What do you think is the main reason for new forums failing?

[Jericho]

As I look at new forums which have been submitted I see a-lot of them offline now it's got me thinking, why do you think people fail so much when creating a new forum?

Personally, I think it might be lack of motivation when results aren't happening as quickly as they expected, or maybe there's just too much competition, as I see lots of ''general'', ''gaming'' and ''webmaster'' forums being created, only to fail pretty soon after.

I guess the trick it to find a gap, find something other forums don't offer but that's only half the battle, creating a new forum and maintaining it is probably one of the most difficult things in terms of keeping motivated and bringing new members in.

What reasons do you think these kind of places fail?

 

[Shannon Apple]

The biggest problem with a new forum is getting the word out there and getting people to join. You also need members who are interested in forum discussion rather than quick twitter or FB-like comments. If you get a bunch of people simply commenting on threads rather than engaging discussion, your forum wont last long because the people who joined it with the hope of having real discussions with like-minded individuals will leave. That may sound a bit snobby, but it's true unfortunately. You need threads with substance that will compel someone to sign in and reply.

Back in the day, it was relatively easy to start a new forum and get people to join it. Nowadays, it's insanely difficult to get a new forum off the ground because you're competeing with social media. I will say that since Sakuga City opened, we haven't actually held onto very many new members that weren't part of the old community. It's not that they weren't welcomed because most people on our forum are friendly, it's just that they had no attachment to the community like the old members have. How do you retain new users on a forum that's still pretty new?

Starting a new forum on your own is next to impossible in 2018. In 2004, it was easy. The internet is already flooded with communities for everything and anything. You need a group of people willing to put the time in to post new content and keep the community active.

Don't start a forum with lots and lots of boards, that's my main piece of advice to someone starting out. It's also the reason most new forums fail to go anywhere. Find a niche, not something too general, and have a small number of boards to begin with. The best thing to start a forum on is something that you are passionate about yourself as you'll be knowledgeable on it. As your forum grows and becomes more active, you can expand and divide content into more specific sections. Many admins make the mistake of copying an already active forum's index, but that index was probably expanded out over the years. A few active boards is better than many many empty inactive ones and is more likely to attract members.

 

[Mozzie]

I agree, it is hard to get discussions going

 

[TDK]

I think when admins/owners don't achieve the activity they had hoped to have had going into it they're quick to bail on the project. Most give up before ever giving it a real shot.

 

[Jason76]

I think a big problem is they don't want to spend money and/or time - as @TDK hinted at.

 

[Page]

I seen allot of new and old are no longer running. I Seen the old forums chnage owners and they gone down hill very badly. It is hard. even if you do get members posting they only do there part as paid/exchanges then that's it they leave and then it's dead again. As the years go on! the new ideas doesn't work and so where is out answer?

How can we deal with this new trend?

 

[Bryn]

I'm going to be very honest here... my forum was going to be an instant flop when I first made it and had thoughts on closing after a week but, I did my best to keep it alive and now I'm pleased of what has become. But yes, trying to get a new forum up and running these days is much harder than it was a decade ago, in where this was the time where forums were the thing then. I think those that suffer this way should join the more active communities instead.

And also, this was similarly discussed in the ZetaBoards support forum also.

 

[Jason76]

I think traffic is also big. I mean, what fun is it without it? But traffic normally costs something unless - your forum is good and you have a good circle of friends.

Oh, what about a bad forum with paid traffic? I guess that's like a crappy pro-sports team. 😀

 

[Jericho]

Paid traffic can work, if you're knowledgeable enough on how to target the right audience.

 

[Jason76]

Paid traffic can work, if you're knowledgeable enough on how to target the right audience.

But so much paid traffic is bad like pop-ups, pop-unders, redirected - and it's the only affordable kind.

 

[Azareal]

Admins created them because they were bored, nothing happened on them, they got more bored, and shut them down. 90% of failures in a nutshell.

 

[NicheLaboratory]

I see a lot of even good forums are closing down because it's got too hard to keep spammers off the sites.

