Hey Everyone, I run a site special event related website and we are considering trying to build an active forum / community component. The current site has a pretty decent amount of traffic (15,000+ visitors / day), but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a community forum going. Seems like getting it started is probably the most difficult thing. I was hoping to hear some tips from people who have created successful community sites. How did you start out? What are your thoughts on moderators? Should they be volunteers or paid staff? What kinds of issues should we plan to deal with? Any general advice? Mistakes to avoid? -bmack
Personally, I would ask for volunteer moderators. You need ppl who WANT to do the job for the job's sake, rather than ppl who are just in it for the money. I'd start by asking a few ppl you already know the reputation of if they would have a go. At least until you have had time to watch the various personalities visiting your site and asking the sensible ones you pick out.
Good moderators are har to come bye... at first you might need to pay someone to get reliable work (research the hell out of the person or company you are going to hire first). Once you get larger and you have given people the "want" to be on your site you can start getting volunteers. You will probably have to be very actively involved in moderating as well!
Moderators should deffinitly be Volunteer's. If you find a person who wants to be paid for a new starting forum telling to go somewhere, Id try keep the forum quite active by regularly starting interesting threads and encouraging your moderators to do the same.