How do you define success on a not-for-profit website or forum?
Easy question, right? Well, I urge you to really think about it. If you have a website or forum that does not generate revenue (ie: a discussion forum, a roleplay, a fan site, etc), what are your parameters for success?
Long ago, I used to think it was about the numbers. We play in an internet culture that more often than not pushes “more.” And, to an extent, so does all of society. But after years of forums and RPs, I realized that the drive for higher numbers in terms of member count and posts wasn’t really a solid definition of success. You reach 10 members—great, but now you want 100. You reach 100, but you’re not fully satisfied, and you want 500 or 1,000.
So many times I have seen administrators make or encourage crappy posts in order to make their sites look “full.” They stress about advertising their boards and they don’t take the time to really develop what they have around them. But what is the point of getting 10 new members if the 10 members you currently have aren’t satisfied?
Then I realized that I might not have a trillion members, but I’m having fun. My members are having fun. I give them the power to create characters in a fantasy world they enjoy. I thrive on building the site, adding features, figuring out what people enjoy and creating site-wide plots. People who are not my members compliment me on my site and I’ve been told that they when they think of the book/movie after which my site is based, they automatically think about my site. That, to me, makes me consider my site a success.
To sum, I suppose, I define success by happiness. My happiness and my members’ happiness.
Not to say that I don’t like the numbers, either. 😛 I’m darn proud of three years and 70,000 posts. I just don’t use them to define my success.
Easy question, right? Well, I urge you to really think about it. If you have a website or forum that does not generate revenue (ie: a discussion forum, a roleplay, a fan site, etc), what are your parameters for success?
Long ago, I used to think it was about the numbers. We play in an internet culture that more often than not pushes “more.” And, to an extent, so does all of society. But after years of forums and RPs, I realized that the drive for higher numbers in terms of member count and posts wasn’t really a solid definition of success. You reach 10 members—great, but now you want 100. You reach 100, but you’re not fully satisfied, and you want 500 or 1,000.
So many times I have seen administrators make or encourage crappy posts in order to make their sites look “full.” They stress about advertising their boards and they don’t take the time to really develop what they have around them. But what is the point of getting 10 new members if the 10 members you currently have aren’t satisfied?
Then I realized that I might not have a trillion members, but I’m having fun. My members are having fun. I give them the power to create characters in a fantasy world they enjoy. I thrive on building the site, adding features, figuring out what people enjoy and creating site-wide plots. People who are not my members compliment me on my site and I’ve been told that they when they think of the book/movie after which my site is based, they automatically think about my site. That, to me, makes me consider my site a success.
To sum, I suppose, I define success by happiness. My happiness and my members’ happiness.
Not to say that I don’t like the numbers, either. 😛 I’m darn proud of three years and 70,000 posts. I just don’t use them to define my success.
