I think you first have to define the scope of and expectations for the community manager or forum manager's role.

Generally speaking, though, here are a few things I think are important. This is by no means a comprehensive list. And I hope I'm answering the question in the way you're looking for.

• They should genuinely care about the people who are in the community or forum. In time, they should get to know general patterns of behavior, who the personalities are, and who are the outstanding participants.

• They should actively participate in discussions and answer questions, both as an enthusiast and as listmom/gardener/caretaker.

• They should be more concerned about the health of the community than their reputation within it.

• Hopefully they'll have a combination of broad subject knowledge and specific expertise to draw on. Depending on what your community or forum is about and what the manager's role is, this may be more or less important.

  (Some groups require designated leaders have a lot of social/professional credentials in order to gain acceptance, let alone garner respect. Others don't, so long as they can demonstrate they're valuable members of the tribe. Still other groups don't care, so long as management doesn't interfere with what the active, valued members are doing.)

Chrys Wu

395

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