Here’s a piece of something I wrote to help with community problems on my flagship site – Anderson Free Press.

I’m not going to please all the people on this site. I know that. I do think it’s my job to make this place into somewhere that people from all walks of life can come and interact with others in the community. With that in mind, I ask you to reflect on yourself and how you’re representing yourself on AFP. I understand this will be difficult for some people who don’t do this in real life often (again, I’m naming NO names and have no one particular in mind), but it’s something that’s really helpful.

Instead of thinking of AFP as a collection of cliques and groups, think of AFP as a big family. If you know families, you know they don’t always get along – especially during the holidays. At the core, though, is a love that’s hard to describe. Your fellow posters here at AFP certainly aren’t real family, but they’re a form of online family, in my opinion. And that means it’s important to treat them as such.

Now, before I’m bashed, I’m not saying you have to agree with everyone on here or walk on egg shells not being yourself, but I beg you to think about how your actions in this public forum affect others. If all the posting members do is bicker back and forth – what reason is there for new people to sign up? If you’ve noticed, we’ve gotten a lot of new users lately (and even had some old favorites decide to return.) This is a great thing. If AFP becomes known as a place that is dangerous or not fun, this could stop. And I don’t want that.

Ben Franklin, Yo

I have to wonder if some people out there might not want that, though. I mean, AFP closing would make a lot of people happy, I imagine. But I’m not done yet. Lord willing, I’m going to take this all the way. There is a master plan in place. It took Benjamin Franklin 10+ years to build his publishing empire in Philadelphia. I’m no Ben Franklin, so I’m happy to be where I am after 4+ years. I still have hope – even as I look through threads at AFP and see problems.

Beyond the current problems with people not getting along, I see the future of AFP. I can see a future where AFP lives up to its potential. And that’s a very bright thing. We just need to weather the storm until we reach the promised land. And perhaps that’s the thing – there’s never going to be a time when everyone at AFP (or, indeed, any online forum) magically gets along wonderfully with no problems. There is no forum utopia.

You can go read the whole thing if you want. We’ll see how it goes over. AFP is a great UGC site at the moment. User Generated Content. I need to do more posts on that. What do you think?

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