Small community or big community?

[Randy]

What do you prefer?

 

[Flurry]

I don't mind a small community, cause its less issues. But then I don't mind a big community. Cause then you have more folks to talk with.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Small community like Off Topix... I think no matter how big the forum stats grow, we'll always have that small-community feel.

 

[Corleone]

Small community. It's more personal and besides, a big community is nothing special.

 

[Hulk's iconHulk]

I prefer small. When I start having a biggish forum I sell it.

 

[Amiga]

Small. You can get to know people a lot more from what they post, etc. If it's a big community, there's too many people to get a grasp of who's doing what. I get confused :S



I like to visit smaller ones.

 

[Ashley]

I prefer a medium community, which I guess would probably discribe this site. I mean, I don't like it ridiculously active, but I don't like it totally dead, either. Just a nice happy medium with a steady amount of posts coming in.

 

[Scarbo]

Depends how you define big or small. I like about 50-100 active members.

 

[K1234]

I like a small community. You can stay on top of everyone's post, and respond. Makes members feel they are being heard in the community.

 

[Ashley]

I prefer small. When I start having a biggish forum I sell it.

Instead of selling the site, if it got to a point where it got too busy for my liking, there's always the option to turn off registerations so that new members can't register. I've never done this method before, but I have heard of forums that have. Haven't as of recently, of course, but in the past I've heard of forums doing this and it seems to work quite well for the owner.

 

[Evil Eye]

there's always the option to turn off registerations so that new members can't register

That sounds rather elitist, doesn't it?

 

[K1234]

But big communities have their benefits also. Sometimes you do get a lot of variety and opinions that can be valuable.

 

[Ashley]

That sounds rather elitist, doesn't it?

Well, maybe. But at the same time, if you're the type of admin who prefers a small/medium size community, you could probably advertise for a little while, but then once you felt it would get too busy for you, you could disable new registerations permanently and just work with keeping the members you have. I guess it's just a matter of going with your instincts, really.