Forums don't make it

It's sad and discouraging, but some forums don't make it. After being open for some time, the owners decide to use the license for a different forum, or just shut down. Several people in here already closed their forums. I don't want to think about it.

That is so true Julia. I have had my share of forums which failed and those which have worked and to be honest I still can not understand why some work and others do not. As an example about 4 years ago I ran a forum which s l o w l y grew to 120 odd members but was obviously going nowhere while another forum I started about 2 years ago now has over 2,500 members and is still growing by about 5 new members a day.

It really is sad.

You just have to be careful anymore to start a new forum in a really niche area. Just because a topic is important to you doesn't mean it is/will be, to hundreds of others. So your topic really has to be unique. If it's not, you have to at least approach it from an angle that's different from anyone else's. At the VERY least, be sure that you can do it better than someone else with the same topic.

I know, except, I didn't find a niche, or didn't do it better, well I got a preety skin here, I do all those things. But still, just makes me wonder how much longer will my forum last ?

Julia, the thing to remember is to keep nurturing your forum, no matter how slow it might get.

I started a small, niche forum back in October 2006. By January, there were still less than 70 posts (most of which were mine), about 8 or 9 members and virtually zero daily activity. I decided I was fishing the wrong pond and announced that I would be closing the forum down, as there was no sense beating the dead horse.

Within 48 hours, there were 6 new members! :huh: So, I decided the horse wasn't terminal and started working the site again. Slowly but surely, the site is growing. It will never achieve Big Board status, but I knew that going in. What keeps me motivated is that we're continuing to get a new member every couple of days and the newbies keep commenting on how much they like the forum.

Keep plugging until you've exhausted all the possibilities. And then look around for something else to try. You might surprise yourself.

Yes, Mike that's what I am doing. I like your expression of beating a dead horse. I will wait of course, but meanwhile I am thinking about switching to different hosting plan, I am on the medium, so I probably need small. I don't get a lot of new members, I am trying ...

Do you have your site in the Links Directory here, or elsewhere?

Place a link to your site in your signature.

These two things will help get your site noticed, both in people seeing the links and in the search engines discovering the backlinks.

Tell people about your site, every chance you get. Tell them who you are, where you are and why your site is better than all the others.

Look closely at your "competitors" and see what they are doing. Find something that you know you can do better and work at it.

On another forum, someone used the analogy of opening a new coffee shop and trying to attract customers to the new business. When there are coffee shops located everywhere, you have to do something to get people to notice you. Take advantage of every opportunity to promote, promote, promote. I've spent hours at it and don't have near the success that Peggy enjoys here on this one. I hate to think of how much time she has spent promoting this site.

I've seen a lot of forums come and go. I think a big part of the problem is the inexperience of the administrator and other people running the site. They expect to do a dummy (default) bulletin board install, maybe add a nice template and have people banging down the door to get in. It just doesn't work that way, you need to be dedicated and work hard for it.

Another issue is people starting forums on the same topic that already has many many boards out there. Think about it: How many webmaster's forums are out there? 100's, maybe 1000's. Out of all those forums there are really only 2 or 3 big webmaster boards. Yet, new ones open everyday with nothing that sets them apart from the other boards. Why should I (or anyone else for that matter) contribute to your dead forum when I can go else where and get much more information with the same amount or less effort? ;)

It takes time, build a forum up. I just started a general discussion forum, it's like pulling teeth to get it off the ground. If in 6 months their is no significant growth, I'll move the license to another forum and give that topic a try for 6 months.

Danny, I agree. The number of people that want to start a new vB Admin forum amazes me. Yet people start new ones every day.

I am a member of far too many forums as it is. I don't have time for any more. Unless I can find one that is a better resource than those I already haunt. But somebody is going to have to grab my attention in a big hurry, because I simply don't have time to separate the wheat from the chaff. I used to bookmark forums that might warrant a second look at a later date, but I've stopped doing that as many of them had already disappeared before I could get back to them.

I think trying to tackle a general discussion forum has to be a long row to hoe. Peggy has invited me to TalkOhio (I think they're looking for a token Hoosier:innocent:), and I told her I would try to get in there. Sometime. Maybe. It would be fun to spend some time just jawing with others. When I can find the time.

Danny, I remember you had a forum about homework, or something like that ?
I had my forum for 6 month now, and it's slow, I just think how much I put in to it, the time especially, makes me not want to close it.

Well i started a small social forum some months ago, i was using PHPBB at that time and to my surprise in only 1 month i had more than 70 Members and now i have some 500 Members and i have recently moved to Vbulletin :) well at times there are some disadvantages and it requires hard work

..... Peggy has invited me to TalkOhio (I think they're looking for a token Hoosier:innocent:), and I told her I would try to get in there. Sometime. Maybe. It would be fun to spend some time just jawing with others. When I can find the time.
Actually anyone from any state bordering Ohio is welcome to join TalkOhio (http://www.talkohio.net) ;)

Mike 54, you know the same thing just happened to me, I was a little depressed over 9 months with my forum, and only 8 active members, same thing, was not thinking about closing though, and the google adwords suddenly kicked in, so I started getting the new members. I ll see.
My question is how long would the admin wait before he/she sees no point of continuing ?
I don't like to fail, I am the kind of person, that will continue beating the dead horse. So, how long did you wait before closing ?
My husband says you have to give a forum years.

I am just taking a break from one of my forums as one of the members commented tonight how close we are to reaching post number 100,000 and they are going silly trying to get there asap, it must be my age but I can't keep up with the posts :yes:

Danny, I remember you had a forum about homework, or something like that ?
I had my forum for 6 month now, and it's slow, I just think how much I put in to it, the time especially, makes me not want to close it.

I had a homework forum briefly, I decided to close it up and move the license elsewhere after I realized how much of a headache serving my target audience would be with COPPA (http://www.coppa.org) laws. Basically it's a US law that states a website cannot collect personal information (such as in email address) of a child under the age of 13 without written permission from the parents. I wasn't going to go though all that headache to help a few kids for free you know? :)

So, how long did you wait before closing ?
Actually, I didn't shut it down. As I was about to do just that, the registrations picked up and it started growing. It's still a small forum, but it is active.

Danny, the COPPA issues are pretty incredible, aren't they?

I know Mike, that your forum is active, I just meant in general, for others who have changed the theme of their forum.

I would keep my forum whether or not there were 2 people in it. It just started, there are like 30 members now, but the RV community has so many choices, I would rather it be a small, quaint, homey forum than the zoo at RV net. Besides, if peggy keeps showing up to shoot the breeze, it makes it all worthwhile

Well, your forum is doing very good for just started.