Why your forum is failing

One thing that is as painful as a kick to the groin is noticing a webmaster begging people to join their website/forum.
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Even more painful for me is someone joining MY forum just to do it.

We've had to blacklist several free website services' domains through our site filter just because so many people would join my site, then spam PMs to my members advertising their websites. I offer a very cheap Ebook on forum management as well as a blog on it that is totally free. Not our fault that there are too many people out there who aren't willing to educate themselves when all the resources they need are in easy reach, either that or they just don't want to have to do any work.

I've said this before and will forever say it: managing a forum gets harder as it grows, not easier. If you're waiting to reach that point where it can "go on autopilot" and "manage itself," you'll be in that nursing home still waiting.

I've seen what totally unmanaged forums are like. One thing I can say is I'll sure never forget it.
 
This will help me only one thing i actually like geneal forums if they have content<br /><br />-- 17 May 2011, 22:10 --<br /><br />Also my forum is a geneal discussion forum we are becoming sucessfull(2000 Messages & 120 members in over 2 months)
 
The Elite said:
In my opinion, if your forum is a General Chat forum. Please stop reading as you will hate me at the end of this. A general discussion forum is terrible, will take you no where, and all in all, WILL waste you money AND time. No one wants to join a general discussion forum where so much effort has been put in, so why do you think they'll join a general discussion forum that offers no content, nothing unique, no active members or ANYTHING. The only way I see a general discussion forum growing for 2-4 weeks is if you pay them. Oh yeah, did I mention that the largest forum(s) ARE general discussion forums.
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I couldn't agree more with general forums generally being a huge failure. Anything that can be discussed on a general forum can be discussed in the various off topic sections of any other forum. The average general discussion forum offers nothing special to the users, and the vast majority of users join a forum due to being interested in a specific niche. The bonding of a community happens because the users joining are all interested in at least one common topic. In a general forum it becomes much harder to have this as there is no main theme to unify the community.
 
One thing my general discussion Forum has received 2000 Messages in the month that its been opened what types of things does a forum need to make members want to join?
 
I agree that a general forum is possibly the hardest kind to get off the ground. However, some people prefer small forums over large ones. So there's room for smaller general discussion forums as well. A forum doesn't have to be larger to be a success in its own right. People usually want their forums to be big, but that's really more of a matter of personal preference. I think as long as it's active enough to give a varied discussion and something new every day for people to log on to see then it's quite healthy.

People whose forums do grow big will look back fondly on the early days when it was small.
 
Well I have a general discussion forum and we dont really offer anything special or unique aside from some great members to chat with & a friendly community atmosphere. 🙂
 
theezy said:
Well I have a general discussion forum and we dont really offer anything special or unique aside from some great members to chat with & a friendly community atmosphere. 🙂
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Sure, but you also had forum advertiser and many of those members followed you over. It's a lot easier to start a forum when you already have a user base. The members there also knew each other from before so that community atmosphere followed over.

Your average startup general discussion forum does not have that advantage. Joe Newforumowner is at a huge disadvantage by starting a forum without a specific niche. And he is not anywhere near as networked as you are.
 
Acorn said:
I agree that a general forum is possibly the hardest kind to get off the ground. However, some people prefer small forums over large ones. So there's room for smaller general discussion forums as well. A forum doesn't have to be larger to be a success in its own right. People usually want their forums to be big, but that's really more of a matter of personal preference. I think as long as it's active enough to give a varied discussion and something new every day for people to log on to see then it's quite healthy.

People whose forums do grow big will look back fondly on the early days when it was small.
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That's actually why I chose a general discussion forum as my genera of choice, because I don't do large crowds that well in real life, so general discussion was a perfect choice for me because even if there's only three or four people online, I'm okay with that just as long as it's not seriously crowded or active to the point where I can no longer keep up. Yes, we can always add more staff members if/when needed, but really, I prefer smaller forums over larger ones, so that's why I chose this genera.
 
The Elite said:
Why your forum makes me hate the internet.
Please, oh PLEASE don't get me started on terribly designed websites. I've seen some atrocious designs where the colour palette is green and blue. I don't mean to hate, but either your designer is colour blind, or their sense of taste is non-existing. This brings me to my next point for why your forum is failing.

Would you like to walk into your room every day and cringe at the sight of it? NO. Forums that succeed MUST have regular active members that usually log on every day and discuss. So, imagine YOU are that active member that goes on every day. Would you like to cringe at the design of the forum, NO. Studies have shown that visitors spend a maximum of 3 seconds on websites before leaving. I don't know if these studies are correct (maybe not), but I know for a fact that no one will not stay on a badly designed website for more than 3-4 seconds, unless you're paying them. This is why your bounce rate on your google analytics statistics is over 50%
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I don't agree with the part which I've put under bold. Although I will say I'm not 'offended' by what you put, but just highlighting that as a designer myself, the colours used in a design are picked by the client. You wouldn't be a very good designer if you wanted to choose the colours and everything else. So just making that point, although if you directed that point at the admin rather than the designer then I would agree.

It's the client that makes the brief, as a designer you just have to follow it.
 
Very nice guide. I was going to make a general discussion forum, but realized that most forums have an off topic area anyway.
 
The Pimped Papaya said:
Very nice guide. I was going to make a general discussion forum, but realized that most forums have an off topic area anyway.
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There are already too many general discussion forums. I myself own/run one. It's hard to be unique with those anymore.
 
The Elite said:
I'll bump this up for new members to see.
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Can you put a new link to the article. I'd like to read it , but your site says that nothing could be found.
 
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