Why Compete when Inspiration is more beneficial?

[Shawn Gossman]

In the old days of discussion forums, many of us were competitive - some even aggressively competitive.

The Admin Zone would completely block my admin forum's domain name. It was known as one of the most competitive admin forums online. But they weren't the only ones who did that. Many forums of many niches did it. Hell, I even did it on a few of my previous forums.

But communities today... I think that sort of simple-minded thought process does more damage than good.

Instead of thinking about things competitively, why not be inspired by what your competition has done? Inspiration allows people to change the world. If your rival inspires you with something, you might create the next big thing because of it.

What do you all think about this notion? I'm highly interested in your comments!

 

[Tracy]

Many forums of many niches did it.

There are some out there that still do it. Cloudy Nights is a classic case in my niche.

Guess I have a little different attitude about it though (and I'm an "old fart" that should be set in their ways).

Just 2 examples out of my Link Directory at my site.

If your rival inspires you with something, you might create the next big thing because of it.

For me.. it's not so much rivalry. I prefer to get good content out to as many as I can. Can that be found elsewhere at times and not on my site.. yep, and that's why I don't mind having links to other sites - it's all about the learning.
The only person of concern for participation on my astro site is me... if others want to jump in and play in that sandbox, that's fine.. but if they simply want to visit, consume (and use) content that I've created there, then that's great also.

I did catch a site trying to programmatically scrape a few of my articles... but that was easily resolved using CloudFlare and blocking the IP's of the scrapers he was using. It was a game of "whack-a-mole" for a bit.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I did catch a site trying to programmatically scrape a few of my articles... but that was easily resolved using CloudFlare and blocking the IP's of the scrapers he was using. It was a game of "whack-a-mole" for a bit.

That's when "competition" becomes a problem, IMO.

But I'm sure it was a bot-powered site to begin with, right?

 

[Tracy]

But I'm sure it was a bot-powered site to begin with, right?

I'm sure there was a bot underlying to pull the data... but it was a valid site that appeared to have some normal user generated content on it.

 

[ClicketyKat]

When Malcolm and I created a new site earlier this year, we stayed in touch with Admins from the other site where we were both on staff. We all ended up agreeing that it would be best if sites like ours would cooperate in some things and help to work together whenever we can. Now that we're back on that site and ours has merged, we still see the value in helping sites like ours and we did an event with another Admin site that offered services as well. We hope to continue to work together with others instead of being hostile. Members probably prefer no drama anyway.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

When Malcolm and I created a new site earlier this year, we stayed in touch with Admins from the other site where we were both on staff. We all ended up agreeing that it would be best if sites like ours would cooperate in some things and help to work together whenever we can. Now that we're back on that site and ours has merged, we still see the value in helping sites like ours and we did an event with another Admin site that offered services as well. We hope to continue to work together with others instead of being hostile. Members probably prefer no drama anyway.

I think it's a good idea when "rival" sites work together and collaborate.

In the old days, forums were bad about this, and I think that very issue resulted in forums getting less popular.

But look at social media...

Social media influencers will collaborate with other influencers who share the same industry, and both will usually flourish in viral efforts.

If you are like the old aggressive competition, you'll probably fail at your forum.