From November 18, 2005 through January 20, 2007, I hosted The Community Admin Show, a podcast about random community management related issues. I tackled all sorts of issues, talked about resources and even had some fun features, like what we can learn from Jack Bauer and Dr. Gregory House about community management.

Another great part of the show was the interviews. I talked to experienced community administrators and other smart people, including Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, Cynthia Mosher of MotheringDotCommunity, Jeremy Wright of b5media, Pete Murray of ScubaBoard, Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday and others.

As the podcast site was taken offline a while back, the shows no longer appear to be online for listening. So, I thought that I might start posting them here, episode by episode. Is that something that anyone would want? Please let me know. Thanks.

In addition to the Facebook fan page, I’ve just added ManagingCommunities.com to the NetworkedBlogs Facebook application, making it possible to receive notifications of new posts at ManagingCommunities.com through Facebook. If you are a Facebook user, please consider a subscription.

Thank you for reading and for your support.

I would really like to do more mailbag type features here on ManagingCommunities.com. I’d like to answer your questions in a post, provide you with some information that you are looking for and link to your site in the process (if you have one - totally optional). Anonymous questions are welcomed, as well, if you’d rather I didn’t include your info in a post.

So, if you have something you’d like answered, please let me know.

I’ll be attending the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) 2009 conference in Austin, Texas, from March 13 through March 17. So, things will be a little quiet around here at this time. I appreciate your patience.

On Saturday, March 14 at 12:30 PM, I’ll be speaking, giving a presentation called, “The Art of Responding to Feedback From Your Community.” After the presentation, at 12:55 PM, I’ll be doing a book signing for 20 minutes at the SXSW Bookstore. I’ll probably sign whatever stock they have, so if you miss the signing and still would like a signed copy, please stop by the bookstore!

But, even if you can’t make it to my session and would like to meet up, just let me know. Probably the best way, after March 11,  is to send me an @ reply on Twitter. My Twitter name is iFroggy. I look forward to seeing you there!

I did some testing today and I am hoping to stream my SXSW Interactive 2009 talk, “The Art of Responding to Feedback from Your Community,” live online via Ustream.tv. The presentation starts at 1:30 PM ET, but I’ll probably try to start the stream a little earlier. You will hopefully be able it on the ManagingCommunities.com Show channel.

Please keep it in mind that it may not be possible. It will depend on the wifi connectivity as well as the available bandwidth. Fingers crossed, we’ll make it happen! Even if I am not able to pull it off, I will still be taking video that will be posted online at some point.

I am thinking that I would like to start an interview series with various community administrators - people who are in the field, working every day and tackling the challenges that we all face.

For these folks, I figure that it would be a good idea to have a basically set list of questions that they will all get asked. Informative, interesting or simply funny - I’d like to hear your thoughts. What should they be asked?

A few weeks ago, I asked for feedback on my upcoming book reading/presentation at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive 2009. In so many words, I wanted some thoughts on what I should talk about. Thanks so much to everyone who offered their thoughts, including Dave Taylor, Krist, Gwen, Wendy and others.

After much consideration, I have decided to go with a proposal I will call “The Art of Responding to Feedback From Your Community.” Based on a blog post I wrote in January, this talk will focus on my 3 simple steps for responding to feedback that you receive from… well… your community. I have a fun twist in mind that I think people will enjoy and I will not be telling you what it is. I will give you one hint, though. We’ll be doing it live.

The bottom line here will be that it’s ALL ABOUT FEEDBACK. And I plan to showcase this. This post can’t do it justice. You’ll have to come!

After the talk, I’ll be doing a signing at the SXSW bookstore and I am really looking forward to meeting people. The presentation will be on Saturday, March 14 at 12:30 PM ET on the Day Stage. The presentation will go about 20 minutes and then I’ll head to the signing. It should be a ton of fun. If you can come, please do! Please RSVP on Facebook.

Good news! For the second consecutive year, I will be giving a book reading at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive in Austin, Texas. The reading will be followed by a signing at the conference’s bookstore. Better news: you don’t have to listen to me read the book. (Thank goodness). They allow us to give a presentation around the book’s theme and that is what I will be doing, just as I did last year, when I spoke about “Creating a Positive Environment on Your Forums” (video).

The conference itself runs from March 13 through 17 and my presentation will be on March 14 at 12:30 PM. It’ll be on the Day Stage on the top floor of the Austin Convention Center. If you can come, please do! I’d love to meet you. Please RSVP on Facebook, if you can.

We’re about six weeks or so away, so I want to start thinking about what I will be talking about. That’s where you come in! I would love your feedback on what you’d like me to talk about. I have a pair of ideas myself, but I could go in a totally different direction, as well. Please keep in mind that I have 20 minutes, no more, and that I would like to fit in a little time for Q&A, if I could, in that 20 minute span. Though, I can always answer questions when I am off stage and that might be for the best. Anyway, here are the options.

1. “The Art of Responding to Feedback From Your Community”

This talk would be based on a post I wrote recently, that I felt was really well received. Basically, it’s a simple, 3 step system to handling feedback from members. I could go through the 3 steps, in brief and (maybe?) show some example messages in my slides.

2. “Taking Your Community Back From the Trolls”

There seems to be this prevailing notion with some people that eventually, all communities will be infested with trolling. And that you have to allow people to say some nasty things because you can’t hold your members to high standards. Because, if you do, you’ll scare them off, lose your traffic, lose your ad revenue and be unable to justify your community to the boss.

I don’t believe this is true. I believe that community administrators and managers can take a stand, can have a vision for their community, one that is free of trolls and can shut those people down through solid guidelines, consistent enforcement and a willingness to ban.

3. “Your Idea”

I’d love to hear your idea, too. What would you like me to talk about? Maybe you read the book and a specific part resonated, a part you would like to see me talk about in person. Or, maybe you just have a random thought. Whatever it is, please detail it in the comments and I promise to consider it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and offer me your feedback. I really appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing you at the conference.

One year ago today, I launched ManagingCommunities.com. It had been a site that I had wanted to launch for some time, as community management is a subject that I am passionate about and I had a lot to talk about and a lot of experiences that I wanted to share.

In light of this moment, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported ManagingCommunities.com during this initial year. Everyone who has visited, read, linked, commented, offered some feedback or helped in some other way. I really appreciate it. I look forward to what lay ahead in 2009.

But, again, thank you.

Patrick

When I found out that I would be coming to the Los Angeles area for a short time, I wanted to try to meet up with some people in the area. So, I was talking to my friend Ricardo Bueno who lives in the city and we were going back and forth about it and… long story short, he agreed to plan a Tweetup (basically, a meet up of Twitter users). But, it’s not just for Twitter users - it’s for anyone who works online, is interested in social media, etc. Of course, I’ll be coming, along with 3 copies of “Managing Online Forums” to giveaway.

It’ll be on January 14, from 6 PM to 9 PM local time, at BJ’s Brewhouse and Restaurant in Glendale. We are going to have dinner, but if you just want to have drinks or stop by for a short time - that’s perfectly fine. And if you don’t drink, don’t worry - neither do I! :)

If you live in the Los Angeles area or, at least, are in town on that day, I’d love to meet you. Please RSVP on Facebook and/or Upcoming. We already have a number of people set to come, but the more - the merrier! A big thanks to Ricardo for doing the ground work on this.