Already on the forum team? How to best contribute.

Hello everybody!

I would like to welcome you to another post which is a part of our Get to know our forums project (you can find a masterpost here).

Today, we would like to focus more on how we could best contribute in the forums when we receive a badge and also to sum up some ways of supporting people in forums!

Before we will talk about supporting people in forums, I would like to focus on one thing. When we become forum team members, a large area of opportunities in forums appears. Our journey of being forum leaders might be sometimes easier, sometimes harder, which is completely fine! I, personally, often used to ask myself: Am I a good forum team member? How can I know that I am successful as a forum leader? Here are some main points which might help you understand what could be expected from a forum team member, however, please don’t forget that if you don’t meet them all, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not good or successful!

1) You have a basic understanding of the 7 Cups forums and you can navigate in them

2) You enjoy offering support and help in the forums

3) You would like to be part of the forum leadership team and you are ready to dedicate your efforts and time to a specific area in forums

4) You are a regular participant in your community

5) You can communicate with other forum team members of your chosen area about organising forum-related things in your specific area

How to best support in the forums?

There are different and many ways of contributing and supporting in forums, here is a brief list of some of them:

Making new threads

Making our own threads can be a great way to meet new people, talk together via forums and have some fun together! These threads can be, for example, icebreakers, forum discussions, informative posts, posts that are part of the events or check-ins.

Replying to posts

Replying to posts is so important because it can take a great deal of courage to post something and by replying to it, we show that everybody is heard here. It can also be so encouraging, people might feel much better when they know that they are not alone and someone is supporting them. Replying only to some of the posts and omitting certain posts could make people feel unheard, misunderstood or rejected.

How to write a good reply?

While replying to posts, we can use our active listening skills! Show them that you understand them, try to use reflection and validation, be empathetic (try to imagine being in their shoes), non-judgemental, respectful and compassionate! Feel free to also visit this post if you would like to learn more about effective replying.

Upvoting

Upvoting is a simple way of showing encouragement or acknowledgement to the post made in the forums. Sometimes, we can’t always reply to posts, but when we upvote, it shows that we took some time to read it and we care about its content.

Tagging people

Tagging is a way to encourage someone to participate in the forum post you made or feel like they would like.

When might tagging someone be beneficial?

- When you are replying to them

- When they have shown interest by opting in by filling the taglist form

- They can provide more information on the topic

- You think they might be interested

- Team updates

How to solve conflicts and problematic situations in forums?

It sometimes happens that although we all are trying to respect each other, some conflicts and disagreements may appear. In these kinds of situations, it is so important to know what would be the best to do and how we could prevent it. If you are a forum team member, you know that using de-escalation is one of the ways to solve conflicts, it is crucial to listen and respect both sides and find the best solution together. In case that you are not a forum team member, and you see a conflict in the forums, don’t hesitate to contact any forum leader about it!

Useful links

Forum Team Manual (includes contributing and supporting in forums)

Forum Supporter Guide: Validation

Keeping forums welcoming and supportive: Forum Guidelines Update

Sam's Forum Post Making Tips

Thank you very much for reading! I hope you find today’s post helpful, in case you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to post it in the comments or message me. I wish you all a lovely day!

@Mel @Listeningsarinn @bookworm274 @ouiCherie