This is something that I only recently began to think about while working on some projects. Lately, I have begun to notice a few sites (one could even call it a trend) refer to their forum as a community, and not simply a forum. This got me thinking about the difference between the two and the type of impact it could make to have one or the other. I know that personally, it has always been a sort of knee jerk reaction to have my forum(s) labeled such. But now, thinking on it I am starting to appreciate the use of "community" as the label.
Obviously, the technical term is forum (which evolved from bulletin board), but could it be to our advantage to label the forum system as a community? When I hear the word, I think of a more tight knit, almost familial group of people rather than a group of relative strangers talking over the internet. Could this same psychological effect attract (or conversely, repel) people to join?
I just wanted to share these thoughts and see what others felt. Feel free to discuss. :D
It doesn't matter what you name it, whether it's /forum or /community, it's how you treat it. Our domain has "forums" in, but it's hands down a community of wrestling fans. The name is just a label, the content/atmosphere is what makes it a community.
I agree to an extent. I believe that the name (or label) plays a larger role than one would suspect. Picture a new user coming to the forum/community and from here there are two scenarios. They could find the name of the forum/community to be "Pokémon Discussion Forum" or "Pokémon Discussion Community". To me, the word forum as part of a title projects more of a cold, austere, almost clinical aura, whereas the community would as stated before project more of a warmer, tight knit, almost familial feeling.
Online groups are a bit like a book in this aspect, I feel. There are three aspects that bring people in: the title (name/label), the appearance (theme), and excerpt (whatever they are reading that brings them there). Again, merely my thoughts.
Yes, but not all forums are supposed to be communities either. Many are used for support or professional discussions.
(2012-09-03, 10:37 PM)Alex Smith Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, but not all forums are supposed to be communities either. Many are used for support or professional discussions.
True, but at that point does the name truly matter? For most support sites, it isn't part of their prerogative to attract a user base. Rather, they rely on the service or software (whatever) to do that.
(2012-09-03, 10:22 PM)AiedailEclipsed Wrote: [ -> ]I agree to an extent. I believe that the name (or label) plays a larger role than one would suspect. Picture a new user coming to the forum/community and from here there are two scenarios. They could find the name of the forum/community to be "Pokémon Discussion Forum" or "Pokémon Discussion Community". To me, the word forum as part of a title projects more of a cold, austere, almost clinical aura, whereas the community would as stated before project more of a warmer, tight knit, almost familial feeling.
Online groups are a bit like a book in this aspect, I feel. There are three aspects that bring people in: the title (name/label), the appearance (theme), and excerpt (whatever they are reading that brings them there). Again, merely my thoughts.
I completely see where you're coming from, but I don't decide whether I join a forum (or community) based on their /name/ at all. I -- like many others -- base it on aspects like atmosphere, content, activity, look & feel and niche etc.
That is WAY more important than the name. You can have a forum which labels itself as "/community/" be much less of a community than a forum which labels itself as /cheese/.
(2012-09-03, 11:38 PM)Anxiety Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-09-03, 10:22 PM)AiedailEclipsed Wrote: [ -> ]I agree to an extent. I believe that the name (or label) plays a larger role than one would suspect. Picture a new user coming to the forum/community and from here there are two scenarios. They could find the name of the forum/community to be "Pokémon Discussion Forum" or "Pokémon Discussion Community". To me, the word forum as part of a title projects more of a cold, austere, almost clinical aura, whereas the community would as stated before project more of a warmer, tight knit, almost familial feeling.
Online groups are a bit like a book in this aspect, I feel. There are three aspects that bring people in: the title (name/label), the appearance (theme), and excerpt (whatever they are reading that brings them there). Again, merely my thoughts.
I completely see where you're coming from, but I don't decide whether I join a forum (or community) based on their /name/ at all. I -- like many others -- base it on aspects like atmosphere, content, activity, look & feel and niche etc.
That is WAY more important than the name. You can have a forum which labels itself as "/community/" be much less of a community than a forum which labels itself as /cheese/.
I agree (yet again) to an extent. Most of the time, I join based on the things I named, and then decide whether or not I will actually stay based on the things you named. Of course, these kinds of things are up to the user. Perhaps I'm just special. Haha. xD
I think the proper term should be "we"
People signed up because they agreed with your niche,topic, forum, rules, etc.
That makes them a part of your team. So it should be we..
imho.
Community term is generally addressed to the members of the forum, you can say. For example, that forum has a 'friendly' community.
(2012-09-06, 02:23 PM)Disturbed Wrote: [ -> ]I think the proper term should be "we"
People signed up because they agreed with your niche,topic, forum, rules, etc.
That makes them a part of your team. So it should be we..
imho.
At risk of sounding
completely stupid... What are you talking about?
(2012-09-06, 02:28 PM)crazy4cs Wrote: [ -> ]Community term is generally addressed to the members of the forum, you can say. For example, that forum has a 'friendly' community.
True. But in regards to the name of the actual forum/community?