Forums are alive

Oh and I'm currently dipping my fries in cheese sauce---bring on xenfore styling properties! This mamma got some wine and fries and ready for a night of "Sheet, I'm on the wrong style!" fun. You know you've been there. But I guess it's better than seeing some brainless twit posting her 7000th fishlip selfie (lonely) on Facebook. :p
 
Curious.... Why are the folks who claim "forums are dead" still here, in the xenforo community, a FORUM community? I mean shouldn't you have moved on to bigger and better? Perhaps, started a "forums are dead" Facebook page? LOL No doubt one probably already exists.
 
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Not only Forums, but also other type of online business. As an example Web Hosting.

The question is: "Why they gone down"?
The answer is simple: "Because 90% of those who started an online business, they thought that by spending $100, they'll become millionaires in just a few months. Not even in a year. In months.

And because I don't like to start argues here, I'll start from my WHMCS Clients, since 2006 when I started selling modules for it.

Checking my old clients (period 2006-2011) , I found 100% !!! of those domains to be death. A more recent check for clients (2016-2020), again a high value 80% of the domains that I've in file, are dead.

A lot of competitors in the field, the wrong approach of "Cheaper prices will bring me clients", Corvid last 2 years and finally the huge price hike of WHMCS (in some cases more than +800% !!), kicked out of the ring all those potential millionaires.

As for my vBulletin data (2005 and then). What they think some people that all moved to XF or IPS, or any other software, I can guarantee that, yes, XF got more clients than IPS, but much less than Wordpress. But again, I'm talking for a sum of 20% in all scripts. 80% of the forums are just dead. In some cases you'll see a "Domain for Sale", but the majority is dead domains.

There is a very simple way to prove on your own this reality. Just visit vBorg, this Forum, WHMCS forums and click on the links in signatures in old posts. Sure I don't mean posts from last couple of years.
 
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Even twitta wants to have forums. They are calling it "communities."
Correct naming, but still wrong decision to start a new one. I already have a module for WHMCS

But the problem remains the same. That most new Webmaster start it as a way to earn money (actually fast money) and not as a hobby. Here needs an explanation. I don't include all those Business who add a forum in their main (business) website. I'm talking only for those who start a Forum (or Community).

I've a friend who operates a local forum for 20 years now. Imagine that still he is with vB3. He does not care for income. Never added advertisements, never had paid membership. He operates it just for his hobby. Such type of Forum will be always up and running.
 
I've a friend who operates a local forum for 20 years now. Imagine that still he is with vB3. He does not care for income. Never added advertisements, never had paid membership. He operates it just for his hobby. Such type of Forum will be always up and running.
Same as me. Don't care to monetize my forum or have a huge number of members. I still find the customization process highly rewarding after 4 years and always look forward to new xf releases. :)
 
Then go ahead and be sure that your forum will be successful. The habit "I want to make money.... I want to make much more money..." is the reason that you're seeing around dead forums.
 
Do not exaggerate, most people who create a forum do not hoping to become a millionaire! People are not crazy and besides no one has become that rich with a simple forum.
 
Do not exaggerate, most people who create a forum do not hoping to become a millionaire! People are not crazy and besides no one has become that rich with a simple forum.
I'm coding Addon Modules for vBulletin 3/4 since 2005. Maybe with different usernames, but was me. The most downloaded mods were those ones relevant to "money" with flagship to be my eCommerce which was a full eCommerce solution for digital products. Now is at vb.org Graveyard so search don't brings it up, but if you've time, try to find it.

In that module, and in just 3 days, there are almost 10 pages from users asking "Add this feauture..... Add that feature....", pushing me to add support from tangible products, then support for shipping, even support for EU VAT, something that even IPS Commerce does not supports now. And we're talking for 8 years before. I added all. So, my question is.... "Why a forum owner needs a complete commerce solution, other than to earn money"?

I do believe that more than 90% of the forum owners, want to have profits from their forum. Not just to cover their expenses. They want to profit. And the word "millionaire" has general meaning. Sure they can't become real millionaires. But they want for each single dollar that they invest in their forum, to get back $100.
 
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