Forum Suggestions for a Better Community

[Chiumanfu]

I'm new to ant keeping and appreciate all the knowledgeable people here, sharing their experiences.

I'm also very new to this community so take this advice with a grain of salt. I have been administrator of more than few phpbb forums in the past so I know what works and what doesn't.

Suggestion #1 - Consolidate all the duplicate forums
This forum is very disorganized. A lot of posts with legitimate questions are never even seen, let alone answered. The more questions answered means the user sticks around longer. The longer they stick around, the more they become a contributing member.

• The Main Forum, General Ant Talk, Ant Keeping For Beginners, ANT FAQ, Ant Care and Ant Keeping can all be consolidated into one forum.

• Ant journals, Ant photography can be combined.

• Myrmecology, museums can be slotted together too

Having too many sub-forums has a negative effect on organization, which is after all, the whole point of sub-forums.

Suggestion #2 - Clean up announcements and stickies. Use a theme that segregates sticky posts.
Look at the Ant Main Forum. The whole first page is dominated by sub forums and announcements (some of which can be consolidated).

The second page is all sticky posts. Some are legitimate stickies but half seem to be random posts that got stickied. This one confuses be because it looks like the ability to create a sticky post is enabled for some. I know that I saw that option when I wrote my first post... but I no longer see it now.

It is also a great help to differentiate stickies. This can be as simple as a unique icon and is a common feature of a lot of theme templates.

I have to scroll all the way down to the third page before I actually see any recent posts.

Also look at the Ant Care and Keeping forum...it should not be possible for a brand new user to have created an announcement. Definitely some permissions tweaks needed.

Suggestion #3 - Posting in wrong sub-forum, Post Hijacking, Spamming
This stuff is rampant on this forum and it's more detrimental to building a community than you'd think. The only real solution is more moderators. There are only 4 moderators, of which MadVampy is the only one who's really active on a day to day basis. Having active moderators is the best way to foster a community and it looks like there are plenty of active users who would be very deserving.

Suggestion #4 - More FAQ type posts
Answering the same questions over and over is frustrating for the more experienced ant keepers here. Consolidating information into FAQ posts is a great way to mitigate. Next time a new ant keeper asks "What formicarium should I get?". You can direct them to the FAQ thread and they can find their answer plus the answers to many more questions. It takes some effort but it is well worth it.


These are just my $0.02. I hope I didn't offend anyone with this post. Maybe the disorganization just triggered my OCD. Happy anting and I hope to learn a lot from everyone here.

[MadVampy]

The forum topics were set by Mikey Busto's. He wanted them separated the way they are.

Thanks for your input.

[Haze809]

I agree with the majority of these suggestions, as I also find it confusing (even months later) to find the right sub section to post a niche topic. Most times I just post them in the section people are most active in, even if its not the best fitting section.

I check the forums almost daiyl, but NEVER check section by section.. I solely use the "Show active topics" button regardless of which section they are.. this is another evidence of how the sections are not working and are just causing more confusion.

I think the suggestions above should be considered.. and not automatically turned down just because "Mikey Bustos" wanted it that way. He may be an ant expert but not necessarily know the best ways to run a forum community. Members suggestions should be taken into consideration, especially when they are respectfully supplied and explained.

To add on to your suggestions, I think the AC senate should also carry over to the forums. Give AC members some colored nicknames, maybe some nice name tags/titles and let them be seen here on the forums. Let them share their knowledge and get "bows" from forum members. Also, add a section here on the forums for AC Senate members/discussions only. I wouldn't be surprised if that little add=on and synch between youtube community+forum community, increased overall community size and profitability.

I've been running forum communities for over 12 years now, my current one has 84,000 registered members since 2011 and about 300~ daily users.

[MadVampy]

I will take it into consideration and also talk with Mikey.

Also please do not come here thinking just because you have past experience in forums that your word is going to be taken as the law or such (not saying that was your intent by your posting). Like I said This is Mikey Busto's forum, he runs AntsCanada and what he says goes.

I have been running this forum for Mikey for 5 years and there has been no issues with any way the forums have been running, Yes we do take suggestions from the users and we do take them into consideration. We have already considered the ranking system but we are going to be changing software and revamping the forums soon so that option has been put on hold until we make these changes. There will be no SENATE (and I will confirm this with Mikey), this site is for all users of all types to use this meaning just because there are those that are more active will not get extra forums just for them or get special privilege's over other members who may not post as much. We are here to help one another out no matter what your experience is or how long you have been keeping ants.

