Didn't see "site suggestions" for this site so...

[Wing]

There in lies the problem.
I'm banned from your forum, yes, but in reality you now have to relaunch your new forum.
Watch how many people you ban and don't go after their posts once you've banned them.
I suspect you won't get many members.
People will turn on you no matter what.
I can imagine you being trolled by some people and not liking it.
This is coming from somebody who gets emails from yourself telling me to shut my forum down.

 

[FTL]

There in lies the problem.
I'm banned from your forum, yes, but in reality you now have to relaunch your new forum.
Watch how many people you ban and don't go after their posts once you've banned them.
I suspect you won't get many members.
People will turn on you no matter what.
I can imagine you being trolled by some people and not liking it.
This is coming from somebody who gets emails from yourself telling me to shut my forum down.

The bold bit, um, no. That's a straight up lie as I've never told you what to do with your own forum. Or, you're just confusing me with someone else, maybe. You need to retract that.

Seriously, I don't need "advice" from you about who I need to ban or not and the state of my forum has nothing to do with getting rid of you.

Unbelievable, still not a shred of contrition for the abusive trolling that you did. Good riddance.

 

[bennylava]

What I mean is the longer "forums" as a thing have been around, not the age of an individual forum. In the early days of forums, exchanges lasted a bit, but fizzled out. Each subsequent attempt since then has generally fizzled out faster than the previous. Even with automated software to track and remind, they don't last.

Why put any resources into something that's going to give and receive thin low quality content, by people who aren't experts in the forum's niche? Google doesn't index thin content like it used to.

I have found time is better spent focusing on a quality site such as good, in-depth content and promoting the site. This keeps users coming back, whereas building a site on exchanging posts... once the exchange stops (and it will) you're back to a wasteland.

Ah now I see what you mean.

Yes my reason for doing this is very shallow. Shallow in the sense that it's only there for a single reason, to prop up the site for the new people that are coming in. So they don't see a ghost town. No other reason than that. As you say, these posts can't help with engagement very much, if at all. But they do serve the purpose of getting rid of the ghost town. Cause while new members may not be interested in these posts, they still have to feel like they're not the only ones there.

I've always liked forums, but I only engage with maybe 1% of the real posts made by real members there. Often I'm just there to start my own discussion and read an interesting thread or two. Endless pages of threads exist that I'll never see. So someone like me just needs to see a list of threads going back a few pages, and then I think the site sees plenty of use.

Granted there are many types of members, and I'm not representative of everyone. But I think everyone appreciates seeing a site that appears to be frequently used.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Yes my reason for doing this is very shallow. Shallow in the sense that it's only there for a single reason, to prop up the site for the new people that are coming in. So they don't see a ghost town. No other reason than that. As you say, these posts can't help with engagement very much, if at all. But they do serve the purpose of getting rid of the ghost town. Cause while new members may not be interested in these posts, they still have to feel like they're not the only ones there.

The problem is you won't attract any new members unless the content is something they have an real interest in and even then it has to be engaging enough for them to want to join and respond rather than just drive by. You really won't get that from a post exchange

In order for new forums to be successful they have to serve a real purpose. They have to be able to demonstrate authority within their niche or at the very least, display an obvious passion for their subject. Ideally the content should be unique. Nobody want's to join or even browse yet another off-topic forum.

If you as the owner don't have the time or passion to kick-start your own forum with unique, quality content I predict the chances of success to be close to zero. Far better than trying to facilitate a post exchange is to find a friend or three who share's your passion. If your forum starts to gain traction and you have the available funds, it might be worth employing a professional writer with a proper understanding of your niche to write articles/blogs.

In short, give potential members a real reason to sign up to your forum that doesn't involve low quality content.

 

[AjayJunkies]

I'm a big believer that you can no longer be a Community of 1 to start a successful community anymore.

You must already have an audience, followers, or a small group of active friends who are willing to help you jumpstart your forum activity.

 

[Suzanne O]

I'm a big believer that you can no longer be a Community of 1 to start a successful community anymore.

You must already have an audience, followers, or a small group of active friends who are willing to help you jumpstart your forum activity.

This. But i also believe that if you establish the forum with 5 threads then allow users on the forum you can allow others to come up with their own stuff.

 

[FTL]

The problem is you won't attract any new members unless the content is something they have an real interest in and even then it has to be engaging enough for them to want to join and respond rather than just drive by. You really won't get that from a post exchange

In order for new forums to be successful they have to serve a real purpose. They have to be able to demonstrate authority within their niche or at the very least, display an obvious passion for their subject. Ideally the content should be unique. Nobody want's to join or even browse yet another off-topic forum.

If you as the owner don't have the time or passion to kick-start your own forum with unique, quality content I predict the chances of success to be close to zero. Far better than trying to facilitate a post exchange is to find a friend or three who share's your passion. If your forum starts to gain traction and you have the available funds, it might be worth employing a professional writer with a proper understanding of your niche to write articles/blogs.

In short, give potential members a real reason to sign up to your forum that doesn't involve low quality content.

In general I agree, but sometimes a forum can cover the same ground as a lot of others and hence be rather generic, but it gains traction simply because prospective new members like the feel and atmosphere of it, based on various factors that make it appealing.

I'm a big believer that you can no longer be a Community of 1 to start a successful community anymore.

You must already have an audience, followers, or a small group of active friends who are willing to help you jumpstart your forum activity.

Indeed, you need a small community of friends who are willing to invest to get it out of the natural catch-22 that all new forums find themselves in. A few bad members can then ruin a fledgling forum too, since they're a relatively large percentage of the membership.

Imagine an ideal fantasy start to a new forum. you build it and create just one thread consisting of a single post. a welcome and intro thread and nothing more and you're the only member. Then, with just that, the members and posts quickly start flooding in and the forum takes off. Alas, this utopian ideal doesn't happen in real life.

 

[Paul B]

I have tidied this thread.

Any further similar posts will be deleted and warnings will be issued - stay on topic.

 

[bennylava]

If you as the owner don't have the time or passion to kick-start your own forum with unique, quality content I predict the chances of success to be close to zero. Far better than trying to facilitate a post exchange is to find a friend or three who share's your passion. If your forum starts to gain traction and you have the available funds, it might be worth employing a professional writer with a proper understanding of your niche to write articles/blogs.

Have you ever priced this? I got into the blogging world for a brief period. And during that time I learned that writers are basically a dime a dozen. So you'd think the price would be inexpensive.

In general I agree ... but it gains traction simply because prospective new members like the feel and atmosphere of it, based on various factors that make it appealing.

In your experience, what are those factors?

 

[zappaDPJ]

Have you ever priced this?

I have and the costs vary considerably depending on the scope of the article. For example long articles containing video(s) can cost hundreds of dollars. I wouldn't suggest taking that route unless the article contains information unique to your forum.

At the other end of the scale, and far more cost effective, (usually free) is an interview with a representative of a company that provides a product or service related to your niche.

Somewhere in-between there's a typical blog length article in the $50-$100 range.

What I wouldn't do is pay a cent to a general article writer with no expertise within your niche. They generally add no more value to your forum than a post exchange.

 

[FTL]

In your experience, what are those factors?

It can be anything, like the forum software used, structure, friendliness, range of topics discussed and how interesting the conversations are, good moderation, etc. It may not even be that easy to define what attracts someone to a particular forum, it's just the overall that works. Another way of putting it is does it have the X-factor for that person.