If you're not planning to invest...

[kavin]

Maybe for you, its success.

But most of the webmasters doesn't think in that way. And you started a forum when the competition is not as much as of now. But now, the competition isn't the same, and you will need proper investment (as i previously said, not 100% money), to be able to create a successful community.

 

[Fullmoon]

As i've said before, success is what you make it, it is personal success.

 

[Fait]

@kavin i agree

Everyone has there diffrent fews on what sucess is

An Active Forum (To Me) Is 10 Users logs in every 30 minutes
A Sucessfull Forum: 560 Members loggedin over the last 15 membes thats a sucessfull forum to me

But you may need to invest in a domain at least to become sucessfull and get indexed on google

 

[AnAccount]

^ Maybe I want a small community, Maybe I dont want a massive forum. This is my hobby not my life.
I spend maybe an hour a day on HH. Back when I started I was on my own, I didn't have the resources till about 3 or 4 years ago to have a better site.

I may only have a small amount of posts but people like my forum and they keep coming back everyday, They've stayed loyal to the forum even after the recent problems i've had with hackers and other stuff. so to me that is success. I'm rather proud of my 45,000 posts.

I started from scatch and built my way up like everyone else here. All I am saying it that you are successful in your own mind if your achieve your own goals.

You and I have similar feelings then. Because I see my own forum as a success as well. I'm not doing this to earn any sort of revenue or anything. This is just a hobby for me as well. I also have health issues on the side, so a general discussion community is best for me, as there isn't half as much to worry about as something like an advertisement forum, where there would be more work. This is just something I enjoy doing as well. Yes, I still hear the lovely age old refrain of, "if you really want your site to be a success, then you need to be more active", and then I get suggestions for contests and stuff like that. I personally, am not fond of contests. Nor am I in the forum owning phase to try beat anybody else's stats. I'm just in this to have my own little getaway, just to get away from things going on in real life for a while, and running a forum of my genre provides me with that need quite well. Sure, we don't have that many people posting right now, but do you think I seriously care? Absolutely not. We only have about three or 4 of us posting daily, but I'm not looking to have a community as big and active as this place is. I just wanted my own space, my own little place on the Net to hang out and get away from it all, even if only for an hour. My site might not be successful in any of your eyes, but it is in mine. I've never really cared for big, active forums, and the happy medium we have going on right now suits me just fine.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

Do you need to invest in your forum?

Yes, if it's all about the post count, traffic, and making your forum a business to you.

If you're making a forum just for fun so that you can communicate with some friends in a way that you enjoy, then you don't necessarily need to invest money.

There's no one "universal" scale of success, either. Some people only need a forum with a couple members and a few posts every day to be satisfied. Others need millions of posts every month to be happy. It's subjective.

Of course, reviews will always be geared towards the people who want success in terms of tons of traffic, posts, members, etc. However, that doesn't mean that people aren't allowed to enjoy their forums regardless of its numbers.

It honestly disturbs me to see how quick people who have "successful" forums are to call others failures just because their forums' numbers aren't as high or whatever. To me, that's just close-minded and mean. Forums are like anything else: a hobby to some and a business to others. Just try to keep those separate.

 

[AnAccount]

Do you need to invest in your forum?

Yes, if it's all about the post count, traffic, and making your forum a business to you.

If you're making a forum just for fun so that you can communicate with some friends in a way that you enjoy, then you don't necessarily need to invest money.

There's no one "universal" scale of success, either. Some people only need a forum with a couple members and a few posts every day to be satisfied. Others need millions of posts every month to be happy. It's subjective.

Of course, reviews will always be geared towards the people who want success in terms of tons of traffic, posts, members, etc. However, that doesn't mean that people aren't allowed to enjoy their forums regardless of its numbers.

It honestly disturbs me to see how quick people who have "successful" forums are to call others failures just because their forums' numbers aren't as high or whatever. To me, that's just close-minded and mean. Forums are like anything else: a hobby to some and a business to others. Just try to keep those separate.

