Best Search Forums Award: Request for Information

As some of you know, I am going to run a survey asking people to vote which SEM forum they think is the best. Now, I will require people to vote on a scale from 1 - 5 or 1 - 10 on different variables and characteristics.

More information on that http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/002093.html

My question for the forum folks here are:

(1) What characteristics would you like to see asked in the survey?
(2) What concerns or advice do you have for me before I go ahead and make such a survey?

Best to get feedback before starting...

Thanks!

 

I would also suggest http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/ and http://www.v7n.com/forums/index.php

 

Ok, but what about criteria?

 

- signal to noise ratio
- number of mods/experts
- level of discussion on SEO/SEM

a few that come to mind

 

cool - thanks.

 

I saw Aaron's comment on your site... I think he covered a number of good ideas for ratings as well. If I can think of anything other than those I'll let you know.

 

You could do a doofus test to complement the survey's findings. Sign up as a newbie on each and ask a pretty basic SEO question of which the answer is commonly agreed upon by almost all. Then clock the response times and response quality. Like mystery shopping.

 

Not to mention how you are treated. Some are nearly hostile to Noobs asking a basic question while others are more encouraging.

Maybe a "Newbie Acceptance" scale

 

For those who don't know about it, http://www.dnforum.com has a great search engine section, but you have to pay $400.00 for a lifetime membership to get in.
That is for those of you that are really serious about seo and need some place to have low noise and high info. I am surprised it is not on the list.

Other than DP and a couple of others I don't really understand the nominations.

 

The DnForum actually does have a plan starting at $6 and then $16, $51, & finally the highest level at $401.

 

Dnforum is for domains. The seo and related boards are almost dead

 

Rusty you will probably have most of your criteria by now but here is a couple of thoughts for you.

(1) I think you need some kind of 'censorship index'. For example some Search Forums censor posters who refer to their own sites by url, which makes it difficult for them to ask detailed questions also makes it difficult for respondents to give advice and actual examples to others. Some forums censor direct quotations from emails (from Google for example) others do not. There are even some forums that censor practically all url drops. This is a difficult and controversial area to assess but it is important because some users obviously prefer very strict use of the blue pencil by moderators while others prefer a much more relaxed environment. Personally I think this is one of the major factors in users changing allegiance from one forum to another.

(2) Having been involved with the production of surveys myself I would say the most important factor is to test it before you use it. Prior to making it generally available give it to a 100 or so random respondents (in your target group) to complete and ask them for feedback. You will be amazed at how often respondents will interpret questions in ways that you did not intend or discover unintentional ambiguity.

The second most important factor is to have a professional statistician at your elbow to interpret the results Often in surveys what looks at first sight like a significant difference turns out to be just a statistical anomaly.

Good luck with the survey!

- Michael