Why do you want a forum

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  • jmd
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2002
    • 666

    Why do you want a forum

    Ok I was asked this by someone, and it's a good question. I was asked why did I go out and by a forum when there are already 10 million lol out there covering the same topics as yours.

    Lets face it it's difficult to come up with a unique forum when it's been done time and time again. Then we wonder why we can't get members to join our forums, we try everything possible t get people but it seams to be a slow go.

    So why did I drop 300 Canadian dollars on this thing.

    I guess it's a hobby. I enjoy the challenge in trying to make my board a successful board.
    ( No regrets about buying it we have a good time on the board even if it’s a small board)

    So what's your story? Why did you drop your cash and buy your board, and then pay for web space love to hear. And are you baffled when people don’t want to join your board.

    I’m also interested in how many boards get left for dead because of lack of memberships

    Cheers

    PS. Lets face it there are more forums out there than members LOL at least it seams that way.
    PLEASE VISIT US HERE. THANKS IN ADVANCE
  • bigmattyh
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2001
    • 956

    #2
    Doesn't matter how many are out there -- there's nowhere else where people can talk about the specific things that my site has to offer. And boy, do they love to talk.

    We've been up for a year; we've had ~125 members so far with ~1300 posts. It's grown a lot in the last month or so, and with the big redesign we're having soon, we're expecting more growth.

    The forum world is always shifting. Some forums get old. Some get more fun. It all depends on the people -- and dare I say it: Community? The people are what make it, and it's the most fun part of the site, most of the time.

    That's why.
    iComix :: web comics

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    • nuno
      Senior Member
      • Apr 2001
      • 4346
      • 3.8.x

      #3
      vB it's not just another forum, and i love to browse old topics
      You're my Prince of Peace
      And I will live my life for You

      Comment

      • VenusGirl

        #4
        Every forum is differant no matter how you do it. For me, there is another site on Israel that I visit every day using VB, but even then I still made my own site, because it has my own content, posts and pictures that I decide to include, and many people these past few days have liked them.

        There can be a million more forums just with the same subject but they still won't be alike.

        Kim

        Comment

        • Jake Bunce
          Senior Member
          • Dec 2000
          • 46598
          • 3.6.x

          #5
          Re: Why do you want a forum

          i like having power

          actually mac computers are my main interest / hobby. i like being part of community of mac users that share my interests. that combined with my lust for power resulted in my web site.

          Comment

          • jam583
            Senior Member
            • Jul 2001
            • 556
            • 4.0.0

            #6
            It started out as a website for the Pontiac Grand AM back in 1999. No other site existed for this car and they weren't considered a car to modify. But, we started modifying them etc. Now we have nearly 5,000 members and well over 160,000 posts.

            Started out as a hobby and still is .. now my hobby just pays a little money for two years worth of hard work.
            Jason Miller
            http://www.GMPerformanceTuning.com
            http://projecthillside.com
            http://weekendoasis.net
            http://jamz.net

            Comment

            • bigmattyh
              Senior Member
              • Apr 2001
              • 956

              #7
              Just curious -- where does your revenue come from?

              If advertising, do you sell your own space, or do you get a third party to do it for you?
              iComix :: web comics

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              • Zorg
                Senior Member
                • Jan 2001
                • 236

                #8
                I originally had a broadband news site but keeping it up to date was taking up my a lot of my time, and time I needed to spend on other things like working.

                vBulletin is the best move I ever made, as I have moderators they control 95% of the site so I don't need to spend hours updating anything.

                I must admit, when I first started there was under 1000 member, but 1 year later and member 5000 has just registered, along with almost 200,000 posts.

                It's a hobby. Cheaper then a pack of smokes each day

                Comment

                • Mr. X
                  Senior Member
                  • May 2001
                  • 1112
                  • 2.3.0

                  #9
                  I originally started with UBB just to run a small board for a few close members of another forum. It was all fun, just like it is now.