The part I put in bold is the category I fall into. I could only be getting about 5 posts per month and I'd still be happy with the results nonetheless. However, what's always pissed me off over the years is that I only see my forum as a hobby, just something to do in my spare time and get away from it all, yet over the years I've always heard refrains that I "need more members and posts!" Um, no I do not. Sure I promote my forum all over the place, but do I have high expectations of it now that we've reached our first birthday? No. I don't even have minimal expectations of my forum at all. Like Fullmoon, even if only a couple of people are interested in my site, which seems to be the case at this time, I'm still satisfied all the same. I'm not one of those kinds of people who think that success comes in a million members and posts. Sure, my expectations used to be that high, but not anymore. Now days I just lay back and have a good time. We've recently reached the 10,000th post mark, and while I am excited about it, as it's the biggest milestone I have ever had on my own personal forum, it doesn't phase me like it would some forum owners. Sure, everyone'll be expecting us to raise the bar more and put in for higher standards, but as we are not a site like this one (Forum Promotion) nor am I running a forum for any personal gain or anything like that, I have no plans to raise the bar any higher than we have to.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

I think that your forum is a great success, Ashley, and I feel that way about many other forums that don't necessarily get a ton of posts and traffic. For me, it's more about how the community feels and who is there.

Unfortunately, I'm also guilty of throwing around the word "successful" when talking about a forum that gets a lot of posts. It's just that you sometimes throw words like those around without thinking about what it truly means to be a "successful" forum. The word "successful" is really a unique one because it means so many different things to different people, I guess.

I guess the problem is that we have to make the assumption (when giving constructive criticism of a forum) that the member in question is all about getting posts and traffic.

At the end of the day, though, people run forums for different reasons. Some just run forums for the "experimentation" factor. Others, like Ashley, do it just for somewhere to go to escape real world issues. Others do it to get tons of traffic, posts, etc. Really, there's nothing wrong with any of those. However, I think we should all be a little more conscious of the fact that not everyone runs forums for the same reason. We shouldn't be so quick to throw around the "F" word because what is a failure to some may not be to others, and there's no universal definition of the word like some seem to believe.

 

[AnAccount]

I think that your forum is a great success, Ashley, and I feel that way about many other forums that don't necessarily get a ton of posts and traffic. For me, it's more about how the community feels and who is there.

Unfortunately, I'm also guilty of throwing around the word "successful" when talking about a forum that gets a lot of posts. It's just that you sometimes throw words like those around without thinking about what it truly means to be a "successful" forum. The word "successful" is really a unique one because it means so many different things to different people, I guess.

I guess the problem is that we have to make the assumption (when giving constructive criticism of a forum) that the member in question is all about getting posts and traffic.

At the end of the day, though, people run forums for different reasons. Some just run forums for the "experimentation" factor. Others, like Ashley, do it just for somewhere to go to escape real world issues. Others do it to get tons of traffic, posts, etc. Really, there's nothing wrong with any of those. However, I think we should all be a little more conscious of the fact that not everyone runs forums for the same reason. We shouldn't be so quick to throw around the "F" word because what is a failure to some may not be to others, and there's no universal definition of the word like some seem to believe.

Aside from the low post to member ratio, I too see my forum as a success. Because this is the first time I have ever had a forum up and running for this long. As some older members (and even some staff members) would recall, I used to be in a phase where I would open a forum and go on a posting/promoting spree for a couple weeks or even months, and we're gone and that's the end of it. So really, I see it as a success because this is a forum that I am actually sticking with this time. Not because of our stats.

Like you, Snobo, I too used to have high expectations of other people's forums. But then again, when I first started, it seemed as though everyone was more or less running a forum for the monetary value more than anything, so when you hear more stories of people actually planning to invest rather than just doing this as a hobby, it would be a very easy mistake to make to think that the whole memberbase is doing it just because of the dollar sign or euro sign, or whatever country they're from. I think the highest expectations comes when someone opens a promotion forum more than anything, from what I've been noticing, and it's very easy to see why: Because you see all these active forums such as this and The Admin Zone that are doing very well and have probably been around for years, so naturally we all expect these newbie forum owners to do just as well, if not better. Which is kind of harsh and rude to put such high expectations on these people, really. Just because sites like this one and TAZ are doing well, doesn't mean everyone should have that same kind of success. Really, have we ever stopped to think that perhaps one of the reasons why a person would want to come out with a promotion forum at all, would be just to see what it feels like to run a forum of that kind where there's plenty, and almost too much to do, in some cases?

