Can being negative/weird/unusual drive members away?

[Luigi1632]

Like, say you are a member on a forum and you advertise your own forum in your signature and yet.. you act like a total ***hole or.. say you are rather "quirky"..

Or maybe you like to post topics about serious,though controversial issues.

Do we all have to be "robotic" shells of ourselves that falsely display happiness in order to attract potential members?
Can't we just be our unique selves?

I posted a topic on whether if human socialization is required or optional probably.. about a month ago on this forum and I'm not sure if that drove some potential members away.

 

[Gimgak]

Dunno I like being an ***hole on here at times but haven't run any sites in a while so cannot test your thesis.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

It depends on the types of members you want to attract.

Acting like a jerk is almost always a turnoff to most members. However, acting quirky or unusual might be okay depending on the type of members you want. If you want people who aren't afraid to be silly and different, then acting quirky is probably perfectly okay.

Basically, what I'm saying is that you shouldn't try to change yourself. If people are going to avoid joining your forum because you act differently from the crowd, then do you really want them on your forum?

 

[Ghost]

I was on a forum full of jerks since 2005 (so for 7 years). And we were all just ***holes to each other all the time. However, I recently wrote a random string of letters, symbols and numbers and copied and pasted it into the change password fields. And I don't have access to the emails lol. That way even if I wanted to go back to the site I won't.

 

[Real]

If you want to attract members, try being as objective as you can. It is hard but you want to seem fair