                  Im retiring my forums soon. My members will be migrated to another forum. There are a million graphics forums out there, and mines no different, and its just useless and futile to continue running one.
                  website: joe.pcfx.cc
                  forums: pcfx.cc
                  gallery: here

                  Comment

                  • jam583
                    Senior Member
                    • Jul 2001
                    • 556
                    • 4.0.0

                    #10
                    Originally posted by bigmattyh
                    Just curious -- where does your revenue come from?

                    If advertising, do you sell your own space, or do you get a third party to do it for you?
                    I am sponsored by a company that sells products that cater to my forum. They pay per month .. I also have banner ads running.
                    Jason Miller
                    http://www.GMPerformanceTuning.com
                    http://projecthillside.com
                    http://weekendoasis.net
                    http://jamz.net

                    Comment

                    • jmd
                      Senior Member
                      • Jan 2002
                      • 666

                      #11
                      This is the thing. The cost. We all want a big board but there is a hell of a cost to having a big board. Anyone care to post how much they pay a month to have they're dream board or hobby up and running.

                      Right now I only pay 6 dollars Canadian a month. That shoud do me for a while. Thats 50 megs of web space and 4 gig a month bandwidth.

                      PLEASE VISIT US HERE. THANKS IN ADVANCE

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                      • ethank
                        Senior Member
                        • Apr 2001
                        • 603

                        #12
                        Lets see... I was bored and 15 years old when I started Murmurs.com.

                        The forum was a logical extension around 1998, but we launched on O'Reilly's Webboard because it was the best product at the time for that (hard to believe). I used it also because I was launching an online communitiy initiative in the newspaper company I worked at.

                        Why do I run Murmurs? Well, I'm 23 now and a huge REM fan, and REM has been around as long as I've been alive, which means the community of people who are fans of this band are spread far and wide. In high school they weren' too popular. I realized at an REM show in 1995 that when a group of these fans got together something cool happened, so when I saw it was possible I tried to transfer that atmosphere online.

                        Now of course the tables have turned and the fan-groups at concerts are made up of Murmurs people

                        So for me, I started the forum, paid the money and run it because I try to duplicate a special type of relationship fans of the same band (and one as fan-friendly as REM certainly) share.

                        EThan

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                        • heretic
                          Senior Member
                          • Aug 2001
                          • 718

                          #13
                          I hate chat rooms for one thing


                          I started a board because we had a site centric on CTS, which is a multiple author story, that is very easily done with a thread view forum. we also created a general discussion forum, and a couple others.

                          after that on some other forums we noticed that moderation was a big problem to some so we started "The Rift" where people could (almost) do whatever they wanted. we slowly built a site around it, and now WS (short for Warpstorm) has a very smooth submission database for stories, poems, and art.

                          Recently we have started our largest CTS project, Libra Wars, which spans 3 forums and has it's own section on the website.

                          so to summarize, we use theforums to write very large stories

                          Comment

                          • majestic
                            New Member
                            • Feb 2002
                            • 22

                            #14
                            For myself its just all about learning new things.

                            I didnt know anything about php a few months ago
                            and now I have my own forum hacked up to the eye
                            balls

                            Yeah I agree spending the money to buyvbulletin
                            a big step for me, as I am not a rich person
                            I would have maybe liked to have gone down the
                            pub for a few drinks.

                            But I can use the forum for study projects at college
                            maybe it will pay off for me in future, I am still learning
                            lots.

                            laters

                            Comment

                            • JWB
                              Senior Member
                              • Jan 2002
                              • 155

                              #15
                              I just wanted to create a good site that wasn't "under construction" all the time -- although it still is basically I enjoy learning about php, mysql, especially with a well supported software like vBulletin. Plenty of help

                              I just created a general discussion and over about 3 months i've gotten about 300 members , not wonderful but hopefully Ill have 1000 members by the end of the year or not to long thereafter, I don't advertise ($ wise) and registerations have actually seemed to pickup since I started it, I just hope it stays that way!!
                              Jimmy

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