SBF History

[Business magnate]

I would love to hear a story about Small Business Forum... Full story... How it all started? Who were the first members of SBF? What were the biggest milestones along the way? What were the biggest problems you faced and how did you overcome them?

[nealrm]

It all started out many years ago. Back then it was just a 01010. Soon other 1s and zeros joined in. Before they knew it they was 0101011100101001000100100010. It just kept growing from there.

Computer humor. I'm sure VanGogh would be happy to tell you the story.

[vangogh]

Funny Neal. I'll be happy to share the story. Come everyone, gather round the fire. Once upon a time in an internet far, far away…Oh wait that's a different story.

Sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…no way that's also wrong. That's Gilligan's story. Ok here's the real story. It's a long one.

It started with a core group of the members here. We all used to post at another small business forum. Same domain as us, except .com instead of .net. We had been posting for a few years and during that time ownership changed hands 2 or 3 times and little by little moderators dropped off. The last few months I was the only person moderating and I didn't have any real access to the owners or the site itself in case anything happened. The most recent owner at the time had changed the place a lot. The forum was incorporated into another site on a new domain with a new look. No one knew it was going to happen. It just changed one day. A few things were broken after that, but nothing too horrible, if I remember correctly. Then one day the forum went down and in it's place was a blank page with a database error message.

I used the link in that message to contact who I assumed would be the owner and offered to help get things running. I didn't get a response. Eventually the database message was replaced with some BS about them updating the database or something like that. There was no real word about when things might be up and running again. I still didn't get a reply to my offer to help.

While the forum was down a couple of us emailed each other. We didn't know if the forum would ever come back and we wanted to stay in touch in case it didn't. During that time we talked about starting up a new forum and we'd run it better and things like that. About 2 weeks (I think to the day) after the forum went down it came back up, only this time lots of things were broken. Signatures weren't working, threads were gone. A new thread started at first to say thanks for getting the forum working again until someone pointed out that it wasn't working and no one had bothered to tell us anything about what had happened. A lot of people started talking about leaving and not coming back. I jumped into the thread and said hang on a few days and I'll see if I can set us all up someplace else.

Quite honestly I had been thinking of leaving the old forum at the time. I seemed to be doing the only work managing the place, but I didn't seem to have any real control and I certainly wan't getting paid. However I had thought of starting a forum for a couple of years and the email talk about it, along with the realization that it would probably be easy to open with a small, but active core group of members and I thought why not.

I spent the weekend evaluating all sorts of forum software. I was hoping one of the freebies would work well, but in the end I purchased vBulletin and this domain name. I installed everything on Monday morning and posted in the thread on the .com a link to the new domain. On the domain I had placed a simple message saying we'd be open in a day or two and I started running through all the different options here to set things up. Apparently something I changed while setting up took the forum live and people started posting so we were open.

That week I pretty much dropped everything to work on the place. Fortunately the timing was good and it happened to be a slow week for me. I did what I could on the back end and posted about 65 times a day so none of the sections here looked empty. Kristine helped and posted a lot. Not as much as me, but quite a lot. I told her my goal was to have every thread count on the home page for each section show at least 10 threads. After the first week we were both able to slow down, though for a long time my profile said I was averaging 50 posts a day.

Naturally it wasn't just the two of us. About 20, maybe 25 members from the .com were here posting like they usually did. Another member, (CBSCreative) created the logo and wrote up the forum rules. Slowly we built up the place. If you're interested here's the very first public thread on the forum. It's my introduction (http://www.small-business-forum.net/introduce-yourself/3-hi-everyone-vangogh-here.html). There were a couple or three admin threads going prior, but this was the first one everyone could see.

