Small Business Forum Feedback!

[Michael_R]

I was just thinking that this forum is much better then the other because we are not afraid to comment and help out on issues - yes you might get something wrong thou I think that most people just want a general idea of an answer for their questions - then go and find out a professional to help them out.

There is no posts, "You need to talk to a professional for that information stuff!!" - well at least not yet!!

Keep up the good work and I think that for a reward of getting to 100 posts a free Ipad would just be enough!!

[Burgo]

Gee if your gonna supply an ipad I had better get posting, hahahahahaha

[Chris Bates]

Hey Michael, I think those sort of posts are more to cover backsides :P But you are right, most people just want an idea before seeking out the appropriate professionals. We love that our members feel comfortable asking anything they want though.

Free iPad? I'm over 100 posts and I didn't get one! iPad fairies must be asleep

P.S. Still need to catch up with you on Sykpe Michael, haha - one of these days!

[Michael_R]

i will be on tomorrow most of the day trying to work out how to take over the world once I get that Ipad!!

[Steven Hudson]

Been here just a short time…I do like the forum and the artciles are great….redirections

1. To much chat between the Administration and members off subject, look back at the posts under this thread so much private chat, you could be repelling your targeted marketed i.e small business, your research would show this is companies from 1 person to a company which trades up to $20M pa. Given this, the forum is not FS it is the next step up and needs to be of a higher professional level and with the little private talks going online looks more like a family networking site. You guys decide where you want to be….then do it.
2. Time out….if your not active in the forum for about 15 minutes you are bumpbed out….it should be longer….is there a setting that’s needs to be adjusted from my side….because it is very frustrating.
3. Just a little thing re spammers we all get them comming on the our blogs etc…don’t become anal about this… you will spend more time worrying about how to stop them then growing the forum and being great. I joined a forum the other week and they had a policy of not having links on the page unless you had 10 posts. BS…I had just written a 400 word post with some useful links in the content….found this out when trying to post…. I protested about this, the reply was because of spammers… you will loose more than you keep if you go down this path.

[Chris Bates]

Steven,

1) We like to think of ourselves as a community and as such, promote and encourage active discussions on a wide range of topics. As administrators we don't hold ourselves above, but instead consider ourselves apart, of this community. I understand that some of these discussions you may not find interesting or relevant to your particular business or mindset, but we do need to accommodating of all kinds of people here.

2) There's a "Remember Me" option you can use when logging in - but I will increase the time out.

3) We will always be strict on spammers but will never let that impact the use of the regular members. We don't have any plans to impose limitations as you have mentioned above. Our anti spam efforts go on behind the scenes, and they won't impact the usability of this forum in any way.

Essentially this is a forum run for the community, for the people that make it great.

Cheers,
Chris

[kbrookes]

Chris - you guys are doing a great job IMO.

[Tecknowoman]

Have you thought about social media syndication of RSS feeds to show up on your facebook page so heading and first line or something similar which may help to grab people's attention and drive them to vitis??

[Chris Bates]

@Kelsey - thanks for the comments!

@Belinda - Thanks for the suggestion. I have done a FB RSS feed before, but haven't thought to do one for SBF - I'll put it on my list though, thanks!

It's actually a good idea, because we have quite a large FB following but not a lot of them have come over to the forums yet.

[Tecknowoman]

Hahahahah always happy to give you work to do Chris!

Personally I like the interaction because for me their is a community friendliness that I appreciate in forums. I enjoy it being more personal than not but also appreciate that is not to everyone's liking.

@Michael_R such limitations forget the ipad just take over the world!