Forums- What turns you away?

[Brack]

When looking at various forums is there anything which turns you away from them?

By this I want you to look beyond the subject and colour scheme used.

For me it would have to be the over use of text speak and the amount of swearing which is used.

 

[Bejay]

I escape forums with bad staffing. I've noticed this on a couple of Joomla boards & a couple advertised here.

 

[Brack]

By bad staffing do you mean ones with hardly any staff or where the staff don't pull their weight?

 

[USHost247]

I will turn away from a forum if the theme is just horrible and slopped together.

 

[Justin]

I dont like dark themes, a thrown together look, plain theme, a bizzilion forums, the admin is the only posting

 

[Brack]

I will turn away from a forum if the theme is just horrible and slopped together.

have you ever tried to look beyond the theme/ colour scheme?

I must admit some of the smf themes leave a lot to be desired.

 

[Bejay]

By bad staffing do you mean ones with hardly any staff or where the staff don't pull their weight?

The ones that have really disgusting attitudes mostly.

 

[Justin]

actually no, that is what should be the main focus :\

 

[Jaosals]

I'm most annoyed by forums that require you to register in order to view anything. I'm sorry, but unless I know what's on there to begin with, I'm not going to chance joining a forum I don't know the exact contents of.

Also, forums with excessive slang or swearing, especially on the index page where any random guest can view them. Forums where the posts seem to be made by generally rude users who are allowed to get away with it by the staff. (although some slang and swearing on certain-themed forums I won't mind too much).

Any forum that seems to be bombarded by spammers or spambots. Forums that have more members than posts (there are a couple of examples that aren't support sites exactly...). Finally, forums that have disorganized subforums and categories.

 

[Brack]

With my forum I added a mod which although guests can see the topic boards they are unable to read the actual posts.

 

[fantanoice]

- Naturally if I don't like the subject I won't contribute well
- Poor grammar in the forum descriptions
- Stupid members
- Members who post with poor grammar
- Not allowing links/advertising in signatures
- Forums with way too many members for their post count
- Bad layout
- Staff and members that can't take criticism
- Ones that ask you to register to see what's there
- Massive, bombarding signatures

 

[Brack]

Not allowing links/advertising in signatures.

Guilty as charged.

Members on my forums can mention forums/websites they like in the signpost ( on one forum) and Planetbound ( my latest forum).

Keeps things tidy.

 

[MrJohn]

Yea here are a few of mine:

• Horrible themes.
• Only posts on forum are in "Forum Games" or "Spam Section".
• Less posts than there are members.
• No staff online in last 24 hours.

 

[Nebulous]

Sometimes it can be the person who made the forum. If they are known for closing forums a lot,
I wont bother to join.

 

[BrydoRX]

What prevents me from joining a forum is when it forces you to register to solely view everything in it, very low activity, hideous skin and layout, bad spelling/grammar (and I mean really bad), dumb members/staff and also staff being elitists. Pretty much what other people said above.

 

[DarkRaven]

-1337 or chatspeam. If I see too much of that I can't be bothered to sign up.
-Proboards - don't think I need to explain why.
-Bad themes.
-Illogical layout.
-Staff with an attitude or entitlement problem.
-Low content posts by staff.
-If half the posts consist of five words or less.
-Forum is not viewable to guests.
-Forum has admin activation.

 

[Kaynil]

-Proboards - don't think I need to explain why.

I'm actually curious to hear why. I mean a an admin it can be very limited though many have done great skins around them, as a memebr though, I'd like to know what is the problem or problems with it.

As many mentioned above I don't like the force-login-to-view-boards kind of set for boards. Even if I cannot read its contesnts, I rather be able to see some of the boards to give myself an idea of the enviroment and the flow of the board, as well as their activty level.

I don't like when you make a introdution thread and never gets a single reply despise all the active users, sand further more the veterans against newbies (often placed together as n00bs). If I don't feel welcome in the few days after I don't bother with it.

I rarely care for the software of the boards as much as how default it looks, for me a forum with the default colour and buttons(added to the several empty categories) gives a very lazy impression. I don't want a super explosive layout but hey, at least personalize the "New messages" "No new Messages" "Locked" icons. I like when the admin actually took some work before opening the forum and advertising it around.

I don't like power-crazy mods and/or unexplained criteria for moderation. When I don't undertand why threads get locks (and therefore what can give me trouble) I don't make threads myself and certainly I don't feel in much trust to post.

Forums that encourage rivalty and revenge.

Oh and whenn forum staff fights publically and becomes enemies just to have the co-admin back to their position and both still best friends, or similar situations.

Also, I know that is hard to keep a forum and many put money into it, but when the admins go trying to force you to post and it becomes a chore, it just does the opposite for me. Some people has been ridiculous about deletinga ccounts for not logging in X amount even if they are not new members, I undertand for never used or less than a hundred post accounts, but I am talking of the ones taht ask you to log in iat least once every two weeks or you are out, sometimes you just CAN'T. When I feel a number to give some appareance to the forum, a number, I rather not be involved, I have enough of taht at work already.

and..tahjt si all i can think for now.