Am I wasting my time?

[RobinHood]

Websites such as Topix make it harder for forums, as they seem to have such a large reach they dominate discussion. But what always amazes me is the way people will sit there and have whole conversations despite the original post being created by an algorithm, as is the case on topix, and not a real person.

Can you explain Topix to me and link me? Googling it results in some internal corporate systems by the looks of it.

You could try something like Mighty Bell

mightybell.com

The founder also co-founded Ning

https://www.ning.com/

Mightybell is kind of like having your own private facebook group outside of facebook.

It comes complete with native phone apps, which is a massive selling point IMO. I've tested the iOS one and it's pretty smooth.

It's free for up to 1000 members, then there's paid plans above that or if you want to get your user data, monetise with user memberships or insert your own advertising.

Because it's locked in you won't get SEO benefits, but you can definitely cultivate and create a community on it with your own culture, and there's potential to monetise down the road.


I've been battling with trying to create a new forum for the last 5 months, it's bloody hard work these days with facebook groups. Like @=MGN=RedEagle said, unless you already have access to an audience, it's incredibly difficult to get new signups and then have them create new content.

I'm lucky that I made friends with the admin of the main facebook groups for my forum. One has 2,500 members and one has nearly 1,000. Without his support helping to promote it and allowing my cross posting of content to the group there's no way it would have taken off (and it still hasn't, activity is low, but I've managed to get about 500 members so far and there's some good content on there).

I talk to the members of the group a lot, trying to post original content there too, and one of them said last week that they flat out can't be bothered with the hassle of forums anymore. The big social media players and their apps are just so easy to use.


I feel a new forum to work these days I feel you really need to offer more than just a discussion platform. You need extra features that are useful and that they can't find elsewhere. Sadly that often means expensive custom coding.

If I wasn't concerned with trying to get my site to rank in search, I'd definitely try an out of the box solution that includes native phone apps. Something like mighty bell.

 

[ForumsByMe]

Thanks for the replies. One thing I just noticed was all the very large successful forums I have been looking at have been around before Facebook. I think Facebook is the main reason forums are dead.

The 'Deplorables' seems to attract a lot of level headed middle income Americans, you see them here and there on the Facebook pages. I think it is possible to have serious discussion under this name, but the issue is I don't think the average American really has any interest in discussing politics seriously. Or maybe they are not capable of it because the corporate media has dumbed everything down to such a degree. Intelligence across the West is really going down the tubes. Or maybe it is because they don't know what they stand for exactly. Who knows. I give up trying to care.

Here is an example of how mainstream the deplorable phenomenon is: http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/the-deplorables-vs-the-nasties/#wFFMRVfWSKThyi83.99

I got to the point where I was so desperate to try and sell the forum and recoup my money that I even approached Jewish groups offering them the forum in the hopes they might want it as a way to control the Trump narrative so they could co-opt it for their own anxious purposes, keeping the movement more civic nationalist than ethno nationalist. Pure gentile sell out I know.

I have spend over $1000 on this forum, via two months of premium VPS hosting, software cost, install cost etc. I am not a technical person so had to get my host to do everything. Anyway I will have to throw in the towel. There is simply too much competition out there in the form of alternative social media platforms and even comments sections on news websites, that newcomers simply don't stand a chance.

Even if you find a niche, what stops someone else co-opting it and providing a better platform. Never again.

Here is the Topix forum I was talking about: http://www.topix.com/forum/who/donald-trump

 

[DieselMinded]

love your nitche and your header looks great

getting a forum rolling is a grind we all need facebook to just go away hopefully zuckerburg pisses off trump and he shuts it down lol

 

[DieselMinded]

you dont do facebook log in?

i think you need to embrace facebook make your site as intergrated as possible then post links back to your site on facebook groups im member of about 500 of them

i even run paid ads on facebook for both my sites

 

[RobinHood]

getting a forum rolling is a grind we all need facebook to just go away hopefully zuckerburg pisses off trump and he shuts it down lol

After realising what an impact Facebook has had in this election I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he ends up running in 2020. He's already laying the groundwork in many of his actions. Not writing off religion any longer and investigating how to maintain control of Facebook if he were to enter public office. Combine that with the challenge to visit every state by the end of the year.


Not that I think he's a bad person. But it seems like an awfully big conflict of interest running facebook and having that much control over the ability to influence it's userbase with ads and what appears in their feeds algorithmicly.

