What Does It Fell Like.....
- Thread starter Fait
- Start date
Owning a larger forum creates more work and more upkeep, there is really no bigger thrill than when it was smaller. Getting it to become popular and active requires great amounts of dedication and unique ideas that others don't offer.
CyberFreak
Legendary Typer
I much prefer smaller forums actually. When this forum was smaller for example, the community was alot closer, everyone got on (most of the time), knew what sites people ran. As the site got bigger and more users were active each day, people weren't as close and don't know as much about the other members which does lead to unfriendly behavior.
Also having a bigger forum makes you more of a target from jealous people trying to damage the sites reputation spreading stuff, more of a target from wannabe hackers that you have annoyed over the years wanting the glory of attacking a bigger site. You get more workload and certain tasks take alot longer and you need to plan alot more. 1 unpopular decision can cause alot of trouble if you have 100+ active members daily. Long periods of downtime could do the same. You can't just rush things like you might do in a smaller forum for example. As you site grows you do need to change your mental approach to running your forum. When the site grows, it will change no matter what you do. Members won't be as close as they were when you only have 10 active members. Not much you can do about that for example. The way you deal with members needs to change also. It is ok letting members misbehave a little when the forum is small but on a big forum it can cause massive issues especially if loads of other members also misbehave thinking "If he/she gets away with it then I will do the same".
Alot of people like their forum when it is small and want it to be big but they may just find that actually they wish it was just that small little site again with a tight community feel.
Also having a bigger forum makes you more of a target from jealous people trying to damage the sites reputation spreading stuff, more of a target from wannabe hackers that you have annoyed over the years wanting the glory of attacking a bigger site. You get more workload and certain tasks take alot longer and you need to plan alot more. 1 unpopular decision can cause alot of trouble if you have 100+ active members daily. Long periods of downtime could do the same. You can't just rush things like you might do in a smaller forum for example. As you site grows you do need to change your mental approach to running your forum. When the site grows, it will change no matter what you do. Members won't be as close as they were when you only have 10 active members. Not much you can do about that for example. The way you deal with members needs to change also. It is ok letting members misbehave a little when the forum is small but on a big forum it can cause massive issues especially if loads of other members also misbehave thinking "If he/she gets away with it then I will do the same".
Alot of people like their forum when it is small and want it to be big but they may just find that actually they wish it was just that small little site again with a tight community feel.
I love it. I love waking up to find 50-60 new threads while I was asleep. I love people having reliance on me to ensure that the forum stays up. I love being able to provide a service for people to come on and discuss, especially a place where it's changed some peoples lives (not immensely, but definitely had an influence) and even improved many. Many people have told me how my forum has influenced their life for the better, and that makes me happy.
Although some parts I hate. It's expensive, unstable and definitely evolving. I have jealous competitors and more. Sometimes you may have a great week, then it may die. You need to constantly innovated, but it's all fun and good experience.
Although some parts I hate. It's expensive, unstable and definitely evolving. I have jealous competitors and more. Sometimes you may have a great week, then it may die. You need to constantly innovated, but it's all fun and good experience.
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