Online Forums: The Good, the Bad and the Vigilantes-Part 3

Online Forums: The Good the Bad and the Vigilantes-Part 2
Forums can be an excellent means for any company to communicate information to those parties that are interested.They also provide a means for people that have an interest in the company to gather, interact and learn.Forums generally designate areas for people to post particular sorts of information.Sometimes there is a learning curve to find your way around a forum.Usually though it is not too steep.However, the underlying purpose of the forum is destroyed if multiple people minimize or end their forum participation; because of negative experiences or if forum from rules are willfully violated.

It is true that scammer artists, trolls and black hatters make managing any forum a challenge. It is also true knowledgeable people provide much help in the forums. However, it seems like a stretch to make the argument that because certain people double as forum helpers and vigilantes that they should be given the keys of forums to open the doors to dictate its overall personality. Keys Sometimes It's a Matter of Life or Death. is short poem that discusses importance of who we entrust our keys to.

Associated Content is fortunate enough to have AC Darnell on their team. Mr. Witt is a Community Manager. Lately, I have complimented Darnell on his management of the AC forum. However, he is just one individual and he seems to wear many hats for Associated Content. Day in and day out he is working toward improving Associated Content. I know I am not alone in my appreciation of his overall effort that he puts forth on behalf of both the Contributors and the company itself.

It seems as though Associated Content and its Contributors could agree that Darnell's time would be better utilized towards the business of managing a site that is known for discoverable content rather than using his time to deal with inappropriate forum behavior. It is not as if Associated Content places undue restrictions in its forum. They offer a fairly simple set of guidelines that does not seem to make compliance difficult. To learn more Darnell Witt please read: Interview with Darnell Witt

If you are an Associated Content Contributor your protective gear is not modernized or Santa did not bring you new waders and a set of full body armor for your forum experiences as Abby Greenhill mentioned in this article: Perfect Gifts for the Associated Content Contributor on Your List, I encourage you to enter the AC forum only at your own risk and review the thread that Ron_Hart started. It is titled: Useful Forum Thread Idea. I believe this thread is the embodiment of much what has been discussed in this series of articles. As is often the case in forum threads, a functional discussion of the topic was never allowed to take place. Thus, there were consequences. In my initial post in his thread, I stated the following:

"Ron, you are most definitely not alone. This is one of the best ideas to ever be mentioned in the forum. I have wanted to make a similar post for a long time, but I lacked your courage. I figured that I would be attacked and then the thread would travel down the typical path of meaningless gibberish, sexual innuendos and constant bickering"

Ultimately, you will have to discern for yourselves what those consequences were and how they came about..

For those of you that struggle with forum etiquette or are just learning the ropes, I recommend reading the first two editions of AC Contributor, Angie Mohr's ongoing series of rants.

Angie's Hump Day AC Rant Feb 19

Angie's Associated Content Rant Feb 10/10