Why a partnership?

Management by committee does not work for a business, why do people start up forum as a partnership? As opposed to 1 person sets the tone of the forum.


By definition a partnership erodes the theory of consistent leadership. Yes there can be agreements worked out between the partners but that really is not the same as having 1 person be the 'go to' person.

 

I'm not sure how this relates to a forum? Do you mean partnerships with other forums, or two administrators, or a network of two or more forums?

 

Instead of 1 person starting up a forum, 2 or more people start up a forum being equal partners. I'm not sure who would have the final say when something difficult needs to be decided.



There is an extreme example of a forum owner leaving (almost) completely and gave no direction many years ago. Since then all the admins would try to decide the overall direction of the site i.e. run by committee. That resulted in some incredibly bizarre rules and rules enforcement which was not consistent at all. Quite frustrating for the members.

Actually I've seen a few forims abandoned and left for the mods to run, but usually there is a hand off of some sort.

 

I'd imagine people are hoping to find someone else as dedicated (or more) who will take on half the work. Unfortunately not all partnerships are truly equal.

 

Hopefully before they start their partnership they defined their roles and responsibilities and made a pecking order. I believe a partnership can be a very good thing when done well. Equal in all regards is just a bad idea.

 

It's good to bounce ideas off each other. You can do double the work in the same amount of time. You also may or may not benefit from your partner having resources that you do not have access to.

 

That is my point. Someone will need the final say eventually.

This I can see. Having someone else with a vested interest in the forum that has non-fiduciary resources (Money can be borrowed) is an extremely good thing.

Right now I'm relying on vB.com, vB.org, AA, and vBCodex for information that someone on my site has the answer to, but is too busy to help me. If he had a vested interest in my forum then he would put a higher priority on helping.

Template updates when versions change and site security type issues.

 

Well then I wonder how long it'll be before we fail here at AA. Honestly, we are all three here and we all three do everything together.

I can see how establishing a "pecking order" certainly would make things easier, but who really wants to say "yes you can take control of that aspect"? It's hard because once you relinquish your jurisdiction of one aspect, then you lose complete control and cannot dictate its direction.

 

What made me start this thread is a moderator on my forum. Fantastic person but soon after they were made a moderator I discovered there were some fundamental differences between us regarding high level decisions.

I almost asked them to be a partner but now I am glad I did not.