Shortie

I have been creating short-form content such as clips from video games and clips that have been captured from my live streams on places such as Twitch. I have found posting short-form content to YouTube and longer videos too can help greatly with exposure.

I have not tried selling merch through my online communities but I have in the past attempted to sell merch that I had made for my video game content creation. If marketed correctly, you can find yourself getting some sales for your merch but it is not something that can happen overnight.

Music has been something that has helped me stay motivated when working from home. It is so easy to become distracted when working from home but when I pop in my ear buds, turn some music on and focus on my work, I find I get so much more done than I would if I wasn't listening to music.

I don't mind users who use AI to get an idea or a guideline to help them with content to write but I will not allow AI-generated content to be directly copied and pasted into the community. If someone is using AI-generated content to help them with ideas or even research, I would expect them to turn the content into their own words before posting it to my community.

I don't mind seeing old topics revived in my community as long as the reply to the topic adds to the discussion and also helps with engagement. In some cases, you do find that a topic can no longer be added to and may not help the engagement or even attract discussion, that is when I feel an old topic should be left.

I would say that I am the kind of admin who participates as much as I can whilst working on other things needed within my community. In the very beginning, it can be difficult to get fresh, new content onto your forum and I believe that the admin should participate to help create that content which in turn will help the forum in the future. Some who lead a community are different and prefer to be more laid back and I also believe that is fine, there is no right or wrong.

At the moment, the one goal I have set for my community that I would like to reach is getting high-quality content on the forum. I have no set date as of yet for when I wish to reach that goal and there may be no set date for me to reach that goal as I am a firm believer that you can never have too much content.

With the communities I lead at the moment, my main aim is to get content and high-quality content within them which I know over time will help my site greatly. In the next five years, I hope to provide a community that people enjoy visiting to share their knowledge, learn more and be able to enjoy the community as a whole.

Discouragement as a community leader is never easy to deal with but it can hit us all at a time when we do not expect it and that can be a shock to the system. Feeling discouraged at least for myself has left me overthinking and feeling as though I will never be a good community leader and can leave you burned out, when I get like that, taking breaks away from my community is what I find works best.

Collaboration within a community can produce positive results for those not only leading the community but also for those who are part of the community. There are many ways in which you can collaborate within your community but it seems that not many take advantage of this. How do you encourage collaboration within your community?

Dealing with conflicts within an online community shouldn't always be difficult but in most cases they are. Depending on the kind of conflict that arises, there will be different ways in which you can approach these conflicts to ensure a smooth resolution with no further escalation. How do you deal with conflicts within your community? Is there anything specific you do that you find helps?

I tend to see creators within online communities the most I feel and I would also put myself into that category too. If I join a forum and I can discuss what interests me and also give my opinion or even expertise, then I am happy and I continue to stay and be an active contributor to that forum.

I have always treated every announcement I make as having the same level of significance and never thought of it this way before. I can see why many would look at if differently and as different levels though and that is interesting.

When interacting in a community, it can sometimes be easy for many of us to communicate in a way that we feel looks professional but in some cases, could be difficult for some to understand and it can put them off. Interacting with others in a community in simple terms is usually better to encourage more to participate rather than be turned off.

I tend to have it set so that onboarding private messages and onboarding emails are sent to new users welcoming them to the forum. These onboarding messages contain useful information and links to help them as they first join the forum and I feel that helps a lot, especially those who may find it difficult joining a new forum.