I have been seeing a lot of forums being closed down due to inactivity and forum owners just not willing to nurture their forums and even make a decent attempt to keep it running. The main reason for inactivity would be, yes, that the niche that the forum is based on is already way too saturated for it to stand any real chance, but it is also because of social media websites becoming more and more popular, reddit is also one of the main culprits. I have been wondering over the past few days and it is a discussion that I would really like to bring into the public, although I'm sure that is has been done many times before...
Is there really any point in opening a forum, because even if a popular and new TV show, movie series, game series, etc emerges, I am wondering if there is going to be any point in you even attempting to jump straight onto it and make a forum about it. Because one, will people even bother to search for forums related to the subject? Two, won't a sub-reddit section dominate your forum anyway? Three, if it is a game series, won't the creators/publishers of the game create a forum for it first and therefore dominate yours?
These are all questions that I would like to hear answers from you, because I love forums, but I'm really not too sure about starting my own simply because it is probably just going to fail.
I think it is harder to start/run your forum now than every before, but if you take time with it and be patient, a lot of the time it will at least be somewhat successful. The problem that a lot of webmasters have is they give up after a couple months of slow activity. They don't understand that it's going to take time to become active.
I, for one, don't like Reddit at all and will always go to a forum over Reddit. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there like me.
So, yes, I think it's worth it still to run a forum and what not, but you have to know that it's going to be harder than ever now and it will only continue to get harder as the years go on.
I too dislike reddit, I think it is way too disorganized and a very community based place unlike a forum. Reddit is the kind of place where you'd say something funny or interesting and your comment just gets hype and a few up ratings/replies.
As I said, I am potentially opening a forum. But I am still considering whether or not it'll be worth it.
I used to run a forum dedicated to a Japanese singer. Very specific, right? No other forum about her was around at that time, especially in English. That was like double layer of barriers for me; (1) not many know this singer (2) news, articles, and her works are all in Japanese so I had to scout translators to fill the forum with content. Finding target audience was also hard. So much work had been done. It eventually gained members and steady post rate, but the beginning was really slow. So you see, that is a point you have to be ready to take for being unique.
From what I observe, it seems like what determines a website to be successful or not is not only about the niche, but also the community. There must a bunch of promotion/advertisement forums out there, but there are still some big, popular ones. Not just limited to one or two websites. Perhaps what makes people come back is the community, how fun and friendly it is. Perhaps awesome community can compensate for standard content. Just like what you and Cody said, you guys don't use Reddit, and there must've been many others out there who are at the same situation. Those people can be your target audience.
So if you ask "is there really any point", well, that's kind of hard to answer. But it's worth trying, in my opinion.
All of the other options you mentioned are certainly competing against forums at times, but I wouldn't say they have to be competitors.
Use social media, subreddits, official forums/sites (for games, shows, etc.), and the other "new" things that are replacing forums to get your forum out there.
For example, after your forum is created and you have some content set up, go on a popular subreddit about your niche and dive into that community. Casually link to topics on your forum when you find a topic on the subreddit that it relates to. Be careful to not get caught advertising, but as long as it's relevant and done sparingly, you should be fine. Same goes for twitter, Facebook and other (bigger) forums - share topics on them in relevant discussions, twitter chats, Facebook groups, etc.
Your forum can be marketed as a "closer community" than a subreddit or large, official site and a better "user experience" than a twitter chat or Facebook group to each of those existing communities.
Blog articles work really well for this post, since it's not as likely to be seen as advertising if you're linking to an article as opposed to a forum topic.
I think I may write a blog post about this approach (when it's not 8 am).
I guess it's true that most forums fail, but also most businesses, most websites, etc. fail too. 😛 If you want to create something successful, you just have to keep trying until you get it right.
Anyway, even if a forum does fail, I think it can still be a good, enjoyable experience. A lot of my forums failed, but I don't regret creating them. 🙂
Anyway, even if a forum does fail, I think it can still be a good, enjoyable experience. A lot of my forums failed, but I don't regret creating them. 🙂
This x1000. A forum's success shouldn't be measured by how long it lasts, if it is still around today, etc. or be compared to popular sites like Facebook, Reddit, or the official forums created by big companies for their products. If you enjoy the forum while it's around and while it's active, then there's a point. That is the point. #motivation
Great words, people! I think the best part of being involved in online communities is to learn new things and make new friends. I really have fun talking and joking around with people. That's the best part of being in a community, regardless of the size or success of the website from technical point of view.
I realized recently that the people - many of them here and a few other forums - I talk to now online are people who I've basically grown up with since I started coming to forums when I was a young teenager. It's cool to think about, we've never met (most of us) but yet we know a lot about each other just from the years we've spent with each other on multiple forums.
