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#Post#: 1946--------------------------------------------------
Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: Jaron
Date: July 8, 2011, 6:19 pm
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11 Ways To Not Have A Successful Forum: (by Simply Sibyl)
1. Hide all of your boards from Guests.
The logic seems to be this will make them register and login.
-----
Seeing nothing of interest when they go to a forum gives them
no reason to want to join. It makes people wonder what you are
hiding, or it makes them feel its not worth the time. You don't
have to show them all of the forums content. But show them
enough to make them think "hey I want to join in here!" It
is also inconvenient to your regular members who at times may
want to drop by to see if there have been any new posts. They
might just see something that prompts them to login and reply.
2. Password protect your boards with codes.
Not only is this not foolproof because they can read your
source code and see the password in the code, its just plain
annoying. While your at it don't forget to disable right click
(until you get tired of not being able to do so yourself in many
areas of the forum - specially in Admin. There are so many ways
(including disabling Javascript in their browser) that people
can take information from your forum. Disabling right click is
not going to stop them if they want it badly enough. Everything
is already in their Temp Internet Folder so what do you think
you are blocking? It is a total waste of time and completely
annoying.
------
Forums should be easy to get around, and not feel like a its all
under lock and key and you need a decoder ring and a tracking
dog to do anything..
3. Pay no attention to how content can slow the forum down.
Put huge graphics, widjets, chatboxes, music boxes, youtube
videos, animations allover the forum. Toss in a popup that
comes up every time they change pages.
-----
Not only does it trash the look of the forum, and ruin its
usability - it slows the load time tremendously. Its nice
to give members some fun things to do and to try to make the
forum look "fantastic" - but keep in mind when doing so that
you dont want a 2meg background image, 8 500k images in a
portal block, a partridge in a pear tree, the kitchen sink and a
forum that looks like there was a blue light special in the
Codes Board. (and because of it runs slow as molasses. Keep
- it - simple. You can give them a lot to do, but overdoing it
with all the bling and fluff will run them off. Keep the file
sizes down with your images. Make sure to optimize them in your
graphics programs when you save them. Download PngGauntlet. Its
an excellent tool for Optimizing .png images with NO color loss.
In some cases you will see dramatic differences in file sizes.
You may have a screaming fast computer and internet connection
but remember that not all of your members will. If its nothing
but a hassle for them waiting for pages to load they wont stay
around for long.
4. Put up a "DONATE TO MY FORUM" button 2 days after you set the
forum up.
Complain constantly that no one ever donates. Move the button
to new places, make it bigger to make sure they see it.
-------
You just set the forum up. You have few members. little content
and those you get at first likely will not donate. Give your
forum time to grow - you'll just come across as bugging people
for money.
5. Change the theme and forum settings on your forum 3 times a
week.
Each time make an announcement that you have "updated the forum
and added this great new theme and we hope you really like it"
-----
Changing the forums theme won't bring the members in that you
are not getting. Neither will enabling a feature on the forum -
telling them all about it then the next day you suddenly disable
it because "one guy caused a problem"
which leads me to:
6. When that "one guy" causes the problem:
Post the PM conversation you had with him all over your forum
and the forum of 5 of your friends. Whenever you and a staff
member have an issue make sure to fight it out publically. When
a member makes a simple mistake on your forum not knowing all
your tight forum rules make sure to berate them publically.
Afterall that is what you would want someone to do to you right?
-----
That is a super way to show prospective members you have no
respect for privacy (posting PMs) and no intention on dealing
with anyone in a fair manner. Good members who are going to
stick with you arent there for drama. They are there for
content, communication, education, fun and many other things
but drama and fighting will doom a forum fast.
7. Modify your members profile settings for them.
Don't let them think for themselves and decide how they want
things set. Make sure they know that YOU know what is best for
them in using your forum and the fact that those preferences
are there for THEM to make their own decisions on is totally
lost on you.
-----
Most people who use forums and are familiar with the smf
software know how they like their settings set in their Profile.
Many will go there immediately upon joining to set them up.
Don't irritate the heck out of your new (or old) people by
taking it upon yourself to change their settings for them.
Create a help topic and post a couple of threads with some
settings tips for thier Profile Section. Point out the link to
the forums Help pages. Let them know those settings are there
for them to modify as they wish.
8. There is little or no information.
A lot of forum owners believe that it is up to the users to add
the content to their site when exactly the opposite holds true.
People go to websites for information even if it is nothing but
jokes or images. You must provide a wealth of information and
update it regularly if you want people to come to your site and
keep coming back.
9. Lack Of Organization.
Try to organize your boards to make it easy for users to find
things. This will also make using the search feature a lot
easier. Too many boards may overwhelm your users with too much
information.
10. The Rules Are Too Harsh
If you start banning everyone who makes the slightest mistake
you'll drive people away. They will be afraid to post anything
for fear of being banned. Remember that EVERYONE, including you,
will make mistakes. Gentle reminders often work best. Don't
make your members feel they are being watched constantly. It
won't be a comfortable, fun place to hang out.
11. Quantity does not trump quality
Pages upon pages of mindless prattle will deter a potentially
useful and positive member.
#Post#: 3407--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: Sagar_king
Date: January 25, 2012, 3:14 am
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Thanks nice info
#Post#: 5063--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: PenguinBoyfriend
Date: June 30, 2012, 11:42 pm
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I was just skimming through this and I thought, "Oh wow! If I
don't let guests see all the boards, they will want to join!"
Then I went through my boards and unchecked "guests" on every
single one. After I was done with that, I go back on here and
see that it says "How NOT to have a successful forum"..... T_T
So then, I go all the way back and check all the guests on every
board! Ugh, I really need to read more thoroughly! ;D
Anyway, very helpful! Thank you.
#Post#: 11690--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: Silver734
Date: August 31, 2013, 6:51 pm
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How can you disable the right-click?
#Post#: 11767--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: WorldwideFlashlightForum
Date: September 8, 2013, 7:56 pm
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You forgot one:
Bad grammar/spelling.
I will never join a forum that has something like "hay guyz u
shud join are forum!!! kthnxbye"
#Post#: 12478--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: Silver734
Date: December 2, 2013, 6:51 pm
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@FlashLightForum: you're right. There's nothing more that
bothers me than terrible grammar on an otherwise fine site.
#Post#: 12639--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sibyl's 11 Ways NOT To Have a Successful Forum
DIR By: james79
Date: December 21, 2013, 12:27 am
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I truly astounded by your publish regards. I really appreciate
that you took all this time to try and help us.Your work is
carry the information to the other people.
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