I'm sick of new forums.

[MrDawn]

I am. If someone starts a new forum and I join. Its always the following.

• Inactive within a month
• The administrator locks up the board with message stating it didn't work out.
• The administrator expects someone else to run their forum so they have staff members who are barely active.
• Lack of content.
• lack of promotion and advertisement.

I just don't know why people want the novelty of starting a new forum. I guess the idea is cool. But you need to stay dedicated and if its inactive. Its the administrators / owner's fault. I really mean that.

I also don't like it when the administrator wants the members to "spread the word". This sends a very bad message that I'm obviously wasting my time and that the owner is having trouble. Especially when they go around telling the members they want to discuss that forum's future.

So for new forums. I'll wait 6 months before I join. If they're still active...I'll join. I'm not wasting my time if the forum is inactive with barely any content. Fuck that shit.

 

[DrLeftover]

Well, let's see, Off Topix's been active for... .... ahhhh.... a bit longer than that.

The Administrator is here quite a bit, and he's usually sober when he is.

The Staff does stuff, some of it even makes sense.

And the Users do seem to spread the word, and most of those words appear to be at least marginally true.

 

[Alycium]

I've only operated two forums. That is the one I currently run and operate (Lots of preparation and money) and a free graphics request forum long long ago when I was a young teen and it stayed up for a few years.

I do understand the frustration, many think it's an easy task and expect to get tons of traffic and active posters. It doesn't work that way, it requires a lot of hard work and time. I've actually even seen one person create several different forums and they all shut down within a month or less. Yikes!

Many are impatient and not prepared with any kind of marketing strategy or some kind of plan of action.

 

[Smiley]

It's interesting how some forums die while the other forums of the same or similar nature live on. Let's take general chit-chat forums that don't focus on anything in particular, but act as a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' as an example here.

I'm currently a co-administrator on a forum like that. It's basically the same concept as Off Topix, with some minor differences here and there. The forum's been up for several years now, struggling for activity ever since I joined it (don't know what the situation was like before my arrival). For some reason, every single person who registered on it became completely inactive, either gradually or suddenly. Why? I have no idea. I've noticed that even the most persistent members have stopped checking in.

Both me and the owner have been trying hard to maintain at least some minimal level of activity. He's been promoting it around, and I kept the forum busy by creating new content as often as possible, resurrecting old threads that still had potential in them, actively conversed with everyone by replying to their posts and / or private messages in a timely manner, always had (and still have) a laid back attitude to avoid accidentally chasing anyone away (troublemakers not included, of course), and just generally went out of my way to keep the place active.

But, no dice. Even though the owner keeps saying otherwise, the forum is dead. Completely. No one is posting anymore. Perhaps that will change at some point, but for now, it's completely dead. The fact the owner doesn't promote it anymore (not to my knowledge anyway) and rarely even logs in doesn't help. He keeps paying for the server costs, software license, keeps it updated, and all that stuff from a technical point of view, but for what? For who? What's the point? If it were up to me, I'd cut my losses and shut it down.

I still log in every couple of days to clean up the spam (Anyone looking to hire a forum maid? ), although even the spambots seem to be losing an interest. Heh.

 

[Alycium]

It's interesting how some forums die while the other forums of the same or similar nature live on. Let's take general chit-chat forums that don't focus on anything in particular, but act as a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' as an example here.

I'm currently a co-administrator on a forum like that. It's basically the same concept as Off Topix, with some minor differences here and there. The forum's been up for several years now, struggling for activity ever since I joined it (don't know what the situation was like before my arrival). For some reason, every single person who registered on it became completely inactive, either gradually or suddenly. Why? I have no idea. I've noticed that even the most persistent members have stopped checking in.

Both me and the owner have been trying hard to maintain at least some minimal level of activity. He's been promoting it around, and I kept the forum busy by creating new content as often as possible, resurrecting old threads that still had potential in them, actively conversed with everyone by replying to their posts and / or private messages in a timely manner, always had (and still have) a laid back attitude to avoid accidentally chasing anyone away (troublemakers not included, of course), and just generally went out of my way to keep the place active.

