Weekly Interview Series #4 – Geoffrey
Hello members of Forum Promotion! Today is our 4th interview. Today we're interviewing Geoffrey , who's a member of the best team on Forum Promotion, the Editorial Team.
Tell us a little about yourself. Who is Geoffrey?
Well, I’m a 21 year old college student at Indiana State University. I’m about to start my senior year and will be graduating in May with a bachelor’s degree in communication/journalism. After that, I have plans to go to grad school to get a master’s in student affairs. Basically that means I’ll be working as a full time professional at a university in some type of staff role - residence life, admissions, conduct, etc. Let’s see, other things… I’m a huge fan of Scandal and Once Upon A Time and I’ve recently started watching The Walking Dead as well. I’ve been on forums for many years and even though I’ve tried to quit a few times, I always end up coming back.
You've been a member of Forum Promotion for a while, and I know you retired from forums a few months ago. What has kept you at Forum Promotion for so long? Why do you keep coming back?
Forums are a great hobby. Whenever I’ve got some free time or not doing anything, going on forums provides something to fill that time. I keep coming back to Forum Promotion specifically because I have always loved the community it has and brings in so many different types of users and admins are all on the same site, which creates an interesting atmosphere for discussions and networking. It’s nice to have an “escape” from my real life woes and responsibilities, which going on forums provides. Even when I’m a staff member, it’s nice to have something to do outside of my busy and demanding life as a college student.
We all know you're an avid ZetaBoards fan, you've even gone far enough to start your own resource forum for ZetaBoards. What's the reason you're so passionate about ZetaBoards?
ZetaBoards is my home. I’ve been on ZetaBoards forum and a part of the ZB community for years, about as long as I’ve been on forums. Most of my forum friends are using that software. As for why I started a forum on ZB, mainly because it provides everything I need and since it’s just a hobby (not a business), I see no reason to drop hundreds of dollars on software and themes when we can either obtain or create everything we need on ZB for free. ZetaBoards has some of the best themes and resources I’ve ever seen for any software (a large part of why I decided to jump at the chance to be a part of a new resource forum start up). I don’t think people give it enough credit most of the time.
You've started two successful forums in the last six months. What's your secret to having a successful forum?
I think it comes down to dedication. If you’ve got the drive to post on your own forum and keep it going, you’re going to do pretty well. You’ve also got to have an eye for details. So many forums that I see are just slapped together with default settings, some barely modified themes, etc. and that doesn’t cut it any more (if it ever did). All of the forums I’ve ever started I always put 110% into and made it the best I could. If I didn’t feel like I could do that, I didn’t bother opening the forum at all. I can’t take all the credit for all success I’ve had though, I’ve always been fortunate to have a great group of people working with me either as co-admins or on a staff team, or even just people joining and being active members.
You said above that a great staff team is important to a successful forum. What's your secret to keeping your staff members motivated?
Finding the right staff is the biggest obstacle. If you can find people that are interested in your forum’s niche and enjoy posting on the forum, the bit of extra work that comes with being a staff member isn’t hard for them to manage at all. Also, realizing that everyone is busy and online is not as important as people's personal lives'. I’ve found that recruiting members who are already a part of the community is best, then you have a lot better chance of finding the “right people” like I mentioned that way.
What's the best staff team on FP?
Editorial Team, of course! #RedGangsters
Tell us a funny story. Make us laugh. What's a funny life experience you've had?
This one time, at band camp… Nah, just kidding. I wasn’t in band. I was in show choir though. That’s pretty funny by itself. I can’t sing or dance, even though I like to do both and was in show choir for 5 hours in middle school and high school. I wish I had a video, but just picture a tone deaf teenager attempting to sing while flailing around on a stage. You’re welcome.
That wraps this interview up! Thanks to Geoffrey for doing this interview, and also the members who have read this. Thanks a ton you all for reading this! We'll have another interview next week for your reading pleasure.
