Managing Online Forums
- Thread starter Creativebot
- Start date
The book is a great read and is well worth buying for any forum owner, even more experienced ones. I've read it in the past and posted this review of it on my business forum.
fantanoice
Madly Diligent
I'm a little skeptical about the book. I mean, managing forums just seems to be something you learn from actually 'managing forums.' I don't know how much about them that he could fit into a book, plus the foruming world is always changing, so it's possible the book may become outdated within a year or two.
But thanks for the find. I might look into it, but I personally can't justify spending $15-$25 on something that I can get for free by asking around on some Admin sites.
Probably better for beginners, I suppose.
But thanks for the find. I might look into it, but I personally can't justify spending $15-$25 on something that I can get for free by asking around on some Admin sites.
Probably better for beginners, I suppose.
Preview of the book - http://books.google.com/books?id=PUKJjT ... &q&f=false
Hey all,
This is Patrick O'Keefe. It's nice to meet you. 🙂 I really appreciate all of the interest in my book. It means a lot to me.
In reading this thread, I had a few thoughts that sprung to mind and I thought that I would register and share them with you. Maybe they'll be interesting or useful in some way, who knows. 🙂
I am always learning and always getting better. I believe that this is the best mindset to have. This doesn't make me weak, it makes me strong. I'll give you an example. Fergal has knowledge that I have learned from and can learn from. This doesn't make me feel threatened by Fergal or challenged by Fergal, and it doesn't make me feel like I am not very good at what I do. What it does do is present an opportunity for me to learn something and for me to grow stronger. And in my brief conversations with Fergal, I have learned things and become better. With any luck, I hopefully have had a similar effect on him.
This isn't a competition. When someone presents knowledge to you, that's not a challenge, that's an opportunity and I believe you always have to stay hungry for knowledge. I know I am. I learn every day from all types of sources and continually strive to become better. I can learn from people who have been doing this longer than me, I can learn from people who have not been doing it as long as me - even people who may have just started. This is a strength and it is in that spirit that I present the book.
I've been managing online communities for 10 years now. And the book is the culmination of my experience during the first 8 years (and, honestly, it's still mostly current even to this very moment with my experience). It's most everything that I know in written form. I emptied my brain. The hope is that it is helpful to people.
When you write a book, or release a book, that you put this much thought into, that's not you telling people that they need a book to do this. That's definitely not what I am saying. I do not feel that way. I learned by doing and that doing, those ups and downs, are one of the things I share in the book. You don't need any book to, eventually, become an excellent community or forum manager. That said, again, I go back to the educational point. By learning from others (not necessarily from my book), you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation.
It's not a book for beginners, it's a book for everyone who has a serious interest in managing an online community. If you are new, it is a major leg up. If you are a veteran, it is a supplement to your existing knowledge. At the very least, my goal is to make you think about some things and become better for it.
Thankfully, it is basically as current now as the day it was released. This was by design. It is not a book about software, it is a book about strategy and good strategy doesn't change as easily as software. Though phpBB and vBulletin are very briefly mentioned, they are mentioned only as a couple of software options to consider. I purposefully avoided software knowing that it can change fast. Plus, software isn't what the book is or was about, anyway. It's about the people aspects of online community, first and foremost.
When it comes to managing a community, there is no one way. I am presenting information in the book that I know to be useful or work well from my experience. But, that doesn't mean that it is the best route for everyone. These are methods that can be considered as you craft your strategy, to present you with options and give you something to think about, thus (hopefully) strengthening your operation, even if you do things in a drastically different fashion.
Regarding the price point. It all depends. The book is priced around $16 and it contains everything that I learned over 8 years of managing online communities. To some, it may be worth it. To others, it may not, and that's totally cool. 🙂
Thank you for the kind words, Creativebot, wigsaw and Fergal. I appreciate your interest, as well, eXtreme and Ashley.
Regarding the available of the book in libraries, where are you located, eXtreme? The book is in at least 473 libraries (as tracked by WorldCat, see this link for a full list) and it may be available in either physical or digital form at your local library. You can also request it if it isn't, as Creativebot said.
