Alternadiv
Well-known member
I've been going back and forth with this for a long time now.
I run a niche forum dedicated to the Toyota Tacoma 2016 model-year and newer. Because the forum is for that specific model, it has been successful. I also run a large Instagram account that shares members' trucks, which is also popular because of how specific it is.
I do believe dialing in to a specific branch of your hobby is better than keeping it broad. Want to run a dog forum? Make it about your favorite breed.
Now, on the contrary...
There are a couple of huge, ancient Tacoma (all generations) and Toyota (all models) forums. The people who chose to use mine do so because of how much more modern, user friendly, organized, and welcoming it is. The appreciate my leadership style, values, and mission. For the purpose of this thread only, we can say I am an ideal person to be able to successfully compete with the ancient forums.
I, as well as most of my following, believe my version of a Toyota truck (all truck models) forum would be popular from the get-go. My concern isn't really about if I can do it.
My concern is that the sister forum would literally compete with my main forum. If I open a forum for all truck models, that would technically include the specific 2016 model-year truck that my main forum works. Splitting the community like that would be weird. Which forum are they expected to use at that point (for those who own that truck)? My solution would be to not cover that truck on the new forum, and instead use a node link to move them to my original forum. That would also feel weird, but not as bad.
What are your opinions on this? Does anyone already do something similar? Should I avoid spreading my own work load to more than I can potentially handle? Or should I take advantage of the fact that I already have a demand for this?
I run a niche forum dedicated to the Toyota Tacoma 2016 model-year and newer. Because the forum is for that specific model, it has been successful. I also run a large Instagram account that shares members' trucks, which is also popular because of how specific it is.
I do believe dialing in to a specific branch of your hobby is better than keeping it broad. Want to run a dog forum? Make it about your favorite breed.
Now, on the contrary...
There are a couple of huge, ancient Tacoma (all generations) and Toyota (all models) forums. The people who chose to use mine do so because of how much more modern, user friendly, organized, and welcoming it is. The appreciate my leadership style, values, and mission. For the purpose of this thread only, we can say I am an ideal person to be able to successfully compete with the ancient forums.
I, as well as most of my following, believe my version of a Toyota truck (all truck models) forum would be popular from the get-go. My concern isn't really about if I can do it.
My concern is that the sister forum would literally compete with my main forum. If I open a forum for all truck models, that would technically include the specific 2016 model-year truck that my main forum works. Splitting the community like that would be weird. Which forum are they expected to use at that point (for those who own that truck)? My solution would be to not cover that truck on the new forum, and instead use a node link to move them to my original forum. That would also feel weird, but not as bad.
What are your opinions on this? Does anyone already do something similar? Should I avoid spreading my own work load to more than I can potentially handle? Or should I take advantage of the fact that I already have a demand for this?
