Misconceptions users have about forums and forum owners

Occasionally users get ideas about you in their heads that don't really reflect the reality of running a forum. One common misconception is that you're probably making a bundle of money off the ads on the forum, when the reality is for many you're lucky if the hosting and upgrade fees are covered. What other misconceptions about yourself do you have to set straight on a regular basis?

 

That forum owners get rich quick.

Forum owners know every post that was ever made.

Forum owners read "everything" on the site

Forum owners have no life besides the site.

Forum owners are on the site 24/7/365

 

• The owner is there at the second a report is made
• Owner HAS to listen to the every user's suggestion and put it in action
• As Kevin said, the owner lives on the website basically
• The owner doesn't have anything else to do so they have to be there to respond every second.
• No excuses if you went to eat! There was a post the user posted and you needed to respond that second!
• The owner is my friend so the owner will make me a mod.
• The owner know everything and anything about coding and designing, so asking him/her for a new one is no trouble
• Making the forum wasn't hard....

=| I get these a lot.

 

If a person is an administrator at FORUM A, they are more than happy to answer your issues about FORUM A while they are visiting FORUM B, C, or D.

 

So true... The amount of times I get this...

"Have you read my post"
"Which one?"
"All of them "
"No. I has a life"

 

So is the timer set to 15 minutes on vb.com?

:lol:


It is difficult to tell people that sometimes things just cannot be done, usually because of conflicting requirements such as how to set up forums so they work for everyone.

 

Haha is that what is happening here? lol just because you are "in the know" at vb.com you are asked all the questions here! haha

 

I'd say that the most common misconception (that I've seen) members have about forum administrators (or, in other words, "us") is that we spend each and every minute tending to our community(s). This is simply not true - while I may appear to be online during every hour of the day, I'm actually not.

 

Yes Chris, same here. Sometimes I just leave my computer as it is. x.x Which is a huge mistake.

 

Making more money than you are
That it's a full-time job
That you always have to be there
That you should change things to their individual liking
That even the slightest change is horrible
That they should be entitled to certain things

really a long list, but that's the short of it

 

The assumption we're making money hand over fist is probably the most annoying to me. How I wish it were true.

 

All very true.

A lot of what I've noticed is the expectation of an instant response. Many people e-mail or PM me a question and if they don't get an answer in a couple of hours, they send it again.
As Chris said, I can't be everywhere all the time.

The only responses I check and respond to fairly quickly are those from my online co-workers and forum staff members.

 

I read somewhere that members expect a response to their post within an hour, or they consider the place slow.

 

......lolwut?

Are you serious?

 

Maybe I'm wrong about that; I can't find the article I had in mind that said that, though I did find this:

Usability News - Online Enquiry? You have 24 hours to Answer

 

That brings up another question: Are online forums a business when is applies to the topic of timely responses. If that forum is official support for a product then yes, a general forum, not so much.


I certainly would not spend the time integrating into another community if questions go unanswered for a few days, depending on the sense of urgency. We have some threads where questions are answered in months, but those are very good well researched answers that take much time to answer.

 

Well, they won't mention ads if you don't have any ads.

I commonly get "I didn't mention it because I didn't think anyone could do anything (about it)." Basically because something is set, the members don't think it can be changed or that the administrators would be willing to change or fix something.

 

For me the biggest one is being asked to delete a post, saying "no" because it's a valid opinion, and then being accused of supporting that opinion. Happens so often. "Your refusal to delete this post calling for the age of consent to be lowered to 14 proves you support paedophiles" etc etc.

Also people who think my refusal to delete a post means they will be able to get the site taken down.

 

What I don't get is the people who keep reading the sections and threads they know are going to offend them. If someone posts a joke in the Political Jokes section, half the people complain about it and want it taken down and the poster disciplined. Then they'll go post an equally offensive joke that the other party wants taken down.

 

some i thought when i joined my first forum

☻ the mods were robots (most on there prefer to be anonymous and have an account called moderator1 or something for modding work and a normal account for posting)
☻ mods were employed by the forum owner and worked in an office or something (after i found out they were human)
☻ to own a forum you had to go and buy it from a shop like you would with a computer game or something
☻ admins made the entire forum software themselfes (actually they were using vbulletin)