Commentaires sur : Patrick O’Keefe, auteur de Managing online forums : « A successfull community creates values »

Par : Les Community Talks, spécial Forum | Manager une communauté

Les Community Talks, spécial Forum | Manager une communauté — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:31:13 +0000

[...] les forums, je vous recommande vivement la lecture de ces deux interviews : – Jean-Yves Lemesle, – Patrick O’Keefe, auteur de Managing online forums. Patrick est considéré comme un des meilleurs experts du sujet. [...]

Par : Oelita

Oelita — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:10:42 +0000

Yes, it really makes sense, Patrick, thanks.

A routine is really a good thing to organize, you’re right. Personal guidelines !

Your second point makes it clearer for me : I agree that passion (and experience) in managing the community is more important than passion for the subject. Being too passionate can even cause some harm, in fact (non respect of guidelines, very subjective decisions… ).

Oelita

Par : Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:06:22 +0000

Hey Oelita,

Thanks for the reply. :) My pleasure and no worries. You’re the one doing the right thing – it is a French blog, I’m just a visitor. :)

With regard to being human, I think you just have to tackle things as they come. You have to not try to get overwhelmed. Develop a routine and stick to it. I respond to all messages that are directed at me, but I don’t read all posts made on the forums, of course. I try to read a sampling. I guess the key to being human is just being fair and honest and that’s what I try to do (good or bad).

About passion, it can be harder, yes, but I don’t view it as terribly difficult if you are passionate about the community. My point was really this: if you don’t know the subject, but you are passionate about running the community – you are better equipped to manage the site than someone who is passionate about the subject, but not about the nitty gritty of community management. I run one of the biggest martial arts communities and I’ve never taken a martial art. I love the community, I love the people and I work hard. At the end of the day, those things matter so much more. :)

I hope that this makes sense.

Thanks again,

Patrick

Par : Oelita

Oelita — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:32:57 +0000

Thanks for wanting to reply, Patrick ! I should have tried to reply in english as it was the interview language :-)
My last part was double :
- Yes, you seem to run a lot of forums, how do you manage to still be « human » in doing this (keeping focus, responding… caring about everyone.. well, probably not everyone, but still many people) ? it appears you do succeed in doing this, I’m impressed !
- I was rather surprised reading that a community manager doesn’t have to be passionnate about the community theme, but only about the community itself. Starting a forum that way must be more difficult ? How to motivate people and attract them if you can’t really share much with them about the theme you chose ? I guess this is far easier if the community already exists, though.
Thanks
Oelita

Par : Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Oelita. :) I appreciate you picking up the book and I am glad that you found it useful! That means a lot to me.

Google Translate was a little sketchier on the rest of your comment. It seems like it might have something to do with running a lot of forums, but still being human? Is that accurate? I wanted to try to reply. :)

Thanks,

Patrick

Par : Oelita

Oelita — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:30:00 +0000

J’ai justement acheté son livre il y a quelques semaines, et commencé à le lire la semaine dernière. J’y retrouve beaucoup de ma propre expérience, ce qui me rassure énormément ! Un admin de forum se sent parfois un peu seul à la barre (même avec une équipe de modos)…
J’y trouve aussi une liste hyper complète de sujets de réflexion. Les sujets dont je me suis déjà occupés, ceux que j’ai mis de côté et sur lesquels j’obtiens ainsi un nouvel éclairage, et puis quelques sujets auxquels je n’avais pas pensé, ou que j’avais négligés.
Bref, une mine de conseils pratiques.

La seule chose qui m’étonne un peu est quand même que l’admin n’est pas forcément impliqué par le thème du forum. Et j’ai ainsi l’impression que Patrick a vraiment construit un job sur la création de nombreux forums, et qu’il doit avoir du mal à suivre réellement ce qui s’y passe. Tout en restant très humain malgré tout ! cela reste un peu mystérieux pour moi.

Par : Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:17:31 +0000

Thanks so much for having me, Dominique. I really appreciate all of your support.

Patrick