I’m a big advocate of collaboration, groups of people working together to share information. There are lots of ways to collaborate, wikis, forums, listservs, etc.
When I search Google for an answer to a problem, very frequently I’ll end up finding it on an archived forum. Another forum I have recommended for really learning the ins and outs of travel is a website called FlyerTalk, http://www.flyertalk.com.
My only problem with forums is you have to remember to check them regularly for updated information. I have to be honest; I rarely get to FlyerTalk more than once a month anymore, despite its usefulness. I also have found RSS feeds for forums either non-existent or generate hundreds of articles a day.
I have a friend that started a forum based community for retailers that had very little activity. When she switched it to a listserv, participation jumped.
What is a listserv? It’s a way to rebroadcast emails to a group. People subscribe to the listserv via the web or by sending a special email to the server. Then when anyone sends an email to the listserv email address it is rebroadcast to the group. Any replies to that message are also rebroadcast to the group (usually, it is possible for the list owner to configure the server to make replies only go to the original sender).
When you subscribe you can select to receive emails as they are sent, or get a daily or weekly digest of emails. I recommend getting individual emails, they are easier to scan for interesting topics and to skip over topics that aren’t of interest to you. Since active listservs can generate upwards of a hundred messages a day, I recommend you set up an Outlook filter to route your listserv emails to a special folder to review at your leisure.
Setting up a listserv is easy and usually free. Google groups (http://groups.google.com/) and Yahoo! groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/) both provide free listserv services, supported by small ads at the end of the rebroadcast messages. Most commercial web hosts also include the Mailman listserv, allowing you to create a listserv with your domain in the email. Check your CPANEL.
I have gotten a lot of great information from listservs over the years. I can recommend them as a great way to get a group sharing ideas. As with all collaboration you need to keep encouraging participation for them to really be effective.
