One/two tip(s) for forum owners

[Rick Ace]

Hi guys,

Basically this is the thing that annoys me the most when I visit a forum, as soon as I see this my mouse always seems to magically click the "x" button on the tab (Firefox.)

Anyway what im talking about is your forum descriptions and forum names. I know there's probably a million topics on "how to make your forum descriptions stand out" or "the best forum description tips!" but frankly none of you seem to be reading those topics (or those topics are just plain crap written by some 5 year old moron.) There is nothing worse than seeing a forum description and forum name that incorporates the following:

Forum name: Intro (Cmon.. At least do "Introductions" don't forget not everyone who visits your forum will understand what "Intro" means I know it's highly unlikely that they don't but you have to accommodate for everyone.)
Description: "Hi,this is a introduction forum want to say hi to everyone then come here and do it!!!"
What makes these bad: Firstly the forum name as I mentioned in the brackets. Secondly the description has poor punctuation, and one thing I really hate is when people put "Come here and do it" or "Do it here" just make a description that people will know what the forum is about, adding things like the 2 examples I just made makes me wanna vomit all over your virtual website..

Forum name: announcments
Description: "form announcments will be posted here come read them here"
What makes these bad: Firstly there's no capital letter "Announcements" and "announcments" is spelt wrong, I mean I know everyone isn't a great speller but seriously use Google or a spell check site or something. Secondly a big mistake I see forum owners do is not spelling "forum" right, they always spell it as "form" (as I did purposely above) your running a forum, you should know how to spell what it is your running. Not only does it make you look like a half witted ding bat, but it hurts your SEO rankings.

Forum name: Suggestions
Description: "THINK OF SOMETHING TO SUGGEST TO MAKE DA FORUM FULLY HECTIC BRO, DEN COME HERE AND POST WHAT U THINK WILL MAK3 DA FORUM PR0, LETS MAKE DIS FORUM 1337"
What makes these bad: The forum name is great although it could be a little more creative so figure something out on your own, im not Harry Potter. I don't even think I have to explain the description but in case there are some people who think this is acceptable (which obviously there are otherwise I wouldn't have added this example :roll: never EVER type your description in full capitals, avoid the use of "l33t" type, avoid words which you think make you look cool (no one thinks your cool because you run a forum, I bet you're too embarrassed to even told your friends at school that you run a forum) and avoid the use of "lets" when you write your suggestions description, at the end of the day it is YOUR forum and you should be running it YOUR way with the minor exception of listening to what your users want to enhance their experience at your forum.

Forum name: Forum Promotion (These are mostly on promotion forums (who may I add literally JUST opened 10 minutes ago), and out of the like 2000 ads of them posted on here around 1999 do this)
Description: "Come post your forum link here this awesome free service will get your forum instantly active with a million members!!!!!"
What makes these bad: Firstly think of a more creative forum name, something like "Doodles R Us" no not really, but see how I got your attention cause it's creative. Secondly and most obvious is the description, firstly can I just :roll: you just opened your forum and yet you boast about how someone is going to get a million members by placing their topic on your dead forum which has like 5 genuine members which are all your staff um ok.. :shrug:

A perfect example of this is (couldn't post the image directly due to the stupid width restriction at FP so just click it to view):

http://i51.tinypic.com/dgq6xk.png

Forum name: da market
Description: Come Sell Your Items Here In Da Market, You Can Sell Anything You Want In Here But Remember You Can't Sell x & x & x & x & x
What makes these bad: Firstly add a capital letter to "da" infact just remove the "da" and add a capital to market. This is probably the worse thing I hate, every letter starts with a capital, WTF secondly when someone says "you can sell anything but remember you can't sell this and that and that and this and that" seriously just get to the point and don't mislead your members.

Forum name: Rules
Description: These are the rules come read them otherwise you will get banned!!!
What makes these bad: Well basically having a whole forum just for your stupid rules is well.. stupid. You don't need a whole section just have a announcement or a sticky or a new page or something you don't need a whole forum for one topic. Secondly you can't assume just because someone doesn't read your rules (which you most likely copied from another site anyway) that they will get banned from your site, mostly your rules will be common sense.

Hope you enjoyed the read and hopefully I won't see this crap anymore.

Cheers.

P.S: Flame all you want, but frankly it won't bother me one bit and I will give it back to you 🙂

This could have been summarized. 😛

- Don't type everything in caps.

- Use proper grammar and spelling.

- Be Original.

- STOP MAKING PROMOTION FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😛

 

[jdab]

Could someone please give me some feedback on my forum names and descriptions? www.LevelUnlocked.net/forum

 

[IAAM Radio]

Great info, you would think it's common sense but no...