But, no dice. Even though the owner keeps saying otherwise, the forum is dead. Completely. No one is posting anymore. Perhaps that will change at some point, but for now, it's completely dead. The fact the owner doesn't promote it anymore (not to my knowledge anyway) and rarely even logs in doesn't help. He keeps paying for the server costs, software license, keeps it updated, and all that stuff from a technical point of view, but for what? For who? What's the point? If it were up to me, I'd cut my losses and shut it down.

I still log in every couple of days to clean up the spam (Anyone looking to hire a forum maid? ), although even the spambots seem to be losing an interest. Heh.

Sounds like the owner either 1. Lacks the skills to perform Whitehat SEO or 2. Has no idea what SEO is and just spammed the forum link anywhere and everywhere?

I'm just taking a stab in the dark...

The best way to figure out what is going on is looking at the stats and seeing how much traffic is generated through Google, Yahoo, Bing and other major search engines.

 

[Smiley]

Well, the owner is a programmer, freelances as a web designer and, from what I know, has a rich history of setting the forums up & running them, so I'd say he knows what SEO is and how to use it.

The way I see it, the main problem is his serious lack of activity and apparent disinterest in being engaged in community's life. He's a great guy, and I have nothing bad to say about him, but it seems that every forum he ran died from a lack of activity. According to him, his real life obligations take most of his time away, but I just don't see how he can't afford so much as an hour, or at least half an hour a day, to post on his own forum.

He keeps setting the new forums up, but doesn't seem to try much to keep any of them active. I don't see the point, really. Why starting the new forums up when your existing ones are a graveyard? :unsure2: Most of his forums are general chit-chat, like Off Topix, but neither of them doesn't seem to get much attention from the general Internet population.

I can't say that I'm really surprised, though. I mean, the Internet is pretty much flooded with general chit-chat forums, so what's one more gonna mean to anyone? What's so special about another general chit-chat forum? What does it have to offer that no other forum has? And to top it all, the owner prefers to hide in the admin control panel most of the time, tinkering with the forum settings, instead of actively participating and creating / boosting activity. I just don't know.

 

[Alycium]

Well, the owner is a programmer, freelances as a web designer and, from what I know, has a rich history of setting the forums up & running them, so I'd say he knows what SEO is and how to use it.

The way I see it, the main problem is his serious lack of activity and apparent disinterest in being engaged in community's life. He's a great guy, and I have nothing bad to say about him, but it seems that every forum he ran died from a lack of activity. According to him, his real life obligations take most of his time away, but I just don't see how he can't afford so much as an hour, or at least half an hour a day, to post on his own forum.

He keeps setting the new forums up, but doesn't seem to try much to keep any of them active. I don't see the point, really. Why starting the new forums up when your existing ones are a graveyard? :unsure2: Most of his forums are general chit-chat, like Off Topix, but neither of them doesn't seem to get much attention from the general Internet population.

I can't say that I'm really surprised, though. I mean, the Internet is pretty much flooded with general chit-chat forums, so what's one more gonna mean to anyone? What's so special about another general chit-chat forum? What does it have to offer that no other forum has? And to top it all, the owner prefers to hide in the admin control panel most of the time, tinkering with the forum settings, instead of actively participating and creating / boosting activity. I just don't know.

"Well, the owner is a programmer, freelances as a web designer and, from what I know, has a rich history of setting the forums up & running them, so I'd say he knows what SEO is and how to use it"

If his SEO was on point then his community would probably have no problem being active or at least having hundreds to thousands of "guest" on at any given time.

What it sounds like is that he isn't exactly passionate with the forums he is creating, Maybe he has fallen away from the 'General Chit Chat' styled forums. Also, does this 'General Chit Chat' forum offer any free or premium services? It really helps if you're willing to offer something up, people love the word 'FREE!'

"I can't say that I'm really surprised, though. I mean, the Internet is pretty much flooded with general chit-chat forums, so what's one more gonna mean to anyone?"

