Couldn't agree more. And I would go further and state that, I wish all online communities were like these forums, regardless of the subject matter. And I am even more impressed since SF is a company, a business. How such a high standard of forum etiquette and blog posts can exist I still don't understand.
@somanaut, thank you for saying that - these things are always very much appreciated.
The high standard is simple to understand and comes from our founder - behave like a lady or a gentleman.
Although you don't see much of what goes on behind the scenes, I do enforce that standard as needed by a variety of means, including reviewing the first few posts of every new forum member. I also do talk to our forum members, both in a thread and privately, if I feel something is getting close to or has already crossed the line. Once in a while I remove something that's been posted by a forum member but that's pretty rare. (Spammers never get to become regular members - they and their content get deleted before you ever see it.)
I also read, albeit sometimes pretty quickly, every post in the forum. The only exception I make is for training logs because there typically aren't as many questions, and where everyone knows - I hope - that they can tag me if they need my input, and use the Report button if they feel something inappropriate has been posted.
That's why you don't see bad things.
You see so many good things because of you, our forum's members - it's that simple. It's only good because of the good things people post here - no good posts means no good forum.
I also adjust the forum's structure from time to time to reflect our current needs.
A big "thank you" goes to
@StrongestXen, without whose help I'd have been lost many times. If I am keeping a light hand on the steering wheel, Tom (
@StrongestXen) is the mechanic who keeps the ship watertight and the engine running smoothly.
Last but not least, we are all here because StrongFirst's HQ staff -
@EricFrohardt,
@CMarker,
@Nikki, and company, realize what an important thing the forum is in creating an online community of strength. This community helps spread the word about the importance of strength, which is why we do what we do at StrongFirst in the first place - to make the world a stronger place.
-S-