Why do you think most new forums close?
- Thread starter Cierra
- Start date
RH-Calvin said:
This is a pretty solid point. What a lot of Administrators do, especially new ones, is open their forum prematurely. Often you see too many forums with basically 0 posts in all the subforums. Ideally, a forum would start with relatively narrow subforums/forums for discussion, with 15+ topics in each forum/subforum. This creates active avenues of discussion for all new users, as most new users are not inclined to post new topics. In addition, administrators and staff need to be constantly promoting and posting new topics. Otherwise there will eventually be a drop-off of user participation
I think that's where the majority of new admins fall off; lack of preparation for how much you need to post to get a forum off the ground. Beyond that, most people don't realize you really have to invest a lot into a forum to achieve the image you want. Most forums will be running at a deficit for their entire time being online -- that was my experience at least. Some people realize this and lose all will to continue, but for me it wasn't about the money -- I just liked posting and connecting with people.
Finally, I think people just expect the forum to blossom on its own. They probably don't hire anyone, or just hire a few random people to help maintain the forum and then think they can just let it autopilot into the 10k+ post range. No, that doesn't happen unless you just buy all your posts.
Bottom line: forums are hard to make successful. Most people don't realize that, or realize it too late.
Moët new forums close for many reasons. Some of the previous posts have all had good points.
What I see happen so often is that people try to recreate what's already available at other forums. Or they don't put the required time into the forum. Members aren't going to join a dead forum of the same niche they already at. What new admins need to do is get a bit more creative 🙂
What I see happen so often is that people try to recreate what's already available at other forums. Or they don't put the required time into the forum. Members aren't going to join a dead forum of the same niche they already at. What new admins need to do is get a bit more creative 🙂
D
Deleted member 17779
There are many reasons for this.
Running a forum takes a lot more work than some people realize. It takes a special person that is dedicated enough to keep things going and keep working hard in order for a forum to become successful and stay that way.
- Coming up with a niche' and creating a community that people want to be apart of is a lot harder than some people think. A lot of people just think it would be cool to run their own forum.
- Another thing is time. If it looks like an admin isn't putting a lot of effort into a new forum, then that will throw off a lot of people from joining.
- Some admins may just get bored with it after a while and just let things go.
Running a forum takes a lot more work than some people realize. It takes a special person that is dedicated enough to keep things going and keep working hard in order for a forum to become successful and stay that way.
Most forums, businesses, ideas, etc. fail. I think it's just a testament to the fact that it's hard to get something new started that a lot of people are interested in. Some thugs do succeed though. You just have to keep trying, and not get attached to one particular idea.
Forces of Steel
Resident
Because the administrators likely come to accept the fact that they should've started their forums in 2005 and not 2015. Because social media has rasped a lot of potential members. That's when you take a hard look at yourself and realize the market has dramatically changed in the last several years. People are mostly glued to their phones, albeit stripped off any actual communication. You'll sooner get a forum up and going that allows pornography, memes, and trolling.
I feel that many newer message forums tend to close down due to the new forum owner's expectations not being met the way they foreseen the forum to become.
I've seen many new players in forum land create a forum and then assume that others will magically find the forum, populate it and then the admin start gaining something major from their forum such as beating the competition, huge profits and so on.
Running a forum takes a lot of work and patients. If you do not spend a lot of time on it or hire someone who will do it, the forum will likely remain inactive.
When on vacation, who wants to visit a city that no one talks about with very little things to do? Not many people - the same logic can go for a forum. We [Forum Owners] are like the mayors of our cities and we need to be active with our cities [forums] in order to make out-of-towners [visiors] want to join the forum! 🙂
I've seen many new players in forum land create a forum and then assume that others will magically find the forum, populate it and then the admin start gaining something major from their forum such as beating the competition, huge profits and so on.
Running a forum takes a lot of work and patients. If you do not spend a lot of time on it or hire someone who will do it, the forum will likely remain inactive.
When on vacation, who wants to visit a city that no one talks about with very little things to do? Not many people - the same logic can go for a forum. We [Forum Owners] are like the mayors of our cities and we need to be active with our cities [forums] in order to make out-of-towners [visiors] want to join the forum! 🙂
DixieKongJD2
New Arrival
Because admin might sit there, thinking that he or she will get visitors from staying put and doing nothing.
I already have past experience in moderation, so haven't actually promoted anyone to staff since the new board was opened.
I'm actually quite a lenient person usually, unless someone is making loads of pointless posts, I see a lot of drama or there's spambots, among other cases where I need to enforce the rules.
My site lives on the few returning old members who've been around since one of the 2014 boards and also other new people who seem to randomly find the site.
(Fact: I banned a spam poster and activity started getting higher since)
I already have past experience in moderation, so haven't actually promoted anyone to staff since the new board was opened.