Exactly, too many competitors that are dominating that specific niche. Though, it's not impossible to climb your way up!

You sound more concerned than he does, perhaps you should start your own forum? Success comes from hard work and your passion for the niche you choose.

Perhaps he is more concerned with trying to make money from it than he is to actually put in the work and effort to create a successful active and community?


Best bet would be to get a hold of him and let him know how you feel and perhaps give some pointers?

 

[Smiley]

If his SEO was on point then his community would probably have no problem being active or at least having hundreds to thousands of "guest" on at any given time.

There is no shortage of guests. A bunch of them are always lurking the place, although I suspect most of them (if not all) are bots, crawlers and / or spiders.

What it sounds like is that he isn't exactly passionate with the forums he is creating, Maybe he has fallen away from the 'General Chit Chat' styled forums.

I really don't know. We don't talk much.

Also, does this 'General Chit Chat' forum offer any free or premium services? It really helps if you're willing to offer something up, people love the word 'FREE!'

Well, there are blogs. It used to have an image gallery, but everything got wiped out when the owner neglected to pay the server cost one month, so the host simply deleted everything. The owner had an outdated database backup on his computer, so he used it to partially restore the place up, but all the images were (and still are) permanently gone.

There used to be an arcade, points shop (I even invited everyone to suggest their own items so I can add them, but no one seemed interested), a quiz system that allowed everyone to create and publish their own quizzes for everyone else to take, etc. , but it was all lost in the server purge, and the owner never bothered to put any of it back.

The place currently doesn't offer much other than a place to post, put up your Facebook-style statuses and make blog entries.

You sound more concerned than he does, perhaps you should start your own forum?

No thanks. I'm quite willing to help the others out, when & if I can, but I couldn't afford to run a forum of my own. Sorry.

Perhaps he is more concerned with trying to make money from it than he is to actually put in the work and effort to create a successful active and community?

As far as I know, he doesn't make any money off of it. What I do know, however, is that he once said that he simply likes just owning the forums, so I guess that's the reason why he keeps creating the new ones so often, but doesn't seem particularly interested in keeping them active. Makes no sense to me, since it's just a waste of money to pay for so many software licenses. He keeps them all on a single server, so at least he doesn't have to pay additional server costs, I guess.

Best bet would be to get a hold of him and let him know how you feel and perhaps give some pointers?

Tried that already. He didn't seem to care much.


I must point out again that I have absolutely nothing bad to say about him. He always did his best to make me feel comfortable, indulged my quirks, wishes and requests, entrusted me with administrator tools (which is something that isn't just handed around to everyone, methinks) and generally showed appreciation for my help.


What? I had to say it, in case he ever sees this thread.

 

[Nebulous]

I've joined several new forums and saw them closed within a month. It's frustrating, especially when you've put in a decent amount of effort contributing to conversations (posting). A month isn't enough time to make a determination on whether or not the forum is a failure.

 

[Icetex]

excuse me i have get this off my chest
DO NOT MAKE A FORUM BASED ROUND A GAME(Videogames,mmos and such) OF ANY KIND
IT WILL FAIL trust me i have seen it all
I have been motitble forums related to videogames all failed due game become greedy or founding losing interest in said game
trust Off Topix time will come it outlived most forum i have been too. but for warn it will happen one day out of the blue

 

[Smiley]

Some gaming forums are quite popular. I used to frequent a particularly active one, but lost interest and stopped visiting when the activity dropped ridiculously low and the administration showed no interest whatsoever in doing something about it, but preferred to give the silent treatment to everyone who asked what's going on, or even openly told them that it's none of their business.

 

[Crusader]

Social media has taken over. Forums are now niche thing, if people want chit chat and to share things, they go to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

 

[Icetex]

Social media has taken over. Forums are now niche thing, if people want chit chat and to share things, they go to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

i'm going have to agree. a forum for the Moriarty is outdated and/or old school
social media has pretty much tooken over. over the void the forums had at one time

 

[Jazzy]

Well, then I'm really looking forward to Off Topix's 6th year anniversary on September 20th. Guess we must be doing something right, eh?

