Recently i've noticed a lot more forums on the traffic exchanges I use. Normally I see one or two every hundred or so sites, but recently i've been seeing 10 or more.
MY forum is limited to a small target audience. So random visits doesn't help me much. Thankfully, Google's now doing all the work for me. I don't even promote anymore. Just buy backlinks on other forums/sites building my anchor texts.
I have Google Analytics, and Google Searches actually brings in about 50-60% of my new traffic, now.
I've been working with my "Free Domain Guide" site to get it to the top with Google, and according to Webmaster Tools, i'm ranked 3rd right now. Even so, i'm not getting much traffic through Google at all, and i'm getting a high number of referrals through traffic exchanges.
I see how it can be very beneficial for your sites theme. But, for me, lol; not many who use these, are actually looking for a forum to brawl on
It's a very good idea, for those who have forums/sites with a more broader target audience though, So I'm not knocking the idea at all. Just stating it wouldn't benefit me much from it.
Traffic exchanges are not normally that good for forums. I sometimes use traffic exchanges but i use it to promote other things. They are good for getting referrals for ptc site and other money making sites but for your average forum, you don't get good results due to the people that actually surf and what they are into and like to promote.