Regarding the local bookstore availability, it can be found in some Barnes & Noble locations and some Chapters/Indigo stores in Canada. At one point, it was in pretty much every Barnes & Noble store in the country (which was awesome and an honor), but if you know the book publishing industry, you know that most books cycle off of shelves after a very short period of time. Where are you located, Ashley?
As OscarG eluded to, it is more widely available online on Amazon.com and (most likely) your favorite online bookseller. It's also available as an eBook and on the Amazon Kindle.
Agentmanningctu, me and my brother were/are huge fans of 24. 🙂 Stinks that it came to an end. That was such a rough part where Jack and Curtis had that final standoff. 🙁 Curtis was the man. Thanks so much for picking up the book.
As far as the site mentioned that is one of the sites that I manage, I find it a little distasteful for it to be mentioned on Fergal's site, where a similar topic is discussed, and I'm not comfortable with that. Fergal's a cool guy and I wouldn't put my site out there on his site like that. But, what I will say is that that particular site is there simply for those who want to use it and chat about that topic with myself and others. I don't hype it and I don't really care about activity. Not all communities exist for the same reasons and that goes back to what I said about there not being one way.
I manage other sites as well, and have managed even more in the past, but I don't necessarily feel the need to talk about my credentials here, as I don't want to come across as egotistical or self promotional, beyond simply replying to what you all have been discussing. 🙂 If you want to know what I have done, that's easily found through search engines.
I appreciate your time and thank you again for all of your interest and discussion. I hope that this post was worth the read.
Sincerely,
Patrick
This is Patrick O'Keefe. It's nice to meet you. 🙂 I really appreciate all of the interest in my book. It means a lot to me.
In reading this thread, I had a few thoughts that sprung to mind and I thought that I would register and share them with you. Maybe they'll be interesting or useful in some way, who knows. 🙂
I am always learning and always getting better. I believe that this is the best mindset to have. This doesn't make me weak, it makes me strong. I'll give you an example. Fergal has knowledge that I have learned from and can learn from. This doesn't make me feel threatened by Fergal or challenged by Fergal, and it doesn't make me feel like I am not very good at what I do. What it does do is present an opportunity for me to learn something and for me to grow stronger. And in my brief conversations with Fergal, I have learned things and become better. With any luck, I hopefully have had a similar effect on him.
This isn't a competition. When someone presents knowledge to you, that's not a challenge, that's an opportunity and I believe you always have to stay hungry for knowledge. I know I am. I learn every day from all types of sources and continually strive to become better. I can learn from people who have been doing this longer than me, I can learn from people who have not been doing it as long as me - even people who may have just started. This is a strength and it is in that spirit that I present the book.
I've been managing online communities for 10 years now. And the book is the culmination of my experience during the first 8 years (and, honestly, it's still mostly current even to this very moment with my experience). It's most everything that I know in written form. I emptied my brain. The hope is that it is helpful to people.
When you write a book, or release a book, that you put this much thought into, that's not you telling people that they need a book to do this. That's definitely not what I am saying. I do not feel that way. I learned by doing and that doing, those ups and downs, are one of the things I share in the book. You don't need any book to, eventually, become an excellent community or forum manager. That said, again, I go back to the educational point. By learning from others (not necessarily from my book), you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation.
It's not a book for beginners, it's a book for everyone who has a serious interest in managing an online community. If you are new, it is a major leg up. If you are a veteran, it is a supplement to your existing knowledge. At the very least, my goal is to make you think about some things and become better for it.
Thankfully, it is basically as current now as the day it was released. This was by design. It is not a book about software, it is a book about strategy and good strategy doesn't change as easily as software. Though phpBB and vBulletin are very briefly mentioned, they are mentioned only as a couple of software options to consider. I purposefully avoided software knowing that it can change fast. Plus, software isn't what the book is or was about, anyway. It's about the people aspects of online community, first and foremost.
When it comes to managing a community, there is no one way. I am presenting information in the book that I know to be useful or work well from my experience. But, that doesn't mean that it is the best route for everyone. These are methods that can be considered as you craft your strategy, to present you with options and give you something to think about, thus (hopefully) strengthening your operation, even if you do things in a drastically different fashion.
Regarding the price point. It all depends. The book is priced around $16 and it contains everything that I learned over 8 years of managing online communities. To some, it may be worth it. To others, it may not, and that's totally cool. 🙂
Thank you for the kind words, Creativebot, wigsaw and Fergal. I appreciate your interest, as well, eXtreme and Ashley.
