An Idea for The Business and Marketing Forum

It is true that there are recurring themes in the B+M forum, more so than elsewhere. Either an FAQ/Intro page that is always at the top, some hot button issues represented by actual buttons at the top of the thread list, or maybe a trending keyword cloud like you see on some websites

I have tried writing an FAQ for the B+M Forum, but the Answers part is the challenge, since frequently asked questions are frequently answered by everyone!

Mike Cohen

Sounds like we need a B&M FAQ as well as an easy way for people such as yourselves to help tag threads that need to be in the FAQ.

I think this suggestion can also be incorporated into all the forums.

At the top of each post and thread there's a little TAG link now. We may move this link around or change it in the future but it should be a good starting tool for marking discussions that should be in the Forum's FAQ page.

Abraham

On second thought perhaps the solution is not that simple because we would end up with a whole lot of great posts that still need to be sorted by topic. (Or Question) if you wish.

My original thought of having the most asked questions (10 or 15?)in a B and M FAQ then the best links placed below them still makes sense to me.

You might have the moderators of this forum suggest what the questions to be highlighted are as they have the most involvement. It is also to their benefit so they don't then really need to answer the same questions over and over again.

Then the entire group can suggest threads they have seen which best answer these common questions..............Dan

You know Mike I think that the simplest way is just to have a link at the top of the page that says "The Business and Marketing Archives".....Peerless answers to the most important questions

Then that link brings you to a page where the only the 10 or 15 most important questions are listed. I find that with most Faq's they grow so large you might just as well start working in the search engine (which you wont)

Each question has a link to a page where the most relevant threads are listed. From a technical standpoint I don't know if there is a problem if people start adding comments to old threads that have been dormant for awhile but it would seem to be the best way to keep working on the ideas therein.

Of course you would need a moderator to separate the wheat from the chaff in each thread but that would be all.

Before I stop spouting here are 2 thoughts. Unlike other forums where changing technology would force a continuous update of the Important Questions B and M is mostly about concepts and approaches.
I can see some of these answer threads becoming well-known as THE place to go for meaningful thought about the business as a whole.

Plus, I have been all over the web and have not found a place where people are continually working on the same concepts and refining their input. I think this could be an exciting thing that won't just get pushed down the page and out of sight.

Oh and by the way. I was only half-kidding when I said that perhaps a company which deals in storage (archiving) should be approached to be a main sponsor here.

Thanks Mike and are you listening Abraham?

Congrats on the FAQ feature - it is a great addition - and you made it easy to add threads to the FAQ

Mike Cohen

Fantastic Abraham. Would you like me to suggest a list of the questions we all see on a regular business? Then we can find links to place undewr the heading.

Congrats, Thanks and I'm here to help

Dan

Actually Abraham, after thinking for few minutes, this really isn't what I had in mind. You see even though it has only been up for a few hours the FAQ in B and M is starting to be populated by posts which don't hasve the wide ranging signifigance that would make this a valuable resourc......which you don't need to sift through in order to get the info you need. It is my guess that within a few days it will be large and unmanageable.

I guess what I am volunteering to do is become the moderator for the FAQ in B and M to try and create a small group of headings (questions) and only place the very best answers there. I don't need any access to the forum code as I could send items to you to add as they come to me.

In another matter a post I printed out by Bob Zelin from Jan 16-2010 at 6:36:43 pm is what I consider to be the ultimate answer to how you get into business and stay there. {I'm not even sure we need to save the entire thread just this post.)

I would love to have this among a small selection of threads under this question in the faq but I can't seem to find the post. I used to be able to click on a leaders picture and get a list of all of their posts but can't seem to find that feature now. Maybe I just missed something.

At any rate I do very much appreciate the effort you have put into this and hope that everything works out fine.

Regards;

Dan