Thread

Can anyone recommend books or websites about managing online communities, forum management etc?

I’d like to recommend some resources to a client.

http://www.sitepoint.com/subcat/site-planning
Always nice articles even for non-techies. Not all apply but it is a good and free start.

Not much there I’m afraid.  I need advice on setting up forum topics for a bulletin board.  This is the second person I’ve seen struggle with this. I’ve found a Masters program, but I was thinking more along the lines of a paperback.

Have you tried searching Online Community at Amazon. It brings up quite a list.
The biggest advice I can give is knowing when to pull the plug on a thread or even member if need be, if there is continual jabs insulting what you consider the entire community, and those folks not listening to the reasoning of other community members.
Speaking from experience, I had a sport related site, and somebody got on just to show their hatred for the sport, mainly their neighborhood park had had a disc golf course put in, that was their beef, there was no consoling them, I wound up having to shut down the community to new topics from guests, or even posting by guests, at least for a while to weather the storm.

You should check out the following two sites:

The Admin Zone

Admin Fusion

Good leads.  Thanks!

I run a number of forums using EE and manage 200,000+ posts and a lot of users - have done it for years. Would be glad to offer some hints and tips…...

I also have a friend who consults in the field, and would suggest his (two) books and his web site:
http://socialchemy.com/

Since he was one of the main forces behind The Well (the first real online community), he definitely knows his stuff.