Growing a forum community in 2023

[TPerry]

Some are, perhaps. But, I'm observing a significant decline in the "big tech" social media sites.

Actually a lot are... but that is more a societal issue than a "forum" issue. I find that on several (in fact, most) fora that I am active on, participation has dropped for whatever reason (a couple of examples, a Tundra forum, a black powder muzzle loader forum, one of the larger astronomy forum, several hunting fora).
Part of the issue is that a small sect of members get tired of "pushing" all the content providing context/answers. That can happen even on social media (think FB groups). It just happens that it is not as noticeable as you have one interface to that site, so more people get channeled into it. I've noticed it even in the the Winnebago FB group I participate in.

 

[Dad.]

Actually a lot are... but that is more a societal issue than a "forum" issue. I find that on several (in fact, most) fora that I am active on, participation has dropped for whatever reason (a couple of examples, a Tundra forum, a black powder muzzle loader forum, one of the larger astronomy forums, several hunting forums).
Part of the issue is that a small sect of members get tired of "pushing" all the content providing context/answers. That can happen even on social media (think FB groups). It just happens that it is not as noticeable as you have one interface to that site, so more people get channeled into it. I've noticed it even in the the Winnebago FB group I participate in.

Its forums. Not fora. Ive been using forums for 20 years, no one calls it this

 

[TPerry]

Its forums. Not fora. Ive been using forums for 20 years, no one calls it this

Pretty sure correct grammatical usage of the word is not incorrect. And guess what... you finally met someone who does!



Just because folks call an adjustable spanner wrench a "crescent wrench" (which was based upon a manufacturer name) does not invalidate the other (and many consider technically correct) term.

 

[Danny88]

It will only get worse and the forums will not survive in their present form

Yea. It will be all the same to whatever forum software you're using. As for me I thought my forum could get better or survive after migrating vB -> XF but it doesn't work till this moment. I even had spent more money in XF comparing vB to restore back functionalities between both CMS simplicity+modern code vs comprehensive+old code. Sometimes I felt regret of migration, I thought I could do better with existing software and just updating codes into latest PHP compatibility.

 

[Suzanne O]

I don't believe forums are dying. I believe that social media is full of serial pests that cause us to go start up our own communities due to driving us away from social media.

 

[CtrlV]

I agree with you @PatriotGB — there’s still loads of room for forums. Having an active admin community confirms that.
We’ve been open for almost 11 months.

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I love your name styling. What theme you used?

 

[CedricV]

I love your name styling. What theme you used?

Our theme is custom made by @DohTheme

 

[Paul B]

I love your name styling. What theme you used?

That can be achieved with a few template edits.

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[Wildcat Media]

Just because folks call an adjustable spanner wrench a "crescent wrench" (which was based upon a manufacturer name) does not invalidate the other (and many consider technically correct) term.

Yep, I keep that next to my "Xerox machine" with the off-brand Vise Grips and a box of store-brand Kleenex nearby. I lead a confusing life.

 

[Suzanne O]

It's been a hard task to keep my forums up and running.
I've had to aggressively reset it heaps of times. Just done my 8th for the year.
The same pests who keep using abuse towards me and then laugh at my reactions.
I'm trying to not have this happen so much but when it does it's really annoying.

 

[CedricV]

It's been a hard task to keep my forums up and running.
I've had to aggressively reset it heaps of times. Just done my 8th for the year.
The same pests who keep using abuse towards me and then laugh at my reactions.
I'm trying to not have this happen so much but when it does it's really annoying.

Some people are not cut to be a community leader. Maybe you're one of them?

 

[Steve Freides]

It's been a hard task to keep my forums up and running.
I've had to aggressively reset it heaps of times. Just done my 8th for the year.
The same pests who keep using abuse towards me and then laugh at my reactions.
I'm trying to not have this happen so much but when it does it's really annoying.

