Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and pleasure by proxy to everyone! This edition of the Editors' Column is a present to all our members and visitors. Unlike many of your other gifts this holiday season, this one takes up no space, has no calories and is free of sweatshop labor, pesticides and hazardous emissions. So without further ado, may we present you with:



A Lightweight Guide to Setting Up Your Very Own Community



Here at Expat Exposed, we've received some interesting messages from people who like the site, but only some aspects of it. We've had requests to reshape ourselves into quite a few things. The editorial response has been to politely (well, close enough) decline and suggest other sites they might enjoy instead. We've refrained from using the "Why don't you go build your own site" line because—well, because we hadn't written this article yet, and it seemed rude. Yes, rude, because there is a perception that unlike having a blog, a proprietary forum is out of the reach of most civilians. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, the technical and financial challenges are the easy part. The real trick is to figure out what you want, and how much you want it.



A forum is frankly very cheap to build. All you need is a domain (as low as US$5) and a decent Web hosting package (I pay US$9/year for my personal site). However, it represents a significant outlay of time, with ongoing commitment on some level. So the first question you have to ask is, do I care that much? Let's say you're disappointed by the fact that Expat Exposed doesn't have a section for discussing the downside of living in New Caledonia. Maybe you're even angry. But is the anger and the disappointment enough to carry you through the hours needed to set up the site? To promote it? To nurture it in the early stage to make sure it doesn't fill up with spam bots, trolls and off-topic discussions? Don't kid yourselves, boards don't get off the ground themselves.



So, after 10 minutes of introspection, you decide it's not just about anger, that you have a genuine passion for warning people about New Caledonia. You decide the project is worth your time, and to call it NewCaledoniAint.com. You pay for the domain, and start looking at forum software.



This part of the research, you should certainly do yourself since the product should be picked based on the needs of your particular forum. However, unless you have specific feature-related reasons to do so, I recommend open-source products. Why? Because it's free. Well-established and popular forumware also have a thriving user community that will meet pretty much all your support needs. Expat Exposed is powered by one such open-source forumware called phpBB. For .NET fans, YetAnotherForum might do the trick. Remember, let your feature needs and the stability of the platform guide the selection.



Have no idea what your feature needs are? Sure you do, you just don't think of them as "feature needs". Take a look around the product site for the forumware and find the list of features. Think of the features in real-life terms. For example, one of the features of YetAnotherForums is the "Print topics". If you want NewCaledoniAint.com to include a contact list for travel emergencies, this feature would be nice to have. Also remember that all software can be modified, and a large number of packaged modifications (mods) are available for most open-source forums. phpBB, in particular, has a very active modding culture associated with it. Look through some of the mods and compile a list of ones that appeal to you. For example. you might decide that the "Cash Mod" for phpBB would be a great addition to your community, to let people send money to each other. Now, look at the demo forums, or find existing forum sites that run on the forumware you are interested in. Ignore the way they look for now. What you're looking for is how the features come together in these forums.



The time has come to pick your forumware. Once you've decided, look over your shopping list of modifications, if any. Make sure there are no overlaps or unnecessary frills. Do you reallyneed that mod that lets users play arcade games?



I am now going to skate over many hours of work with one sentence: Install and configure the forumware according to instructions. Believe me, as long as you read the instructions thoroughly, ask the questions before you get in trouble and are methodical, you will be able to do it. You don't need development experience. Just make sure to keep regular backups, and ask for help on support forums only after you've made a good-faith effort to find the answer yourself. Knowledgeable people usually don't want to help someone who won't help themselves.



At this point, you should have a working forum. You'll be able to make minimal adjustments to the look and feel, and there are a plenty of successful forum sites out there that didn't bother to come up with its own look, or even a halfway decent logo. If you have any Web design experience, you can go in and rewrite all the templates as I did for Expat Exposed. If you don't, you're still doing just fine with an out-of-the-box look.



Now, the real work begins. No matter how many or how few members you manage to attract, never forget that you decided to set up a forum, not a blog. That means you agreed to give up a certain amount of control. Many of your well-laid plans are going to go out the window, and you do have to go with the flow. If you have rules or restrictions, disclose it loud, clear and often. Schedule a regular reality check to make sure the board is serving the people you want to serve, and is needing less and less rule enforcement and interventions from you. And above all, communicate. Keep the members in loop, and work with them. Your ultimate goal is to establish a culture for the board that is in line with your mission and rules, to put the site, as it were, on rails. The sooner that happens, the sooner you can sit back and enjoy what you've started.



Takeaway: You can do it, and without that much effort. Go and try, and Happy Holidays.

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Fear not, my next branding campaign will make everything all right.

{Sent in by e-mail, thread placement chosen by moderator.
Moderator: We encourage people to publish their less-than-satisfactory parts of their migration experience—there is no shame in it, and it could save a lot of others serious grief.}

Hi Team,

I came to know of your site on my last visit to NZ in December 2007, when you were on the news-tv.
I joined immediately, and must congratulate you for a fantastic job you doing.
I wish we in Australia had a similar site.

The same things that go on in NZ are on a gigantic scale Downunder.

Thanks
Regards

K.

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All PMs and e-mails sent to the Mail Bag will be reviewed for publication.



Mail us at: expat.exposed [at] gmail.com

They have an e-mail address here if you want to report a case:
www.smh.com.au/news/nati...188067034448.html

Any expat-exposed type sites for any country at all would be a good idea so that potential migrants can weigh the risks of leaving their familiar cultures against the possibility of not thriving in their new homes.

...

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A moment of Pure Gratitude:
http://www.expatexposed.com...;highlight=#24481