Comments on: Why making all of your forums private is a bad idea

By: 10 (Super Fun!) Ways You Can Kill Your Online Community » ManagingCommunities.com

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:31:02 +0000

[...] Make ALL of your forums private. Not only will it make it impossible for potential members to find you in search engines – [...]

By: Community building: Getting members active and addicted | Community Building & Community Management

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:12:31 +0000

[...] Don’t hide your community. Keep it as open as possible. People won’t take that first step and join if they don’t know what they are joining. You might like to hide one or two sections of your community, but be sure to keep the majority of it open and accessible. This content is your bait. Would you rather go fishing with a big juicy worm, or a bare hook? [...]

By: Managing Online Forums: Book Review | Online Communities | Build an Online Community

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:13:09 +0000

[...] and phpBBHacks.com. He has also written a guest article for this blog titled, ‘Why making all of your forums private is a bad idea‘ and I had the pleasure of interviewing him in [...]

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:41:23 +0000

Dear Mr. Sterlling,

Thanks for the comment. I’m glad that you enjoyed the article.

I understand that, as a tactic that some employ. My point is that, generally speaking, I don’t view it as a worthwhile tactic, when considering pros and cons.

Thanks,

Patrick

By: Chris Sterlling

Chris Sterlling — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:59:26 +0000

Whilst you’re right about all those points – most obvious being suspicions…they’re kept private for those reasons

So that the only reason you’d join is because you got invited/told to, so that search engines cant list what is in them to keep the contents strictly private.. and so that you have suspicions about it to make you WANT to know whats in there.
That’s why some forums keep parts of it private and have a guests section for “Taster” purposes

Thanks for the post tho, was a nice read

By: Patrick O'Keefe

Patrick O'Keefe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:03:14 +0000

Thanks for the comments, Dog Leashes (:)), Faraz and Bubba.

To be honest, Faraz, while you are correct – I have to say that I don’t really write community management advice for people who run warez forums. I expect people to respect my rights, so I respect theirs.

Thanks,

Patrick

By: Truck Driving Jobs

Truck Driving Jobs — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:39:03 +0000

exactly.. i dont know why so many people make them private and expect all this traffic… common sense people!
~Bubba

By: Faraz Ahmed

Faraz Ahmed — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:10:21 +0000

Its not always like that. I started a forum a couple of years back and promoted it a lot, I also kept adding content to it, but the rate of growth was so slow that I had to delete the forum after having a little above 100 members in 2 years

on the other hand a forum that has stuff we need, or a lot of good material, peolpe dont mind registering , your forum just have to be good enough befor you can make it private. A lot of warez forums are private but since they have the goods people dont mind registering

By: Dog Leashes

Dog Leashes — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:41:09 +0000

Thanks for the post. I’m thinking about starting a forum soon!

By: Wanted: Your community building questions and ideas » Online Community Building - Building Online Communities

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:14:50 +0000

[...] O’Keefe, a successful developer of online communities and recent guest writer here at Community Spark, suggested we get together and submit ideas for a panel related to [...]