Ok, so in my previous "how to
" we glossed over the individuals you do and don't want in your guild, as well as some methods of communication.
But how do you really take advantage of this?
Well... think about it. If you have a forum, that's all well and good. But if you want to really foster discussions, you need to keep those forums neat!
Now, by neat you don't need to crack down whenever a thread gets derailed. Almost all threads have a derailment curve if they're well thought out and the players are interested.
So a post will typically go like this:
OP "this is my deck, I'm tweaking it" > useful feedback > somebody mentions something about a particular card > discussion moves to that card > a troll or otherwise makes a joke > derailed thread
Now, when you arrive on derailed thread, don't despair! Sometimes it can be revived by referencing the OP. When this is done and the thread is good, you will again follow the natural curve.
A word of warning: nudge the conversation towards the topic but don't try to force it. That will actually kill the discussion! A jovial atmosphere will produce more feedback than a restricted one, even if that feedback isn't necessarily on topic.
Now, on ordering your posts, members may post in random sections. Most forums have a move thread feature, so you should move it into the proper forum subsection. Ie, decks go into deck discussion. Strategy goes into strategy, and general into general. But leave a link where the old post was, to avoid accidentally killing that thread.
My advised forum subgroups would be as follows:
General (anything goes)
Deck discussion (decks. Duh)
Strategy (discussing possible strategies, and competetions coming up)
You can further subdivide by dividing strategy into strategy, and competetion. Obviously the latter division would be for tournaments, scouting, et cetera.
But wait!
What do you do if there's a lull in forum activity? First, check your irc channel. Conversations often move over there. (Make sure you have your own irc channel!) If they're not there, you may need to foster communication by posting yourself. It could be anything, from a joke thread, to a serious topic. You have three types of forum goers:
Starters- these guys like to begin threads. They'll post, then post in their own threads.
Followers- these guys will post in threads, but RARELY start their own. In fact, almost never.
Hybrids- these will do both of the above. Typically, you want plenty of these guys as they'll bring about the most activity.
If you have an excess of followers or starters, your forum will suffer quite a bit in activity. Sadly, there's not much you can do here except step up to the plate yourself and foster activity. Or hope someone else can spot the problem, and foster activity themselves!
Another way to foster activity is to instill a mandatory posting rule. Two to four posts a week is pretty reasonable. Most members will surpass that ten times over.
I will discuss irc channels in more detail in a later installment if there is more interest. Please feel free to let me know you want to know more!
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