A category of forums you think needs to be reinvented

[Martin]

What genre/category of forums do you think really needs to be reinvented or explored into more detail? How would you go about doing this?

A lot of forums now open and cover the same type of discussions and hold very little difference in comparison to other, more developed forums.

 

[Enter Username Here]

The new big thing: Promotional Forums.

 

[Martin]

The new big thing: Promotional Forums.

I wouldn't particular call it new. Since Forum Promotion became semi-popular, everyone and their aunt have tried to make a forum to help people promote websites. Of course they forget one 'tiny' detail - that it can in fact have a negative effect on your SEO and therefore harm other methods of promotion. I don't think it is something which needs to be reinvented or explored more, there just needs to be less people going into that category of forum.

 

[Darth-Apple]

I feel there is a fundamental problem with promotion forums that essentially, everyone is only there to promote. I was at one point deeply involved with a promotion forum, and it was a nice community to be a part of, but in the long run, it didn't do a whole lot of good. Nobody is there to join other communities.

I've noticed most go downhill quickly as well. I don't think the administration forum niche is going downhill, but forums dedicated directly to promotion have seen their better days I believe.

 

[Martin]

I feel there is a fundamental problem with promotion forums that essentially, everyone is only there to promote. I was at one point deeply involved with a promotion forum, and it was a nice community to be a part of, but in the long run, it didn't do a whole lot of good. Nobody is there to join other communities.

I've noticed most go downhill quickly as well. I don't think the administration forum niche is going downhill, but forums dedicated directly to promotion have seen their better days I believe.

I think said issue has always happened. There is just a greater understanding that this is the case. Promotion forums as a whole need to be done away with as the general idea of it is flawed. Admin forums basically achieve the same (reviews, exchanges, etc.) but promotion forums are much more desired because of a false belief that they actually work - they won't.

 

[Enter Username Here]

Promotion Forums is a make it or break it. But it gets stupid a long the line, they start having forum competitions , forum reviews from people who don't know how to review, but then you get people joining your forum and hardly posting cause their there just for promotion.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

What genre/category of forums do you think really needs to be reinvented or explored into more detail? How would you go about doing this?

A lot of forums now open and cover the same type of discussions and hold very little difference in comparison to other, more developed forums.

Hmm, I guess all of us forum owners would say promotional forums because we always could use an additional place to plug. The problem with promotion forums is that the same people are on all of them so you're really not reaching new audiences by being on all of them. Maybe if someone could tap into other corners of the internet and discover new audiences, they would be on to something great!

 

[Hulk's iconHulk]

Promotion forums if run right can go a long way. But there are so many newbie webmasters making promotion forums and it is just a bit pathetic. Us experienced forum admins should be the ones building forums like that. Not newbie admins they don't know where to start and close down the following day.

I was actually on one promotion forum a year ago which lasted a little less than 1 hour before the admin thought stuff it because he wasn't getting any members. He thought because he owned a promotion forum there was supposed to be a database of one thousand members and thousands of posts in the first hour.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Us experienced forum admins should be the ones building forums like that

Been there, done that & had my fill.

 

[Hulk's iconHulk]

I've had my share of promotion forums in the past. It was a pain up the ass to find package team members though. That is like the most difficult staff position to fill.

 

[Enter Username Here]

Promotion Forums are over-rated. Whats the chance of them actually getting you register rates and a member base?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Promotion Forums are over-rated. Whats the chance of them actually getting you register rates and a member base?

I suppose if you do post exchanges or request packages then you have a 100% chance of getting new members, but don't count on them being active regulars. 99.9% of them will disappear forever once the deal is done.

 

[Hulk's iconHulk]

There doesn't seem to be many entertainment forums. Like ones solely based on movies, music, tv that kinda thing. Would that genre be good to think about building a forum in?

 

[Martin]

I have mentioned it before and I shall mention it again in slightly more detail. Promotion forums are extremely useless, especially new ones. Very few new promotion forums are going to attract new members to promote or whatever for the main reason that whilst the forum is new, it cannot complete its main aim because there is barely anyone to promote to. Then you look at the more active promotion forums, inexperienced admins may think they are useful to plug a link but that plug actually has very little effect unless you are a slightly active forum where people will join you to plug their link again. You can never really achieve active, quality members from a forum where everyone joins to promote. They do have their uses like reviews and exchanges but that in itself doesn't make it a promotion forum. Admin forums are way more useful as the discussion is actually based on forums rather than all out promotion. Admin forums tend to have more experienced admins with larger forums (like TAZ does), and therefore they can give better advice to help you improve as an admin. They also house reviews and exchanges just like a promotion forum does. Showcasing your forum there is typically much more effective because people are not trying to promote. They are looking for help, advice and contacts. Promotion forums only try to help people promote but in doing so, that is all people are interested in. They do not care for helping others unless that also helps them in some shape or form. Promotion forums are a dangerous thing to be involved with. It is an environment you can get stuck in thinking they can help when in all honesty they can have a negative effect on SEO which is actually the way most of the larger forums go about getting into the top positions in the genre.

The main benefits of a promotion forum can be found on admin forums and the environment on a admin forum is typically much better than on a promotion forum due to people actually posting with the intention to help others and themselves rather than just spam links.

I am not saying that promotion forums are completely useless, I know some people who have achieved some good success with that as a promotion method. However, if you look a little closer, the success somewhat only comes from luck in terms of the position of that member (staff on promotion forums tend to achieve a better start to their own forum) and also exchanges. The actual process of posting a promotional topic doesn't really help you achieve much in my opinion. I think promotion forums have benefits however all of them are done better on a admin forum in my opinion. The main aim of a promotion forum flaws the very aim it tries to achieve.

 

[Icetex's iconIcetex]

I was nearly sucked into joining promo forum(now defunct)
It was forum called <insert that name here>
It didn't last long before merge with another forum(that didn't care about)
The forum kinda died before then
not my fault that hes like 14-16
added on Skype he wanted me post a lot but I could not just make garage expect it to stick
and such i quit that forum

 

[Enter Username Here]

It seems the fab of '14 is Promo Forums.

And people saying they'll give away real money.

Which never happens.