First off, let me complement you on the new site design. There was nothing wrong with the last design, and there seems to be nothing wrong here. I think this forum is great. I seen so many forums in my time, I even created mine. The only comment is the strict rule to announce other forums. In the past, I seen you or another member mention daniweb in other forums. Also, like me, I link to daniweb and syndicate your top ten topics on my site. I encourage your site, why can’t someone my me encourage my forum??

how about promoting a podcast that's part of another forum??

Nice look here Dani.

It is going to take some getting use to, but nice job.

>am I doing a good job as site administrator?
No, you're an evil and incompetent forum nazi, and we all hate you more than lawyers and politicians. ;)

I think you are doing great, forums are not easy to run, they take up a lot of your time, plus there is so much competition today, it seems that everyone has a forum now!

But if you think long term and leave the members alone to create content you are much better off versus over moderation, when moderators are heavy handed members will leave quickly!

Scam artists should be run off, but let the members speak their minds and you have a good forum everytime!

I dont use this forum as much as I used to if im honest, yes I have not posted a lot but I read a lot and would help users I felt I could help. Anyway, I came on the other day after receiving an email saying how I should visit again. This worried me slightly, it kind of gives me the impression all is not well right now.

Now I read this post and I start putting two and two together. Firstly let me comment on the post. This kind of post is pointless as no one will come on here and say "your doing x amount of things wrong", generally people will just kiss ass and such like. This is not an attack just saying that this post is counter productive and not likely to tell you anything you dont already know.

Now for the new layout, yes I know there is a post asking for feedback for this but its all kind of related to this thread anyway. I really dislike the new design, I find it hard to look at as its way too bright and im not sure I like the newly names buttons (ie "advanced reply"). I liked the old style, infact I even liked the style before that. So my honest opinion is that time and resources were wasted creating the latest style.

Dont get me wrong, I know this style may have been forced due to the recent update with vBulletin, I know I had to completely rework my style for my forum.

As for your forum, this was the first webmaster like forum I ever visited and used it a lot. Then I was told to check out a couple others and I find myself using them on a daily basis and perhaps visiting this one weekly/monthly. Its not the clearest of sites and the main area I use is Community Building and Buy & Sell Advertising space. Both these areas are not active and I have never sold a link on this forum yet.

All in all its a good site though, nothing different from any of the other similar sites. Forums are usually all about the community, if you manage to create a real community feel to this site then you have a winner, something I can imagine is very difficult due to the fact most your visitors are guests and not members.

Meh sorry for going off on one, your doing a grand job for what its worth, but its good to know you want to make it even better!

I think you're doing a fine job. What I don't like about this site is the community in general. What I mean by that, is the people here are not that friendly. Yes, there are a few, but for the most part they are not friendly. It just seems you are attracting the wrong kind of people. Either they're not very nice, or simply make one post which asks for their work being done, and then they're gone.

Just my opinion.

Friendliness is subjective. And technical subjects attract a certain sort of beast.Exaggeratedly “friendly (in that fashion) or useful: Pick one.As quoted via a Daniweb recommended link.

Before I bought my latest site I was Community Manager for it, as a gaming site the importance of a community is massive. If you ever need help with the community side of things feel free to PM me or ask me.

You are not doing a good job. I'm sorry I have to say that but you aren't.
You are doing something here that would put something more like,
You are doing an amazing job. You have one of the largest Technology sites on the web.
Actually the only ones that I have found that are larger, are places like Dell and HP.. but come on... they have to be.

You're doing an amazing job here Dani. I only wish I could keep my board as clean and useful as this one.

The age old question ... am I doing a good job as site administrator? Are DaniWeb policies overly harsh or overly lax? Should I be participating more? Do moderators feel overly worked? Please give me feedback to keep me grounded and so that I can ensure I'm on the right path. Thanks!!

I don't really reckon that anyone cares what I think, but I am about to put my 2 cents in anyway.

Dani this is an amazing site. And for it to be started by a woman makes it even more amazing at least in my eyes. I am much older than you and grew up hearing that women will never be as smart as men or as powerful or even worth as much as a man. But it seems to me that most of the PEOPLE here just happen to be of the male type. The fact that they are here learn and/or teaching is something that could not have been 20 or 30 years ago much less the 51 years ago when I was born.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/Catchow/flowers/roses/rose_4b.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/Catchow/flowers/roses/mv8_2la.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/Catchow/flowers/roses/rose_4a.gif[/IMG]Roses for you Dani!

I remember that when I registered the first time I was so new to everything and was amazed at the "Welcome" email that I recieved a few days later. You said a lot of stuff about the site and then at the bottom said that if there was anything you could do to help to please let you know. I wrote back! I told you that I was so stupid with computers, that I literally barely knew how to turn it on much less use and said that I didn't even know how to use media player. I knew that it was basically a form letter when I answered it but I was feeling very stupid after reading here and understanding almost none of what I read outside of the rules and the word games. So I also asked you if there was a place for anyone as stupid as me. I never expected that you would get the email much less read it, but you answered saying that I was welcome here and you tried to point me towards someplace where I could learn about the media player. I never found whatever you intended for me to read because I got easily distracted.

