What do you think makes a successful forum?

[Alvin63]

For me it's

1) Respect for the members (then you get respect back)
2) Communication - I've had many members say they appreciate being kept informed of changes, updates etc via announcements) so they feel involved
3) Posting regularly
4) Being upbeat and encouraging involvement - and not sounding like you're superior.

 

[mjda]

Having something (content) that you can't get at 10 other forums...

 

[TPerry]

For me it's

You can have all that... but if the site is a niche specific one... without topical content none of what you referenced is going to bring in members.
I don't care how many times folks say it.. it will continue to remain true. Topical content is king.

 

[htsumer]

Getting married to the forum

 

[PatriotGB]

Energy. What you put into it... you'll get out of it.

You've got to pour huge amounts of energy into it (which includes all the things mentioned above). Eventually.... IF the forum reaches "critical mass," then the "chain reaction" of self-perpetuation may happen. I believe that takes a long time. I'm coming up on 10 months with my forum, and while it's going well, we're a long way from the "critical mass" stage.

 

[TPerry]

Energy. What you put into it... you'll get out of it.

I've only got a few members so far... the niche is VERY limited (due to the cost of "buying in"), but we are getting some good posts (mainly image date, which astrophotography is specifically targeted towards).

 

[PatriotGB]

I've only got a few members so far... the niche is VERY limited (due to the cost of "buying in"), but we are getting some good posts (mainly image date, which astrophotography is specifically targeted towards).

The cost of buying into the hobby? Or is there a cost to join the forum?

How old is your forum?

My forum is a fairly narrow niche, too. But that reduces competition, as well.

As has been said, "content is king." So, the owner of the forum needs to create threads... interesting and even provocative threads to "prime the pump." Get people talking.

 

[Faust]

Don’t know what to say, all depends on the niche. Opened 2 forums this year, one is growing, an other is not that much success.

 

[PatriotGB]

Don’t know what to say, all depends on the niche. Opened 2 forums this year, one is growing, an other is not that much success.

Certainly, if the niche is already being served by a lot of established forums, it's going to be a challenge to compete.

 

[Faust]

Certainly, if the niche is already being served by a lot of established forums, it's going to be a challenge to compete.

That's true. Also needs a lot of dedication too. Some of that dedication depends on the software features and development.

 

[Alvin63]

Energy. What you put into it... you'll get out of it.

You've got to pour huge amounts of energy into it (which includes all the things mentioned above). Eventually.... IF the forum reaches "critical mass," then the "chain reaction" of self-perpetuation may happen. I believe that takes a long time. I'm coming up on 10 months with my forum, and while it's going well, we're a long way from the "critical mass" stage.

I know what you mean. My first forum has been going 18 months now and about 3 months ago I thought I could take a back seat a bit more - it was ticking over nicely. But then the regular members seemed to post a bit less so decided I couldn't take too much of a back seat and still need to post regularly and start new topics.

My latest one is building up slowly - 49 members since September but only 4 or 5 post regularly.

 

[CedricV]

The cost of buying into the hobby? Or is there a cost to join the forum?

How old is your forum?

My forum is a fairly narrow niche, too. But that reduces competition, as well.

As has been said, "content is king." So, the owner of the forum needs to create threads... interesting and even provocative threads to "prime the pump." Get people talking.

I agree with this. On my admin forum I have started posting scenarios, debating how to handle certain situations and gain knowledge by other admins how they handle those situations. It's something new I'm trying out, provocative and might also receive some heat. Should be a fun alternative on discussing certain subjects.

 

[TPerry]

The cost of buying into the hobby?

The hobby. Most of the astro sights are free to join. The forum has only really been active for a few months, but was originally set up in 2018 when I got the equipment but never did use it until this year.

For astrophotography you are easily looking at

• $800 for a beginning scope with flattener (for refractor) or about the same for a reflector with a coma corrector
• $400 for a decent guide scope and camera (or $750 for an OAG and camera)
• $1300 for a decent OSC astro specific camera and filter or two or $1800 for a decent mono camera with filters/filter wheel (or around $500 for a decent older modified DSLR with filters or $3000 for an astro specific DSLR) - upwards of $3000-$17,000 for the top end astro cameras
• $2500 for a decent mount to use with scope with for accurate tracking
• $50-$300 for processing software (there are free packages out that stack and do similar, but to do full processing you usually move into the paid stuff). And generally you end up buying multiple packages because certain ones do certain things better.

Heck, even simple live viewing for DSO's will set you back around $500 (usually a little more) when all is said and done for a decent into level Dobsonian or reflector/refractor. And many of these are not up to astrophotography level, which many eventually dive into that rabbit hole.
And there are the endless eyepieces that you pursue for live viewing so you can try to grab as much light as possible as well as magnificiation.

You can get in "cheap" with simple binoculars for solar system and some larger Messier objects - I have a pair of Celestron's coming in to use when we get our local astronomy group up and running, but still will need a decent tripod for them since they are around 5 pounds weight and it gets tiring holding those to your eyes.

One of the big problems... one scope is not enough. I'm up to 3 now and am jonesing for a F/4 astrophotography reflector to add to the stable with a new mount.

 

[PatriotGB]

The hobby. Most of the astro sights are free to join. The forum has only really been active for a few months, but was originally set up in 2018 when I got the equipment but never did use it until this year.

For astrophotography you are easily looking at

• $800 for a beginning scope with flattener (for refractor) or about the same for a reflector with a coma corrector
• $400 for a decent guide scope and camera (or $750 for an OAG and camera)
• $1300 for a decent OSC astro specific camera and filter or two or $1800 for a decent mono camera with filters/filter wheel (or around $500 for a decent older modified DSLR with filters or $3000 for an astro specific DSLR) - upwards of $3000-$17,000 for the top end astro cameras
• $2500 for a decent mount to use with scope with for accurate tracking
• $50-$300 for processing software (there are free packages out that stack and do similar, but to do full processing you usually move into the paid stuff). And generally you end up buying multiple packages because certain ones do certain things better.

Heck, even simple live viewing for DSO's will set you back around $500 (usually a little more) when all is said and done for a decent into level Dobsonian or reflector/refractor. And many of these are not up to astrophotography level, which many eventually dive into that rabbit hole.
And there are the endless eyepieces that you pursue for live viewing so you can try to grab as much light as possible as well as magnificiation.

You can get in "cheap" with simple binoculars for solar system and some larger Messier objects - I have a pair of Celestron's coming in to use when we get our local astronomy group up and running, but still will need a decent tripod for them since they are around 5 pounds weight and it gets tiring holding those to your eyes.

One of the big problems... one scope is not enough. I'm up to 3 now and am jonesing for a F/4 astrophotography reflector to add to the stable with a new mount.

Sounds like quite the "rabbit hole." I am all TOO familiar with "rabbit hole" hobbies! And I'm pretty sure I could get into astronomy and astrophotography. A while back I was researching scopes. But I backed off. The models I was looking at were in the ~$2500 range, as I recall. Some day.... some day.

 

[motowebmaster]

I haven't started a new forum in some time, but it used to take a couple years for new projects to build-up steam on their own.