Okay, I didn't mean to turn this into half a sermon :lol: I was too wrapped up in the topic, I guess. But the bottom line is, not all of you may see Chatting Time as a success, and you might even think that since we reached 10,000 posts, you might be setting the bar higher for us next year. And that's fine with me, but I'm perfectly happy with the way things are going at this time.

 

[Ashley]

^ Maybe I want a small community, Maybe I dont want a massive forum. This is my hobby not my life.
I spend maybe an hour a day on HH. Back when I started I was on my own, I didn't have the resources till about 3 or 4 years ago to have a better site.

I may only have a small amount of posts but people like my forum and they keep coming back everyday, They've stayed loyal to the forum even after the recent problems i've had with hackers and other stuff. so to me that is success. I'm rather proud of my 45,000 posts.

I started from scatch and built my way up like everyone else here. All I am saying it that you are successful in your own mind if your achieve your own goals.

You and I have similar feelings then. Because I see my own forum as a success as well. I'm not doing this to earn any sort of revenue or anything. This is just a hobby for me as well. I also have health issues on the side, so a general discussion community is best for me, as there isn't half as much to worry about as something like an advertisement forum, where there would be more work. This is just something I enjoy doing as well. Yes, I still hear the lovely age old refrain of, "if you really want your site to be a success, then you need to be more active", and then I get suggestions for contests and stuff like that. I personally, am not fond of contests. Nor am I in the forum owning phase to try beat anybody else's stats. I'm just in this to have my own little getaway, just to get away from things going on in real life for a while, and running a forum of my genre provides me with that need quite well. Sure, we don't have that many people posting right now, but do you think I seriously care? Absolutely not. We only have about three or 4 of us posting daily, but I'm not looking to have a community as big and active as this place is. I just wanted my own space, my own little place on the Net to hang out and get away from it all, even if only for an hour. My site might not be successful in any of your eyes, but it is in mine. I've never really cared for big, active forums, and the happy medium we have going on right now suits me just fine.

Sorry to bump up an age old topic here. But my opinion of 2 years ago still stands now. Once again, I am running a general discussion forum, you all know that. I do realize that once again general discussion is an over saturated genre, but I'm not letting it get to me. Want to know why? I'll tell you why: Because like Fullmoon, this is my HOBBY, not my LIFE. If I were to own a forum for a career, I would've done a lot more than what I'm doing now, like using a more professional software like Vbulletin or Xenforo, or I would've had categories with more intellegent/professional names. Even the name of the forum would've been a lot more professional. But I don't want to go to the professional route. I prefer small forums rather than anything big and huge like Digital Point or The Admin Zone. I'm not going to pretend to be someone I'm not by going for a more professional software, a more professional anything... You don't HAVE to join my forum if you don't want to. If you don't like what I'm doing, I'm not going to gripe about it. Personality wise, I've changed. This is 2013 you guys, not 2009. I'm not going to close this forum because it's not working for me. In real life I have a motto: If I can't get something to work, I'll MAKE it work... and the same holds for this site. You guys may not like the idea that I'm using a free hosting plan and whatever and that we have all these limitations, but that's totally fine by me. It's your opinion, and I respect you for that. But you guys have to understand that just because I don't have all the necessities required to make a forum work, doesn't mean I can't or won't make it work. I'm perfectly happy being on a free hosting plan and I need such a thing. My health has gotten worse over the past month so I do not have patience for advanced hosting any longer. Again, if you don't like it, you don't have to register on my forum. I know my resources and this forum isn't the only one Marie 1988 is being promoted on... Sorry I had to rant.