When I see, "or you will get banned" right in my face, I'm turned off and do not join and or return. Such statements are aggressive and implies there is a problem.

Good read indeed. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Brad]

Love the start of the thread, funny, my cursor does the same thing :lol:

Great thread, thanks!

 

[Nathan]

I agree if you own a forum you should have real grammar and act professional you can speak like dis on facebook but as a forum Admin you should act professional 😀

Agree 100%

If you speak like 'dis' on facebook, because you're just tew k00l f0r sch00li0 then you shouldn't even be using facebook, let alone running a forum.

This could have been summarized. 😛

- Don't type everything in caps.

- Use proper grammar and spelling.

- Be Original.

- STOP MAKING PROMOTION FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😛

That's just boring, anyone can say that, but not everyone can go through the details and why it's not good to do those things, or why it is good to do them.

Could someone please give me some feedback on my forum names and descriptions? http://www.LevelUnlocked.net/forum

I would, but I think it's always best if you do it yourself, makes it more "your forum" than someone elses.

Great info, you would think it's common sense but no...

When I see, "or you will get banned" right in my face, I'm turned off and do not join and or return. Such statements are aggressive and implies there is a problem.

Good read indeed. Thanks for the tips.

Cheers boss, and no worries.

Love the start of the thread, funny, my cursor does the same thing :lol:

Great thread, thanks!

It's all about being creative and inspiring people 😉

 

[Demon_skeith]

I got a question, your saying it's never good to use 'come here', 'talk about *insert subject* here', 'post it here' ect in a board description?

I do sadly seem to use those a lot on my forum.

 

[Migi]

I got a question, your saying it's never good to use 'come here', 'talk about *insert subject* here', 'post it here' ect in a board description?

I do sadly seem to use those a lot on my forum.

Technically and grammatically speaking that might not be a problem, but those words are kind of overused, I suppose. That is why putting a unique but clear descriptions is much more preferable. It invites members in for feeling "different", but also clear enough for them to know what you are trying to say.

Or so I think. 😛

 

[Medora]

When talking to novices, the experienced say rules when they mean guidelines. When novices become experienced, they realize that the only reason they were told not to do something is that they did not know what they were doing. If you know what you are doing, holding fast to guidelines is not a big deal (i.e., becomes second nature, and can be exploited), as you now know the spirit — not merely the letter — of the guidelines.

Of course, certain guidelines might be thought important to one person, and trivial to another, but what is shared in common is the idea that any one guideline is often of no consequence in and of itself, but rather as part of a set of understandings that, when mastered, helps lead to that moment of transformation — if it can really be called a moment — when the novice stops being ignorant, and starts making his own informed, learned decisions about the subject in general.

 

[Nathan]

I got a question, your saying it's never good to use 'come here', 'talk about *insert subject* here', 'post it here' ect in a board description?

I do sadly seem to use those a lot on my forum.

Don't forget this thread is just my opinion on what I have found successful. Basically whenever I see these types of forums, I leave straight away and I'm not the only one. But I am saying exactly that, whether you want to follow it or not, is entirely your choice.

I got a question, your saying it's never good to use 'come here', 'talk about *insert subject* here', 'post it here' ect in a board description?

I do sadly seem to use those a lot on my forum.

Technically and grammatically speaking that might not be a problem, but those words are kind of overused, I suppose. That is why putting a unique but clear descriptions is much more preferable. It invites members in for feeling "different", but also clear enough for them to know what you are trying to say.

Or so I think. 😛

Being overused has nothing to do with it, my point is simple; if you have to tell someone exactly what to do in forum descriptions, such as 'post it here' or 'talk about x here' then obviously you're not doing anything right, if you get my point.

 

[Demon_skeith]

Don't forget this thread is just my opinion on what I have found successful. Basically whenever I see these types of forums, I leave straight away and I'm not the only one. But I am saying exactly that, whether you want to follow it or not, is entirely your choice.

It's a good point though, but I find it hard getting round the use of the word 'here'.

 

[Nathan]

Don't forget this thread is just my opinion on what I have found successful. Basically whenever I see these types of forums, I leave straight away and I'm not the only one. But I am saying exactly that, whether you want to follow it or not, is entirely your choice.

It's a good point though, but I find it hard getting round the use of the word 'here'.

Thanks. As for getting around the word 'here', completely remove it. If you feel the need to write 'here' at the end of your description, or anywhere that it doesn't make 'sense' then you're not writing the descriptions properly. Think of a creative way to either; remove the word 'here' or add it in disguise.

 

[Ashley]

Sorry for bumping an old topic but these points are just as valid now as in 2011. I still run across the odd forum with terrible spelling and grammar, not to mention tons of sections with no posts.