How is your forum different?

[Tucker933]

Compared to your direct competition, how does your forum stand out?

Open Carnage

Spoiler

A forum that utilizes a very unique homebrew economy system that has real-world benefit. However the competition for our niche content (Halo PC mods and modding support) has almost completely evaporated over the past few years, which has left us as the foremost in our niche. The majority of our community has also known each other for more than a decade, so it's very tight-knit.

 

[Lord Saru]

I have a quick question for you - How does your forum relate to Gaussian curve. Your tagline is interesting 😀

 

[Tucker933]

I have a quick question for you - How does your forum relate to Gaussian curve. Your tagline is interesting 😀

The data points that make up particular Gaussian Curves can vary infinitely, since it's just a normalized representation. Everything noteworthy exists on the spikes of those data points. You could say we're not what a Gaussian Curve would imply.

It's part of an ...interesting quote from a very old game I liked, and thought it would be cool to apply somewhere because you'll wonder what's implied lol

Seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses float inconspicuously around the inside of hangar ninety six. I say that they are inconspicuous because it is their arms and legs which demand my attention. I did this, or I could have stopped it. Which is it? It doesn't matter now. I did this and could have stopped it, but nothing in nature ever follows a gaussian curve. Sure, they'll tell you that it does. They say that every five minutes someone dies in a car accident, but how often are there seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses in one hangar?

 

[Cosmic]

It isn't! 😛

Actually, I don't have a forum at the moment, at least not one all to myself (I'm helping out at a couple others though). But I do want to drop in a point here. I don't think a forum has to be unique, personally. A forum is about the members who use it, more than any idea. Every forum has its own set of members. So in a sense, all forums are unique, and the best forums are determined by the quality of the people who use it. A forum doesn't have to be unique, it has to be fun! And that is why I use the forums I use.

 

[Tucker933]

I don't think a forum has to be unique, personally. A forum is about the members who use it, more than any idea. Every forum has its own set of members. So in a sense, all forums are unique, and the best forums are determined by the quality of the people who use it. A forum doesn't have to be unique, it has to be fun! And that is why I use the forums I use.

You're not going to get very far in that case, because there's no incentive for a stranger to join. There's far too much out there to get by on simply "our community is great", because you can't effectively convey it and there's plenty that have much more to offer.

Uniqueness is also a required basis for any advertising to be effective.

 

[Lord Saru]

I don't think a forum has to be unique, personally. A forum is about the members who use it, more than any idea. Every forum has its own set of members. So in a sense, all forums are unique, and the best forums are determined by the quality of the people who use it. A forum doesn't have to be unique, it has to be fun! And that is why I use the forums I use.

You're not going to get very far in that case, because there's no incentive for a stranger to join. There's far too much out there to get by on simply "our community is great", because you can't effectively convey it and there's plenty that have much more to offer.

Uniqueness is also a required basis for any advertising to be effective.

I totally agree with you. These days, almost all niches are too crowded that without an incentive or an effective way to project out your community and its uniqueness, things will take a rough ride.

 

[Thomasss]

I don't think a forum has to be unique, personally. A forum is about the members who use it, more than any idea. Every forum has its own set of members. So in a sense, all forums are unique, and the best forums are determined by the quality of the people who use it. A forum doesn't have to be unique, it has to be fun! And that is why I use the forums I use.

You're not going to get very far in that case, because there's no incentive for a stranger to join. There's far too much out there to get by on simply "our community is great", because you can't effectively convey it and there's plenty that have much more to offer.

Uniqueness is also a required basis for any advertising to be effective.

I disagree. If one's community is far better than other forums, and the members on that forum are much more involved in the discussions, they're going to recommend the forum to other people who will eventually join because they know someone there. How many forums have you joined, where you are an active member, where you knew absolutely no one? The members, the discussions, the qaulity of the posts, and the atmosphere is what makes a community unique and different. At this point, each community is probably using the same plugins and add-ons that hundreds of other forums use. It's the members that make the community different, and it's the networking that said members will do that will grow your community.

 

[Tucker933]

I don't think a forum has to be unique, personally. A forum is about the members who use it, more than any idea. Every forum has its own set of members. So in a sense, all forums are unique, and the best forums are determined by the quality of the people who use it. A forum doesn't have to be unique, it has to be fun! And that is why I use the forums I use.

You're not going to get very far in that case, because there's no incentive for a stranger to join. There's far too much out there to get by on simply "our community is great", because you can't effectively convey it and there's plenty that have much more to offer.

Uniqueness is also a required basis for any advertising to be effective.

I disagree. If one's community is far better than other forums, and the members on that forum are much more involved in the discussions, they're going to recommend the forum to other people who will eventually join because they know someone there. How many forums have you joined, where you are an active member, where you knew absolutely no one? The members, the discussions, the qaulity of the posts, and the atmosphere is what makes a community unique and different. At this point, each community is probably using the same plugins and add-ons that hundreds of other forums use. It's the members that make the community different, and it's the networking that said members will do that will grow your community.

That's precisely why I said "strangers" =p

And to be honest, I've personally never joined a forum where I already knew someone.

 

[Lord Saru]

Most of the new forums advertise in the same places resulting in members who know each other 😛

 

[Jason76]

Not very good in terms of visitors, but in terms of content, it's less of a mismatch (but still heavily in favor of the competitor).