Sphinn - Are Web Design and SEO Forums a Thing of the Past?

33
Sphinn It!

Are Web Design and SEO Forums a Thing of the Past?

Went Hot: September 18, 2007 - 3:54 am
Posted By: chriswinfield 393 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://cre8pc.com)
Category: Networking

Kim Krause Berg asks: Have forums become narrower in their purpose? Does the core group of members shrink as their expertise grows, making them more attractive to employers (or more money on their own)? In turn, meaning less time for forums...

9 Comments

Who Desphunn This (0)

Comments

from g1smd 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Forums build community, where people work together and help each other.

Blogs build competition where people shrill to get traffic to their blog rather than to yours.

Do blogs build community? Generally, I don't think so.

from g1smd 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

A number of well-known SEO forums have now been on the air for 8+ years, and that maturing has seen many of the early starters up and away to do their own thing.

Brett Tabke and Danny Sullivan started out at SearchEngineForums several years before I was around, and went on to manage their own projects and forums, quite some time ago.

Many forums still play a role to help get people started, though it can be painful when someone asks the same basic question that was asked only hours ago by someone else.

I guess you don't find a large amount of cutting-edge stuff in most forums, but there are many gems to be found if you read and participate regularly.

There is still a massive shortfall in the amount and quality of SEO practices that people are learning and incorporating into their designs and marketing efforts.

Forums will be around for a long time yet.

from planetc1 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

I spent a lot of time on one of those forums but moved here to get more targeted info. Level of expertise found here has been impressive.

from DianeV 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

As I recall, Danny already had SearchEngineWatch and Calafia around the time the SearchEngineForums started (around late 1997-early 1998), although he did peek his head in from time to time. As well, Jim (Wilson, SEF founder) mentioned SEW a lot in newsletters.

I was a member and later moderator at SEF before I left to tend to my business; that's my recollection of the sequence of events.

from MiriamEllis 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Kim! I nearly had heart failure when I read the title of this post. I thought this was going to be an announcement that you were closing down Cre8asite! Noooo! Don't do that!

I know your article does not say anything of the sort, but it did scare me. For me, your forum supplies a completely different experience than a place like Sphinn. Everything is very fast paced here. It's great, but it's not the same. I've participated in threads on Cre8asite that have gone on for 6 pages and were so in-depth and informative.

I'm really sad Ammon had to leave, and I've been sorely missing Bill since his new job seems to have cut down on his posting time...and then there's John who can't talk to us about Google anymore (haha) but the level of helpfulness and the conversational tone at Cre8asite are unparalleled anyplace else on the web, as far as I've seen. How's that for evangelism?

So, take time to plant your trees, Kim...but don't think Cre8 is dead. I love it there!

Miriam

from cre8pc 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

LOL!

We're nowhere close to shutting down, Miriam. I get input from the moderators, community, and people at conferences on the forums, and of course, I talk with other forum owners. Some of my questioning comes from listening to all these people and I pop it into a "thinking out loud" post.

I've never been one to sit still and be satisfied. There's always something more we can be doing to inspire people to help themselves in their work. At Cre8, we like in-depth threads. I'd like to continue that tradition, in a social media paced world, if we can.

Ghost moderators is an issue. All forums have moderators who are there in name only, but do little to encourage discussions or develop the community. Forums also create stars. Those are the people such as Bill, John, Ammon and many more in all SEO forums, who give so much of themselves and their expertise that it brings them paying work and new commitments that interfere with their forums time.

I've never seen this addressed anywhere, and yet it's something all strong forums deal with. Forums lose talent all the time, but the community must realize that this opens the door wide open for gifted members to step in and make their presence known.

from g1smd 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Over at SEF, we cleared all the Ghost Mods back to just "member" status if they hadn't posted in 6 months, and didn't reply to the "roll call" thread within 4 or so weeks. This generally happens about annually.

Anytime a regular poster looks like potential Mod material they'll get an invite to trial it and see how they go. They have to have been a member for a while, certainly 6 to 12 months or more.

from dannysullivan 393 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

"Danny already had SearchEngineWatch and Calafia around the time the SearchEngineForums started (around late 1997-early 1998)"

Search Engine Watch was going, though the Search Engine Watch Forums didn't come until 2004.

from DianeV 392 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Thanks, Danny; that's what I meant. I remember being a paying member of SEW way back when.