 

[Bluezone777]

Investing money in a forum does not mean you are going to see a successful forum and in fact invites its own set of pitfalls such as letting money make the decisions such as allowing that which fattens your wallet override the say of anyone else. Then you have the type that run and sell their forum to the guy with the biggest wallet no matter if he couldn't care less about anyone on said forum. I seen that one too at least one occasion.

The truth is... the first post just comes off as bitter and negative as if he already decided to have a negative opinion on countless forums and is just looking for an excuse to justify having it. People like that will always find their excuse because it's all they are looking for.

How about you join a forum with an open mind and let it decide what your opinion should be instead of creating one first then joining it. Who knows... you might end up liking a forum you wouldn't have otherwise if you had walked in with a negative outlook?

 

[Ashley]

Investing money in a forum does not mean you are going to see a successful forum and in fact invites its own set of pitfalls such as letting money make the decisions such as allowing that which fattens your wallet override the say of anyone else. Then you have the type that run and sell their forum to the guy with the biggest wallet no matter if he couldn't care less about anyone on said forum. I seen that one too at least one occasion.

The truth is... the first post just comes off as bitter and negative as if he already decided to have a negative opinion on countless forums and is just looking for an excuse to justify having it. People like that will always find their excuse because it's all they are looking for.

How about you join a forum with an open mind and let it decide what your opinion should be instead of creating one first then joining it. Who knows... you might end up liking a forum you wouldn't have otherwise if you had walked in with a negative outlook?

Was that last part directed at me or the OP? Because when I spot a new forum that may look interesting or have potential, I like to spend some time as a "lurker" if you would: I like to spend time looking around the site and seeing how the community interactis with one another. If I like what I see, then I'll consider joining up. If not, then most likely not.

 

[Bluezone777]

I was referring to the OP and not you so don't worry.

 

[Ashley]

I was referring to the OP and not you so don't worry.

That's kind of what I figured. Thanks.

 

[Venom]

I really dont like 'The Elites' attitude.

Maybe if you spent less time wining you could make a 'successful' forum yourself. :/

 

[Ashley]

I really dont like 'The Elites' attitude.

Maybe if you spent less time wining you could make a 'successful' forum yourself. :/

This is sort of what Bluezone777's post was about. Some of us can't help it that we have to use free hosts like ProphpBB or the like. Some of us can't help it that we can't afford a Vbulletin or Xenforo license. In a nutshell, it's called being grateful for what you have! I'm grateful for what I have in terms of owning a forum. Sure, I had dreams of going the "bigger and better" route, but sadly, due to health, financial, as well as some other issues, I am unable to make my dream a complete reality. People need to learn to be grateful for what they got rather than harping others to jump for the "next big thing". It's insane is what it is.

 

[MrJohn]

Everyone starts a forum for a different reason. None of us should judge any of the other members, even more so when it comes to how they run their forum. If they ask for constructive criticism, then they are asking for your opinion on their current forum, not on your idea of what their forum should be.

Obviously some of us are going to have money to spend, and some of us are not. It doesn't really matter though, because a lot of people don't create forums for income, they create forums to fill a need for discussion on their favorite topic.

I have no problem at all with free forum software and free domain names, because it allows administrators to try out the "forum world" without having to put much investment into it. That way if they find that they don't like it, they really didn't lose much at all. If they do like it, they can take the step to a paid forum eventually when they are ready.

Just my two cents.

 

[Ashley]

Everyone starts a forum for a different reason. None of us should judge any of the other members, even more so when it comes to how they run their forum. If they ask for constructive criticism, then they are asking for your opinion on their current forum, not on your idea of what their forum should be.

Obviously some of us are going to have money to spend, and some of us are not. It doesn't really matter though, because a lot of people don't create forums for income, they create forums to fill a need for discussion on their favorite topic.

I have no problem at all with free forum software and free domain names, because it allows administrators to try out the "forum world" without having to put much investment into it. That way if they find that they don't like it, they really didn't lose much at all. If they do like it, they can take the step to a paid forum eventually when they are ready.

