The Lurker Speaks....

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Steve_M

Ken, are you intending to create an online community or hold court? I can tell you which is going to last longer and grow faster, but it depends on what you want to achieve.

In my experience the most effective way to deal with attention seeking is to ignore it, or deal with the user offline. Having said that, this site needs activity or you run the risk of it dying on its proverbial feet. Richard in some respects has been keeping things bubbling although that has tended to over spill on occasions.

The other thing is that if there's too much control people feel like they're being imposed on and will leave. There's a fine balance to be achieved here. You can be dictatorial if you like but you may end up cutting your nose off to spite your face. Forums are about tolerating (within limits) and including people, not about restricting and isolating them.

So, in a shorter sentence, what do you suggest?