To run a successful forum there are a couple of key ingredients that must be in place when launching. These include:

• Quality moderators
• Prelaunch content so that the forums do not resemble a ghost town and look active.
• Branding so that the forums match the main site
• A link from the main site to the forums so that your readers know that the forums exist
• Posting policies so that the forums don’t get out of control and people are left wondering why they are getting banned and their posts deleted

I skipped all of that for the moment and decided to let the animals run wild so to speak (but don’t think there won’t be any moderation…oh yes, there will be some moderation. That means Matt H. don’t go around posting useless crud). Will I regret it? Of course I will, but that’s not something we should worry about on a Friday afternoon, no is it? :-).

Gotta Have A Contest

You didn’t think I would let you get away with posting on the brand new forums without having a little contest to go along with their launch did you? Let’s have a contest with people that start threads that are:

• The most intelligent
• The most entertaining
• The most off-the-wall

That’s all I can think of, but if you have any more categories then let me know and I can add them. Winner is decided by majority vote.

Prizes? I am sure I can come up with some cool stuff.

Deadline? Well the forums will exist till the end of time, but let’s run this contest till the end of May.

Hope the forums can blossom into something we can all enjoy and a place to escape the craziness that we call life. Enjoy.

Related posts:

The Forever Geek Forums are open
Forever Geek Forums status
From the Forums
Ars Technica Opens 2 New Forums
Why Friday the 13th Is Unlucky

Hope you like that post!

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