Big Boards

[CedricV]

We all know that running a successful forum takes a lot of time and effort, and for some webmasters, that effort has paid off in the form of a large and thriving community.

But what exactly qualifies as a "big board"? Is it a certain number of registered users or posts? Or is it more about the level of engagement and activity on the site?

And what are the challenges and benefits of running a big board? On the one hand, a large community can bring in more traffic, generate more ad revenue, and offer more diverse perspectives and discussions. On the other hand, managing a big board can be a full-time job in and of itself, with challenges like moderating content, dealing with conflicts and trolls, and maintaining a positive and engaged community.

So, do you run a big board? What has been your experience, and what advice do you have for others looking to build and manage a large and successful forum?

There used to be a website about big boards, but that has vanished a while ago.

 

[VBX Co]

Are the answers to this going to end up in an article on admin-junkies.com?

 

[woody]

There used to be a website about big boards, but that has vanished a while ago.

It didn't vanish. It's invite only.

 

[duderuud]

It didn't vanish. It's invite only.

I think he was referencing big-boards.com which is down for quite some time now.

 

[Mendalla]

From a somewhat personal standpoint as someone who is a member of some "big boards" but the admin of a small one, I would likely look at active members* (those 4000 who signed up and never came back don't count), post rates per member and per time period (rather than raw post counts), daily/weekly/monthly activity rates of all kinds. In my perception, a big board needs to be active, too. Having a million posts from a decade ago but only getting a handful a day now isn't a sign of a "big board" to me.

*(Actually, maybe I would look total members signed up vs. active members or something)

 

[Suzanne O]

I know of a few big boards.
Some of which i can't post on anymore but will help the webmaster out a bit with his.
Helping as in emailing him links to strange accounts that are not meant to be on there.

I've posted on forums that are really big. But have found that some of the features get deliberately misused by some members.

For example i'll give you is https://www.hipforums.com/forum
It's big but because it allows for a lot of NSFW stuff being posted up on it unfortunately it gets abused by pornbots and other people deliberately misusing and not reading their rules.

 

[MQK8]

This one here is one of my favorite big boards, still using Xenforo 1.0, old school. Goes to show all the great features, themes, may look good but it comes down to the content. Over 26 million messages and getting higher by the minute.