I'm not a fan of trump, but I'm sorry to hear about your difficulty launching.

You need to make it easy for members to join like diesel said.

See if you can find some rss feeds for active blogs in your niche and set the timer to poll them for every 10mins. Then you'll have good content getting posted to your site regularly to spark fresh discussion.

You can also use dlvr.it to pull the rss feeds from your forum back to facebook on your official page, or twitter. You can even append relevant hashtags and if you're on the ball and pick the right hash tags your threads will appear along with the trending trump news topics on twitter

Ensure you have twitter sign in set up so traffic from twitter can register to post in seconds.

 

[RobinHood]

Here is the Topix forum I was talking about: http://www.topix.com/forum/who/donald-trump

Weirdly the first thread I opened on there posted by there was a topic asking for opinions on a xenforo forum I see posted around which seems to be doing quite well, posted by their admin.

 

[RobinHood]

Oh dear lord, I'm getting single muslim ads on Donald Trump threads

(Not muslim or religious, the targeting is way off! )

And 20k replies on one topic?'l! Daaaamnn

 

[RobinHood]

Decent intro vid on topix, no real details apart fromthat they get a lot of views and 70% of their users are women. Gets people exited about it though.

Their landing page is awful, or at least it felt that way when I found it earlier. They must be doing something right in terms of community though.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/191536593?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

 

[James Kart]

You should promote your site with the same genre and audience. Have a lot of patience.

 

[=MGN=RedEagle]

Thanks for the replies. One thing I just noticed was all the very large successful forums I have been looking at have been around before Facebook. I think Facebook is the main reason forums are dead.

The 'Deplorables' seems to attract a lot of level headed middle income Americans, you see them here and there on the Facebook pages. I think it is possible to have serious discussion under this name, but the issue is I don't think the average American really has any interest in discussing politics seriously. Or maybe they are not capable of it because the corporate media has dumbed everything down to such a degree. Intelligence across the West is really going down the tubes. Or maybe it is because they don't know what they stand for exactly. Who knows. I give up trying to care.

Here is an example of how mainstream the deplorable phenomenon is: http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/the-deplorables-vs-the-nasties/#wFFMRVfWSKThyi83.99

I got to the point where I was so desperate to try and sell the forum and recoup my money that I even approached Jewish groups offering them the forum in the hopes they might want it as a way to control the Trump narrative so they could co-opt it for their own anxious purposes, keeping the movement more civic nationalist than ethno nationalist. Pure gentile sell out I know.

I have spend over $1000 on this forum, via two months of premium VPS hosting, software cost, install cost etc. I am not a technical person so had to get my host to do everything. Anyway I will have to throw in the towel. There is simply too much competition out there in the form of alternative social media platforms and even comments sections on news websites, that newcomers simply don't stand a chance.

Even if you find a niche, what stops someone else co-opting it and providing a better platform. Never again.

Here is the Topix forum I was talking about: http://www.topix.com/forum/who/donald-trump

All of this is just my opinion.

I've taken a lot of business courses (mostly free and online) and the thing I remember most is being high and to the right... as in have a high-demand product which provides a lot of value that very few others provide.

In my personal experience if you don't provide that you will struggle for years and get nowhere.

In some way, it seems to me, Facebook groups have replaced the use for topic-based forums, especially when it comes to groups that are not highly technical. Technical people know what forums are and are may take to them but non-technical people can be put off by learning a new system of communication and find Facebook easier imo.

I am not sure it's fair to say though that forums are dead. Many products have a product-related forum which help provide the provider of the product with a great connection with their supporters. But again, captive audience.

 

[ForumsByMe]

Overwhelmed by all the support. Great community you have here! Thanks for the advice, again.

I didn't realize you could join so many Facebook groups. I was banned for joining too many groups, I probably clicked on them too fast or something.

Probably should have an accompanying website and create content, and have the forum simply to complement the site. I can see now that is the main problem. I don't know anything about creating websites so really am out of my depth.

But I am skeptical I can get a captive audience. I simply think all the big players already have too much of a monopoly and I stupidly didn't realize Topix was a thing. Topix is so popular because it has tailored news to every US county so generates massive traffic that you really can't compete with it.

I also think people prefer to talk about hobbies/ interests rather than something as dry as politics. Although Trump is all anyone is talking about, hence why I thought the forum would at least have a few regular members by now.

