I’ve been participating in various online forums since the early 90′s when I finally had enough left over money from my meager editorial assistant salary to pay for an AOL connection. High speed I wasn’t, but I dug the feel of the early social networks. So much so that I created an online forum for my large family so we can keep in touch on a regular basis. I even volunteered to moderate several more communities over the years. I thought I knew a lot about managing and moderating online forums and communities, but once I read Patrick O’Keefe’s book: “Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards
” I realized my knowledge was very limited.

Oh sure, I knew a thing or two about dealing with trolls, but I never gave a second thought to the legalities of running an online forum. For instance, what happens if a particpant receives bad advice from someone else in your community?Patrick suggests guidelines  so users are aware of which topics are open for discussion and which are better handled by a licensed professional. There’s also the matter of suicide threats . I never considered them before, while Patrick recommends not allowing the community to be involved. (Remove the message, reach out in private).

There’s more though. It’s not enough to throw up a forum and leave it at that. The owner of the community must know how to:

• Choose the right software & design
• Hire the right moderators
• Deal with trolls and negativity
• Create community guidelines
• Deal with disgruntled staff and community members

The members of my community at Freelance Writing Jobs have been asking me for a forum for some time now. I’ve been putting it off due to time constraints, and also the heavy moderating that goes into running a blog network. However, after reading Patrick’s book I’m pretty sure I can do it right.

“Managing Online Forums” is a MUST for anyone wishing to launch a forum. You may not think you need a user’s manual to run a community, but I’m telling you, you do.  The chapter on turning negatives into positives alone is worth the price of the book. Even if you’re not interested in building a forum from scratch, theres a section devoted to buying and moderating and existing community. If forums aren’t your thing at all, read “Managing Online Forums” to build up your community management skills. It may be the most important “community” book in your arsenal.

Patrick O’Keefe is the founder and owner of the iFroggy Network. An Internet network featuring content, community amd e-commerce sites. As he manages several online communities, it’s safe to say he knows what he’s talking about.