Just my two cents.

BINGO!!!!!!!!1 You summarized that perfectly! Sadly there are loads of people like The Elite who fail to realize this, and that's ticked me off for as long as I can remember!!!!!! 🙁

 

[The Elite]

I really dont like 'The Elites' attitude.

Maybe if you spent less time wining you could make a 'successful' forum yourself. :/

I did, and I sold it and am working on another. I also had another one, which was closed down since I was bored, and numerous others. I don't agree with my thread since this was posted 18 months ago, but if you were so offended next time PM me.

EDIT: I re-read it, and some parts are true. Don't expect to go far with a free forum host and a .tk, and then even EXPECT to get members. If you're trying to make a forum to see if you enjoy it, that's fine! If you try to make a free forum expecting success (members, posts, activity, traffic and revenue), then good luck.

 

[Ashley]

I really dont like 'The Elites' attitude.

Maybe if you spent less time wining you could make a 'successful' forum yourself. :/

I did, and I sold it and am working on another. I also had another one, which was closed down since I was bored, and numerous others. I don't agree with my thread since this was posted 18 months ago, but if you were so offended next time PM me.

EDIT: I re-read it, and some parts are true. Don't expect to go far with a free forum host and a .tk, and then even EXPECT to get members. If you're trying to make a forum to see if you enjoy it, that's fine! If you try to make a free forum expecting success (members, posts, activity, traffic and revenue), then good luck.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Forums on a free host/domain CAN be made successful. Also, you have to realize that not all of us are financially stable enough to run a forum on sites like Hawkhost or the like, so we have no choice but to use free hosts. Don't like what some of us are doing? Don't join up then! It's that simple.

Also, I for one am not picky about what host a site uses at all. The only time I'm REALLY picky is if they choose to use a host like ForuMotion...but this is also to say that not all free hosts are bad. I'm on ProphpBB's free plan and these guys are awesome. Great support staff, etc. If you don't like that some of us can't be on advanced/paid hosting, that's your problem, not ours. Some of us have better things to think about than who's going to join our forums and who isn't. I don't care about having an active forum... forum owning is not my LIFE, it is my HOBBY.

 

[The Elite]

I really dont like 'The Elites' attitude.

Maybe if you spent less time wining you could make a 'successful' forum yourself. :/

I did, and I sold it and am working on another. I also had another one, which was closed down since I was bored, and numerous others. I don't agree with my thread since this was posted 18 months ago, but if you were so offended next time PM me.

EDIT: I re-read it, and some parts are true. Don't expect to go far with a free forum host and a .tk, and then even EXPECT to get members. If you're trying to make a forum to see if you enjoy it, that's fine! If you try to make a free forum expecting success (members, posts, activity, traffic and revenue), then good luck.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Forums on a free host/domain CAN be made successful. Also, you have to realize that not all of us are financially stable enough to run a forum on sites like Hawkhost or the like, so we have no choice but to use free hosts. Don't like what some of us are doing? Don't join up then! It's that simple.

Also, I for one am not picky about what host a site uses at all. The only time I'm REALLY picky is if they choose to use a host like ForuMotion...but this is also to say that not all free hosts are bad. I'm on ProphpBB's free plan and these guys are awesome. Great support staff, etc. If you don't like that some of us can't be on advanced/paid hosting, that's your problem, not ours. Some of us have better things to think about than who's going to join our forums and who isn't. I don't care about having an active forum... forum owning is not my LIFE, it is my HOBBY.

You're getting too emotional, I was unaware that you can't dedicate $30 a year for a PAID domain and PAID hosting, I was 14 with no job and no PayPal and still got that. If you're not investing that, then you're clearly not dedicated. Also, most free hosts are bad and unreliable, how can they make money paying for a server when they loan server space for FREE, most people using those free spots won't even get enough traffic to amount to valuable advertisement clicks. NOTE: I said most. No offence, but most people using free hosts wont get successful.

Also, obviously when talking about success we're talking about activity and traffic, how else can you gauge forum success.

Stop getting offended.