Site Management What are mistakes that made you smarter?

[joelr]

In building communities, I’ve realized that working smart doesn’t just happen—it’s earned. You have to put in the hours, make the mistakes, and stumble through the challenges before the most efficient solutions reveal themselves. It’s frustrating, but every misstep teaches you something valuable.

For example, I’ve tried approaches that completely flopped, like overloading forums with features that no one used or focusing too much on quantity over quality. It stung, but those lessons shaped how I build now.

How do you balance the “trial and error” phase with staying motivated to keep learning? What’s a mistake you’ve made that turned into a breakthrough?

 

[Baw$e]

I look at everything as a learning experience. I don't really consider them mistakes.

 

[Shortie]

I always say that you learn something new every day and I still live by that even to this day. I have made many mistakes over the years to adding features that no one used, even adding forums and overloading the forum with too many sections that left my community overwhelmed.

Over the years I have learned so much and now I put most into practice working on forums for others and myself.