How do they do it? How is it, that every time they post people will agree with them no matter what they say? Sometimes their pos will be quoted for the rest of the topic, and then replied to with much praise. When these people speak, others listen. An interesting fact, and you can’t help but wonder why.

What are Forum Celebrities?
Forum Celebrities are people who have made such a strong reputation for themselves, that when they have something to say, other members quiet down and listen up, and only the other Forum Celebs can possibly withstand their “by all and end all” voice. The little guys have nothing on them. Taking one down in debate is nearly impossible, even if they’re wrong, and if you are able to somehow take one down, your name will forever be etched in other members’ minds.

How did they become such celebrities?
Most of the time, Forum Celebrities are the ones who have been on the forum for pretty much as long as it has existed. They will normally have thousands more posts than anyone else, and will have join dates far older than the rest. Forum Celebrities can also come about, by simply being known for making highly intelligent and usually long posts. Celebs can also become popular by being the absolute opposite, a playful, harmless troll. Someone who’s posts are never long, but generally a smart-alec, quick-witted response to someone else, that can make readers belly laugh for several minutes, and sometimes the rest of the night (definitely speaking from experience here). Whatever they may have done, Forum Celebrities are those people who have simply made a name for themselves, by standing out from the others.

The good, and the bad.
Which do you want to start with, good or bad? Oh right, this is my article. We’ll go with the bad first.

Cons
The biggest problem with Forum Celebrities, is also the most obvious. If they have so much influence over the other members, then they are bound to win or come out on top of whatever discussion they may be in, even if what they are saying is false. This can be very frustrating to the members who are going against them, and are actually making sense. Sometimes if a member goes against a Celeb, other members will not support the one, even if they know they are right. They simply will not post at all. They would rather not take sides, considering the one side is wrong, but would also make them look bad in the eyes of the Celeb, because,everyone wants to be the Celeb’s friend. This can cause much frustration for certain members, and because the Celeb has such a strong presence there, it can leave a bad taste in the mouth of the annoyed member(s) for the entire forum.

Pros
Thankfully, the pros generally outweigh the cons, or at least equal them. While Forum Celebrities can make things irritating for certain members, if what they are saying is generally correct, or goes along with the popular opinion, Forum Celebrities can be the main draw of the forum. Their continuous activity and posting will bring back members every day to see what their latest response was to a major debate they are in. It can also absolutely make the day of a newbie, when a Celeb quotes them, and agrees with them. This can pump up the self-esteem and confidence of the newbie so much, that their desire to be on the forum will increase ten fold. Forum Celebrities can be an annoyance to some, but they can also be a key structural pillar.

If your forum is popular, you are bound to have a few of these Forum Celebrities. Appreciate them, at least for the fact that they have stuck around. Just make sure that you don’t favor them, as this would quickly lead to a bad situation, and probably a disgruntled member somewhere. Oh and, definitely don’t make a Paparazzi group. That would be overkill.

To those of you out there who are considering creating a forum, though have not, a very common and important question that may be going through your head right about now, is just what should the subject matter be about, and how big should the forum be?

Subject matter.
Too many people I feel will make a forum that they think will do well, even if it’s on a subject matter that they don’t care about. This is rarely ever a good idea. The reason why is very easy to figure out. Starting a successful forum requires hard work from the founding Admin. This in 95% of cases means that the Admin needs to have a passion for the subject(s) the forum covers. If you don’t, you’ll burn out quicker than the fire in my wood burning stove that I’m not tending to like I should be. This being said, pick something that you enjoy. Something that will keep you coming back to your forum to work and to better improve.

Specific or broad?
This will greatly depend on what subject you choose to make your forum about. If it’s gaming, then you’ll have a definite subject. This can be narrowed down even more, by making a more detailed forum regarding just one subject of the gaming industry. Take for example, instead of a forum on all consoles ever made, you have a Wii based forum. This kind of forum will generally be much smaller, but more detailed. If you decide however, to be a bit more general about it, you’ll end up with a larger forum that covers all the consoles. Whatever subject you may choose, you can expand on it however you like. Whether it’s everything about that subject, or specific points, your choice.

Everything I just covered though, still falls under specific. Some forums are massive, and cover everything you could possibly imagine without being too ridiculous. At the top of the forum, you could be talking about puppies, and at the bottom, you could be talking about how to stoke fires (which is something I need to be doing right about now if I haven’t already mentioned that). These forums are, contrary to popular belief, the hardest ones to get off the ground. Why? They require two to three times more Staff, and because they are so broad, some people can’t ever feel like they are enjoying any one specific subject to the fullest. Chances are, they will go off somewhere else, and join two or three forums that cover their interests in more detail. Not to say that these forums can’t work, but you better be prepared for a larger workload. If a large and broad forum of course is what you want, go for it.

