Just supposing you wish to go back to the time you first created and launched your forum, would you have managed it differently? Or even using different software?
For me, back when I had RX Community in 2008, the idea of it would've been completely different, where it would've been a forum based on the subject of bootleg games, something I did videos of back in YouTube's early days and I still would have gotten members directly from my channel (and perhaps the forum would've covered bootleg hardware, like Famiclones for instance). Also, off-topic sections would've been kept to a strict minimum, and I think in software terms, I think I would've used ProBoards or Forumotion back then.
I would have done more research and also actually looked for ways to promote the forum rather than just posting links on Facebook. I also would have gone with a different platform, I used Forumotion and phpBB3 confused the heck out of me. This was also a forum based on a niche I wasn't too familiar with at the time, it was a Pokemon Rom modding community and this was during a time where you only had tools to modify the games no disassemblies, so making mods of Pokemon games were limited.
I think I would put more efforts into advertising and outreach, and I think I would've just been better prepared overall with running a forum. The first forums I made were when I was a lot younger, and back then, it just seemed so easy to do lol. I would also want to find more of a niche to fit into since they were general forums about the topics they were about (gaming and Pokemon), so there was nothing really to make them stand out from the rest, and therefore, nothing to really draw people into them. I'd also probably change the names to fit more with the topic of the forum and not just use what sounds cool to me, even if it doesn't fit.
If it was my first forum ever, I might had used a different software than phpBB1 (and then shortly after, v2 came out and I went with it).
If it can be for any forum, then I would had went back to my biggest forum and did backups from day one. I learned a hard lesson about not backing your stuff up from that forum.
Needless to say, because I didn't make backups, that forum is long gone. 🙁
When I started Crafter Craze...I probably should have listened to my gut and not do it. It was good short term for a hobby, but not good to do as a forum.
I would start with a premium software. I have always started with free and later moved to paid but if I decide on a new forum, I will start using premium.
