What does People look in a Forum?

[jr_sci 621]

I just launched my own forum and I have been wondering, what people actually looks in forums? Number of posts, number of active members, or Forum Template?

 

What are your opinion on this? Does Forum owners needs to struggle a lot to bring in traffic to their forums?

[Fabio Cuffaro 5,288]

The funny thing with forums is that some catch on and some don't. Obviously there are some people that are talented in making forums work and they have made a good living from building forums.

 

When starting off, the most important thing is to choose a main theme for the forum and ideally something that you're passionate about. Your passion about the topic will help drive the forum.

[jr_sci 621]

Well, at the beginning, I am facing one big difficulty. People tend to visit my site. But when they see there are hardly any posts, they don't sign up. Thus, this is a major drawback for my forum. I do think that at first I should make some usernames of my own and start posting with those user-names so that it seems that some members have signed up for my forum. What say?

[hmds2007 10]

If you have a budget then you can hire some forum posters for your forum to give it a start. One more thing I suggest is that you should open some contests in your forum. As for example, "The first 10 people to get 100 post mark gets a free domain name". etc etc.

[ultimatehandyma 1,439]

Starting a forum is never easy. My main site has almost 200,000 forum posts and it has taken a few years to reach that amount of posts.

 

I'm also a member on lots of forums myself and certain things attract me to forums, one of which is other members. If I go to a forum and I like the members I go back, if I don't like a lot of the members I don't go back

 

I also don't like forums that dish out infractions etc. for absolutely stupid things like asking questions.

[jr_sci 621]

Yes, you are right. There should be some liberty in forums. I have seen a lot of forums where we I was banned after posting just 3 posts. I Pm'd the moderator and asked him the reason. He replied me back, 'Your posts are stupid'. Is this an answer? From that time I never ever looked back at that forum again.

[ultimatehandyma 1,439]

I used to be a member of a sign making forum and the owner sent me an email asking me to change my username as it was too long and was throwing the forum out of sync :confused:

 

It is the same username that I have in several forums including my own and it used the same forum software as my forum, I knew he was talking b0llox.

 

I just replied to the email and told him to delete my account as I would not be logging back in.

 

Then I was a member of a business forum called platinax or something. The owner of that forum had made a post and had linked to something and I replied and linked to something else, which was better. He deleted my post :mad:

 

Needless to say that I did not go back their either.

 

Another forum that I joined years ago called webuser, which also publishes a magazine over here ( which I have been published in a few times ) also has a forum, the problem is that you are allowed one signature link, so I link to my site, which I have done since day one and now one of the mods see's fit to remove my signature and so I don't go back there either

[jr_sci 621]

This sort of things really irritates members. Specially when members come to those forums with a feeling of trust that they shall be treated with respect. I used to post in some bodybuilding forums and there, if I post signature links, then most of them thinks that I am simply promoting my signature link. So, they used to remove my Signature Links.

 

I never ever visited those irritating forums anymore.

[kms1167 6]

All forums will take time to grow and develop but as long as the subject matter is something that you are passionate about you should be able to stick with it. I think a huge point in the success of a community is personalization. The forum needs to be unique in its look but also in its feel. Developing a sort of community culture helps as well but it takes time and happens naturally as the forum progresses.

[juanjosenberg 1]

Forums bring people together. With lots of information and discussion being exchanged in forums, visitors will return again to see replies to their posts, read others posts and basically to see if anything has changed. This is definitely what the webmaster would want. Just as new members join your forum your traffic will gradually grow week after week. If you post regularly and actively discuss different unique topics with your forum members then gradually you'll get to know them. And they will get an idea about you also. This might not happen immediately after you start a forum. It might take a some time before everything fells in the right place...

[Ross 0]

When ever I come across a Forum ill probabley only stick around if... The site is clean no spam etc, the design fits and is not tacky or slow loading, But the main reason to scare me of would be inactivity or un-populated Forums.

 

Hope That Helps.

 

Ross.

[webby 0]

When ever I come across a Forum ill probabley only stick around if... The site is clean no spam etc, the design fits and is not tacky or slow loading, But the main reason to scare me of would be inactivity or un-populated Forums.

 

Hope That Helps.

 

Ross.

 

You are absolutely right, theres gotta be new stuff coming in and new interesting topics or there is not any reason to come back. Also sifting through spam to find what you are looking for is never fun and I usually run when I see forums full of junk too.

[karileighk 364]

Yes, you are right. There should be some liberty in forums. I have seen a lot of forums where we I was banned after posting just 3 posts. I Pm'd the moderator and asked him the reason. He replied me back, 'Your posts are stupid'. Is this an answer? From that time I never ever looked back at that forum again.

 

Wow, I would be highly offended and I would report the moderator that said that. I think that is just wrong and one way to bring a website down is when you go there and a moderator says something like that to you. Sorry you had to go through that.

[neovision 3]

I think the main things are: activity and moderation. The forum should have quite good active community with regular updates and unique and interesting threads. Also the forum should be moderated to keep off spam

[karileighk 364]

I think the main things are: activity and moderation. The forum should have quite good active community with regular updates and unique and interesting threads. Also the forum should be moderated to keep off spam

 

Moderation is very important but only if the moderators also keep it light, clean and fun without abusing their power. To much moderation is defiantly a kill on some sites. I have seen a few websites where mods just take control and become power hungry. That is not good when it happens but if they are there for activity and blocking spam then yeah it would help the site out a lot.

[neovision 3]

I agree with you karileighk...I do not mean that kind of extreme moderation. I mean moderate moderation...like just keeping of spam etc

[karileighk 364]

I agree with you karileighk...I do not mean that kind of extreme moderation. I mean moderate moderation...like just keeping of spam etc

 

You nailed it with the words I was trying to come up with and that is extreme moderation. Mods should be used only to answer tickets, take care of spam, talk on the boards in a friendly manner etc.

[Louzard 0]

for me on the forums is essential in its communication of people ... Everything else is secondary

[megaman power 0]

Forums need time. Unlike other site types getting a community going needs time and things often don't happen overnight. To begin with it always helps if you're in a niche as general forums are much harder to get going but where you start it's a good idea to get either forum posters or people you know to help you with building the initial community.

 

I've got like 4-5 forums and all average around 50 members on them a day (plus another 100+ normal visitors). They weren't easy to get started and I found that forum design had less to do with it than just pure activity.

[webgeek 0]

I had a forum few years ago. The way I promoted it initially was 1. yahoo search marketing, 2. visited related forums and got the word out. 3. seo. This did bring in few sign up and active members.

[DjKrypto 8]

People look for great content, something that will help them learn and be infomed if its focused on a particular topic.

They also look for a good number of active users, posts etc. They also like forums that are free from spam.

[coolman 448]

The funny thing with forums is that some catch on and some don't. Obviously there are some people that are talented in making forums work and they have made a good living from building forums.

 

When starting off, the most important thing is to choose a main theme for the forum and ideally something that you're passionate about. Your passion about the topic will help drive the forum.

Well said, it is the passion for the topic that drives the forum owner to building a nice forum. On the one hand he would have the members to support his cause and on the other hand he would have his team standing united to build the forum.