UtterAccess, the web 2.0 social learning platform for Access developers

Long before social web 2.0 applications were all the rage, a small traffic site, UtterAccess (UA), became a foundation for a community of Access users sharing ideas and building friendships. For its 10,000s of active members, UA develops careers, builds friendships, and helps them run their businesses more efficiently. In the last five years alone, UA has accumulated 555M+ hits, 120,000 members, and 1.4M posts. Clearly, UA offers something of value that drawn so many users to the community.

A few months ago, I asked the VIP group why they love UtterAccess. The response was both overwhelming and fascinating. Here is an executive summary of responses.

1. Community of friendship. For many regulars, UA is a home and community where people become friends and enjoy each other’s company. As part of participating in the community, members share personal information, such as hobbies and unique interests that enables new posters to quickly connect and feel at-ease to contribute. UA members develop respect and camaraderie that goes beyond technical garb. The net effect for many is a home away from home. As one member put it:

   “When I need help myself, I know who to ask. Before UA, I never had that. When I stumbled on UA, I was starved for communication with other technical people as I moved to a remote part of the country. Well, I found it and much more.”

2. Respectful, friendly atmosphere. Civility, respectfulness and friendliness are valued cultural elements of UA. The forum encourages new members to participate, at whatever level, without fear of ridicule or humiliation. New posters tell me they are not intimidated by members who are in it for the self-aggrandizement because at Utter Access, it doesn't happen. When corrections to posts are made, there is no implicit superiority/inferiority tone in the posts. Personal attacks, rivalry, and animosity are not permitted—moderators act swiftly to keep the site clean of trolls and flame wars. Inappropriate and noise content is removed from the site most of the time in seconds. The real champions of the site are the proactive, hard work, and dedicated volunteer moderators. As one person put it, “UA is one of the few remaining oasis of civility on the net.”
3. Personal Achievement. Members are recognized for dedication to the community through public accolades and recognition for eclipsing different milestones, such as invited to be a VIP, MVP, surpass 5K, 10K, etc. This cultivates a dedicated group of people who want to see the community thrive. A highlight for members is reading the front page threads that congratulate members for accomplishments.
4. Quality answers. UA has quickly become the training ground for Microsoft Access MVPs. The number of MVP awards given to UA is a testament to the technical expertise cultivated on the site. UA members have an unwavering commitment to quality—you'd be hard pressed to post a question that didn’t receive a useful response. Members have a tangible sense of pride to ensure problems are resolved. The range of expertise is incredible -- from table design, queries, forms code, reports, UI design, to Excel.
5. Learning environment. New users tend to get more than they expect. Answers often cover more detail than questions require. Members dig into the "why" and not just the "how" so that the new-comers master concepts. One member talked about how thankful he was for how much he learned at UA. The member says he solves simple problems, freeing up time for the more expert members to dive into the complex problems. For him, it is a “token repayment for all that this site and its cadre of helpers have done for me.”
6. Teaching to fish. Many posters come to UA looking for a quick band-aid to solve their database problem. What they typically get is coaxing and cajoling towards proper normalization. Those who truly want to learn come to understand and appreciate the value of building on a solid foundation. Members won’t rewrite applications but thoughtfully guide people towards sound development practices and techniques.
7. Write better code. UA isn’t just experts helping new users—advanced developers share, gauge, critique, and tweak solutions to common problems. Many developers become creatures of habit using archaic methods because they worked. UA members will offer better ways and point out unnecessary steps. Through regular participation, members naturally organize their code so they can find it faster. One member wrote about saving procedures in text files and using Windows Search to find solutions quickly. As she learned better ways, the text files are updated. “Through the knowledge shared in the UA community, I have dramatically improved my applications by creating sharper user interfaces and more efficient code. For an experienced developer, UA is a catalyst for ideas.” You would be hard pressed to find a more expert group of Access developers on the Internet willing to be sounding boards for your hardest problems.
8. Fast answers to hard problems. The speed of response time to questions is amazing—sometimes questions get 3-4 replies that outline different approaches. There is a heartfelt commitment and patience to resolve a post, regardless of problem complexity. An added benefit is that the large international membership means responses come 24x7 (even on U.S. banking holidays ?). One member states, “This morning I post a question around 8 am EST on a holiday. I didn't really expect a response for at least several hours. However, a member in England replied almost immediately and put me on track to a workable solution within minutes.”
9. Page response and usability. Gord (the owner of UA and Access MVP) has done whatever is needed to keep page response time blazing fast. There is an immense amount of work that goes into maintaining the back-end of the forum with its robust search capabilities that surfaces years of advice and solutions to everyone. The search box works great for quick searches, while Advance Search provides all the knobs to focus search results. In addition, there are forums for FAQs, Tutorials, and Archives, refined Auto Responders templates, including what to say and a list of links for normalization if the user needs to study, responses for students wanting others to complete their assignments, response to private email, etc. Other usability features--thread favorites, email notifications of responses to threads, personal messages (keeps your email box clean), and attachments--all facilitate the social and collaborative nature of the communication.
10. It’s FREE. You can’t get any cheaper than ad-funded free, and all it takes is a few minutes. Members’ personal information is kept entirely confidential.

Thanks Gord and Sylvie, for all the time and resources you’ve dedicated to keeping the UA community flourishing and vibrant. The community has provided me an important link to customers, and enlightened me to the broad range of how Microsoft Access is being used – from tracking frat house dates to scalable enterprise apps. Above all, when asked, “Why UtterAccess?” I say, because I’ve seen people time-after-time use this community to grow their professional careers and enrich the lives of others. This is the essence of a successful social learning community.