How many forums is too many forums?
Ever been to a forum where you feel like it takes you 15 minutes just to reach the bottom of the Index Page? Man I have, and believe me, I hate it. Large and broad forums require this in most situations, so it can be understandable. For some forums however, half of the forums on the page aren’t even being used, or have at most 2 topics in them. This is not good for your forum’s appearance. It’s sloppy and gives off a very cluttered feel. Either use subforums to keep closely related subjects together, or eliminate them entirely. Having a forum for every little specific side of a certain subject is simply not necessary. Again, this is where subforums come in real handy. In short, be smart and efficient in the structural building of your forum. Also, if your forum becomes super active, and you feel it needs things to be sectioned off, then don’t be afraid to. As communities grow, forums change.

Getting started can be difficult, but it can also be incredibly fun. Forum construction is something I greatly enjoy, and I think you will too. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a nearly out fire to check on. >_>

Something pretty much every forum has, are members who for some reason other than simply wanting to tick you off, constantly break the rules. This can be a very irritating thing and can cause uneasiness for Administrators, especially for forums that are just getting started, and that don’t have a solid member base to support them. Who would want to ban one of the five most active members on your forum? No one, obviously, but you know it has to be done, and so you need to know where to draw the line, and how.

Using a simple process.
Most Staff will simply use their discretion, and in most cases this is probably the best way to handle it. Certain infractions may be greater than others, and there’s also the member’s attitude to consider. Though it can be hard to tell sometimes, a new member may say or do something that is not allowed, but because of the fact that they are new, they simply didn’t know. Jumping to the extreme and banning them right away is rarely the best solution. The infraction would need to be major, and obviously deliberate. The way I always generally handled it, was to give each user three strikes. If they broke the rules, I would warn them, and after about 60 days I would lift the warning. Anyone who breaks the rules three times in 60 days is probably not a member you’re going to want to contend with right on out. This of course still allows however for a more serious punishment if indeed the infraction was serious. Members who reached the third strike would get a two week ban. If they received three strikes in 60 days again, I would up to a month. After that, ban hammer time.

Trolololololo!
Oh yes, there are PLENTY of these guys around. Members who come on for the sole purpose of making you wish you hadn’t got out of bed that morning. Don’t let them get to you! You getting all mad and flustered is exactly what they want, so don’t play their game. Some trolls are obvious, which makes them easy. You can quickly identify them as a troll, and ban their pathetic selves immediately. Others however, tend to rely more on finesse. They’ll push the envelope constantly, but because they’re never actually breaking the rules, you can’t get on to them, or so that’s what they think. Truth is, you are the Administrator, you get to decide. If you notice a member who is consistently pushing the envelope, just because they aren’t technically breaking a rule, don’t hesitate to confront them about it. Such members are simply a disturbance to the rest of your community, and one rotten apple can ruin a bushel full of good ones.

Being strict doesn’t mean being rude or overly harsh. It means you firmly stand by your rules and principles for whatever the reason. Members who are turned off by this aren’t worth having, so for you young forums, don’t be afraid to get rid of them. You’ll be way better off in the long run.

Our biggest question from customers is by far “how can I get more members on my forum?” While we have some great articles in our knowledgebase, I want to go over a new concept today: making things public.

A lot of forums make it so you have to register and login to view content. This is counterproductive in many ways, and will hurt your membership significantly. Here’s two big reasons you may want to rethink making your forum private:

• Search Traffic
  If your forum isn’t viewable to guests, search engine bots are unable to crawl and index content. What does this mean? Your forum won’t be listed in Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other search engines. This puts you at a huge disadvantage to other forums because less members will join your forum.
• Give them a reason to join
  If all your content is hidden, most visitors to your forum will simply leave. They want to see what the forum is like. They want to be shown a reason why they should stick around. If you hide everything and make people register, you will get less members. Would you buy something in a store without seeing it? Probably not, and the same is true with forums.

As you can see unless your goal is to have as few members as possible, you need to have a public forum. Our research has shown that public forums get up to 30% more members than private ones! To make your forum public just make sure Guests have access to view forums and read topics. If you want help making your forum public just post on our support forum @ http://support.freeforums.org.

I’ve mentioned before that it’s our job not only to offer the best forums, but also provide the best resources and tools for people to use. Below are some great resources you may or not know about. Using them when possible will help you find fast answers and solutions to problems:

Knowledge Base
Perhaps the easiest way to find answers to questions or problems, our knowledge base is used by thousands of forum owners a day. It’s such a valuable resources for forums in general it’s used a lot by non-freeforums.org customers. It’s constantly being updated with information so keep checking back regularly!

Support Forum
Our new support forum might be the most obvious on this list, but most people could benefit from using it more. Contrast to popular belief, our support forum is not just for support. Our active community of staff and customers create a nice environment to get help with other subjects as well. It’s the perfect place to advertise your forum, offer feedback and suggestions, learn about upcoming news and issues, request a style to be installed and more!