 

[~KAGE-008]

Well, then I'm really looking forward to Off Topix's 6th year anniversary on September 20th. Guess we must be doing something right, eh?

That's the spirit! :Off Topixrules:

(btw, it's on September 20th, you know )

That's what I said! (after a little editing that is)

 

[Wingedkuri]

Hahaha, I admit I have been guilty of that when I was younger. Honestly, creating forums are very thrilling. You almost feel like you've got the world in your palms, a future community full of potential and many new friends to talk to and meet. I always liked finding the perfect theme, organizing the boards and thinking of all the threads you could post about and what you could do that other forums didn't do, or wouldn't allow you to do. Even if it's the exact same chit-chat board as any other chit-chat board, it's yours. Now, everything that comes after that... we'll talk about that later.

That's what I think anyway. Everyone I'm sure when they create their forums expect great things, idealists, if anything. You think of all the fun parts, I mean... who likes advertising? It's repetitive, boring, and it feels like you are just going on other forums to talk to yourself.

But, no dice. Even though the owner keeps saying otherwise, the forum is dead. Completely. No one is posting anymore. Perhaps that will change at some point, but for now, it's completely dead. The fact the owner doesn't promote it anymore (not to my knowledge anyway) and rarely even logs in doesn't help. He keeps paying for the server costs, software license, keeps it updated, and all that stuff from a technical point of view, but for what? For who? What's the point? If it were up to me, I'd cut my losses and shut it down.

It could easily be just out of stubbornness. I suffer from that too, unfortunately.

 

[Mozzie]

I have had very successful forums, i out that to all my great Staff and great members , yes this is the third one io have had, but the other two had melt downs due to domain collapse and a server upgrade fail. They were all very active and getting stronger every day, But i have been fortunate that all our members flooded my board once we got this latest one up,, and to that i am greatly thankful for them all to keep supporting us . I have joined sites after the Admin there have talked it up ony to join, and leave a welcome and never a reply back to it.. I think some build a forum to have that Admin title and a sense of power, and i have met a few like that and their forums crashed an burned because of it, it is hard work to run a site, to keep new things up , but there is an internet out there with millions of ideas for those who want to try. But i am in agreement with Enoch, some sites out there just shouldn't be trying to get members if the Admin don't care about their own sites

 

[Kale]

DO NOT MAKE A FORUM BASED ROUND A GAME(Videogames,mmos and such) OF ANY KIND

This was a thing/trend I know. It's still true, honestly. Most of the time the game is popular for a month or so. I've seen so many people make forums for new games and it flop within a month or two back then. It's that or like you said people lose interest in the game. This happened to me when someone did a forum for Red Dead Redemption 1 back then. lol

 

[Cory]

I'm tired of seeing nothing but RPG forums on the Jcink forum software. The Jcink Directory my friend built is living proof that Jcink is a majority of RPG boards. I wish there would be a wider selection.

 

[Draconis]

I am. If someone starts a new forum and I join. Its always the following.

• Inactive within a month
• The administrator locks up the board with message stating it didn't work out.
• The administrator expects someone else to run their forum so they have staff members who are barely active.
• Lack of content.
• lack of promotion and advertisement.

I just don't know why people want the novelty of starting a new forum. I guess the idea is cool. But you need to stay dedicated and if its inactive. Its the administrators / owner's fault. I really mean that.

I also don't like it when the administrator wants the members to "spread the word". This sends a very bad message that I'm obviously wasting my time and that the owner is having trouble. Especially when they go around telling the members they want to discuss that forum's future.

So for new forums. I'll wait 6 months before I join. If they're still active...I'll join. I'm not wasting my time if the forum is inactive with barely any content. Fuck that shit.

I respect your opinion of course. I've had quite a few "PG13" forums but they always bottomed out. The main reason being, I was using free scripts which were all shit. I couldn't afford $140 for a XF license until just recently. I've been saving up (I am poor).