Floris
11-12-2005, 02:57 PM
Hello community newbies,
Welcome to the brainstorm experience:
Shall I start with one community, or build a bunch to increase my changes?
The short answer for the people who prefer not to read a lot: You're stupid.
Ok, if you are still reading this, you are smart enough to take a community seriously. With you I would like to have this brainstorm, because it is an always ongoing topic.
There are quite some web sites with one board (a community) that have done great and many will be jealous of the amount of members, threads, and posts it generates. But do not forget that there are also a lot of sites that have started with a few different boards that operate totally separate from each other or work as one big community. What works best for you is of course the big question. Or is it? Perhaps not ..
If you are dedicated to put time into your setup you can make a difference, or in other words: Be a success by playing it smart. Being dedicated doesn't always have to mean you have to post a lot on your own site and get famous or whatever. No, it should mean you have the time to read from the feedback you get what your community is growing into. Work on the content, the sections of your site, and find that one thing what brings just that little extra. Sometimes this means having something for everybody.
A quick and simple example. You could start one web site with 3 different categories. One for kids, one for teens and above, and one for adults. And hope to get those three age differences to visit your one forum. You could also start one web site with 3 different boards, one for each age group. Divided with different type of moderators, different content matching the group, but all boards linked up to one user base. You can advertise your own domains, users can login everywhere. You could offer adults a more serious content which on a single board might have been split through user groups to avoid for example suicide discussions, politics, nudity, etc. With a separate board (yet part of a bigger community) you could setup COPPA for registration controlling this.
I hope you see what I am trying to explain. Hopefully you also see that you have to think about what might work best for you. Hopefully your board (or boards) is a success based on choosing beforehand if you just need one board, or perhaps build a bigger community.
What is very important is that you know and make these choices before you actually start a community. Write out on paper what you need, want, desire, and hope to realize. What costs you can make, what revenue (if any) you wish to generate, etc.
Picking one or more boards might be a very important step, so don't overlook it. Which many do, and sorry to sound rude, but mostly those who don't want to be dedicated to build their community, mostly those who don't bother to read beyond the first paragraph ;)
Questions?
Welcome to the brainstorm experience:
Shall I start with one community, or build a bunch to increase my changes?
The short answer for the people who prefer not to read a lot: You're stupid.
Ok, if you are still reading this, you are smart enough to take a community seriously. With you I would like to have this brainstorm, because it is an always ongoing topic.
There are quite some web sites with one board (a community) that have done great and many will be jealous of the amount of members, threads, and posts it generates. But do not forget that there are also a lot of sites that have started with a few different boards that operate totally separate from each other or work as one big community. What works best for you is of course the big question. Or is it? Perhaps not ..
If you are dedicated to put time into your setup you can make a difference, or in other words: Be a success by playing it smart. Being dedicated doesn't always have to mean you have to post a lot on your own site and get famous or whatever. No, it should mean you have the time to read from the feedback you get what your community is growing into. Work on the content, the sections of your site, and find that one thing what brings just that little extra. Sometimes this means having something for everybody.
A quick and simple example. You could start one web site with 3 different categories. One for kids, one for teens and above, and one for adults. And hope to get those three age differences to visit your one forum. You could also start one web site with 3 different boards, one for each age group. Divided with different type of moderators, different content matching the group, but all boards linked up to one user base. You can advertise your own domains, users can login everywhere. You could offer adults a more serious content which on a single board might have been split through user groups to avoid for example suicide discussions, politics, nudity, etc. With a separate board (yet part of a bigger community) you could setup COPPA for registration controlling this.
I hope you see what I am trying to explain. Hopefully you also see that you have to think about what might work best for you. Hopefully your board (or boards) is a success based on choosing beforehand if you just need one board, or perhaps build a bigger community.
What is very important is that you know and make these choices before you actually start a community. Write out on paper what you need, want, desire, and hope to realize. What costs you can make, what revenue (if any) you wish to generate, etc.
Picking one or more boards might be a very important step, so don't overlook it. Which many do, and sorry to sound rude, but mostly those who don't want to be dedicated to build their community, mostly those who don't bother to read beyond the first paragraph ;)
Questions?