Today’s challenge in the ProBlogger 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is very little to do with blogging, but much more about the bloggee (is there such a word?) getting out and about and participating themselves.
However, unlike previous days where the emphasis is on going to other blogs, sharing links,commenting, etc – today is all about utilising forums.
The opening line of the task states “Join a form that relates to the topic of your blog and spend 10-15 minutes participating in it“.
Well for my part I grew up in forums. I’m an ex BBS SysOp. I’m an ex Usenet junkie. I was a member of CompuServe. I was a member of CiX. I’ve IRC’d. I’ve participated in forums that now no longer exist. And I still do – so rather than join anymore, let me link to a few of the ones I do participate in.
- ChurchTechMatters – this first is a little self serving as I am one of the moderators and writers on the associated blog. It’s a fairly small setup at the moment but has the potential to be much bigger and what’s more has the ability to answer most technical questions from IT to MultiMedia to Policies to .. well, take a look and feel free to ask a question.
- Karls Forums – this forum had a strong technical aspect to it and was built on the back of its owner amassing a large collection of drivers and providing timely help in the original Tiscali forums. I was a very active member assiting Karl and the few other technical minds there but tragically Karl died a few years back and the ethos of the forum changed – even though it has been continued by his wife – and I am no longer as active as once I was.
- WindowsSecrets – this forum was originally Woody Leonhard’s forum but after years in the bit wastelands it has been rebranded and now sees new life under the WindowsSecret banner.
- Petri – started by Daniel Petri an IT ‘expert’ from Israel. The forums are an overflow of his original IT Knowledgebase which can still be found at his parent site.
Like most forums, the support knowledge is only ever as good as the folks offering their time for free. And like most forums they all have their share of problems with trolls, time wasters and flame wars – but if you can get past these then you’ll find great resources at these places. And who knows, it may even be myself that answers your question.
However, one thing I have never done in any of these forums is use a ‘sig’ to point back at my blog or even reference a blog post. Also my local avatar at each of these sites does not link back here – so perhaps I should start editing these to include a link and also start pointing folks at some of my articles.
Let me finish with a few questions about this:
- What technical forums do you use / hang around?
- Do you link your avatar?
- Do you link to posts?
- Any other forum statergy?
Dude, CompuServe? You are so kicking it old school! I love it!
My recent post The Only Thing Thin About Me Is My Skin & That Is About To Change (Maybe)
Unfortunately that and more!! In the UK we used to shorten their name to Compu$ because they cost so much!
Yes, yes, blogee is a goodly word. :)
I like the blog network. Forums… no time for that. :)
My recent post 31 Days to Build a Better Blog: Meet Me at the Mother Ship
Well thank you for that confirmation, but is it a single or double 'g'?
Or does it not matter? :)
I can relate to much of what you shared. I have been involved in numerous forums and have served as a moderator for some. Many of these forums are now defunct but I enjoy learning about those I have never visited. Thanks for the post.
My pleasure – you've gone one step further than I by being a moderator. I know I'm moderator of the CTM forum but in reality I've never done anything … yet.