How to be a Great Online Community Member

Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, How to be a Great Online Community Member.


So what do you guys think is the number one quality of an excellent forum member? Do you have any stories of stand-out members who have helped you in some way?

The one who is always active in the forum and the one who is well motivated. I think that is the one you are looking for to help you in some way.

Hi pothi,
Sorry for the late reply.

Good question. I am not completely sure about what you mean by bringing boredom. Do you mean someone that doesn’t have much to say, or someone that asks the same questions repetitively? If it’s the former, then I wouldn’t do anything - some people are big talkers and others are not. It it’s the latter, then the best approach I find is to have a sticky FAQ thread which you can politely point people towards.

Angry people are different. If their anger means that they are rude to other members, I would discipline them immediately. If their anger is general, then usually a polite PM does the trick. There will always be people that just want to cause trouble and in the end they spark their own demise.

Please let me know if I’ve misinterpreted your question.

Interesting article… printed

Well always be active in forums and try to motivational talk and sometime give suggestions if anybody needed :slight_smile:

Hi Hawk,

This is a fantastic post.

A bit off-topic question…

How to deal with someone who brings boredom (and sometimes anger) to the forum community by saying negative things about everything in the forum?

Thanks for sharing your views and for the post.

good article ! I’m reading it now.

Help others with what you know of and share your experience. Ask questions and find answers. Just stay active.

I’m sure it’s unintentional, but sometimes spam is in the eye of the beholder. You might have just written what you consider to be the most amazing free script known to humankind. You’ve signed up to a forum with the sole intention of sharing it with as many people as possible

i have read it… its awesome… nice writing and an eye opener for every member of the group…

OMG, so long! But I finished it at last! Really great article!
I’d like to save it and share it with some of my friends! :slight_smile:

In some cases, I need to research for some reasons just to answer one’s question. It’s always been great to help other people.

First of all, I agree with a lot of the content in this article. There is a certain amount of online etiquette that should be expected and practiced on a regular basis. This includes responsiveness, don’t leave someone hanging after they’ve specifically asked you something, sent you a message, etc., genuineness- don’t pretend to be someone you’re not, hopefully everyone on here strives to be honest and credible, and encouraging. I believe encouraging and offering advice to a pool of complete strangers often frees people up to offer their true opinion in an objective manner.

Good Job it’s a great motivation for me. I will bookmark this site and share it to my online friends. :wink:

:stuck_out_tongue:

In case anyone is wondering, we have a policy of not moderating fluff posts on article and blog threads, simply because a number of people commenting on the post may not actually realise that they are commenting to the forum.

Having said that, if you have a history of that sort of posting we might not be so lenient… :wink:

[ot]“So what on earth is a fluff post?” …

Something like this…

Last I checked, Sarah was not a man. :)[/ot]
Great article, Sarah. Most of what was in the article was common sense to me, but it definitely wasn’t that way when I first began using forums.

The one point which sticks out to me is “The Internet Is Forever.” It’s a very valid point in which I wouldn’t even have thought to make. It’s very easy to overlook the potential consequences of your Internet/forum usage but also very important that you don’t.

Good job.

Yes good reading.

Consider every member of global community is respectable. speak for the issue for which you have complete idea, fake arguments may damage your personal image. Quality contents are required. Thats it.

awesome jobs man keep it up

We have to thank Hawk for the good job… I think that I will link to it in my signature… I’m sure it will be handy on more than one occasion :smiley:

Awesome! Thanks guys. It’s cleared up some unanswered forum etiquette that you generally only learn by doing something the wrong way :slight_smile: