Online Writers and Internet Marketers Forum: What Makes A Good Forum for Industry Talk?

I spent quite awhile trying to identify what would make up a good forum. I often watch the HP forum wondering if other users felt the same frustrations I did with the format.

A forum has four obvious aspects to consider:

• Technical: Speed, Capabilities
• Design: Ease of Use and Organization
• Community: Is the user base reasonably like minded
• Moderation: Are threads kept on topic, users relatively respectful and SPAM kept to a minimum?

The Forums of the Internet Marketing World are exactly what turned me off to Internet marketing when I first discovered it existed.

Two very popular forums for the Internet marketing Industry are:

• Digital Point
• Warrior Forum

You will notice they are not links, well, that's because I dont think you should go there.

Both DP and WF, suffer from issues of community. the user base is very diverse with international members and users of various experience levels. So, on one side you get questions like

"What be an adsense and money is made from it how much thank you",

from brand new would be IMers and responses like,

"Well, that is very easy, just buy my adsense book and autobot for $29.99, it will sign you up and tie your shoes for you!"

from the more experienced users who frequent the forums and "noob farm"

This is rarely enjoyable to sift through and usually is quite depressing as many users seem to be more interested in how to scam each other and their visitors rather than creating anything of value.

I would credit the Hubpages Forum as being the initial carrot that made me stick around long enough to realize what a great publishing platform Hubpages could be.

Help and assistance requests on the publishing process at Hubpages were quickly answered by knowledgeable users such as Darkside and the far less friendly in approach but equally knowledgeable Relache (if read the TOS!, counts as help :) ). For a little light hearted fun, the user GoldenToad was running around the forums making jokes and starting some light hearted mischief. The religion and politics forums existed and were much the same, yet somehow it seemed there was more of a debate than the "yell my side, close my ears to yours" climate that exists today.

Those were the Ups, and in my experience over the past two years, it seems the forums have only gone down.

The cause is purely a moderation issue. The HP forums are moderated in a very hands off manner, those that have been banned would disagree, Im sure, but for the most part its just chaos, and the chaos is no longer enjoyable to me as a user. Outside of the IM world, great forums abound, a great forum is a resource for quickly finding information, for learning about your topic of choice from other interested parties and even making deals and trades.

This is achieved by careful moderation and a user base that respects their format.

When you have computer issues, forums are often the very best resource for knowledgeable, expert help, users of the forums will allow no "off topic" discussion and when a problem is solved, the thread is closed. This makes the thread a great resource to read as an observer.That is how a Help thread should be managed. Then when a new user has the same issue, they can be directed to the past thread. At HP new users ask the same question every day in a new thread.

But what about discussions? My degree is in Political Science and Religious Thought, I love to talk about politics and religion in a respectful and informed manner, I dont believe that is currently possible at the HP forums, nor would I turn to a general interest forum such a s Hp for such a discussion regardless. Once I realized I was discussing taxation issues with an unemployed chap who lived in his parents basement, I figured I would best discuss such issues elsewhere. When it comes to such discussions, usually a topic specific forum is a better resource.

The entire HP forum is "off topic" , every thread dissolves into chit chat and off topic conversation. Its a water cooler. Which is fine! if you want water, but as a user who once enjoyed the occasional chat about the search, writing and affiliate industry I am left with very little serious members to discuss "shop" with.

For a while I was an active member of The Keyword Academy and it contained one of the first example of a great Internet marketing forum that was inviting and useful, if you are still learning the lingo and methodology of online marketing, it would be a good idea to take a free one month trial and see the forum yourself. TKA Free Trial Link

But as a full time writer/marketer, it was still just a tiny bit limiting to me.

Originally, I created a forum for discussion of methodology around the 60dc , this was made with phpBB and had various levels of security to keep the forum private. Those measures made it bit cumbersome to use after it usefulness was over, but the team discussions were excellent and I missed the resource once it was expired. Creating a "shoutbox" for idle conversation allowed the site to stay on topic and yet still allow for "water cooler" moments.

As of late, I created a forum and integrated all the features I felt both the phpBB/60dc and HP forums were lacking. I could go on and on about the ability to have signatures (or block seeing signatures) , the integrated activity wall for idel conversation, the private conversation options for business talk and the formatted sections.But, I wont, Ill just invite you to participate.

Since, a forum is a community, I did take the time to research what other felt made up a good community, from a cultural/anthropological perspective and from a new "digital community"

Good Online Community = "High signal to noise--signal being defined as elements of utility that each member, in their own experience, deem useful"

perspective. The category selections should help to attract and retain those are interested (and interesting to others) in the topics while discouraging off topic and irrelevant discussion.

One early issue I had to handle was "application" - I invited members of the 60dc who had already proven to be a good online community together, but how should I invite new users? I dont like to say no, but I want to participate in a viable community of intelligent and progress motivated online writers and marketers. I solved the dilemma by delegating the approval process to two  existing members and allowing existing members to send out invites, this way the community may grow but it isnt truly "open"

So, If you like to discuss and share about online writing at various networks, building websites, finding trends, freelance job shopping or hiring and all the other nuances of this Industry

please apply! Online Writers Forum

Disclaimer: Stating that I enjoyed the antics and helpfulness of characters from 2 years back should not be misconstrued as meaning I dont have any equal feelings now. Its just much harder to find those threads now in the chaos.

Stating that moderation is "chaotic" should not be construed as suggesting its poorly performed, Its my belief that the moderation style is intentionally hands off to be on par with the  sites philosophy. It just doesnt work for my needs.

I still plan on peeking in the forums, its addictive and I have been unable to stop even when I felt it impacted my productivity poorly.