Shortly after we opened our doors, I finally did hear from the owners of the .com forum. I think they became aware of us and didn't know what to do. At first they emailed me asking for some help and also asking me not to post links on their forum to this one. They might not have realized this place was me at that time. Before I had a chance to reply (chance is a strong word, since I had no intention of replying by that point) they banned my account on the old forum along with anyone else they thought might be associated with running this site.

it was all kind of humorous. It's also a bit sad since no one over there ever did much to try to run the place again and now it's just a place for spam to gather. That forum is still up if you want to check. I just did myself. The owner (assuming it hasn't sold again) and the one admin he eventually found haven't logged into the site in 4 and 3 years respectively. Another person who used to admin before me and is still listed as an admin was there a week or so ago, but he hasn't posted anything in about 5 years. There are few, if any, real posts there now. It's mostly spammers dropping links. Every so often I've checked the place out of curiosity and recognize most of the names showing up at the bottom of the home page as currently being signed in as spammers I've banned. Is that funny or sad? I'm not really sure. Probably a little of both.

As far as running this place I've been moderating and admining forums for about 6 years now, including the old .com. I made some conscious decisions from the start to be vigilant in getting rid of not only spam, but also the useless one line posts that don't technically break any rules, but offer nothing of value. The goal from day one was to build a high quality community built around some great and knowledgable people who enjoy talking to each other and helping others.

That meant we've grown much slower than we might have. About 65% of all the accounts that have been opened here have either been banned or moved to a group that can't post. That's how much spam forums like this get. Most forums only remove the worst offenders, but they let most of the valueless posts in because they increase page views. I preferred to build a more useful community.

We may not be as large as some other business forums, but I think we're one of the better ones.

I think that's everything. I'm sure I've forgotten a few things. Maybe some of the people who joined initially can share some of what they remember about the early days here and the last days at the old place. If you have any questions, just ask. I'll be happy to answer and some may jog my memory for anything I left out.

[billbenson]

Well that was a novel :)

[Business magnate]

We may not be as large as some other business forums, but I think we're one of the better ones.

...and that's what is most important. :) That is a great story Steve! Thank you! (Posting 65 times a day is a very determined action)

[Business Attorney]

I though van Gogh was an artist, not a novelist. That's a good summary, though. I can't think of anything to add except to point out that the forum was launched in August 2008, so if you check out the "Join Date" of members you can pretty much figure out who moved over from the old forum. A few found of the members from the old forum found us a little later but most who moved over did so right away.

[KristineS]

Oh, I remember the days when the forum was new. Vangogh is right in saying I didn't post as much as him, but I think I racked up a pretty good post count on my own in those first days. I'm always amazed how this forum as grown and what a great resource it has become. I'm also amazed at Vangogh and his spam assassin techniques. Most of the time he stops it all before the rest of us can even get there.

[vangogh]

@Bill - Well I was asked for a story. :)


Posting 65 times a day is a very determined action

Determined is a good way to put it. My thinking was even though we were starting with a small core group I didn't want to lose momentum. Even though the group was active that might have only meant a few new posts on a single thread or two. I wanted us to look more active than that for anyone who might find us. For about a week I was probably here about 8 hours a day posting and working on the backend of the software. After a week I was able to get back my business. I was definitely lucky that the timing worked out.


A few of the members from the old forum found us a little later but most who moved over did so right away.

I think it depended on how often people naturally checked in at the old place. Some people probably never even knew the forum went down for a time. I think you're right that most everyone came over here within a couple of days, but we did pick up some old members later.


I didn't post as much as him, but I think I racked up a pretty good post count on my own in those first days

You absolutely did. You were really good about starting new threads and getting conversations started. And let's not forget, unlike me, you couldn't take the week off.

[Ted]

Cool story Steve. The site was born out of necessity.

Personally I am impressed with the level of conversation here which I find to be very high.

Most of the people contributing are genuinely helpful and knowledgeable. That is a rare find in forums.

Hats off to you for being able to accomplish that and actually keep it that way.

And thank you for deleting useless posts. I am very grateful for that. I encourage every forum I join to do the same. Most won't do it as much as they should.

[vangogh]

Born of necessity is a good way to put it.

