Podcasts Business Community Signal What Makes an Online Community a Home?

What Makes an Online Community a Home?

Published: July 12, 2021, 9:30 a.m.

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May 21st, 2021 marked 20 years since the launch of\\xa0KarateForums.com. In this episode of Community Signal, Patrick speaks with five forum members that have been on KarateForums.com for nearly 65 years, collectively. Together, they discuss what keeps them coming back to the community as members, moderators, and martial artists.\\xa0

While each member brings different experiences and background to the community, Bob, Brian, Danielle, Devin, and Noah all cite the quality of the interactions that they\\u2019ve had in the community and how it has brought out their skills as community members, teachers, and students of the martial arts. Those interactions helped these folks launch their own martial arts schools, grow as martial artists, and pay it forward to hundreds of thousands of other folks seeking out knowledge.

Whether you\\u2019re listening to this episode with 20 years of community management experience or you\\u2019re working on approaching that milestone, a few things emerge as truths from this episode \\u2013\\u2013 that it\\u2019s not the size of a community that matters, but the level of care that you find there. That community members can go from the verge of being banned to becoming model community members, if given the chance. That communities thrive when they help their members achieve their goals and pay it forward to others. Whether this is your first year as a community manager or your twentieth, we hope that you find these lessons and stories helpful. And here\\u2019s to another 20 years of KarateForums.com!\\xa0

They also discuss:

  • The benefits of your members joining other communities
  • How KarateForums.com helped each guest find confidence, friends, and more
  • Why Devin describes KarateForums.com as charitable

Our Podcast is Made Possible By\\u2026

If you enjoy our show, please know that it\\u2019s only possible with the generous support of our sponsor:\\xa0Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community.

Big Quotes

Martial arts instructors have been shaped by KarateForums.com (07:06):\\xa0\\u201cIf we talk about my martial arts career, [KarateForums.com] really shaped \\u2026 how I approach teaching other people. I obviously went to university; after that, I got a job. KarateForums.com has probably been with me for all of my life-defining moments.\\u201d -Danielle Williams

How Danielle\\u2019s needs as a community member have evolved since she first joined the community (08:09):\\xa0\\u201c[When I] initially [joined KarateForums.com], I probably would have been talking about techniques, or training methods, or thinking about it as an individual. Now, I come back and a lot of my conversations are, as an instructor, how can I do this? How can I change this? How can I help my own students?\\u201d -Danielle Williams

Why Danielle continues to be a moderator after so many years (12:46):\\xa0\\u201cIf you get benefits from something, then you need to give back. I\\u2019ve been able to take so much from [KarateForums.com]. The experience of others and just having that sounding board, a community to come back to, and just have a chat. I\\u2019d classify a lot of the members of KarateForums.com \\u2026 as friends now. I\\u2019ve taken a lot, so for me, it\\u2019s really important to be able to give back and help chaperone the community forwards.\\u201d -Danielle Williams

What makes KarateForums.com feel like home (17:50):\\xa0\\u201cKarateForums.com is the melting pot for both martial artists and non-martial artists alike, to get together, as a cohesive whole, to discuss a plethora of topics in a safe, fun, and informative atmosphere. \\u2026 There\\u2019s a unique and unbreakable camaraderie that I\\u2019ve found that makes KarateForums.com a place that we call home.\\u201d -Robert \\u201cBob\\u201d Mitcham

Different perspectives on KarateForums.com bring value to all members (33:48):\\xa0\\u201cBeing able to talk with so many people with different perspectives in a positive, constructive manner just added to what I could take back to my classes, or when I go read another book, and think about it from my perspective or a perspective that somebody posted on a thread.\\u201d -Brian Walker

When an online community stops you from regressing in your martial art (41:58): \\u201c[After moving to an area where I didn\\u2019t have a dojo, KarateForums.com allowed me to] stay connected, so that when I did go back to a place where I had a dojo, it wasn\\u2019t starting from scratch. I felt like I had that continuity the entire time I was away. It also gave me things to work on, on my own. Something that I thought was interesting was I actually made progress. When I went back to my dojo, I actually went up a rank rather than regressing, which most people would expect to do after two years away. \\u2026 It was unexpected.\\u201d -Devin Van Curen

Quality of interactions goes a long way for any community (43:28):\\xa0\\u201cThe moderators are very invested in [KarateForums.com]. The standards are much higher for interaction, for being charitable, for staying on topic. That really changes the quality of the interactions, even though it might not be as active as the larger forums on the larger websites, the quality is much higher.\\u201d -Devin Van Curen

It can take time to appreciate how a community is moderated (51:00):\\xa0\\u201c[That I became a moderator] is actually an interesting twist because when I first joined [KarateForums.com], my initial thought was, \\u2018Oh man, this is really strictly moderated,\\u2019 in comparison to all the other forums that were basically a free-for-all. At first, I actually felt a little stifled. \\u2026

Over the first couple of years that I was there, it became apparent to me that it was the one forum that I had found that, while it may not be the busiest \\u2013 there\\u2019s not constant activity flooding threads with posts \\u2013 the conversations that were there didn\\u2019t devolve into nonsense all the time. It stayed on topic. It stayed respectful and beneficial. Whereas a lot of the other communities that I was a part of, somebody would post what was a legitimate question, somebody would answer with some snide remark, and then you\\u2019d get three pages of responses just building off of the snide remark.\\u201d \\u2013@nmlegel

Giving back as a moderator and community member (52:10):\\xa0\\u201cI really value the level of moderation [on KarateForums.com] and so when the opportunity was presented for me to join the moderation team, I thought that was a good opportunity for me to give back in a sense of helping to preserve that \\u2026 general feeling that if you start a conversation or join a conversation there, that you will be able to engage in a conversation that is respectful and on-topic, and not just a free-for-all.\\u201d \\u2013@nmlegel

About Our Guests

For this episode, we\\u2019re joined by five members of\\xa0KarateForums.com. In order of appearance, this includes:

Danielle Williams, a KarateForums.com member for over 14 years. If you\\u2019re ever in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, visit Danielle\\u2019s school,\\xa0Nuneaton Taekwon-Do.

Robert \\u201cBob\\u201d Mitcham, a martial artist for more than 50 years, who has been a member of KarateForums.com for over 13 years. In support of Bob and those fighting cancer, please support\\xa0Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Brian Walker, who has more posts on KarateForums.com than any other contributor and has been a member for over 15 years.

Devin Van Curen, a member of KarateForums.com for 12 years.

Noah Legel, who has been a member of KarateForums.com for over a decade. Visit Noah\\u2019s\\xa0Karate Obsession\\xa0and find it on\\xa0Facebook\\xa0and\\xa0Instagram.

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Transcript

Your Thoughts

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you\\u2019d like to share, please leave me a comment,\\xa0send me an email\\xa0or a\\xa0tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported\\xa0Community Signal on Patreon.

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