I’ve gained a lot of experience running and working with bulletin boards in my day, although most of my experience has been based on numerous mistakes. In 2004 and 2005, I established a number of communities, but most of them wound up being unsuccessful for a number of reasons, and that’s pretty much how I learned NOT to run a community.

Well, a few weeks ago, Patrick O’Keefe (of phpBBHacks.com fame, as well as a number of other communities and websites), released a brand new book called Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards. Patrick was on phpBB Weekly #050 back in February, and in addition to talking about phpBBHacks.com on that episode, he gave us an early preview of his book. Since then, he sent copies to both myself and David Lewis for us to read and review. (Plus, we’ll be giving away an autographed copy on phpBB Weekly #061 on May 10th!) I recently finished the book, and am quite excited to have the opportunity to review it.
Continue reading »

Tags: administrators, book, communities, forums, guide, guidelines, management, Managing Online Forums, marketing, Patrick O'Keefe, phpBB, review, staff, tips

Macworld has just posted an excellent guide to Time Machine that for the first time, truly explains in great detail exactly how Time Machine works in Leopard, exactly what you need, etc. Personally, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to muster up a hard drive for backups, so I’ll probably have to leave my files to fate for just a few months more. Still, an interesting read for anyone who wants just a bit more information about what they’re getting in exchange for the $129 shellout.

Tags: backups, features, guide, hard drive, Mac OS X Leopard, Macworld, Time Machine