In planning an upcoming forum I decided I wanted to have a hidden forum for premium members and "serious members" with plenty of posts under their belts. At what point would you consider someone serious enough about the forum to give them access to a private forum? 100 posts? 500 posts? More?
I mark my threshold a little higher at around 500 posts. However, I think frequency of posts are more important than overall post counts. Members who visit and post daily are what I'd consider a "serious member."
I dont like the idea of giving access to forums based on post count it opens the doors for spam - but if thats what you want to do i would actually aim more towards 700-1000 as you have to take into account the spam you will get from it. Just my 2cents
Perhaps if they didn't know about the private forum, they wouldn't be tempted to spam to get in. I haven't made a final decision on whether it will be visible or not.
Interesting. I find that even the most serious member can lose their mind sometimes and decide to expose the "private" areas and cause more trouble than the private area ever had value. Just my 2 cents.
That certainly is a concern, but I was thinking I'd make the private forum(s) about dealing with clients and employers. Maybe with a designated purpose there won't be much gossiping about other members.
I would first wait until you have a large member-base with fairly high post counts. After being around for a little while, then assess your members' post counts. Check the member list and see how many members meet certain post-count thresholds. The reason is this: if you set the requirement at 500 posts, immediately when you launch your forum, what happens when the first user reaches 500? He/she will be the only one in there... and your private section is then useless.
I've set up the private forum so people could compose threads in there and then they are allowed to move them to other areas if they want. Another use is for people to have a thread with just the links they care about, sort of a bookmarking system instead of adding to the bookmarks in their browser. link to thread 1 link to post 2 in thread 2 etc
The only one in there besides me, that is. But yes, I can see it would be more advantageous to surprise several people at once with it.
I don't consider any post count a mark of how serious a member is, but rather the quality of their posts and how they portray themselves with that. If you were to take up this idea, I suggest instead of judging by post count, you hand pick members that you feel are a valuable contribution towards the community.
Hand-picking members definitely is very effective, but I would imagine that it can become very time consuming and almost a hassle for administrators of large communities. What do you think?
Whoops, didn't see this earlier - sorry! I think that you're right. But usually administrators notice good members by just being active, and would hand pick based on that rather than going out looking which would work on any size of community. However, applications can also be useful for users to say how good they are and list any previous experience.. I'd mix the both, do some of one, some of the other depending on how quickly you need the mod.
Soliloquy - great topic! I've been wondering the same thing. I love Donkey's thoughts on this and couldn't agree more. In my world the private forum would be for those that take the topic seriously and really want to get into deep conversations and potentially put some work into creating outcomes from the discussions. Therefore quantity doesn't help me much. I think it comes down to the impression they make on the community (perhaps rep points) and their willingness to pitch in and become a member of the community (don't know exactly how you would quantify that yet). HTH, RR
Some of the members of Pisoga have been there since three years ago, including me, and after all the chaos that have happened, they still believe that Pisoga will be what once was, which is why I stick to them. I was serious enough of a member that I was made admin. Not only did I had some of the most posts on the forum, but I was the 3rd highest repputated, the actual admins thought I was more valuable as a member than a moderator, why? Because of my posts, rep, and I did try to voice the users opinions on things. My posts weren't that helpful, it's an anime forum and I had just started watching anime, I was most repped because I was friendly and tried to get along with everyone, I was chosen to be a mod 'cause I was dedicated to make the site better and people viewed that as being a 'serious' member. I was made admin of Pisoga by force, but people recognized what I could do and can do, at the moment we're waiting on a couple of things, but once I get them, those dedicated members of pisoga, which I consider are serious to helping the community, they will get what they have been wanting, and hopefully I will deliver. Basically, I consider my members serious because 3 years have passed, a lot of chaos, the actual admin left, the chat is basically dying and they're still waiting for change, now THAT is being serious, with a side of fun.
Never. There is no private forum for regular members. However, to have access to the staff forum, I obviously do not care only (or much) for post count, because although most of my staff now have over a 1000 posts (considered unusually high at my small forum), I have hired many staff members throughout the years who have not even posted much, but who I know nonetheless visit enough, have integrity, are contributive, and can deal with people.