Then you need to get help running your forum. I began administering my XF forum in September of 2015, so we're about the same "age" - it works very well. You probably just need to figure out a way to moderate everything new. We use the user promotion that came with, if memory serves, the earliest version of XF, and have it configured so that new registrations and a new users first few posts show up in the moderation queue, which gives you a chance to do what you need at that point. We also have a group with a name like "everything is moderated" and people in there have all their activity show up in the moderation queue.

-S-

 

[CedricV]

Then you need to get help running your forum. I began administering my XF forum in September of 2015, so we're about the same "age" - it works very well. You probably just need to figure out a way to moderate everything new. We use the user promotion that came with, if memory serves, the earliest version of XF, and have it configured so that new registrations and a new users first few posts show up in the moderation queue, which gives you a chance to do what you need at that point. We also have a group with a name like "everything is moderated" and people in there have all their activity show up in the moderation queue.

-S-

If you have people in a moderation queue you better have a good reason for them to stay. Most will leave your community right after they see they're being put in approval. Very off putting for a new member.

 

[Steve Freides]

If you have people in a moderation queue you better have a good reason for them to stay. Most will leave your community right after they see they're being put in approval. Very off putting for a new member.

We explain it in our FAQ as what it is, an anti-spam measure. Our content is what drives people to our forum. Someone who can't understand that and isn't willing to put up with it is someone we will do without.

-S-

 

[BassMan]

If you have people in a moderation queue you better have a good reason for them to stay. Most will leave your community right after they see they're being put in approval. Very off putting for a new member.

We explain it in our FAQ as what it is, an anti-spam measure. Our content is what drives people to our forum. Someone who can't understand that and isn't willing to put up with it is someone we will do without.

-S-

Same here. First post approval for all. This has been working for our community for more than a year and no complaints about that.

 

[ForumFan]

I've had to aggressively reset it heaps of times. Just done my 8th for the year.

Reset the forum? What does that mean?

The same pests who keep using abuse towards me and then laugh at my reactions.

Not sure what this means, either. Forum members are attacking you? As the Admin?

 

[Steve Freides]

Same here. First post approval for all. This has been working for our community for more than a year and no complaints about that.

I vary it from time to time - I currently approve the first 3 posts manually.

-S-

 

[CedricV]

Same here. First post approval for all. This has been working for our community for more than a year and no complaints about that.

Like I said, it's all justified if you have a good reason for them to stay. As in content. Wasn't an attack or anything.

 

[Swiftman]

Reset the forum? What does that mean?

Judging by his forum, he literally wipes the database and restarts the place from scratch. Judging by his forum rules thread, I think I can sorta see why he's he's having such trouble keeping it up and running. With rules like that, it's miraculous anyone joins.

Circling this back to the topic of the thread, I've found that simple, well-structured, well-communicated, and generally pretty lax/understanding rules and moderation is something that has really drawn people to my forum over the last decade. Early on, we had lots of refugees from other similar subject matter boards with challenging or restrictive registration policies and/or overly aggressive/rude moderation styles. The friction to entry and the discomfort of trying to hold discussions in a room ruled by an iron fist just wasn't appealing to folks so they gradually moved over to my board where signup was easy and painless and they could be confident that disagreeing with a staff member wouldn't get them suddenly banned.

The restrictive registration and needlessly aggressive/uneven moderation is still out there—just now it's in Facebook groups and the like where power-tripping, thin-skinned admins and moderators ban and silence any sort of disagreement at the drop of a pin. I honestly think many people still hate trying to build a community in that sort of environment. Over the last handful of years, my team has had great success pulling new users from social media because people are still in search of environments where they'll be respected and treated like equal adults and participants in a community.

The quality of a forum's software stack matters a lot, but it's all worthless if you don't have good, sane, level-headed, even-handed moderation—and that remains an enormous benefit traditional forums can hold vs competitors like Facebook groups.

 

[Suzanne O]

This happens all the time on my forum. People don't join because of all the nasty comments.
So i end up nuking the forum.
The rules are there because the members are from @BIG LLC's forum called bigfooty.