I've been moderating and admining forums since shortly after I hopped online and I've see far too many allow complete garbage just to have extra pages for the advertising dollars. I'd rather build something I can feel proud of. I figure if we keep deleting the useless posts and get rid of people who are only interested in self promotion we'll attract more people who just want to help, share stories, and commiserate when necessary.


I though van Gogh was an artist, not a novelist

I can't believe I missed this the last time I was in this thread. He may not have been a novelist, but he was a very good writer. One of my prized possessions is a 3 volume set of his complete letters. It's about 1500 pages worth of letters, mostly to Theo, over the last 10 years of his life. Looks like all the letters all online now (http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/).

Most people assume I chose the vangogh username, because I'm a fan of his paintings. While, I am a fan of the paintings and drawings, it's his letters more than anything that inspire me.

[KristineS]

Oh, the Vangogh letters! That is very cool.

By the way, should you ever get around to watching Dr. Who, there is an episode in Series 5 of the new Dr. Who which features Vangogh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_and_the_Doctor). It's a good episode, although it made me cry a little.

[vangogh]

His letters are great. After I picked up the 3 volume set, I'd read two or three letters each day and then stop. For about a year I felt like I was receiving letters from Van Gogh most every day. They really helped me understand who he was as a person and an artist.

I'll keep an eye out for the Dr. Who episode.

[KristineS]

I tend to like reading collections of people's letters. It's interesting to read what they put in and what they leave out and how they view events. It's really fun to read a biography and the letters at the same time. Then you can read about the events, and then read the letters to see how the person in question interpreted those events. (Yes, I'm a geek. I know. )

[vangogh]

Check the site I linked to earlier. It looks like they have the complete letters online.

[KristineS]

I am going to check that site out. I looked at it briefly, but I need to take a longer look. I don't now much about the original Vangogh beyond the basic stuff that everyone knows. It would be fun to learn more.

[vangogh]

He's quite interesting and a very good writer. I think a good deal of the notion of the romantic artist living in poverty for his or her art comes from his life story.

[Nostromov]

Before they knew it they was 0101011100101001000100100010.
^^ What am I missing, Error: Malformed binary. Your binary code is must be divisible by 8.

@
roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_To_Text.asp01001010011101010111001101110100 00100000011010100110111101101001011011100110010101 10010000101100001000000110001101101000011001010110 00110110101101101001011011100110011100100000011011 11011101010111010000100000011101000110100001100101 00100000011001100110111101110010011101010110110100 10100001110011001010010010111000101110001110100010 1001

[Blessed]

I tend to like reading collections of people's letters. It's interesting to read what they put in and what they leave out and how they view events. It's really fun to read a biography and the letters at the same time. Then you can read about the events, and then read the letters to see how the person in question interpreted those events. (Yes, I'm a geek. I know. )

I agree... and I'm a geek too :) It's ok to be a geek!

[Bobjob]

What a great story. I'd love to hear the .com peoples side of it. :)

I shopped around before I joined this site. It was undoubtedly the best. Your hard work pays off.

[vangogh]

You can see the .com people's side by the state of their site. :)

Thanks for the compliment. We try to make this a helpful place that people want to visit.

[Owen]

We may not be as large as some other business forums, but I think we're one of the better ones.

So true. This is the most active forum I have ever been on, the goal is to hit 1,000+ posts and join the staff, but both of those goals are obviously not anytime soon :)

It's truly a great place. I've spent so much time on it that if you announced you're shutting it down I would freak out and try to give you every dime I have so I wouldn't loose the 300+ posts I've made XD

[vangogh]

In that case I'm sorry to tell you we're shutting down tomorrow. :) Just kidding.

There are other active small business forums, but too many forum owners in general don't take the time to moderate their forums. Spam gets in and starts to dominate and any conversation that's there gets lost in all the noise. We try not to let that happen.

[KristineS]

In that case I'm sorry to tell you we're shutting down tomorrow. :) Just kidding.


What, I go away for a while and you decide to close the place down? :p

Really, you have done an excellent job with this forum.