My hesitation to keep going is due to the fact I was scammed in the past out of a lot of money by a freelance forum technician when I first tried setting up that robot forum in late 2014, before I found my current reliable host, and at the moment can't get beyond the feeling that online business is just a money trap.

I literally only have $150 left in my bank account so can't continue on. You will find an ad for my forum applicable domains in the 'Domains & Websites for sale Australia' Facebook group. Bye.

 

[James Kart]

Best is to study SEO and apply it to your website.

 

[DieselMinded]

sorry your giving up. its not like you can just start a forum and wait for it to take off... its a grind a major grind , I've found it easier to promote 2 at once at this point lol , i did make a post on your site as our nitche over laps some

 

[EQnoble]

I also think people prefer to talk about hobbies/ interests rather than something as dry as politics. Although Trump is all anyone is talking about, hence why I thought the forum would at least have a few regular members by now.

My hesitation to keep going is due to the fact I was scammed in the past out of a lot of money by a freelance forum technician when I first tried setting up that robot forum in late 2014, before I found my current reliable host, and at the moment can't get beyond the feeling that online business is just a money trap.

I literally only have $150 left in my bank account so can't continue on. You will find an ad for my forum applicable domains in the 'Domains & Websites for sale Australia' Facebook group. Bye.

Start here -> https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact

Maybe he will fund you...I mean think about it, dude was running for president while trolling people on twitter, call the forum "TnA" for "Trumps national Army" with a description reading "A handful of TnA will always fight when it meets resistance", pitch that there focusing on a proposed army of social media operatives and see how it goes. Maybe he moves you over here and you are on track to help him run in 2020 and eventually sit as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff representing the newest branch of the military.

There are a lot or reasons that I would say something so blunt, coarse, and rediculous sounding but I will level with you here. I try and picture myself on the inverse starting a forum about Australian politics and I'll tell yah....I got nothin.

What do I say, I know nothing of the actual politics Australia plays at and even if I did I am not Australian...I have no idea what that feels like, can't describe for you the feeling of Australian civic pride nor can I tell you what it feels like to an Aussie when a revered Australian icon get's defaced. I don't know who started the rivalry between Brizzy and Melbs in the NRL and if I pretended to know, I would probably sound a bit like a one pot screamer with words not worth the shrapnel in your pocket being a native of the place yourself...see what I mean?

It just wouldn't make sense for me to be the one in charge of an Australian politics forum unless the entire purpose was pure satire and even at that by definition for me to construct satire on a subject I would have to know enough about it to be able to point out the shortcomings and juxtaposition a rebuttal that leaves a taste so bad coating the viewership's collective digital mouths that they need to wipe them out with 2-ply TP style.

If you have an interest in politics, why not cover Australian politics and have one section dedicated to foreign politics? I feel like you would be able to provide more content directly to the site yourself and this based on the assumption that people generally know the place they live in better than a place 12000 miles away...jussayin.

 

[JamesBrown]

Well I never enjoyed talking on forums. I find it tedious. .

That might be a clue there. I own forums from quiet, serious ones that might attract 15 posts a week to busier ones that at peak times might have 30 posts a minute. I love those forums, all of them, I love posting on them and being part of the community. They are all built around something I am passionate about. I also belong to other forums based on other hobbies and interests; I love those too. You need to love forums; you are going to have to live on it to make a success of one

While none of my sites is political, we do get a LOT of political chat from members. I'm happy to provide an area for them to do that. My sites are British, but we have thousands of posts about Trump and American politics. And many tens of thousands more about Brexit and similar. This 'off topic' section might be the first place they go to when they log in, they enjoy the debate; but I doubt a single one of those posters would join a site to discuss Trump or general politics per se. They can do that so easily on FB, Twitter and Newspaper and blog comment sections. 15 years ago General chat/political forums were everywhere; there are not many around now.

My advice in building a successful forum today.

Find a tiny niche, ideally something you enjoy to do, talk about, etc. Then try and dominate it. Years ago a car forum that discussed all types of cars might have been great but it would be too broad now, and it would be hard to get noticed, let alone dominate that niche. Narrow that niche down to 'sports cars' or '4 wheel drive' and these days you'll still not make a dent. Even narrowing the niche further to a single brand of sports car might still prove to be too difficult to break into. You might have to choose a particular model or even year! But when you have that tiny niche you need to own it. If your niche is say, the new Landrover Defender coming out in 2018; then you need to make sure that you are one of the most informative sites on the web when it comes to that new car.

