I have a story to tell. So, I run a community and there is this other community on the same subject. The owner of it posts a spam thread on my forums, acting like he isn’t affiliated with the site. This post is removed.

Before I saw this post, the person e-mailed me and asked for my advice in developing his forums. I answered and did what I could for him. And, after that, I saw that a moderator of mine had removed the post he made.

After a period of time goes by, he e-mails me again, asking for my advice. Once again, I helped him, but I also mentioned that you don’t want to spam forums, especially in such a devious way.

In response to this, he acted as though his community being spammed on other ones was something that has happened before because he allowed someone in his office access to his account to “promote” his site. That person had been dealt with, he said.

That’s fine and dandy, but I reminded him that whatever happens under his account, he will ultimately be held responsible for.

A couple months later, what happens? Someone from his group with an e-mail at his domain made 25 junk posts so that s/he could use our private message system. And then that person sent approximately 50 different members the same PM. Any guess as to what they contained? Worse yet, it was signed by the same guy, even though the username didn’t match his name.

I deleted most of the PMs before anyone had viewed them.

Four days before this PM spamming, he had again e-mailed me asking for assistance and I had, again, kindly assisted.

At this point, I took a look at the site and noticed they had ripped our forum descriptions. I once again told him what happened, gave him the details and then I didn’t hear from him again.

Until recently when he e-mailed to ask if he could buy a paid advertisement. That wasn’t going to happen. I took another look at his site and saw that, while it appeared the descriptions had now changed, they had now stolen our rank images! These are unique and were created specifically for me.

I informed him of this. And I haven’t heard back. But, he has now marked his forums as private. Ha. Marking your forums as invisible is not an answer to copyright infringement. The files are still on your server! I plan to file a DMCA notice soon.

Anyway, how much can one guy do? Some people don’t get it. Not everyone is cut out to manage forums or manage people. Maybe he’s listening to some really bad advice. None of these things are particularly unheard of, if you manage forums, though it’s rare when they all come together in a great synergy for one person or one site.

Sometimes, we can learn a ton, not just from the people we want to be like - but the people we don’t.

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Several times, I’ve been asked, how do I come up with the ideas for the communities that I launch? The answer for this can also apply to coming up with ideas for websites or just ideas in general, even.

It can be something that I have a personal interest in and, as such, want to start a community around it. This is the case with SportsForums.net. I’m a sports fan, so I started a community about sports. CommunityAdmins.com is another one.

I can see a domain, sense a need or, at least, feel that I could do something well. KarateForums.com is an example of this. I thought a martial arts community was a great idea and, back when we launched, there were far fewer than there are now. It’s my largest communities as far as posts is concerned.

I can need something myself. I started using phpBB back with the 1.2.x string. Back then, there was no dedicated site for phpBB hacks. I wanted one, so I created one in phpBBHacks.com.

There’s always the old random idea, as well. I can get ideas for sites at any time. I’ve had a few right before I wanted to close my eyes and sleep. For this reason, I keep a pad and pen next to my bed. I’ve had ideas in the shower, while eating out (I’m sure, can’t think of a specific one) - anywhere, really! You should always be ready for the idea and be ready to embrace it.

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Sometimes, we can fall into the trap of talking and thinking about ideas a little too much. Proper planning and consideration is always important, but there comes a time where we must not simply talk, but also do.

I’ve had banned users and “competitors” who spent a lot of time talking and thinking about me, but little time actually doing anything or accomplishing anything on their own account. (This is certainly fine by me). But, I’ve also spoken to administrators who were always trying to think of what to do… and not actually doing it.

That’s one thing that separates successful people from everyone else: they do things.

I pull advice and inspiration on productivity from all sorts of areas. But, one of my favorite videos is by the brilliant Ze Frank. It’s below. Warning: there are a bunch of vulgarities (don’t repeat them in the comments!). His message, and the way he delivers it, is awesome!

Don’t get addicted to brain crack!

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