Regarding the available of the book in libraries, where are you located, eXtreme? The book is in at least 473 libraries (as tracked by WorldCat, see this link for a full list) and it may be available in either physical or digital form at your local library. You can also request it if it isn't, as Creativebot said.
Regarding the local bookstore availability, it can be found in some Barnes & Noble locations and some Chapters/Indigo stores in Canada. At one point, it was in pretty much every Barnes & Noble store in the country (which was awesome and an honor), but if you know the book publishing industry, you know that most books cycle off of shelves after a very short period of time. Where are you located, Ashley?
As OscarG eluded to, it is more widely available online on Amazon.com and (most likely) your favorite online bookseller. It's also available as an eBook and on the Amazon Kindle.
Agentmanningctu, me and my brother were/are huge fans of 24. 🙂 Stinks that it came to an end. That was such a rough part where Jack and Curtis had that final standoff. 🙁 Curtis was the man. Thanks so much for picking up the book.
As far as the site mentioned that is one of the sites that I manage, I find it a little distasteful for it to be mentioned on Fergal's site, where a similar topic is discussed, and I'm not comfortable with that. Fergal's a cool guy and I wouldn't put my site out there on his site like that. But, what I will say is that that particular site is there simply for those who want to use it and chat about that topic with myself and others. I don't hype it and I don't really care about activity. Not all communities exist for the same reasons and that goes back to what I said about there not being one way.
I manage other sites as well, and have managed even more in the past, but I don't necessarily feel the need to talk about my credentials here, as I don't want to come across as egotistical or self promotional, beyond simply replying to what you all have been discussing. 🙂 If you want to know what I have done, that's easily found through search engines.
I appreciate your time and thank you again for all of your interest and discussion. I hope that this post was worth the read.
Sincerely,
Patrick
fantanoice
Madly Diligent
Hmm, turns out the closest copy to me is at my friend's University's library. I might see if she can pick it up for me (though knowing her, she won't).
I think EVERYONE here should buy this book. It can only help. And the number of forums you run does not go along with the experience you have. I could run 20 forums and not know how to use the forum software at all.
Good book :great: nice find
Good book :great: nice find
Creativebot
Paragon
@Patrick Do you plan on making another book in the future? I know your busy with public speaking now a days.
Thanks for replying to this topic Patrick, great to meet you here. I'd highly recommend your book to anyone interested in running a forum. Similar to what you said, I don't believe that any one individual knows everything and the most successful people in any field are always eager to improve their knowledge and learn from others.
I personally learned a lot from the book and from forum discussions with the author and I strongly believe that all other forum owners could too.
I personally learned a lot from the book and from forum discussions with the author and I strongly believe that all other forum owners could too.
Hey all,
Thank you for your interest, fantanoice and the kind words, The Hat Tipper and Fergal. 🙂 I really appreciate it. Who is the author of the book you referenced, Diron?
Thank you for asking, Creativebot. I have some ideas (some of which are not tied to the internet at all! 🙂) that I'd like to get to, but it is really a matter of finding time, which is really difficult these days.
Thanks again,
Patrick
Thank you for your interest, fantanoice and the kind words, The Hat Tipper and Fergal. 🙂 I really appreciate it. Who is the author of the book you referenced, Diron?
Thank you for asking, Creativebot. I have some ideas (some of which are not tied to the internet at all! 🙂) that I'd like to get to, but it is really a matter of finding time, which is really difficult these days.
Thanks again,
Patrick
agentmanningctu
My Posts = Jack Bauer's Kills
I can't wait for mine to come. I really hope it comes tomorrow or Saturday so I can take it with me on my trip.
agentmanningctu
My Posts = Jack Bauer's Kills
Darn it. It didn't ship in time. It's Sunday now and I leave early tomorrow morning, so I won't get it for a few more weeks.
Well, I guess there are some areas I could be improving on, like resisting the impulse to close a board down after two weeks, although I feel I'm getting better at that...other than that... er, I don't know what to say, really.
agentmanningctu
My Posts = Jack Bauer's Kills
Mmhmm. Hopefully I'll get it in two weeks when my Dad flies back out for work. Should be a good read for the flight home.
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