If the AntsCanada Ants Forums are not to your liking it is your choice to stay or leave. I would love for those that are will to contribute to helping others to stay but at the same time I will not have those (not saying this is what your doing) new users come into the forums and telling us how we should run the forums.

[Haze809]

Hey MadVampy,

I apologize if my post seemed like an attack to you, mikey or this forums. My sole intentions were to suggest ways in which I felt would make the community even better than what it is now. I only mentioned my experience with forums to back up the suggestion with personal experience.

Even if this topic is closed and none of the suggestions were implemented, I will still be an active member of the community, learn and help others as much as possible.

In any case, thanks for taking it into consideration and for actually acknowledging this suggestion. It's more than a lot of mods do on other boards.

[MadVampy]

Hey MadVampy,

I apologize if my post seemed like an attack to you, mikey or this forums. My sole intentions were to suggest ways in which I felt would make the community even better than what it is now. I only mentioned my experience with forums to back up the suggestion with personal experience.

Even if this topic is closed and none of the suggestions were *****, I will still be an active member of the community, learn and help others as much as possible.

In any case, thanks for taking it into consideration and for actually acknowledging this suggestion. It's more than a lot of mods do on other boards.

No problem at all. I didn't take it as a personal attack at all. The big thing is that though this forum may not be huge like many others we want to make sure it's a safe haven where anyone of any level can come an feel like they can ask any ant related question without the fear of being laughed at, bullied, or put down. No one person on this planet knows everything there is to know about ants not even Mikey. He like many others learn new stuff about them all the time and this is only possible because of the combined knowledge of so many people from different levels of ant keeping, hell a new person can teach a seasoned ant keeper a thing or two.

[AntsLuxembourg]

I'm new to ant keeping and appreciate all the knowledgeable people here, sharing their experiences.

I'm also very new to this community so take this advice with a grain of salt. I have been administrator of more than few phpbb forums in the past so I know what works and what doesn't.

Suggestion #1 - Consolidate all the duplicate forums
This forum is very disorganized. A lot of posts with legitimate questions are never even seen, let alone answered. The more questions answered means the user sticks around longer. The longer they stick around, the more they become a contributing member.

• The Main Forum, General Ant Talk, Ant Keeping For Beginners, ANT FAQ, Ant Care and Ant Keeping can all be consolidated into one forum.

• Ant journals, Ant photography can be combined.

• Myrmecology, museums can be slotted together too

Having too many sub-forums has a negative effect on organization, which is after all, the whole point of sub-forums.

Suggestion #2 - Clean up announcements and stickies. Use a theme that segregates sticky posts.
Look at the Ant Main Forum. The whole first page is dominated by sub forums and announcements (some of which can be consolidated).

The second page is all sticky posts. Some are legitimate stickies but half seem to be random posts that got stickied. This one confuses be because it looks like the ability to create a sticky post is enabled for some. I know that I saw that option when I wrote my first post... but I no longer see it now.

It is also a great help to differentiate stickies. This can be as simple as a unique icon and is a common feature of a lot of theme templates.

I have to scroll all the way down to the third page before I actually see any recent posts.

Also look at the Ant Care and Keeping forum...it should not be possible for a brand new user to have created an announcement. Definitely some permissions tweaks needed.

Suggestion #3 - Posting in wrong sub-forum, Post Hijacking, Spamming
This stuff is rampant on this forum and it's more detrimental to building a community than you'd think. The only real solution is more moderators. There are only 4 moderators, of which MadVampy is the only one who's really active on a day to day basis. Having active moderators is the best way to foster a community and it looks like there are plenty of active users who would be very deserving.

Suggestion #4 - More FAQ type posts
Answering the same questions over and over is frustrating for the more experienced ant keepers here. Consolidating information into FAQ posts is a great way to mitigate. Next time a new ant keeper asks "What formicarium should I get?". You can direct them to the FAQ thread and they can find their answer plus the answers to many more questions. It takes some effort but it is well worth it.


These are just my $0.02. I hope I didn't offend anyone with this post. Maybe the disorganization just triggered my OCD. Happy anting and I hope to learn a lot from everyone here.

Even before reading this, I already started to work on some of those. Ant FAQ is locked and some others are locked too now so no confusion on others posting their stuff there. There are other things planned but currently I don't really have the time (and motivation ) to work on all of these things. I try to clean up a little bit every few days and focus on keeping the forum spam free.

For the more moderators, I'm working on it and I want it to be well thought out and not just rushed.