Mistakes

[Randy]

As a forum owner what mistakes have you made?

How bad were they and how did you recover?

As a member, what mistakes have you seen forum owners make? What happened?

 

[PGen98]

Oh so many over the years. At one point I even started compiling a list of what I called Forum Faux Pas, detailing many mistakes and how to avoid them

 

[Sariki]

As a forum owner what mistakes have you made?

How bad were they and how did you recover?

As a member, what mistakes have you seen forum owners make? What happened?

Yeah absolutely especially as a young forum owner. Letting that get to my head I have in the past alienated my own members. But I have also seen it as a forum member and watched admins do the same thing.

 

[Nebulous]

Oh so many over the years. At one point I even started compiling a list of what I called Forum Faux Pas, detailing many mistakes and how to avoid them

Publish it.

 

[PGen98]

Publish it.

I did at one point, but it's so far out of date now it'd be sort of pointless

 

[Nebulous]

I did at one point, but it's so far out of date now it'd be sort of pointless

Still would be cool to see.

 

[PGen98]

Still would be cool to see.

Maybe one day, if I still have it saved somewhere...it's a little cringey

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I've made a few in to nearly 25 years of running forums, haha.

I had a fallout with another member back when I ran AAF. It eventually led to us not being friends. We eventually made up and now we're friends again. I was in a bad place health wise and that essentially was the start of me leaving the forum world for a few years.

I made myself better, 100,000 times better. Now I'm back, and enjoying it again.

But I think one of my biggest mistakes as a forum owner was worrying about vanity metrics. That's member, post, topic amounts. Instead of worrying about that, you should focus on the community. That's way more important than a statistic.

 

[Nebulous]

One of my biggest mistakes was closing this forum, but I am so thankful I found a backup and was able to revive it. Glad to be back! We ain't going anywhere this time!

 

[Darth-Apple]

My biggest mistake as an administrator was on the forum I ran before Makestation was founded. We didn't do a good enough job of nipping drama in the bud, and we learned the hard way that this can be very costly for communities if you aren't able to curtail it.

It's always easier to address things early when they start than it is to wait for things to get out of hand.

 

[Nebulous]

My biggest mistake as an administrator was on the forum I ran before Makestation was founded. We didn't do a good enough job of nipping drama in the bud, and we learned the hard way that this can be very costly for communities if you aren't able to curtail it.

It's always easier to address things early when they start than it is to wait for things to get out of hand.

I suppose you have to handle that very delicately and on a case by case basis. I don't like censoring people and I prefer people settle their own disputes, talk things out, or just debate a subject until they get tired of talking about the subject. However if things get too out of hand then you obviously need to step in (for example if members start threatening each other, try to dox each other, etc).

 

[Shawn Gossman]

One of my biggest mistakes was closing this forum, but I am so thankful I found a backup and was able to revive it. Glad to be back! We ain't going anywhere this time!

That was a big mistake for me, closing my old admin forum.

But it was bitter-sweet.

Back then, I was in bad shape and going down a bad road (health wise). I had to step away and really find myself.

Lucky for me, I did and I'm better now than I ever have been.

But I do miss all the work I put into the old one. But the new one is starting to look good and I'm excited about it even if forums aren't what they were like 20 years ago.

 

[Nebulous]

That was a big mistake for me, closing my old admin forum.

But it was bitter-sweet.

Back then, I was in bad shape and going down a bad road (health wise). I had to step away and really find myself.

Lucky for me, I did and I'm better now than I ever have been.

But I do miss all the work I put into the old one. But the new one is starting to look good and I'm excited about it even if forums aren't what they were like 20 years ago.

Your current project is looking pretty good! Its hard to start a new forum from the ground up in these times.

 

[Cory]

I made the mistake of giving up a huge code index I made for my board to the official support board and they took all the credit.

I made the mistake of redirecting my old board to my new board when apparently that wasn't allowed.

I'm sure there are more.

 

[passenger]

I made the mistake of giving up a huge code index I made for my board to the official support board and they took all the credit.

At Zetaboards?

 

[Cory]

At Zetaboards?

It was InvisionFree at the time.

 

[passenger]

It was InvisionFree at the time.

Well I'm sorry that happened, but I'm glad it was not Zeta.

I have such fond memories & never heard about any "dirty dealin'"......that is, until the death blow due to Brandon.

 

[Cory]

Well I'm sorry that happened, but I'm glad it was not Zeta.

It's one of the few things that made my board stand out at the time, so it was kind of a sacrifice to my board when I gave it all up.

 

[PGen98]

I made the mistake of giving up a huge code index I made for my board to the official support board and they took all the credit.

I made the mistake of redirecting my old board to my new board when apparently that wasn't allowed.

I'm sure there are more.

No credit to you at all? That's disgraceful!

 

[Cory]

No credit to you at all? That's disgraceful!

Apparently, they said there was some silly rule that what you post there is the network's property or something along those lines.