This is on marketing as the customers (forum members) actions and movements have hit the news recently in reaction to the marketers of the product.... what stuff can be learnt on a marketing level. I have made a handful of posts at SEO Chat so make it clear, I have no grounds to claim I'm a member of that community. For that reason, also no grounds to tell them how to run their community. I would have participated more but the loading time for advertising slows the forums to a crippling speed that it just isn't worth waiting between clicks (for me). I wanted to be a member there and contribute but just don't have the time to wait for all their advertising between navigational clicks in the forum. All I want to offer on this topic is some comments on principles of 'community' and an opportunity for others interested in this case study to have their say. 1. Given a number of SEO Chat members are moving to this forum... I'd like to hear from Shawn, or a link to past comments from Shawn to acknowledge the role of that community in supporting his initial efforts and the role of SEO Chat in promoting his offerings (fair play)... the threads are there, lets just highlight them. 2. What are your thoughts on the social strata of SEO communities... do we follow the moderators where ever they move, do we stick with a community because that's where we started, do we move to where the more senior crew hang out. How do you work out where the best commentators are / worth listening to / find the community that is right for you? 3. For Members, what are your thoughts on SEO Chat... past, present drama and future recommendations. Please identify yourself as someone who is/was a member there.. bystanders or low post members like me don't bother posting on this issue - it's not our place. For SEO Chat members I'd encourage you to communicate with the forum admins about your concerns and accept that the leaders of a site of such significance in the SEO community should be given room to make mistakes and allowed the chance to make things right. For those who have said SEO Chat's loss is Digital Point's gain (in terms of membership) you are wrong... Shawn has put the right foot forward at the right time for the right reasons so far. I'm sure he will make a mistake at some point in the future and piss people off, but for now, you don't hear him putting shite on SEO Chat, just welcoming people while there are dramas at SEO Chat. Very few members here are in a position to commentate on the running of a major forum / seo forum of credibility. But do have something to offer as consumers.... so have your say.
SEO Chat was my "home" forum before I started this one (in fact I was also a moderator there). This forum was originally started as a way to support people using my products and tools. This forum started to become my forum for everything else (besides tools and products) when one day I was just tired of how slow SEO Chat had become (advertisements), how it was impossible to moderate (everyone was used to just posting everything in the Google forum regardless of what it was) and what I perceived as a lack of caring about the forum from the owners/admins (it seemed like every suggestion that people [including mods] made was answered with, "No, this is how we do it."). So rather than complain about it, I just decided to see if I could do something more to my (personal) liking. So indirectly, without SEO Chat this forum would have never come about.
My forum is like this. Except the board we migrated from shut down. The thing is people come to where there's the best service, sense of community, that something special. There are TONNES of other messageboards people coud've visited. But why'd they'd choose this one? Obviously there's something good here.