I'm actually quite a lenient person usually, unless someone is making loads of pointless posts, I see a lot of drama or there's spambots, among other cases where I need to enforce the rules.
My site lives on the few returning old members who've been around since one of the 2014 boards and also other new people who seem to randomly find the site.
(Fact: I banned a spam poster and activity started getting higher since)
Most of the time when people start a forum they are inexperienced and expect the users to do everything their-self. As an owner and/or admin of a forum you have to provide content and build your community yourself.
Money has a part too, most people start a forum with little funds, using a free domain. No one really wants to join a forum that is so unlegit looking like myforum101.freeboards.com.
Money has a part too, most people start a forum with little funds, using a free domain. No one really wants to join a forum that is so unlegit looking like myforum101.freeboards.com.
I have been guilty of this in the past, but I'm sure people are just as guilty of this today, is that people fail to keep up with posting topics and keeping topics up-to-date in general. That's the hugest reason, plus people don't realize how big of a commitment something like this is until they actually get the ball rolling.
Normally because people don't actually plan them out. I can make a decent forum in 10 minutes with $20. However, what makes a forum great is the content. If you just make a forum in the spur of the moment, the chances are it won't succeed.
I feel there is no one size fits all reason as to why new forums close their doors. There are several factors and possibilities that lead to closures. It's very similar to new businesses. Statistically speaking, most business do not make it past their initial year or so of regular operation. It is very difficult to remain hopeful when you have yet to see the success you are desiring. If you're in foruming for the money, then yes you will most likely be falling short of your goals every time. Most of us, however, simply desire a place to discuss similar interests with individuals we desire to interact with. Running a forum requires a lot of time and dedication, which is a huge commitment. Like any commitment, it's nice when it's going our way, but the true test of the water is whether or not you will sink or stay afloat when you run into a stormy patch of weather.
I have been staff at several forums, and participate in a few on a regular basis that are very successful. The reasons I believe they are successful is because the leaders do not quit. No matter how many members are posting or interacting with one another in a contributing manner to the overall discussion, they remain consistently dedicated to furthering their community one post at a time. A successful forum in not created overnight. It's a process that will test your willpower and determination for achieving your goal.
As far as the discussion forum I am in the process of creating, my goal is not to have a widely successful forum from an activity standpoint; rather, I desire a meaningful group of individuals, regardless of how many, that consistently and effectively communicate with one another and build bonds that are lasting. That should be the goal of any community, in my opinion.
I have been staff at several forums, and participate in a few on a regular basis that are very successful. The reasons I believe they are successful is because the leaders do not quit. No matter how many members are posting or interacting with one another in a contributing manner to the overall discussion, they remain consistently dedicated to furthering their community one post at a time. A successful forum in not created overnight. It's a process that will test your willpower and determination for achieving your goal.
As far as the discussion forum I am in the process of creating, my goal is not to have a widely successful forum from an activity standpoint; rather, I desire a meaningful group of individuals, regardless of how many, that consistently and effectively communicate with one another and build bonds that are lasting. That should be the goal of any community, in my opinion.
I think a lot of new forum owners underestimate the amount of work that has to go into a forum to make it successful. A lot of people will create a forum and then expect people to just come to it and build content for them, which isn't how forums work.
In my past I got discouraged by the lack of activity, and simply either shut down the site, or let it sit there and gather dust. You could be the most active member on your site, make lots of topics and posts daily, but without other fellow active members who are interested in posting, It doesn't matter imo. I feel like most forums shutting down is due to being discouraged, as well as not having something that make members strive to post on. Take FP's forum currency for example. Forum currency is something a lot of forums offer, but what do you really get with them most of the time? Free, pointless stuff that doesn't make too much of a difference. Here, you get post packages, domains, reviews, etc. It gives members incentive to post, and makes posting worthwhile for the avid webmaster. This, and very high SEO XD
Not getting discouraged, and continuing to push through will be what separates your site from others. There are countless sites for every genre, which more and more pop up every second it seems. You just need to continue to push through the hard times, and continue to work on your site in every aspect. Not doing this is I personally think is another reason sites shut down.
If you take the time and effort to go out of your way and market it correctly, it doesn't normally matter how fast you make your site imo. My website was a spur of the moment thing that I honestly was expecting to just be another random site I made for fun to get better at making forums. However, because I gave them a reason to continue to post, I added lots of extra content, and marketed the website like crazy doing countless of stuff such as SEO, advertise, and making partnerships with other social media personnel, as well as other websites it is starting to grow a lot 😀 I personally think it's all in how much you put into the website/forum after it is up.John said:
Not getting discouraged, and continuing to push through will be what separates your site from others. There are countless sites for every genre, which more and more pop up every second it seems. You just need to continue to push through the hard times, and continue to work on your site in every aspect. Not doing this is I personally think is another reason sites shut down.
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