Search Engine Watch Forums Mission Statement

[dannysullivan]

What about throwing in a mission statement of three, and a gentle push in the right direction?
You know, that's the third time I've been asked about a mission statement for the forum in as many days. What are we supposed to be here, some are clearly wondering.

I guess I thought it was self-evident -- a place to discuss various aspects of search. But maybe we do need some type of definition to give people guidance. So after the New Year, when I know everyone is fully back from the holidays, I'll get a new thread going on the topic. Do the forums need a missions statement? If so, what do the members think it should be?

Adding some positive reinforcement would help, and make it easier to point the direction forward, rather than slapping people's wrists for wrong doings.
Well, the rep system was suppose to allow this. Perhaps we could do some tweaks, such as letting people rate their "favorite" posts and share them with others. Things to give our developers headaches :)

Next question: how does one find said rules?? Not a url, I mean where is the link on this page??
Pretty sure when you sign up, everyone is asked to review the FAQs with a link. I know everyone reads them -- not :)

But post sign-up, the forum FAQs have a link in the reverse bar near the top of every page. Maybe we should change FAQ to instead say Forum Rules.

As to the other, while I'm a little ambivalent about the benefits of a Rep system, I see no benefits at all to one that moves only in one direction.
We'd talked about this before, and I thought we had a good consensus. But that no longer seems the case. So as I said over here (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=28431#post28431), we'll throw everything back out on the table on what to do with the rep system after the New Year.

[projectphp]

Do the forums need a missions statement? I guess I thought it was self-evident -- a place to discuss various aspects of search.
No, I don't believe it is self evident. There are so many forums on this topic already, the question isn't what is SEW about, but what makes this forum unique? What diffferentiates SEW from the bazillion others?

Forums will have or will develop their own "vibe" and character. What is going to be the SEW vibe? Some examples from other forums include the gentle persuasion, openness and calmness of Cre8, the strong, dominant personalities of HighRankings, the critical mass of different voices at webmasterworld and the chaotic, (almost) anything goes approach of SEOChat. What is the SEW vibe, and what does this forum want to be beyond just another place to talk search? In marketing terms, what is the SEW USP (wow, two TLAs in a row... I am proud!).

Nothing on forums is less self-evident than what a forum is truly about. The subtle nuances and differences between forums, the diferent perspectives, code of conducts and vantage points, are what define them all. That is why many people lurk, not because they are not inteested in the topic, but because they want to know before they post that this is a community they want to belong to. In a field like SEM in which there is so much forum choice, the topic isn't what gets people involved, it is the forum itself, in all it foibles and follies.

To be super blunt: in starting a forum, Danny, you had to have something in mind other than crowding an already busy space. There must have been some niche that you saw to be filled or some currently existing lack in other forums that could be addressed. Surely that is the mission statement / goal.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for evolution and letting the members decide where SEW goes and what it becomes, but it has to evolve from some base, some underpinning belief or vision. Evolution from nothing is not only dangerous, but potentially destructive (http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html).

My $0.02 anyway (not that it was ever asked for hehehe).

It's christmas and summer down here, and with the boxing day test, I am off for a while. Merry christmas and a Happy New Year to all, and I we rejoin you in the cauldron in the new year. :)

[kctipton]

you had to have something in mind other than crowding an already busy space

Extremely valid point.

[dannysullivan]

There must have been some niche that you saw to be filled or some currently existing lack in other forums that could be addressed.

So I went back to what we wrote (http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3364871) about the launch to help answer this. The key part was this:

Why launch another search forum? As you know, Search Engine Watch constantly publishes original content about search engines. The new Search Engine Watch Forums now allow readers to contribute comments about those articles. In particular, we'll soon begin running links at the end of our stories inviting readers to add their own advice and observations about topics covered.

Of course, you're free to start discussing any of our stories right now or to talk about any other stories that have piqued your interest. Just drop by! Registration is free. You can also just lurk in the background and read what others are posting without having to register.

You needn't depend on search news stories as a launching point for discussions. Seen something unusual on a search engine? Wondering what experiences others have about a particular search marketing aspect? Looking for advice on a particular topic? These are just some of many reasons why you might start a discussion thread.

So to recap, a first point was that not having a forum meant that issues raised by SEW's own content had no outlet for discussion. We've got something like 150,000 people reading our newsletters or taking our feeds. If they read something and want to react to it, we had no "home" for them within SEW itself for that.

Another key part was at the end of that quote. Forums have been a key way for people at large to report news when spotted. Our readers had no way to point out stuff via SEW itself, so this allows them the way to do that here. There were other forum outlets that could be used, of course -- but as a leading site for search news, we needed to have our own, as well.

So those are two major "self-interest" reasons for what SEW needed to have its own forums. What about reasons beyond SEW's own needs?

One thing, which I've realized more and more as the forums have matured, is that people find different forums that seem to match their personality or discussion styles. Despite having so many search forums, there seems plenty of room for more given the diversity of views out there. Indeed, I think we've had a ton of new forums launch this year, each seeking to fill a niche spot.

So in part, I think part of SEW's mission is to provide a discussion home for those on the web who want want. What type of home? My feeling would be one for professional, reasoned discussion of various aspects of search. Maybe that's still too general, but it's a starting place.

Personally, I'd like to see the forums have a type of advocacy role. I'm working up an article about this, but the amount of search engine changes that have been influenced by the SEM or even the searcher community seems close to nil. Got an enhancement you think ought to be added to the robots.txt system? The last time webmasters had an influence on that was back in 1995! I think there are a lot of great ideas and real issues that those in the trenches of search -- site owners, search marketers, professional researchers -- see all the time. I'd love for the forums to be a place where they can have a collective voice in pushing for changes. And the high-level professional tone is key to helping that influence -- real facts, real examples, measured discussion makes it harder for search engines to dismiss issues as just forum chatter.

That's also another reason for starting our forums. We wanted to have a place were we could let members link out to resources, even their own, as appropriate. We wanted to have a place where real-life examples could be shown, as appropriate. I think that greatly adds to the experience. It adds to some policing and abuse problems, of course -- but that's the trade-off to have these extra features when needed.

I mentioned searchers earlier. I especially think they've been left out by forums. I'll quote again from our launch letter:

Search Engine Watch has always been about helping people search better, as well as search engine marketing. This area has sections covering searching tips, specialty searching and search toolbars, as well as general search issues such as industry growth or technology.

I still haven't seen many from the pure searching perspective come over to discuss issues of interest, such as possible biases with search news. I hope that will change.

Another thing I think has emerged as a mission is a place where issues of all types can be debated and discussed. We've had a number of big topics come up over the past few months, with people on all sites taking part. I'm hesitant to characterize any other forums as particularly "white hat" or "black hat" and so on, since I'm not intimate enough with their membership breakdowns. Heck, it would be hard enough for me to say what our own breakdown might be. But what I do feel is that we have a real mixture of people from across the spectrum of search marketing here: hats of all colors, SEM firms of all sizes, in-house people, site owners themselves and so on. I think that mixture lends for some good discussions and perspectives.

So, more things on what I was thinking from the beginning and what I'm pondering as we move forward. But I'm also very curious to know what others would like the mission to be. We're coming up on 3,000 people now. I presume many of those people are finding something here that they like, find different, etc. It's great to know what that is, so we can see what perhaps needs to be defined as part of the forum mission.