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it's my first time to hear of this book, but it's a good idea for a book especially that there are 1000s who are using vBulletin for their forums.
I think things differ from one person to another, for example forum owners with previous technical knowledge (PHP, mySQL) will have an advantage. And so does forum owners with practical experience as an other forum moderator or administrator will have an advantage as well.
I have a lot of points to state in this subject, so let me set this in numbered points. Forum Owners who are expected to understand how to run a forum (Technical Wise) within 6 months or less:
1- Forum owners who have HTML & CSS knowledge
2- Forum owners who have PHP knowledge
3- Forum owners who have mySQL knowledge
4- Forum owners who graphic design knowledge
5- Forum owners who have previous technical experience within forums
But again this is not a rule, as some forum owners tend to buy technical services or hire people with technical experience and this will save the time spent in technical knowledge.
Next and most important in my point of view is the forum managment process, and I beleive that forum managment knowledge is really even harder than managing a normal business. For example, if we look at the forum as a shop, imagine how much you have to do to attract your customers to visit your shop on daily basis. And not only to visit, but you have to make them interactive. And I think understanding forum managment depends on the following points:
1- The forum owner personality (patience, being freindly, understanding people, being open minded, ability to work under pressure, etc..)
2- Knowledge of business managment.
3- Knowledge of Internet marketing.
Some people say that they aren't making forums for business, well in my point of view all web forums are doing some kind of business. Even if the forum is a free forum, but aren't you making money from some ads here or there? selling links?
Some people will say our forum are just for our customers support, well, aren't these support forums giving you an edge against your competetors? what if customers didn't find this kind of support? will they stay?
Even for people who make forums to have their freinds on them and so on, what if somebody want to place an ad on your forum, will you make it for free?
In short forums are e-businesses that need managment, marketing and technical work.
I can't tell an exact time for understanding how to run a forum successfully but for running the basic forum, i can say 3 months are more than enough.
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