What are some of the things you hate to see the most on a forum. Please do not say adds: we all know everyone hates them, so there is no need to list it 😉
One of mine is not being able to see the boards as a guest. i am OK with not seeing some things such as the Shop/Arcade sections, but the main sections i would like to be able to see, other wise I will not join.
Another thing is see a lot of forums with 0 posts in them, i think the admin should at least try to get a little bit of posts on their board before promoting boards/forums/websites/other promoting ways.
Yeah, overstaffed forums can be a turnoff to me as well.
Another one I just thought of is a forum where their admin isn't even active. I don't see how a forum can be successful if the admin isn't active to listen to the members 😛
Actually i am ok with a bad style (unless it hurts my eyes) as, to me, the content and members are all that matter. Stuck up admins who don't pay attention to the members suggestions or problems are a MAJOR turnoff to me as well
Offer staffing doesnt bother me as long as the staff are down to earth.
Otherwise, Ive been on forums before where the staff are just itching to punish a rule breaker. Often times the staff will gang up on the one rule breaker.
My turn offs are too many forums (if the index goes on forever).. Im the kinda person who likes to check out the new posts in all new forums. If there is too many forums I will get overwhelmed. I'd say if a board has over 40 forums (including sub forums) then thats a bit overwhelming.
You of my pet hates is when the announcement forum is at the bottom or near the bottom. It should be at the top of the forum and able to enter it straight away seeing as it's called announcements where all the updates for the website can be found 😉 It's called announcements for a reason I guess 😉
- Too many forums on the index
- Forums with 0 posts
- Bad spelling/grammar, particularly from staff members
- Trolls
- Idiots
- Not allowing advertising, not even in signatures
- Hiding the entire forum to guests
- Having to pay real money for stuff (eg: "Something Awful")
- Crappy layout and theme
- Crappy images
- Really strict staff
- Really slack staff
Yeah especially considering how many great forums are free. In fact, just about every forum i have ever seen is free to join though they may have special perks you have to pay for.
Non-viewable before I join=won't join unless something's really in it for me.
But what I really hate is a forum whose staff are asleep on the job. Who never address your questions or concerns, etc.
And ANY nasty forums. If rudeness is allowed, I am out.
- I can't stand ZetaBoards and I will NEVER join one.
- Forums without quick reply lose my respect
- Dick admins turn me off
- If I can't see a board, or your skin looks like crap, I won't join or even post.
I don't see what the big deal is with administrators without thousands of posts. Administrators have more to do with backstage major policy decisions than day to day activity and moderation.
What? I'm the third largest poster on my forum. Why is that? Because I've got a hell of a lot more to do than posting random crap in the spam forum. On top of being active on the forum, I have to deal with other general management including promotion.
My main global moderator is the top poster, because her job is dealing with the members. Geez.
