Ninety-nine percent of people who have started online communities jumped right in with both feet and they use existing programs or networks to get started. Many have a degree of success, at least for a while, but to be truly successful you need to create your community from the floor up with careful planning and preparation. This book written by former homeschooler and founder of the IFroggy network seems to be created for his competition.
As a person who runs women’s networking group and also writes for a families website, among other online endeavors, this book has taught me enough to breathe new life into my work. I recommend it to anyone who is running an online forum, who has or works for a website with forums, or who wants to build their own business around online forums.
As a homeschooling parent, while I was intrigued by the book, I was even more interested in the story behind the book. Here is my interview with a Patrick O’Keefe, founder and owner or iFroggy Network, Writer of Managing Online Forums, and former homeschooling.
Q: How did you get started managing websites and at what age?
I guess you could say that I launched my first “website” when I was around 11 or so. I say “website” with quotation marks because it wasn’t much. A one-page Miami Dolphins fan site with an aqua background, black text and bright orange links on the free Angelfire hosting service, back in the mid 90s. I started “professionally” developing websites in 1998 and registered my first domain name on January 1, 2000 and it picked up from there.
The reason that I started doing it was just being a user of the web, seeing that you could create your own site, and thinking that would be cool, I guess. I learned by doing. It was very rough starting out, but we all have to begin somewhere.
Q: What made you decide to write the book Managing Online Forums?
Managing online forums and communities is something that I am very passionate about. It’s something that I’ve been doing since 2000 and, in that time, I have picked up a great deal of knowledge and experience. At the same time, I am also a writer, having written content, news pieces and editorials online for many years. So, I really put two and two together and decided to share my knowledge and my experience in book form.
Q: How did homeschooling enable you to become successful at such a young age?
It afforded me the time to pursue things that interested me, like games, sports, investing, computers, technology and business. If I hadn’t been homeschooled, I’m not sure that I’d have written this book because I might not have had the time to actually experiment with the internet, start my own business, launch my own websites and manage them. Homeschooling allowed me to be more efficient time-wise, which gave me more time to do other things, not just “business” (which, to me, was and is fun) but also more traditional fun things, in addition to spending time with my family.
I have nothing against public school, but you lose so much of your life – strictly on a time basis. You’re in transit, in line, shuffling from here to there and working with protocols that, while they may have reason, slow you down as an individual. On top of that, you have homework. It’s tough.
Q: What did you do academically after homeschooling?
I was homeschooled through high school and received a diploma from a “real” high school that accredits homeschoolers. I had thought about going to college, mainly for athletics, but in the end, I decided to delve full time into my business. So, academically, I haven’t done much! But, professionally, I’ve done a lot, and that’s what I enjoy.
Patrick O’Keefe is the founder and owner of iFroggy Network – http://www.ifroggy.com and Author of Managing Online Forums – http://www.managingonlineforums.com
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