It's also fun to look at old forums' "how old are you" polls and then look at new forums with the same people. The numbers are the same, but the majority has gotten a little older depending on how many years have past. #nostalgia
Some of the replies that I have seen here are excellent, thank-you all for the quality replies that you have given. From what I have heard, especially from the whole 'closer community' and 'just for the experience' replies, I think that I am just going to bite the bullet and create a forum. Now all's left to do is pick a niche. I shall be brainstorming for quite some time.
Late reply, but what's the point of doing anything? You might fail, and there's actually a pretty slim chance that you'll make it big. But all of the big forums out there started out on the same playing field as you're at right now, and I bet none of them thought they would be where they're at today.
The problem is people that start forums don't have the patience to stay with a forum and work on it. They think that just opening a forum means people will join. They then close it a few days later when no one posts
For example Promotion forums that have recently been opened up are not as large due to large predominant forums like ForumPromotion and TheAdminZone already in the market however there are smaller forums based around a TV show which do do well due to a large fan base and no other forum allowing users to discuss the show.
Though in an example presented by Migi, if it's too specific like the Chinese Singer example, then you won't do too well either.
It has to be a unique forum which isn't covered by any other site but yet has a broad fan base/is popularly known.
The reason I'd still want my own forum is because I get to set my own policies and ideals that I have full control over. It doesn't matter to me how many other websites there are out there that will always be extremly popular. It doesn't stop the experience of operating a forum from being fun.
The reason I'd still want my own forum is because I get to set my own policies and ideals that I have full control over. It doesn't matter to me how many other websites there are out there that will always be extremly popular. It doesn't stop the experience of operating a forum from being fun.
Yes but many administrator positions are available on multiple forums. Look at the admin team here. They have all served loyally on a team or two (even more in some cases) and get the administrator role which is practically the same as owner, MasterA only has a few more rights than other administrators.
Yes but many administrator positions are available on multiple forums. Look at the admin team here. They have all served loyally on a team or two (even more in some cases) and get the administrator role which is practically the same as owner, MasterA only has a few more rights than other administrators.
Yes it does because everyone knows you as the genius that came up with the idea to own the forum plus you just have that proud feeling inside when your forum does well.
And who can forget the fact that you have the power to make money out of it and sell it off
Forums and social networks don't really compete that much. (Other than in the vaguest sense of "I only have so much time, where do I want to spend it?" but many things factor into that too. ) They offer different purposes for different groups of people.
Forums are often more private (since users are likely to be using an alias instead their real names and they aren't typically required to have any extra details about themselves posted). Meanwhile social networks often want much more details about users (real name, date of birth, location, email, phone number, etc...)
This means forums allow for discussion that you may not necessarily want attributed to your name. I mean if you use your real name (ex- "Jane Doe" or "John Smith") to post on a political section and your employer sees it... it could potentially cost you a promotion. But if they see Agent Smith or Wild Doe on a forum, they might have no idea who it is. (They'd also be more likely to see it on a social network simply because they may be friends with you or following your page or whatever. Whereas forum.mcawesome.site they may not encounter.)
And despite people saying that social networks are killing forums, I've never seen any actual evidence. No one has ever provided any at all. However I do understand that it's difficult to actually gather that sort of data. (And I'm not sure if anyone has tried...)
If anything I'd argue that there are more forums now than ever before simply because the barrier to entry is so much lower. Think about how forums were in 2004... Remember how hard it was setting up IPB 1.3 and modding it? Compare that to setting up a MyBB 1.8 forum and installing a mod now.
And of course if someone doesn't want to self host they can always use a free forum host (like proboards, Zetaboards, Invisionfree, Jcink, etc...). And those weren't really as well known options then compared to what they are now.
However it may seem like forums are dying because there are so many of them that simply don't survive. I mean if you have 50 forums and only 10 of them survive their first year that's not many... But if you have 500 and only 100 survive their first year that's a whole other perception. (Even if it is the same failure rate.) Though, speaking of perception, there is a second component to this... If there are 40 forums that fail, but you only see 4 fail then it doesn't seem so bad. However if you see 40 of the 400 that fail... then it seems so much worse. (Even though, again, the failure rate is identical.)
Now for whether making a forum has any point... If you have the commitment, proper expectations/attitude and capability? Yes, make a forum because it can be rewarding.
If you go into this thinking that you'll get rich or have a massive forum overnight? Then no. Give up now and save everyone the time/energy of watching you fail. (Because, make no mistake, you will fail.)