Build a website with a Wordpress front end with your xF forum as the engine and the addon xenword to tie the two together.

Produce (or commission) the very best articles for your WordPress front end. Don't worry yourself about SEO just produce good quality relevant content. If the content is good enough, it will get picked up and returned by search engines. Comments made on the front end are automatically turned into threads on the forum. If your site is the best, you will get members and lot of valuable Landrover discussions on your site. Once you have people coming and they've been members while and there is plenty of input, then you can add sections about other Landrovers models, slowly at first, don't lose your identity, but build it you can.

Then when you are well established with lots of members, you can slice and dice which I have done successfully many times. Let's say you start a forum on fish keeping; you might find that some the fish-keeping-forum-goers also discuss photography in the off topic sections, you can capitalise that to kick off other forums. People like to be "Founders" so those 20 people can help you populate a new photography forum. You are not going to do this in a day or even a year, but it's perfectly possible,

I think I can safely say forums are dead.

No way are forums dead, good ones are doing very well

 

[ForumsByMe]

That might be a clue there. I own forums from quiet, serious ones that might attract 15 posts a week to busier ones that at peak times might have 30 posts a minute. I love those forums, all of them, I love posting on them and being part of the community. They are all built around something I am passionate about. I also belong to other forums based on other hobbies and interests; I love those too. You need to love forums; you are going to have to live on it to make a success of one

While none of my sites is political, we do get a LOT of political chat from members. I'm happy to provide an area for them to do that. My sites are British, but we have thousands of posts about Trump and American politics. And many tens of thousands more about Brexit and similar. This 'off topic' section might be the first place they go to when they log in, they enjoy the debate; but I doubt a single one of those posters would join a site to discuss Trump or general politics per se. They can do that so easily on FB, Twitter and Newspaper and blog comment sections. 15 years ago General chat/political forums were everywhere; there are not many around now.

My advice in building a successful forum today.

Find a tiny niche, ideally something you enjoy to do, talk about, etc. Then try and dominate it. Years ago a car forum that discussed all types of cars might have been great but it would be too broad now, and it would be hard to get noticed, let alone dominate that niche. Narrow that niche down to 'sports cars' or '4 wheel drive' and these days you'll still not make a dent. Even narrowing the niche further to a single brand of sports car might still prove to be too difficult to break into. You might have to choose a particular model or even year! But when you have that tiny niche you need to own it. If your niche is say, the new Landrover Defender coming out in 2018; then you need to make sure that you are one of the most informative sites on the web when it comes to that new car.

Build a website with a Wordpress front end with your xF forum as the engine and the addon xenword to tie the two together.

Produce (or commission) the very best articles for your WordPress front end. Don't worry yourself about SEO just produce good quality relevant content. If the content is good enough, it will get picked up and returned by search engines. Comments made on the front end are automatically turned into threads on the forum. If your site is the best, you will get members and lot of valuable Landrover discussions on your site. Once you have people coming and they've been members while and there is plenty of input, then you can add sections about other Landrovers models, slowly at first, don't lose your identity, but build it you can.

Then when you are well established with lots of members, you can slice and dice which I have done successfully many times. Let's say you start a forum on fish keeping; you might find that some the fish-keeping-forum-goers also discuss photography in the off topic sections, you can capitalise that to kick off other forums. People like to be "Founders" so those 20 people can help you populate a new photography forum. You are not going to do this in a day or even a year, but it's perfectly possible,



No way are forums dead, good ones are doing very well

Your right. Thanks.

 

[ForumsByMe]

Start here -> https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact

Maybe he will fund you...I mean think about it, dude was running for president while trolling people on twitter, call the forum "TnA" for "Trumps national Army" with a description reading "A handful of TnA will always fight when it meets resistance", pitch that there focusing on a proposed army of social media operatives and see how it goes. Maybe he moves you over here and you are on track to help him run in 2020 and eventually sit as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff representing the newest branch of the military.

There are a lot or reasons that I would say something so blunt, coarse, and rediculous sounding but I will level with you here. I try and picture myself on the inverse starting a forum about Australian politics and I'll tell yah....I got nothin.