Now I am back with a new name because after 4 months of surgeries and my email acct deleted because of inactivity, I had to re-register the other day. And WOW! What did I find in my email but a birthday greeting from Dani. Dani this idiot is a global mod at a free messageboard support forum. We currently have less than 2 thousand members but more are finding out about the boards everyday and posting crazy questions and some that require me to do lots of research in order to be able to answer them. I often come here to look for answers for questions posed to me. It is very time intensive and often thankless but because of it I am learning many things. The developer of the messageboard company gives his full support publically to his mods even when he privately thinks we are wrong. He might see a problem that someone has posted and rather than answer the question himself, he will pm one of the mods giving them the info that is needed all just help to get us the respect that he thinks we deserve. I have seen a few minor disputes break out on this board from time to time with a couple even being between mods and I am certain that you are aware of it. I don't know what is said to these people privately but publically you set a fine example for everyone.

I read of this board all over the internet. At most of the geekboards I am terrified to post knowing that someone will call me names or make me cry and a few of those boards I have been required to pay for a membership to even read posts. I think that your board is about as perfect as you can get while having such a huge membership and providing so much information and help as it does all for free even to non-members.

If they don't like something they should leave. If you do like it, they ought to say so and I am sure that they do because I have some people with more posts than I will ever make if I typed for the rest of my life with not even potty breaks in between.

You go girl! Daniweb rocks. It is your baby and your responsibility in the long run so just do the best that you can and leave the rest up to God.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/Catchow/flowers/roses/GD_Rose.gif[/IMG]
Another rose cuz I think that you deserve it.

WoW!!!

And I thought I was giving a nice message.

See dani you really are doing an awesome job.

Hey Dani. Sorry to bump an old thread, but I don't visit this section very often.

First off, I have to commend you on the concept and design of this site. The web has over a thousand forums for every topic, but most of them are overly-specialized. While it is important to have very tightly focused forums in order to deeply explore certain topics, there are very few forums out there that have a broad enough focus to help people out when they don't know just which focus pertains to their questions, wants, or needs.

Most programming sites focus on just one language. You have managed to create a strong community that is willing to talk about and assist eachother with any programming, scripting, databasing, or application language. You have also managed to attract some very impressive members that have are very talented with these different languages.

Most computer help sites focus on just one operating system, application, class of applications, hardware aspect, or hardware component. You have managed to create a site that covers all things related to computers. Quite an amazing feat. Even though many of the people that are assisted in Tech Talk forums are one-post or one-thread wonders, the fact that these people are getting help that would have cost them a lot of time and money without the assistance of this site's community is very commendable.

Even though I am not a frequent visitor of the Site Management forums, I have noticed that they are very popular with some of the members. You have offered people a place to go and talk about subjects that are taboo on most sites.

Now, to talk about your style of administration. In principle, since this is your site, you get to be the judge of how you are doing as administrator. In my opinion, you are doing a fine job. Your job as administrator is to assemble a site, to assemble a community, to assign a dedicated and competent staff of moderators, and to attract new membership in order to keep the community alive and varied. Since this site exists and has such a high membership, you have succeeded at assembling the site and community. Since you have very knowledgable and present moderators accross the sections of the forum, you have succeeded at assembling a staff of competent moderators. Considering that there are many, many new members each and every day, you have succeeded in getting the word out about this forum. Realistically, everything else beyond those basic duties is the responsibility of your moderators and members.

An administrator can only do so much. You are a single person and can't do everything. If you are concerned that membership isn't what it should be, I would start asking questions about what can be done to increase member retention. There isn't a way to eliminate people that join a site without the intent of staying around beyond getting answers to their one question. Your members and moderators may have ideas on what can be done to keep people around longer.

I have never felt that your policies have restricted my replies in any way. I have always felt comfortable posting in a manner that I believed expressed my opinions fully.

Administrators are often the ones that get the least amount of opportunity to enjoy their own forum. I believe it is for this reason that I have never been very serious about creating my own site. I know that I would miss the ability to be just one of the members to much. It takes a very dedicated person to do what you have done. A level of dedication that not many people possess.

If you feel that your moderators may be overworked, just ask them. There are many members on this forum that would seem to make find moderator candidates. Keep in mind that adding additional moderators to a section or forum can sometimes add more stress to the current moderator rather than lessening it, so I would discuss this with the moderators before coming to any decisions on this subject.

To summerize, I believe that you have done a great job. The success of your site and the size it has grown to is testament to your success as a forum administrator.

Thank you very much for building this site. DaniWeb has helped me have a lot of fun while learning new things and sharing my knowledge with others. I'm proud to be a member here.

:)
Hello Dani,
Just read ur reply.
First of all congrates on ur graduation & B.S.
Also thanks for giving such a beautiful site.
GREAT JOB.