Is running forum so hard?

[johnthan]

I joined forums months ago. Sites were promoted and suggested here on ForumPromotion. So I thought it is really worth joining them all I must say I was doing well with all and never realize if I would ever leave them.

I just visited few forums now to see how it is going there. What I see is most of the forums are just closed and few are now e-commerce sites.

They all were using the professional theme so, never thought they cloud close it or change it for any reason.

Really it is hard to run forums or owner has just changed their mind.

Forums were - webmaster forum, general forum, chatting forum, earn to post forum...

One forum is now hosting adult content.

Why it is so...?

 

[Slix]

My guess why people close them is that they lose interest or time to work on them. I've seen many close (even with many users at one point) simply because people lose interest.

 

[Mozzie]

If you put in the time effort, you gain members, it thrives, it isn't hard, i been running forums for so long, i have seen many come and go.

 

[Bryn]

It is hard yes, but if you can dedicate your time on promoting and such, then it can reach the stars.

 

[Page]

Many people has said to be how dedicated that I am. Most thought that the site won't last and it's going to be closed, 4 years later it's still running. Yes it's hard to build your traffic and able to build your title. As you thought you are growing and achieving your goals, it dies down again.

Most people don't release how much there is involved running an site, allot get stuck, allot give up and others just closed it after some years later

 

[Azareal]

Not really, but it requires a lot of time and well. Effort.

You don't magically pull a rabbit out of your hat, and often times, it helps when you have some coding / designer background, so you can actually differentiate yourself from the dime a dozen forums in your niche.

Frankly, if I didn't throw together a cool custom RPG plugin on one forum which got a fair bit, but not great amount of traffic right off the bat, it would likely have taken twenty times effort to get anywhere.

That at-least, is what I'd see as the correct way of running a site, if you don't provide some sort of unique value, then you are literally rowing against the currents upstream, often with nothing to show for it.

Users to some extent, can recognise true effort, in comparison to just slapping down some garbage and expecting them to bite. It's not about what's easiest, but what's best.
You can see this best when people talk on here about generic forum clone of the week and how it's likely to go up in flames within a month when the owners get bored.

 

[Jason76]

One forum is now hosting adult content.

That happened to LazyForums.xyz I have no clue how that happened.

I mean, its xyz, not the other.

 

[johnthan]

That happened to LazyForums.xyz I have no clue how that happened

Yes, I registered to this forum and had some good posts there. But the owner changed the theme more than 2 times and it looked bad to me.

One day I just visited the site and saw something unusual there...even I searched on google if I put the wrong address.

One more site I remember which was actually a MyBB theme site (netpen). It was an older support site, where the link to the site is required to be placed on the bottom of the site for free theme holder.
A day when I had to upgrade theme and it was necessary to join the discussion forum to ask for the help, I looked on MyBB community and found the discussion board. Also realized the site is different from what the older one is now an adult site.

 

[MrDangem]

I also believed that If I'm not employed and focuses only on my forum, I think I can make it a successful forum.
But I can't risk my job and rely only on my forum to make a living.. That's why I can only manage it in my spare time.

 

[Page]

People don't want to do nothing for free in this world. Meaning if you want them to do this and that! you have to return by doing something for them.

Some with sites

 

[Jason76]

People don't want to do nothing for free in this world. Meaning if you want them to do this and that! you have to return by doing something for them.

Some with sites

Time is very valuable.

 

[Tom]

We're a new forum and I can say it's very, very difficult finding members since we're not a unique niche by any means. We're doing what we can to make us stand out. 😀

 

[Page]

We're a new forum and I can say it's very, very difficult finding members since we're not a unique niche by any means. We're doing what we can to make us stand out. 😀

That's why you came to FP 😉 To get your site off the floor 😀

 

[Tommy M.]

I just visited few forums now to see how it is going there. What I see is most of the forums are just closed and few are now e-commerce sites.

I am sure you have not visited our webmaster forum https://www.webmastersun.com
because they are still having good activities with members and posts daily. Also, I we are going to developing it to get a new level for advertising and discussions.

Really it is hard to run forums or owner has just changed their mind.

Because they could not grow their forum then it is time to change to a new direction to make their forum grow better. I think so. 🙂

 

[johnthan]

I just visited few forums now to see how it is going there. What I see is most of the forums are just closed and few are now e-commerce sites.

I am sure you have not visited our webmaster forum https://www.webmastersun.com
because they are still having good activities with members and posts daily. Also, I we are going to developing it to get a new level for advertising and discussions.

Really it is hard to run forums or owner has just changed their mind.

Because they could not grow their forum then it is time to change to a new direction to make their forum grow better. I think so. 🙂

I must say webmastersun has a good layout and very clear. Possible this is one reason why people like to visit.

I found the design is very good, even I wanted to get such design...

 

[Tommy M.]

I just visited few forums now to see how it is going there. What I see is most of the forums are just closed and few are now e-commerce sites.

I am sure you have not visited our webmaster forum https://www.webmastersun.com
because they are still having good activities with members and posts daily. Also, I we are going to developing it to get a new level for advertising and discussions.

Really it is hard to run forums or owner has just changed their mind.

Because they could not grow their forum then it is time to change to a new direction to make their forum grow better. I think so. 🙂

I must say webmastersun has a good layout and very clear. Possible this is one reason why people like to visit.

I found the design is very good, even I wanted to get such design...

Thanks for checking and sharing your thoughts.

Honestly I had same design on https://forumweb.hosting/ and it is working greatly. This forum is different from Webmastersun because it was in web hosting field and built based on Xenforo 2.

 

[johnthan]

@Tommy M.
I have seen many forum based on Xenforo and I must say, it's amazing.

Do you need to purchase each time for new version/upgrade...I mean how do you manage when there is a major change (security reason).

 

[Azareal]

If I recall, there's a $25/year renewal fee or something for XenForo itself.
Some themes / plugins also have renewal fees. The good ones usually have upfront costs, although nothing huge, unless they're custom.

 

[Jason76]

If I recall, there's a $25/year renewal fee or something for XenForo itself.
Some themes / plugins also have renewal fees. The good ones usually have upfront costs, although nothing huge, unless they're custom.

If you have several forums, one renewal can allow you to upgrade them all, but I was wondering if that was ethical.

 

[Azareal]

If you have several forums, one renewal can allow you to upgrade them all, but I was wondering if that was ethical.

Probably not, unless they explicitly let you use one license for multiple sites.
And there are ways they can find out about that.