++ Tips to IMPROVE FORUM QUALITY ++

[Alty]

Become a good poster!

After a few months on the forum its become obvious

There is a clear difference between

Good and reputed posts vs bad and unnoticed posts

Good posts = likes and thanks perhaps even higher rep speed

Bad posts = nothing, no recognition and probably don't even get read by most people

Lets look at how you can write a good post.

What is the difference between a good post and a bad post?

Answer : Not much, although good posts get read, bad posts don't

How can you make a good post?

Answer : Very easily

Wouldn't if be nice if everybody read what you wanted to say?

If you don't follow some simple techniques (that anyone can implement)

much of your time writing, those long and valuable posts,

has gone to waste.

Do you like wasting your time?

Of course not!

Here are some pointers for effective posting. All high rep posts have this.

Don't believe me. Just look out for it next time. You'll see

Cut the fluff, trim the fat - whatever you want to call it.

Just stop the gas and get your point accross. Nobody cares what you had for diner last night, or how badly you want $1 billion dollars. Just get your point accross in the minimum amount of words possible. Still don't understand? Just be efficient with your words!

Stop all the unqualified 'in my opinion' type comments.

You want to give your opinion, back it up. What you are about to tell somebody, could actually alter their entire life. This could be for better but more scarily for worse.
Be careful with what you say unless you can be damn sure about it!
If you are not, rich (self made), an expert in the field or you have a damn good argument backed up with solid proof. Do not say 'in my opinion you should'..... Its pathetic, wrong and potentially harmful. The fact you have read one business book does not qualify you into making life changing decisions for somebody you don't even know. Leave that to the people that are more skilled in that area. The people that really know what they are talking about.


Simplify the presentation - Headers, bullet points, spacers, highlight keywords ETC

You don't have to be a pro copywriter. We all learned this stuff at school. It works, its simple! It helps the reader to understand better. It helps you get your post read and shows the reader what they should be looking at.
It adds value to your words.

In short, by abiding by some simple little rules, contained within all successful posts/threads the content on the forum will become better. We will all benefit from it.

I know there is great content in tons of posts. Unfortunately, I can't be bothered to read half of them. Why? because they are full of irrelevant waffle, they are too painful to read and are not interesting.

Next time you post, just think.

• Is my post fluffy?
  
• Am I qualified to be saying this?
  
• Is this easy to read?

I guarentee these small changes will make a big difference, not only to your forum posts here, but anywhere you write content. Even on your internet sites.

Just try it and see for yourself.

Oh yeah, and keep your posts interesting!

[Skys]

Not sure I agree on not giving your opinion if you are not qualified. Aslong as you are willing to admit your opinion might be wrong and you are open minded, having an opinion might lead to real knowledge about a subject.

[Alty]

Look, if this thread offended you. Great! It was meant to do that.Afterall if you want to improve.Get out of that stupid comfort zone.Stand up. Be strong. Get hurt. Learn.

[Skys]

Hmm .. your reaction must be towards me, since I am the only one that posted.

I am not offended. I am the first to admit that most of my 260+ posts have been a waste of time and webspace. Atleast 95% of all my posts is waste. Not webspace, but webwaste.

The best way to make the forum quality higher would be to let people first read all the stickys, all the great threads and posts from all the respected members. If you then make threads or have opinions and questions, they probably will be of a higher quality. If you are a long time member (2007 - 2010) you probably have seen most threads over and over again. The search button is not hard too find. The problem is that a thread is easy to make. A response is easy to make. Maybe to easy.

What is the difference between a good post and a bad post?

Answer : Not much, although good posts get read, bad posts don't

There is a huge difference between a good post and a bad post.

Wouldn't if be nice if everybody read what you wanted to say?

To be honoust, I don't care. People for some reason act a lot different on the internet then in real life. If you ask a question at a party, and somebody answers your question. Would u look away and ignore him completely? If you are raised well, you would not. You would listen. For not too listen, would be rude. I don't deal with rude people. So, if somebody asks advice on a forum and then completely ignores my advice, I would ignore his attitude. It would not bother me. Time to move on.

Cut the fluff, trim the fat - whatever you want to call it.

Yep! This is also a way to minimize your wasted time when the OP decides not to listen to you.

Stop all the unqualified 'in my opinion' type comments.

Like I said before, but maybe I did not explain myself well enough: There is nothing wrong with giving your opinion. It's a method to learn. Socrates style. Somebody asks question, you answer. Somebody asks you about your answer and you realise that you might not know enough about the subject. You admit this, and ask a question about what you don't understand. Thats a lot different then putting your fingers in your ears and yelling "lalalala your wrong your wrong". Which, brings me to an more important way to become a good poster: Act like a grown up. Be an adult. Be willing to listen. Be willing to make mistakes and admit them.. Take resposibility.

If you know nothing about real estate you should probably not advice somebody to buy house X. But sure you can give advice about the color of the frontdoor.

And

The fact you have read one business book does not qualify you into making life changing decisions for somebody you don't even know.

MJ has this thread where he says: "I can't make your life decisions for you". No one can. Only you can choose your life decisions. If I ask stuff about ecommerce and get advice from biophase, I can choose to ignore it. That's what advice is, guidelines. What resonates, resonates. The great thing about a forum, is that you get pulled back whenever it's untrue what you say. Look at any fitness forum, and you will see this happening whenever somebody says 'crunches will make your abbs show' or 'Squating? Thats useless". The same would happen here if somebody says "ideas are super important" or "You can't go fastlane, you don't have a college degree'

Simplify the presentation - Headers, bullet points, spacers, highlight keywords ETC

So because you are too lazy to read my response, I should put more time and efford in doing all this?

Personally, I think the highest quality threads are those threads where people are willing too listen too eachother. The more difficult the subject, the more you need to know your stuff, which might give the impression you need qualification to have a high quality forum.

I don't think this is the case. I think willing too listen to eachother and not playing the 'Your wrong and I am right" game leads to way higher quality.
I think making it some sort of rule that people read the stickys or legendary threads first before they make threads would make the quality higher (you see this on bodybuild forums, where noobs asks questions about nutrition that can easily be found in the stickys. The answers these noobs get is: Check the stickies)

I am not offended, I just don't agree on everything you say

[911Carrera]

Tips to improve forum quality:
Not telling people how YOU think they should post on the forum.

[LamboMP]

Am I qualified to be saying this?

Are you taking your own advice here?

[moneypennysays]

Wow this is a lot of info! One of my pet peeves of posts is that they are so darn loooooong I don't have time to read through everything. I actually appreciate the short and to the point posts.

[wade1mil]

Alty,

I understand where you're coming from with this post, and I posted something kind of like this a while ago. There's just no way to avoid bad posts. Some are good, some are bad. I've learned to ignore the bad ones, like arguing about whether learning programming is stupid or how to break up with a boyfriend.

Anyways, keep up the good posts