Sebbie on the Webbie

Posts Tagged ‘discussion board’

If you are setting up or running a forum, one of the most important things with creating a relaxed atmosphere is to select the right emotioncs for your boards. That may sound funny, but on every forum I’ve ever run, I have had a set of carefully selected emoticons, and people LOVE them. On one board, they came such a part of the community, that I felt compelled to give them a week off from work. (This was to rearrange them really, but I informed people that they have been working so hard that I’m giving them a week off.) The response was hilarious. People didn’t want to see them go, but understood their need for rest and requested post cards from their holiday resort. (And indeed got a photo with all those emoticons in front of an European church.)

When ever I’m a member of a discussion board that only allows the basic set of yellow faces, I feel kind of depressed. It tells me that this board is SERIOUS, and the guy running it doesn’t really care about the members. The set of emoticons that are available on a board, also tell me about the sense of humour on the board, and topics that area allowed. (You can get rather naughty little emoticons if you look for them!) There is a wonderful world of emoticons out there, let me tell you! They make you laughThey make you cry.. and when you’re feeling low, they give you a hug.

To help you to get started, I have collected a basic set of smileys for you to use instead of those awful yellow ones. It still comes with Mr. Green though, as there’s nothing better than Mr. Green! (What? You didn’t know he had a name?!)

Download the groovy basic smiley set

As far as I know all these emoticons have been published in the public domain. I have mainly downloaded them at Deviant Art, which has a great section for emoticons!

One word of advice though: Don’t put all the icons into the post form, but set most of them into the pop-up window, as having a lot of them clickable will slow down your forum. Put the most used icons on the form and the rest of them behind the “more” screen. Also when selecting post forum icons, stick with the standard sized icons, that won’t stretch the rows too much, or it’ll look quite messy.

Then wait to see the reactions when you put up more smileys! I quarantee your members will be stoked!

There’s currently 2 discussions about the handsomest / most beautiful blogger on BlogCatalog.com. This made me think about the importance of letting your readers know what you look like. I don’t know if it is that important to other people, but to me it is… For one thing, you can tell a lot about the person by the photo. The age, the style, the gender – you might be surprised how often people think you’re the other gender if you don’t have a photo of yourself! Some topics are gender biased, like… Environmental issues, girly stuff. Fashion, definitely girls, technology, boys, without question… If a blogger doesn’t constantly tell you that “I’m a guy” the visitor will create an image which will effect the way they read your posts.

I know it is daunting to put your photo up there. I chose to use a series of photos, as currently, after having shaved all of my hair off when I turned 30, I am now growing my hair and I bloody well hate it. Having a series of random photos up there, will give me the satisfaction of telling people that I haven’t always had bad hair! Anyway, I would still put my image up there even if I was’t happy about the way I look, or have ever looked, because it gives people an idea of who I am, and why I think this way. Believe it or not, the way we look will also have an effect on how we view the world. “All men are pigs” will sound different when women looking different say that, don’t you agree?

If you have the looks, don’t hide it! You should not underestimate the value of good looks when it comes to attracting readership. People will deny that they would read blogs based on the good looks of the blogger, but deep down we all know we do… Not that it would be nearly the only thing that matters, just that it has an effect that is important enough to take a note off. Let’s put it this way; having the right meta tags will not bring you as many readers as your good looks.

One more thing that speaks for portraying your image; trust. If you have the guts to put your photo up there, and still say what you say, it gives the impression that you do stand behind what you say. We all know what anonymity does to you online. When you comment on discussion boards or to an article, if you are ashamed of what you say, you won’t be posting that thing with your name attached to it, let alone a photo. What ever you say with your name and face attached to it creates trust. Quite frankly, I don’t really give a damn about what some flower or cartoon character says on a discussion board, but I will take a good look at posts that are decorated with a real face.

If you want them to take you seriously, show them your face.

UPDATE: I just joined a fashion network and searched through the local people. There waren’t many so it was quick. However I found a couple of models that didn’t have an avatar. I almost bursted out laughing. I mean seriously, what does it tell about a model if she doesn’t have an avatar?

I love discussion boards. To me they are the BEST THING about the Internet. Blogs are good, but discussion boards are super duper. Running one is like combining the blog and a discussion board, people still come to your site, but you get to see them STAY even though you weren’t active for days. That is so cool.

There are different type of discussion boards though. I don’t love all of them.

1. Super popular general boards

Example: MySpace Forums
These forums rarely produce discussions that are worth following. They are riddled with people who are there just to annoy you or make you feel like shit. Even if they didn’t have that effect on you, why would you want to hang out with those people anyway?

2. Super popular niche boards

Such as: Blog Catalog Discussion
These are a little better. Everyone has something in common, so everyone cen find something to talk to, help each other and give tips. The downside is that the discussion rarely gets very interesting, as because you know there will be 30 replies in about 30 minutes, if you take time to reply people will skip your reply anyway so there’s no point.

4. Small niche board

Little like doll collectors discussions.
Easy to start! Everyone has the interesting topic in mind so it’s easy to start talking. However, things rarely get very personal on these boards, as there is that topic, and even though off topic board would be introduced it’s a bit hard to “go there” as people are a tad bit worried about their credibility as a hobbyist if they stray too far from the topic.

3. Small general boards

Such as My Old board.

Hard one to get off ground! With nothing to base the conversation on, it can start out like pulling teeth! A good humorous base group is essential, people who like talking and chattering away to each other, even if nobody else was around. On these boards discussion CAN get really interesting. On the downside, after all that hard work, as they are small, the ripple effect of one disruptive member can actually take down the whole board. At best, the conversation can go really deep and personal, and you can make real friends on these boards.

Related reading:

Handling a conflict on a forum – relating to types 3&4 really.

I’ve been running discussion boards of different topics for years… I would say since 2001 but I’m not sure. Anyway, I’ve learned a lot of things, one of them is that no matter how innocent the topic, there’s always going to be problems with members not getting along – and it’s often your job to stand in the middle. The following is to ponder about how to handle these situations with as little interruption or damage to the board morale as possible.

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