Hi,

I just recently purchased a very large forum, BattleForums.com. Does anyone have any advice as to how I can gain trust from my members as the new owner and administrator of the forum? What should/shouldn't I do?

Thank you,
Donny

__________________

Introduce yourself first, act like you're just a new member, don't act all adminish - and integrate with the community.

A contest would go down well also

--------------------------------------------------------
On further inspection..

On further inspection of your forum, i see you have already done this, and it hasn't gone down so well, its because they've had a string of bad admins, you'll have to work overtime to prove your there for the long run.

__________________
Immortality will come to such as are fit for it

Yeah, unfortunately. I expected it though, with all those 'warnings' given to me by the previous owner. Oh well. I guess I'll have to develop trust through time.

__________________

Are you there for the long run, or is it just a quickie then sell?

__________________
Immortality will come to such as are fit for it

Do this and also start a new thread that is open to suggestions. Just start a new thread letting people know who you are, what your plans are for the forums, and ask for feedback....It'll be a Q&A session and also a feedback session. Ask the members what they would like to see changed or added...Let them know that you're new and you're here to make those forums the best forums possible, and in order to do that, you want to know what the members want to see.

Most importantly, address every suggestion that is made - whether you implement it or not. If you plan to implement their suggestion, let them know...If not, let them know what not. You need to be open to suggestions and also willing to follow through with them.

There's not much you can do about the forums having a history of bad admins. All you can do is continue to reassure the members that you are not like the previous admins.

Good luck! Those are some big forums

__________________
...some super-sweet signature

What kind of warnings did you get?

__________________
George from PCHangout.com
Want some free HD wallpapers?
Find hot deals coupons, discounts, bargains, and freebies here.

From the threads I looked at the members are, whats the word... grumpy?

They hate the old admin, they don't know you and think you used to post there, they don't like the skin, something called "the asylum" is gone which they don't like and their posts are gone.

If you want to gain their trust then slowly do things, don't change it all rapidly, I would put back "the asylum", I don't know what it was but it seems they are unhappy about its removal.

__________________
Computer Forum
Calum
Football Forum

Don't just start adding stuff back blindly...If the previous owner removed it, he probably did so for a reason. Before you just add it back because the members want it, you need to understand what it is and why it was removed.

Typically, you want to do things that the members want to see, but sometimes that's not always a good idea and they just have to deal with it.

__________________
...some super-sweet signature

Thanks Ryan, Flashgear, calum, and everyone else. I have started a suggestions thread and hopefully, it will work out pretty well. Apparently, it has been years since the last bulk email has been sent out, so that's pretty good. This is going to be hard, but I think I can handle it .

Thank you,
Donny

__________________

Lol, kinda sounds like the old owner kinda 'spoiled' them.