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I have started two forums recently with one more that I am going to get started on in the near future.  I have learned a few important things too along the way, so I think that I will share them with my faithful readers.

The first and most important thing is be sure to start a forum that you know a lot about the topic.  This is a mistake that I made right off the bat with www.theebayforum.com, I didn’t realize how little I really know about Ebay when people started asking questions, and when I was trying to start threads.  It has gotten to the point where it is a huge chore for me to continue posting on the site, which is why I have decided to sell the site.  It is no good owning a site that I don’t have FUN participating in.

The second thing is that if you don’t post in your own forum no one else is either.  You HAVE to be the top poster in your forum, especially when the site is just beginning.  It is no good for you to just sit in the background and mod the site.  Who is going to start threads?  The only way for a new forum to get going is if you start the conversation and continue it.  When you start threads make them easy to reply to, and when you answer someone’s reply ask for clarification or be genuinly interested in what they said.  Try to get them to keep going.

Third ensure from the start that you have a clear TOS.  If you have a set of rules that everyone knows it is much easier to moderate the site without people getting pissed.  Nothing is a forum killer like a mod that is percieved to be over-zealous.  And once you set the rules allow for NO exceptions.  This will help you be percieved as someone who doesn’t play favorites.  Make sure that your staff knows this also.

Finely patience, you will need patience.  A forum needs constent care and attention if you are ever going to make it self-sufficient.  You are going to have to work with it every day until the point comes where you have reached a critical mass of members.  When that point is reached your forum will start to gain content with little intervention on your part, that is also the point that you will be finding more of your time will be spent behind the scenes making the site work.  Every forum has a different Critical Mass, maybe you will get 10 members right off that are posting machines and will bring all of their friends, or maybe you will have to be the main poster till you reach the 500 registered members mark because 90% of the members have made only one post.

However Good luck to everyone, and if you have the chance register at forums.bluarcade.com or www.thepartylive.com I would be happy to see you there

I am starting to get better at developing themes for WordPress so one of the higher ups in my agenda is to develop a new theme for this site.  I really like the current one, but I believe that change would be good.  Maybe something that will be easier to make my other sites that are linked to this one match like the image host and the future forum.

I will try to keep the same “feel” of the site just needs to put my own flavor on to it.

When it is complete I will be looking for people to let me know what they think of it, so make sure that  you are ready.

On my getting popular Link directory I have installed an article directory using the software provided by Article Dashboard.  I really like the look and the professionalism of the software.  There is still some work to get done, but in the meantime if you have an article or 100 that you would like to add to the directory the URL is articles.bluenoserlinks.com

So go ahead and add a few, I will be doing some work on the site in the coming days, confirming what the TOS should be and adding and deleting some categories.  There is only one more piece of software that I want to add and that is a bookstore, but I think that it is going to be a webmaster themed bookstore and will probably be attached to this site.  I don’t think that BluenoserLinks is really the place that needs a Book Store, however believe me that there will be a link from there to the Book Store on this site

I have decided to merge to of my sites that are of the same name.  This site, www.bluenoser.ca is going to be merged with www.bluenoser.net my webmaster site.  In turn the scope of thst site will be expanded, I will also be adding a forum to that site with a STRONG Nova Scotia content to it, but will also have a minor webmaster content to it.

Maintaining so many different sites is starting to wear on me.

All of the great content will be found there.

Some may try to tell you that the weather in Nova Scotia, and probably Canada in general sucks, but I LOVE IT.

Summer is by far my favorite season, the sun, the warmth and the feeling in the air that can’t be explained.  I try to go swimming and camping as often as I can, and I get out of the office, both day job and at home, as often as I can.  You may ask why I don’t move somewhere south where the weather would be like this all of the time, but that answer to that is simple.  The Summer is so great here BECAUSE we have winter.  Just like you would not have light if there wasn’t darkness.

If you didn’t have winter to compare the summer to you would never appreciate it to the extent that it deserves.  Another example is someone who works for government and complains that they have to work too hard.  They should try working in the private sector for a couple of years and see how they last.

In closing come a experience Nova Scotia Summers, you will not be disappointed from the weather, the people and the scenery