One of the most wonderful things in the world is to be part of a
lively, useful internet community. Good message boards (and their
close cousins newsgroups and email lists) are a great way to build
such a community. In fact, a message board is a good idea on just
about any web site as long as it is properly controlled, defined and
moderated.
Good message boards require people who are willing to post messages
to the board. In fact, an empty message board is of no use to anyone
as it performs no purpose at all.
There are many people who have to work together, usually
unconsciously, in order to make a message board actually work and
produce the effect of a community. The moderator must do his job or
the board will degenerate into a mess of spam and off-topic junk.
Lurkers (people who simply read the board without contributing) are
not really very useful to the board, but they can sometimes be coaxed
into contributing.
However, everything is moot without contributors. These are the
people who actually make a board worth visiting. Good, intelligent
contributors who makes posts which have something to do with the
subject at hand are rare, and a board with more than a couple of them
is worth it's weight in gold.
So what does a contributor do, anyway? Well, he or she posts messages
to the board. Simply put, that's what they do. Anyone can post, but
not everyone posts well.
Good contributors understand the topic of a message board and make
sure that their posts are in line with that topic. In fact, excellent
contributors not only understand the topic, they are fully in tune
with the purpose and theme of the board.
One of the jobs of a contributor is to make the board enjoyable to
everyone who reads the messages. Good contributors never flame
anyone, no matter what the temptation, and the best contributors go
out of their way to show respect for other contributors, the
moderator and anyone who might be reading the messages.
Message boards have a life of their own, like any other community of
living, intelligent beings. Virtually all vibrant boards have one or
two very dominant contributors (who are occasionally moderators) who
area very respected and who more or less control everything. These
people are very prolific, very knowledgeable and extremely respected.
Good contributors have the following characteristics:
- They are very prolific
- They respect other contributors to the board
- They are polite and never flame anyone
- They do not put up with other people misusing the message board
- They support the moderator and the goals of the message board
- They do not spam the board with advertisements
Bad contributors, on the other hand, do the opposite.
Smart moderators support good contributors, as they understand that
this is what makes a board not only survive but prosper. In fact, if
a message board can get even one good contributor, it will soon have
a large following of other contributors and readers.
I have seen many message boards fail when one of the star
contributors left the scene. Even more interestingly, I've seen
boards go on vacation (become idle) at the exact same time as one of
the power contributors went on vacation. When he returned, the board
came back to life.
The point of all of this is if you want to be part of a web
community, then find a message board which matches your interests.
Then go ahead and contribute your experiences, opinions, knowledge
and data. You may gain a following, and you may find others beginning
to look to your for guidance. And that is a great way to spend your
time on the internet.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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