Recovery Console
The recovery console is a great place to restore your forum after harmful changes. You can unpark a parked domain, view an admin log, and access your “root admin” (a hidden admin account always on your forum). You can also pay $15/6 months to get backup and restoring of your forum.

Social Networks
Did you know that FreeForums.org was on Facebook & Twitter? Add us up it’s a great way to keep informed about our service and also advertise your forum for free!

As you can see we offer quite a few resources that can help your forum, all for free. We look forward to providing even more ways to help our forum admins build their forums.

As administrators, sometimes we can get a little too bogged down by the actual management of the forums, i.e. the stuff that happens behind the scenes and keeps the community running smoothly and on track. This aspect of our job is very, very important and should not be neglected.

However, an important part of running your forums is being visible on them. You want your members to know you. Be human, be involved – joke around, have fun if it’s in your nature and allow others to have fun – within your guidelines. Allowing your members to become familiar with you gives them the opportunity to see you as a real person and not just as an authority figure or a machine. This can lead to them being more responsive to you and respectful of you.

This goes for your staff members, as well. Part of being a staff member is participating. Your staff members should generally be ideal members before you invite them to join your team. And, once they come on board, they should continue to set an example that all members can follow through their own respectful, productive and kind participation.

There’s no doubt that the moving and removing of posts (as well as other, general administrative functions) is vital to the success of your forums, but you and your staff can do tremendous amounts of good by setting trends, showing people how to act and what your community is all about. Being a leader isn’t just about pushing buttons behind the scenes – it’s also about being a leader where everyone can see you.

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Patrick O’Keefe is the author of “Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards”. He blogs at ManagingCommunities.com.

Some forum owners ask what exactly “Adult Content / Obscene Content” means in our content policy. In order to protect the integrity of our advertisers (which allow this service to be free) we require all forums to contain family friendly content and appropriate for all audiences.

While not a sure test, asking questions such as: Would I be comfortable showing this content to my kids or parents? Would I be comfortable viewing this content if my boss walked up beside me? If you answered “no” to either of these questions chances are our advertisers wouldn’t be comfortable running ads on your content.

Checking with us first is a safer alternative to having your forum removed without warning.

Lets face it, when was the last time you searched on Google or Yahoo? 2 hours ago? 30 minutes? Just like these search engines can provide you with information on your favorite movie, they can also provide you with free traffic to your forum.

This is the reason behind our recent forum optimization project. Due to the overwhelming amount of content, poor link structure, and session issues, forums tend to preform worse than normal websites in search engines. Having said that, with some key optimizations and upgrades you can make those issues a thing of the past.

Thanks to a mod from phpBB SEO, as well as some in house modifications, we were able to make some key adjustments across the network which will help search engines better crawl and index your content. The result? You should see more of your pages indexed and thus more people coming to your forum.

As always, the best way to get people to your forum is through quality content. Below we’ve listed a few tips to help put search to work for you:

1) Edit your META tags – We have a custom mod in your admin panel that lets you edit your META tags. Editing these can help search engines understand what your forum is about.
2) Use a targeted header – Instead of naming your forum “The best forum ever” consider naming it “Forums for Wrestling and WWE Fanatics”
3) Be descriptive – Try to encourage your members to be more descriptive when posting a topic. Instead of “Cool thing I found” have them make the subject “Seagate Readies New Hard Drive Technology”.
4) Link to your forum – Relevant sites linking to yours not only bring a lot of traffic, but can also help with search engine.
5) Be patient – Traffic from search isn’t going to come in the first few weeks or months. It may take time but it will be worth the long term results you reap.

One ticket for One Issue
Keep tickets as targeted to one specific issue as possible. We actually prefer you opening 5 tickets than one long never-ending ticket. The longer the ticket gets, the more the next tech has to read in order to get caught up and can be frustrating to both the customer and the techs working on it.

Forum url
We installed a custom mod requiring you to enter your forum’s url when you post a ticket for a reason: We need it! Over 95% of problems are forum specific and we can’t fix it without knowing the url to your forum.

Come clean and admit it
If you messed with the cookie settings and can’t login, banned yourself, deactivated the admin account, or just have no idea what button you pressed, don’t worry about it. We’re not going to engrave your name on the forum hall of shame. We all make mistakes and admitting yours will get your problem resolved much faster.

Research
There is a goldmine of information out there that can help solve your problem. Half of forum questions can be solved by a simple Google search. As they say, GIYF! (Google is your friend).

Close the issue
When your problem is resolved, update it and say “thanks, that fixed it” so we know to close the issue. Not doing so will lead to stale tickets floating around and slowing down the support process.

The “Thank you”
After 6 years of tech support I’ve come to the conclusion that a support tech is one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Lets face it, when was the last time someone opened a ticket just wanting to say “thanks for all the hard work.” Never. Every email or ticket includes a problem that needs to be resolved and usually an agitated or frustrated user on the other end. When your ticket is resolved ending with a simple “thank you” can do wonders.