Running a busy forum...in pyjamas.

I have been asked to write an article about running a busy forum for www.webforumz.com and I thought Id share it with you here, after all it is about you!!.........

........The problem with living with someone who can build websites, forums etc is that they do just that. You have an idea and before you know it you are the face, the name, the person behind a highly successful forum. How on earth did that happen?

My forum was born on 28th October 2007 at silly o'clock in the morning. Its still in its infancy but its one of those super babies, those kids that are completing Masters level statistics at 5 months. Ok, so I joke, but what has astounded me is that I expected to be the one in charge, me dragging my site behind me, kicking its butt to get it moving - the one driving the site - but it has, infact, driven me. At times Ive had to run to keep up. I expected a slog to get it off the ground yet most days Im stood on a hill looking up at a distant hot air balloon full of student midwives debating, discussing, sharing and supporting, and the beautiful ballon says 'I belong to Josie'. It still blows my mind, even 5 months later.

I log on and see that X has said they feel they got their place at uni because my site helped them, documents and articles I wrote, whilst usually sat in my PJs with a cuppa (you squeeze your forum work in where you can - first thing, last thing, anything), posts and support from other students, again I imagine them sat at home in face packs, with babies on their knees, in their comfies, with their bored boyfriends asking them to hurry up .... this army of women all supporting one another from inside the family unit, in PJs.

I wasnt exactly a technophobe before but I did have a steep ish learning curve. I love the statistics, I am still mesmerised by how many hits the site gets a day, how many new members, what the most replied to thread is..... I find myself tutoring others how to delete, edit, move, merge posts like Ive been doing it for years. I must be getting the hang of it as Rob hasnt had to come and rescue me from anything Ive messed up for a long time now and the site runs smoothly and efficiently. My next job is the SEO apparently, like I know what Im doing with that.... but hey under expert tutorage Ive learnt I can get the hang of this IT-geek-dont-be-scared-of-error-messages lark.

But it is a full time job. My oh my I didnt expect it to be so time consuming. Its not the kinda thing you fit in around something else, you fit everything else around it. But it is addictive. I love midwifery and I love learing, I love teaching, my forum rocks my world, it floats my boat it has everything I like. When I want to get into a debate about something that sparks me up, I can and I have some excellent debating partners, if I want to research a topic Im interested in - I can, the results of which I can post on my site for others to learn from, I have a glossary of midwifery terminiology that links to every post with the particular word - brilliant. I source pregnancy, birth, anatomy and physiology 3D animations and video's for the site, interesting links and articles........ the education resources section is well populated and well visited, the students are actually using it, they are learning, they are enhancing their knowledge, through my lil old site.

But its not all physiology of the placenta, the general chat area has threads that make me LOL that make me go 'o0o0o0o I'll go have a look at that then' that make me search youtube for a video of Sugar Pie Desanto so I can share her music with my friends. I can go to the wanabe area and help someone write their personal statement to apply to Uni to study midwifery, I can counsel and support those who didnt get a place this year, I can build their confidence so they feel strong enough to apply again next year. I can respond to someones question on anything from whats syntometrine to what shall I have for dinner tonight. Its a community with a shared purpose. To learn about midwifery, the course, how to get started, to share the highs and lows of the journey to becoming a midwife, to share the highs and lows of life, to share a photo gallery of our lives.

Its all in there. And its mine. I get to say whats cool and whats not. Theres alot of my personality stamped all over the place, unwittingly. I dont like bullies, so noone gets bullied, I do like to learn in as many ways as possible so there are many many ways to learn, I help anyone who needs a hand so plenty of that goes on............ but what is so great about having a forum is that its not just me that gets to all this great stuff, people from all over the world do. I have clocked up over 800 members in just 5 short months, from 40 different countries, I have on average 70-99 members visit the forum over a 24 hour period, I often have peaks of traffic with over 150 people online at one time.

But what matters to me is the regulars, they have become my friends, they are people I talk to like I talk to offline friends, I worry about them if they are having a hard time, I do my best to be a good friend to them, yet Ive never met them. Well some of them, some I have met. It redefines the boundaries of friendship for me, I talk to certain people pretty much every day, I know when their kids birthdays are, I know what they had for lunch, I know what they are working on......... but we have never met.

So running a busy forum for student midwives has been a thrilling ride to date, I love the site, I love where it is going and I love the 14 staff who are helping me get it there. It has its own momentum, fuelled on by the wide eyes of wanabes, the anxiety and elation of newbies, the dedication of students and the compassion and pastoral care of qualified midwives and nurses. And everyone gives their time freely, noone bitches about oneanother, we just get on with it. As must I, Ive been off my forum for a whole half an hour, and Im half way through a debate about a man who is 22 weeks pregnant. I kid yee not, now I dare you not to come and have a look...... pregnant transgender male??

My advice to anyone who wants to run their own forum is you have to be realistic, you fit round it, it doesnt fit round you, you have to be dedicated - it wont be a project for long, it will be a way of life. After a while you realise its not about you, its about your community, the people you have brought together. By starting the forum you owe them, they have expectations of you, they need you to know stuff, they need you to be there for them, all of them. Recruit an excellent team of staff to help you, you will find you cant support everyone in the way you want to purely because your community grows and grows and you simply cant get to everyone. Trust your staff, give them free reign, let them grow into the posts you create, jiggle the posts around so everyone gets to do what they want.

Dont expect anything of any of your staff, let them give to you and the community what they want, then that way they can never feel stifled. Thank them, praise them reward them where you can, talk to them about how grateful you are, about how great you think they are, tell them what you think, dont try and be the big boss, the Head Girl or Boy, it will only alientate you from them. Set yourself up as some mythical magical being expecting worshippers, then when you display any kind of human fault they will feel let down, dissillusioned - be human. Post silly posts aswell a serious 'down to business' ones, dont overly worry about your spelling or grammer being perfect, its a forum not a formal document, those who like to be led by example wont feel intimated posting what they want and how, encourage the nervous, praise the courageous 'This is my first post and I dont know what Im doing' - they have been brave and dipped their toe, are you alligators who snap at it? or are you welcoming, encouraging them in further so in comes the foot, the leg, the person? Even those that may snap in one environment wont snap in another, they feel safe, noone snaps at them so they will make others feel safe, it perpetuates itself. So think about your community, its not just a website, how do you want your community to be?

Running a forum isnt just 'having a website' its about facilitating a community where people come, by choice, and stay by choice, they will vote with their feet, or fingers on a keypad in this case, if they dont like the place. Dont 'expect' huge success, dont power trip just let it grow and morph into what the community wants and needs. Stay close, enforce fair rules and enjoy it. It will be the fairground ride of your life, in PJ's.