How can this be?

[Firewolf]

I have a site, called Firewolf`s Creations, which is active but still not doing so good.

Now people are saying that my forum is going to fail because my forum`s topic is boring. But what is so boring about creativity? I just plain don`t get it. I have everything a forum needs - original and fun content, great topics, dedicated staff, etc. I strongly disagree with what those people are saying. My forum is not boring, and I can prove it, too! :x

Yet many members have left my forum and go to the other fun sites that have way more members. Only a few still remain. What`s so boring about this site? I`m being continously active, posting lots of recipes and projects, etc. If a site is constantly updated it won`t be boring won`t it? Most members have left when they were at the grasshopper rank, which is the lowest on the forum.

This forum has a lot to offer and it has stuff other forums out there don`t. I advertised loads of times, did plenty of post exchanges, affiliated, exchanged a few banners, even bulk-email, but that left by very few members and those members usually leave after introducing themselves.

I guess I could buy a domain, but that costs money so is there any free way to get my members to come back?

I`ve been doing everything everybody else has been doing, but everybody else just gets all the attention and loads of members and my forum is left there with a measly 36 members. Is it bad luck or is it just me?

My point is, I`m very, very, very, very confused as to why my forum is losing members, and is not growing as quickly as it should. All of those other sites can get like 20 members from advertising, and that seems to be normal. For me, it`s just 0 or 2.

I want this site to be very popular one day, and I`m not letting "your forum will fail" comments get in the way!!!

Support is MUCH appreciated. Not many people give me advice and I don`t want this forum to die. ~cry~

 

[Firewolf]

Wow. Nobody wants to give me advice.

 

[Andrew(AP)]

It's been 1 day, calm down it isn't the end of the world.
first of all you never supplied us with a link.

And if your members really think its a boring forum then they would leave, common sense. But what you probably could do is ask your members to give you more detail of why your forum is a failure. Ask people for suggestions for the forum, if they really cared for the forum they would acually give a little time and help you with it.

Somethings I have done that became succesfull.

1. Give some add ons that will give the guests and members entertainment on the forum such as arcades and stuff.
2. Cash mods help the users get goals such as getting a certain amount of cash. A store mod may also help as people post and get cash to get a certain item.
3. Make good and very interesting topics
4. Get a good theme that won't scare your guests or members away, if your forum is a general dicsussion or entertainment type forum, get a light template. If its a gaming forum or some sort of dark type forum then get a darker themed template.
5. Give good boards that people might be interested in posting in and is easy to make topics in, like a gaming board, there are tons of people accross the web that are interested in gaming and there are ton of succesful gaming forums. Technology, Introduction, Off-Topic, Sports, Promotion, those are all some good examples of interesting and easy posting boards.
6. Shorten your boards and use subforums and subtopics so limit the space on your forum, a forum that is all unorganzied and have all kinds of boards that would be better as a topic then a board make your members and guests unsatisified with the way your forum is.
7. Be nice to your members and guests as they are the most important thing to a good succesful forum.
8. Get good moderation so your forum doesn't get destroyed with spam, rule breaking, and other bad posts.

Ill try getting some more ideas for you as i like helping people. 😀

 

[Firewolf]

http://firewolfsforum.freeforums.org/index.php

My comments are in yellow...

1. Give some add ons that will give the guests and members entertainment on the forum such as arcades and stuff.
I`ll search for some embed arcades online...
2. Cash mods help the users get goals such as getting a certain amount of cash. A store mod may also help as people post and get cash to get a certain item.
I`ll have to wait for phpBB3.
3. Make good and very interesting topics
I share recipes and arts and crafts a lot, and I also post a lot of interesting off-topic posts too. Yet people rarely reply to my recipes and arts and crafts. :-(
4. Get a good theme that won't scare your guests or members away, if your forum is a general dicsussion or entertainment type forum, get a light template. If its a gaming forum or some sort of dark type forum then get a darker themed template.
My default tempelate is AcidTechDark, even though it`s not a gaming forum. It`s a creativity forum.
5. Give good boards that people might be interested in posting in and is easy to make topics in, like a gaming board, there are tons of people accross the web that are interested in gaming and there are ton of succesful gaming forums. Technology, Introduction, Off-Topic, Sports, Promotion, those are all some good examples of interesting and easy posting boards.
My forum is about sharing creations, in other words creativity. I think it is aimed at a very large group of people. If it`s not, please tell me why.
6. Shorten your boards and use subforums and subtopics so limit the space on your forum, a forum that is all unorganzied and have all kinds of boards that would be better as a topic then a board make your members and guests unsatisified with the way your forum is.
I tried shortening it as much as I could but right now I have to wait until I get phpBB3 before I can make subforums. :-(
7. Be nice to your members and guests as they are the most important thing to a good succesful forum.
I am very nice.
8. Get good moderation so your forum doesn't get destroyed with spam, rule breaking, and other bad posts.
Some of my moderators have left my forum even though I was active a lot. Not fair!

 

[madmax3]

Well if you want my opinion. Change the skin, I don't like it much. Also change the banner, its low quality, it would help if it was nicer.

Take off some of the boards in the creation section like Literature and Cutom levels, at the moment you don't need them (add them later when its more active). Im my opinion you don't need a contests section either.

Btw, your topics are good so don't worry about that. Its just I think you need to work on first impressions. Try some posts exchanges aswell.

Just my opinion 😀. Hope your forum gets better!

 

[Firewolf]

Thanks for the advice. I`m requesting a new banner now. Also I tried post exchanges but most have failed or the person who promised to exchange with me didn`t post on my forum.