Forum Management. Need advice and opinions.

Need Advice on Management

[chopin2256]

Hi guys,

I recently made a purchase on a site that has an active community of musicians. Some of these guys are hotheads, and pains in the butt, but they are valuable and active members, and have helped my brand new forum grow in just a few days. They are also very faithful to the site. My questions are:

1. What's the take on occasional bad words? Should I delete bad words? Are they bad for the site?

2. Some of them talk about sex from time to time. Not in a bad way, just, they talk about how sex and music relates I guess. What should I do about this? Is talking about sex on a music site bad, even if its occasional?

3. Should I put up a word censor?

4. I have 4 moderators willing to help me out. Whats your take on fixing spelling errors and grammar? Is it necessary? Some members may get mad if we change the posts to be more clear.

5. How about outbound links. Why does this forum prohibit outbound links? Because it affects the site's pagerank?

Help from forum owners would be appreciated...especially the owner of THIS forum. Just wondering why it is so strict sometimes...and should I be as strict on my forum, as the owner is on this forum. Thanks!

[Heartlander]

As an owner of various Forum type sites for a number of years, I'm going to take a stab and say that this site is probably the numero uno spot for webmasters.
Can you imagine the spam that would occur here if outbounds were allowed?
We're here to get the info we need quickly, not peruse everybody elses websites.
Having said that.....
For my purposes, I allow links to be posted in a member's signature, or even in a post.
My theory on the signature link is that the more a person posts, the more their link gets viewed and we both win in the end.
My site gets CONTENT, and theirs gets a little traffic.

After struggling for years with the post edit/delete factor, I've learned one thing:
Nobody likes to have their posts deleted, and certainly not edited.
Those will more than likely not hang around if Big Brother gets picky.
(Again...this site notwithstanding. There will be plenty of content regardless)

Now...this is assuming you want to hold onto the current members.
Here is what I came up with in the end to solve this dilemma.

Create a Private Forum.
Set up a Usergroup for that forum.
Let them sign up for it, or assign members that are kind of on the edge anyway.
Tell them the public forums WILL adhere to the TOS, and those that do not will be heading down the page a ways.
Rather than delete posts or threads that get out of hand, you simply MOVE the whole thing to that forum.
In the header is a stipulation that if they want to get off-color and/or tear each other up, that is the place to do it.
They understand quickly...and it rarely gets used anyway!
Here's the best part of the whole system:
The posts are all set to be purged at a given interval.

I call it "tear each other up here...a week at a time" ; )

Trust me, this strategy works for any board on any topic.

[Celicaphile]

I have several forum-centric sites myself, some of which are of similar subjects. I've learned that what works for one site may not work for another & a lot depends on the members. I've tried using the same rules on all & have had to make modifications to each separately. I set up word filters on all sites w/ the idea that my sites are to be able to be viewed at work and in front of children. However, people quickly find ways around the filters, but I don't get too picky about it. I'm a more strict about pictures. Anything that can get me in trouble at work while looking at my own site doesn't fly. I don't edit for spelling or grammar unless it's in a topic title and I've received complaints or requests. Otherwise, I'd never have a free minute! Overall, people that are faithful to a site and want it to do well will help keep others in line and don't let noobs get a way w/ a lot. Right now one of the biggest problems I have on my most active site is noobs posting duplicate questions and forum veterans telling them to search first in not the nicest way.... I've often thought about having a forum just for ranting or debating & fighting, but I've seen it spill out to other forums too many times on other sites. So, anything about politics and religion are discouraged - there are other forums for that - because people will hold grudges. I've had polls about this and most members think the same way. Again, it's different for the type of site. I will allow it on a local city/community site I have because local and state politics apply & can also bring in members & up the amount of discussion. If the site is about something completely different, i.e. cars, then it can drive away members. On the other hand, I no longer visit another local city/community site because there are too many people w/ opposing views who like to gang up on others & have driven away a lot of contributing members.
As for links & spam... If I have paying advertisers, I have to keep things fair for them. Anything that looks like spam gets sent to the Moderators Only forum by myself or my mods and we, usually I, decide if it's okay. I'll let some promotional posts slide for newer forums but ask that they link back to my site from theirs. They're usually promoting their new site as well and are more than happy to do so.
Keep in mind that these are only my views and out of the several sites w/ forums that I own, only a couple do quite well while the others are still new and struggling...

[rogerd]

>>Some members may get mad if we change the posts to be more clear.

You are correct. One diplomatic way to handle this is, rather than editing, to have the mod reply in the thread and clarify things. E.g., "If I understand your question, you are trying to determine whether..." This makes it easier for other members to help out, and avoids editing the OP.