relying on anecdotes and experiences of senior webmasters. We do need more discussion on principles taken from the social disciplines. Experience is great, but experience is not universal or contextual or repeatable, and what worked ten years or fifteen years ago for early webmasters is very different than what new community managers face on the modern web.

 

[⭐ Alex ⭐]

Where we really need human capital is in positions like Advocates, Cheerleaders, Champions, or Community Experts to support and cheer on our members. Our highest and best use of our strongest members is not to manage down but to lift up our members.

I tried to open up those roles in my community, but they were ignored as everyone seeks to be moderator as it's a position of power to them.

 

[JamesBrown]

Taking a step back, the very essence of the word Moderator is incredibly antiquated and a legacy overhang:

Give them a fancy name you like, we just don't need them. Crowd moderation works.

 

[AjayJunkies]

I tried to open up those roles in my community, but they were ignored as everyone seeks to be moderator as it's a position of power to them.

Its interesting how your users are attracted to positions of punitive power rather than supportive power. To me, knowing you can flag a member as spam is much less intellectually empowering and interesting than, like, actually helping people.

Just curious, did you provide any context, background, or framing of these new positions? Did you privately reach out to high-potential candidates rather than an open call?

Give them a fancy name you like, we just don't need them. Crowd moderation works.

I agree that crowd moderation works. Crowd moderation is a great replacement for moderation.

To clarify, I wanted to emphasize that these other positions were not meant to be a replacement for legacy moderators. Their focus would be on something very different: helping to cheer on, empower, and support the rest of the community. We sometimes lose sight of this aspect, and focus more on the administrative side (investigating email issues, flagging spam, being a stickler for rules).

 

[TCG2007]

Dont sell to the big companies.

 

[AjayJunkies]

Be Generous: Give things away without asking for anything in return, not even an email. It’s refreshing to receive something without strings attached. Consider offering checklists, courses, and ebooks (with link-backs to your forum in the products of course).

I wanted to return to this except because I kept thinking about it over and over again, and I love this phrase! Be generous.

One of the unique strengths of human community is the willingness and freedom in which we share our knowledge and help lift each other up. And the more that you share, the more that you inspire similar people into similar actions of sharing.

 

[⭐ Alex ⭐]

Its interesting how your users are attracted to positions of punitive power rather than supportive power. To me, knowing you can flag a member as spam is much less intellectually empowering and interesting than, like, actually helping people.

Just curious, did you provide any context, background, or framing of these new positions? Did you privately reach out to high-potential candidates rather than an open call?


I agree that crowd moderation works. Crowd moderation is a great replacement for moderation.

To clarify, I wanted to emphasize that these other positions were not meant to be a replacement for legacy moderators. Their focus would be on something very different: helping to cheer on, empower, and support the rest of the community. We sometimes lose sight of this aspect, and focus more on the administrative side (investigating email issues, flagging spam, being a stickler for rules).

It may be harder because moderators being the main positions of power has been ingrained in our community since 2008. Although we no longer wish upon moderators being viewed this way, it's hard to convince people otherwise.

 

[avalanch]

Probably one of the best tips anyone can give you is about Niches:

Pick a Niche that isn't overly saturated.
Pick a niche that you know you can post about daily
Once you find a niche for your forum, keep posting about it, don't get dragged into off-topic threads.

 

[Miri]

Be Kind: And approach everyone with humility. No one wants to follow a pretentious know-it-all to a forum.

To be carved in stone.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Start off with just core software, don’t get seduced by the idea of getting loads of addons. Concentrate on the community, keep it engaged with lively discussion, helpful advice, healthy debate, and good humour.