Message Boards: The Job of the Contributor
By Richard Lowe
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.
Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
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