Maintaining a happy community

[Loucifer]

I've found this thread to be very useful and the comments about skins on the first page have lead me to create a light skin on my forum (the default one is very dark).

The contest thing is a good idea. Another good contest, which I don't think has been mentioned already, is the ever-faithful 'posting contest'. I've tried two versions - a) the first member to reach 300 wins and b) the member who posts the most in a particular amount of time wins. The first one worked very well and I'm in the process of trying the second.
I've disabled post counts in the games boards so that eliminates spamming.

[InitialDS]

conqueringwolf said:

On the flip side I have seen forums that say they have no rules, they allow guests to post anywhere, they have spam boards, flame boards, and any other kind of board there can be where trash and filth is posted on it for everyone to see.

On another flip side, I've done a spam board called 'The Wastebasket'. I only allow word spam. And our staff (just me and Pogsklinc) censors it closely. We also censor Pic-A-Lot, our pic spam thread. Really, you can make spam fun and safe. You just got to check your forum every other day.
On maintaining happines, I think I have that covered. A few multiplayer games and updates would satisfy them.

[FaithSlaysVamps]

Those are great thank you! You made me realize that I AM a little too strict with things, but I have an RP Site where I would LIKE people to REALLY try to be good writers, and some people have gotten irritated That I'll try to avoid! And I don't like to give out Admin and moderator positions. Althought I DO Let people become prefects (It's an HP RP) And they can take away points from people. I have a member of the month! AND an RPer of the month! I don't know if they acknowledge that too much :-\ Thanks for the tips!!!

[arsenal1993]

I think that to maintain a happy community you have to ban the members who repeatedly violate your forum rules, this way people can come to the board without seeing people spamming/flaming, or whatever it is they are doing.

Also there shouldnt too little staff, this means that if there are any offending posts they can be picked up on quicker, i think that there shouldnt be too many staff because this will lead to more and more memebrs thinking that they can be a staff member.

[HoudiniDerek]

Dec 9, 2007 9:58:43 GMT -8 @arsenal1993 said:

I think that to maintain a happy community you have to ban the members who repeatedly violate your forum rules, this way people can come to the board without seeing people spamming/flaming, or whatever it is they are doing.

Also there shouldnt too little staff, this means that if there are any offending posts they can be picked up on quicker, i think that there shouldnt be too many staff because this will lead to more and more memebrs thinking that they can be a staff member.

I definitely agree with the forum. However, some forums don't have rules or the problems with the community are that something that should have been a rule was not. The way I get around this, and I mention it when I rate forums, is that you need to have a stipulation that the rules can change and that people need to keep checking them on their own. This way, it gives you more leverage in those trouble spots.

I agree to an extent on the staff issue, but the problem I have seen is that too many sites have little or no activity, but have three or four staff. Or, they promote some of the first members to join regardless of how good a member they actually are. To me, that can easily ruin a good and happy community too, which is why I promote not starting a site unless you have the first year to run it as you wish and to be able to do it alone.

[Cain]

I'm not sure exactly how I'm maintaining a happy community on my forum. >.< But whatever it is, it seems to be working. I don't think it's magic or any complex formula. I've come up with a unique system for RPing and have displayed the rules as clearly as possible. And most importantly I post often and keep the role play's story line moving every day. It seems simple but it works. There aren't any lulls or weeks that go by with no posts because there always seems to be something to do. I think the worst thing you can have is a bored member, so when they come to me and say "I'm bored" or "what should I do now?" I always have a list of possible things they could do and I do all I can to help their characters become acclimated into the story. Telling them "I'm too busy" or "Look around, you'll find something" is a definate no no.

That's my theory at least, and my members seem happy. In nearly two years time I've only had to ban one member, so I suppose I must be doing something right.

[dragondp1]

How do you Edit your proboard you make??

[arsenal1993]

you can add codes and stuff like that, makes it more original.

[dragondp1]

Where do you go to edit your proboard?

[arsenal1993]

what part do you want to edit?

[dragondp1]

The catorgories. The only one i have is "General"

[arsenal1993]

This is going off topic-please go to the thread on the support forum.

[Enchant]

@ dragondp1 - Please do not ask support questions in the discussion boards. If you eed support goto the support board. PLease read the rules of the boards you are posting in, it will help things rule much more smoother for you.

@ arsenal1993 - Please do not post unless it is relevant to the topic. If you see someone breaking the rules, please inform a mod, so that they might resolve the situation. Thank you.

[Kami]

Happy community = well placed rules, friendly staff, and a zero-tolerance policy for rudeness, flaming, and the like.

In regards to rules, there's a note at the bottom of each FAQ page (we've got them sectioned off by topic) and on the main page three-column table saying: "By registering with The Avatar RP you agree to obey the rules and all modifications thereof."

[bourd]

My boards is very small.