I've started a couple of forums this year. I must be mad. I think they could succeed because they're in niches where people WILL post.

Also the tide is starting to turn. People are realising that social media sites are far from private. LinkedIn, Facebook and Quora all do grey or even black hat things to get your friends lists. This is crazy as I don't have anything in common with my friends lol.

 

[Peteh]

Many forums fail in my experience due to lack of content and content that's kept fresh. If a forum is advertised and there is zero content or very little it's akin to announcing a grand opening of a new store and for potential customers to find the shelves totally bare. Many fail due to lack of attention to detail too. Noone would be interested in joining a forum where spam posts are not dealt with, I've lost count of the amount of forums with pages of "kitchen spam" that is either left of member comments on thus perpetuating the problem. I set it up so that the first few posts need approval before appearing and like here links are initally banned for new members.

 

[Page]

I set it up so that the first few posts need approval before appearing and like here links are initally banned for new members.

Same here, I have it so that they need to make 5 posts to become an full member, as they join they are in semi rank.

keep in mind that there are websites that has good content but no traffic/active user base

 

[Peteh]

Another mistake I often see is admins setting their new forum with very little content publicly viewable, this means potential members have no real idea of what the forum is about and what would be expected of them as members etc.

 

[Azareal]

Another mistake I often see is admins setting their new forum with very little content publicly viewable, this means potential members have no real idea of what the forum is about and what would be expected of them as members etc.

To put things slightly bluntly, doing that is asking to fail.

I think in a lot of cases, people's standards have gone up, way up, they'll settle for less, if they literally have no other choice or they've always been on your site, but otherwise, they probably won't bother.

Your competitor in their expectations is not a phpBB forum, it's Facebook, they expect your site to be of that standard, even if they're not using Facebook. That means alerts, likes, etc. and probably even going further than that.

With their expectations that high, just about anything less is basically begrudgingly forcing someone to compromise and that lowers their activity, if they even care at all.
Once you've acclimated to a certain level of quality, it's can be pretty hard to step back down.

Also, people like admins who are responsive to their needs and wants, even if they don't tell you, not the "absent admin" who is never there or is completely oblivious. Some of these demands can be even be pretty unreasonable, including creating a little social network in a software which doesn't really work that way.

 

[Page]

There are about a zillion reasons why community forums fail. It’s a more sensitive channel than Facebook, Twitter and all the other channels in your service because it requires more than just one person’s enthusiasm to become successful. But the biggest barrier to building your community forums isn’t your customer’s lack of participation. It’s your impatience. Strong communities are built over time.

Also most users are just one time fellas who pop in and write their random active threads. They don’t have a clue about forum etiquette and most people don’t even stick around for a reply let alone contribute anything useful to the conversation.

 

[Corzhens]

My take on the fading popularity of a forum is the activity. I had seen how some forums have lost activity in spite of having members regularly logged in. Admins should take note that an ordinary forum member prefers to react on new discussions and replies on an active discussion. That means there should be an organic posts coming from the management, be it paid posting or initiated by the staff. There's one forum that I used to visit where there was not much activity that sometimes the boards remain stagnant for a day or 2. That would definitely kill the interest of the community members.

 

[Jason76]

My take on the fading popularity of a forum is the activity.

One solution is just paying people to post (5 -10 members) - preferably people highly skilled in the niche, though, a few others could be tolerable (For instance, a forum might want some newbie types.).

 

[Felly]

I think it has to do with the topic of the forum and also social media.

I say the forum's topic because for example, there are lots of Pokemon forums out there, but they fill niches. Any other Pokemon forums struggle to keep up and find their place in the forum world so they can grow. I use Pokemon as an example because that's the forum I'm currently admining on.

I also say social media because the latest generations of children want instant gratification, and social media gives that to them. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter give them the information they want right away, and they don't have to wait too long for a person to respond to them. The same could be said for chat programs as well, like Discord, where hundreds of people can come together in a server to discuss a topic in a live format.