What do I say, I know nothing of the actual politics Australia plays at and even if I did I am not Australian...I have no idea what that feels like, can't describe for you the feeling of Australian civic pride nor can I tell you what it feels like to an Aussie when a revered Australian icon get's defaced. I don't know who started the rivalry between Brizzy and Melbs in the NRL and if I pretended to know, I would probably sound a bit like a one pot screamer with words not worth the shrapnel in your pocket being a native of the place yourself...see what I mean?

It just wouldn't make sense for me to be the one in charge of an Australian politics forum unless the entire purpose was pure satire and even at that by definition for me to construct satire on a subject I would have to know enough about it to be able to point out the shortcomings and juxtaposition a rebuttal that leaves a taste so bad coating the viewership's collective digital mouths that they need to wipe them out with 2-ply TP style.

If you have an interest in politics, why not cover Australian politics and have one section dedicated to foreign politics? I feel like you would be able to provide more content directly to the site yourself and this based on the assumption that people generally know the place they live in better than a place 12000 miles away...jussayin.

Well maybe if as an Australian I could escape your politics I would do that. But guess what? The whole world is inflicted by your politics. American politics is all the media talks about, or haven't you noticed? So why would such a forum not make sense. I think the entire international community knows what it is like to live in America, we have all grown up on a constant diet of American politics and culture. We can't go 24 hours without hearing about America. By making your culture world culture and by getting involved with every country either militarily or financially you have forfeited the right to lecture others about not knowing what it is like to live in your country.

 

[tajhay]

I live in Australia and the very last thing I would do would be to start a forum based off American Politics.

Second last thing would be to spend 250 a month on a VPS for a starting forum.

Why in the world would you want to start a forum if you don't even enjoy forums?

You need to do a lot of research...LOTS OF IT....Ill fated from the start.

Good luck. BTW the answer is Yes. You are wasting your time.

 

[EQnoble]

Well maybe if as an Australian I could escape your politics I would do that. But guess what? The whole world is inflicted by your politics. American politics is all the media talks about, or haven't you noticed? So why would such a forum not make sense. I think the entire international community knows what it is like to live in America, we have all grown up on a constant diet of American politics and culture. We can't go 24 hours without hearing about America. By making your culture world culture and by getting involved with every country either militarily or financially you have forfeited the right to lecture others about not knowing what it is like to live in your country.

I guess that sounds like more of an Australian media problem but still make the comparison...I don't like all these cheap plastic crap items coming in from China, do I say let's troll the Chinese? NO. I say troll the Americans who let this crap happen over time.

America ends up on your news because your own people are playing ball...why do you not criticize them. I didn't say this site was a bad idea in general, I just don't think you should be doing it.

We didn't make our culture any one culture...our culture IS the culmination of all cultures we were exposed to over time.

Anyways have you heard the phrase...don't believe everything you see on TV?

You are doing just that and you are also implying that because you see crap on TV or take the time to read US political pieces on the internet that you are as American as I am by way of news reaching Australia regardless that you never lived any of your life here.

That would be like me saying all Aussies are Bogans who put shrimp on the barbie...and then telling you that you have no right to argue that because of the way the Australian Tourism Commission shoved him down our throats in the 80's and 90's...it's in the media it must be true. I wonder why you complain about America when you still rock the British flag within the corner of your own and why America is so bad for spreading all the cultures it has adapted and built on (otherwise known as natural progression) while England and it's power families have actually been dominating peoples' existence for years...

I will leave this here...

Based on your reply yes I would say this particular topic is a waste of your time.

 

[ForumsByMe]

Ever heard of a thing called history? The British Empire has ended. They learnt the error of their ways and gave independence to all their colonies. Why do people still talk as if we are living in the days of British Empire? You can't live in the past forever. Just a deflection from the fact we are now living under the American Empire, who despite describing themselves as 'the land of the free', fail to permit any other civilization autonomous rule.

At least as the British evolved rights for their own citizens their colonies also eventually gained those same rights. It was only 20 or so years after British men and women got the vote, that their colonies gained full independence. Although I suspect this was only because of American bullying of a weakened post WWII Europe, enabling America to control the colonies for their own interests. American colonies are subject to perpetual puppet regimes and constant interference; without it ever being acknowledged that they are under the American thumb. At least the British were open about the fact they had an Empire.

I will just leave this map here.