What IS the MISSION of your forum?

Mission, purpose, goal, objective; Primary, secondary? Ever changed?

[Webwork]

Interim mission versus long term?

I'd be really interested to hear if someone started with a particular mission that evolved into 'something else' as a result of member participation?

Does having a mission, a purpose mean anything to you or your forum? What?

How has it helped to have a clear mission or purpose?

Any regrets relating to the issue of forum purpose, mission, guiding principals?

[Webwork]

Ahhhhh, resplendent silence! The grandness of the Grand Canyon when it's only you: Vast silence, but for the wind, birdsongs, the ca-cawing of the crows . . .

1. Make money?
2. Educate?
3. Inform?
4. Answer questions relating to main site?
5. Customer support?
6. Promote this or that?
7. Shear joy?
8. Just happened?
9. Mission? Purpose? Thought process? Nah, too complicated.
10. Just did it.
11. You think to much.
12. Why bother?
13. Hey, I just run it. Let the members figure that out.
14. Ummm, yeah, I've been thinking about that.
15. That's not my job. Ask Bob.
16. Ooooo, that almost sounds religious. Get away.
17. Well, we once had a mission but it got lost.
18. Do we have to?
19. Your mission, should you choose to accept it.... You mean like that?
20. Isn't that a little close-minded. I mean, its a community so it's not up to me.
21. I just want to make money. That doesn't make money.
22. Lawyers!

Let me ask this: Is a mission statement, statement of purpose, charter (tantamount to or akin to mission statement), etc. a bad thing? Why is that so in your book?

[rogerd]

Webwork, here's a sample mission statement taken from a real-life forum:

Widget Mania Forum Mission Statement

Widget Mania will be the leading widget collecting-related discussion forum on the web. Our discussion will accommodate both members with significant widget knowledge and those who are new to widgets. All members will be treated with respect.

I deliberately kept it simple, but tried to make it relevant to issues that might come up in moderation, topic selection, etc. It has come in handy several times by providing a clarity of purpose and a tool to evaluate suggestions, new ideas, etc.