Its been a weird week. I’ve experienced unfairness on a high level on the Entrecard system which I loved so much, and worse ; seeing good fellow bloggers getting tougher unfair treatment. Everyone who knows me knows me as a kind and quiet person. Not utterly silent but you know – I am not the one who is the loud one. But – when it comes to unfairness I go from quiet to something that even I can’t describe – I burst into weird reactions that I don’t know what was, maybe not until a few days later.

I’ve participated in a trial at our local court as an assisting judge, lets just say that the trial were tough to be a part of – out world we live in can be sick. Somehow the trial helped me to put things in perspective and that day I forgot all about the Entrecard incidents.

I’m not going into details because leaders of Entrecard manage to put what they stand for on display by its actions themselves these days. I hope they will eventually get it and correct it.

If I were to start a forum, I would search for tips and documentation on how to run a forum. Not necessary technology wise but how to interact with the users of the system. Without users there is no point running a forum is it?

I am not a forum guru but after a bit research (1 hour) – something every forum admin should do I came up with this starting list.

- First ; do you really want to do this or should you outsource it? Its a lot of work the first few weeks.
- Do you need a forum?
- Treat people with respect from day 1, this will decrease noise.
- Remember that you have members from the whole planet, not only your city.
- Having members from the whole world means you have all types of humans, cultures, understandings, religions. Remember this.
- Help new members, create a welcome-routine with FAQ and links to rules
- Make rules before you install your forum.
- Send rules to buddies and ask them if they would join a forum with such rules
- Don’t leave a question stand unanswered. If impossible answer the post and explain why.
- Make them feel welcome, so welcome that they want to live in your forum.
- If you need to update the rules – do so but inform the users and why it was neccesary.
- Be objective
- Take part in discussions
- Respect users privacy
- Use an antispam system
- Start with as few groups as possible. Let users vote for expanding.
- Start with a few moderators who know and understand the rules you’ve set.
- Write clear rules, no confusion.
- Enjoy your users
- Don’t edit users posts
- Don’t read users PM inbox
- Don’t make fun of your users

Have fun and solve intregues at once, don’t create secret campaigns against the users.