Authors and Editors on Forum Websites

shake.gifWould you like to be an Author or Editor for our forum websites? We’re looking for people to represent our forum communities with news and thoughts related the overall forum subjects. It’s pretty fun and similiar to what you’re reading right now.

INTERESTED?
If you’re interested please PM (private message) the admin from your forum account. If accepted you will receive a PM with your seperate login info for your author account. You must PM from your forum account so we can verify who you are. PM the admin and say “I’d like to be an Author” or “I’d like to be an Editor”.

AUTHORS
An author is a member who writes articles, news and thoughts that would be of interest to the community as a whole. If you’re a member of our forums, you’ve already been an Author!

EDITORS
Editors can also write articles, but also can edit submitted articles and news posts. Editors need basic knowledge of HTML. An HTML view panel is provided if needed for articles. If you use FrontPage, Dreamweaver or have built websites, then you probably have all the tools you need. Editors do NOT need to know how to code HTML by hand, but need to be able to spot layout or code problems if it arises. It’s not very scary if you know a little about HTML.

WHAT’S THE POINT?
We are in the process of updating our online communities and this is a first step into moving them towards more interactive portals. There are a lot of exciting things in the works and you’re involvement is crucial to the growth of our communities. If you are passionate about the subject matter on your particular forum, then you are the perfect person for this.

HOW OFTEN DO I HAVE TO WRITE ARTICLES?
There is no set requirement. You can write one every day or once a month. Your involvement is up to you.

AN EXAMPLE OF ARTICLE POSTS
Let’s say the website you’re a member of is a Snowboarding forum. You could write reviews of snowboarding equipment, post links to new snowboarding products, talk about beginner tricks and tips, post weather conditions at featured ski resorts, talk about your last snowboarding trip, write thoughts about snowboarding articles on CNN.com with a link to the original article, write about the music snowboarders listen to – that’s just a start. You write about what you are interested and passionate about.

ONE PER NETWORK
To encourage the diversity of our communities, members can only be an author on one of our sites.

Networks Upgrading for Web 2.0

web20.jpgOur networks are currently in the process of upgrading in preparation for the coined “Web 2.0”. I started working on the backend several months ago on this and have a steady game plan that will go for months. Read about Web 2.0 on Wikipedia.

We will be blurring the line between our forum and ecommerce networks. Our forum networks will have more interaction and trading available for members, and our ecommerce network will integrate some of the community features from our forum networks.

If you’re a user on any of our networks, you’ll just notice that there’s more to do and things will be a little more fun. Tonight was the first time I started installing what I’ve been sketching out for quite a while. For me that’s very exciting.

Ironically, much of my work has been to make things appear simple. A lesson I’ve learned from music that carries over to IT.

To me, this is Web 2.0 in a nutshell: If three years ago someone asked me how get more search engine traffic; I could have gone on for hours about specific SEO tricks to use and how to manipulate the search engines. A couple days ago someone asked me the same question: “How do I get more traffic to my website?”. My answer was: “Create useful content about what you know and make it readily available to users.”

Some people still refer to my networks as “the empire”. That’s how we used to refer to it in-house and out. It was about domination, controlling SERPS, driving traffic and keeping the behemoth money machine rolling. It’s very rare I used the word “empire” any more, and when I hear it; to me it is a reference to a period of time. Today I refer to it as networks. It is about sharing information and ideas. It is also a reflection of my personal shift in theology; it is about giving more than it is about taking.

My favorite question is: “So how do you make money on this?”. Who cares. This is not about money, it’s about interaction. It’s about leaving the world a little better than when you entered it. As Mel Gibson said recently, “I’m keeping my side of the street clean. That’s all I can do.”