Starting/managing forums

[poisonsembrace]

Is anyone able to share some forum resources that detail the finer details of running a forum such as developing a community, how to get the ball rolling with posts and stuff of that nature.

Google only turns up a bunch of stuff regarding initial set up etc but I'm sure there must be a resource for webmasters with a focus on forums alone.

Of course, I dare not ask for something and offer nothing in return...

 

[dchuk]

I'm experimenting right now. Best advice I can give so far is:

create a bunch of fake accounts and make fake activity.

annoy all of your friends to convince them to participate.

Annoy people to drop links and mention your site at various places.

 

[greyhat]

^ was gonna say the same thing.

 

[Mr Jacksonian]

I'm experimenting right now. Best advice I can give so far is:

create a bunch of fake accounts and make fake activity.

annoy all of your friends to convince them to participate.

Annoy people to drop links and mention your site at various places.

Do you think it is worth it so far? Seems like an awful lot of work and no significant advantage.

 

[dchuk]

Do you think it is worth it so far? Seems like an awful lot of work and no significant advantage.

depends on your motives. A self sustaining public facing community site 1) gets new free content every day 2) gets a cult like following

if you're developing products in the niche you're in, setup a forum, get it to the tipping point, then promote your products on it. traffic all day long.

 

[poisonsembrace]

I swear there use to be a forum sysop resource/forum that gave info on how to manage, grow, profit etc etc from a forum (and I still can't fucking find it) but Google keeps spewing forth fake reviews of forum software and a bunch of other shit. Difficult to find a negative review.

Frustrating.. I did quite a bit of research over the past few days and ended up purchasing XenForo; produced by some guys who worked at vBulletin. I don't know the full story but the company that now owns vBulletin is chasing them in court over it.

The software is fucking amazing, intelligently designed and intuitive to use. Check it out if you're looking at setting up a forum. It's much cheaper too as they're only up to RC2.

Anyway, today I posted up a bunch of videos on Youtube (picture slideshows with link to forum in video and description) to try and get the ball rolling. I'm going to make a few controversial ones as well to try and bait people to come and voice their opinion. I'll see if that has any affect while I go and create multiple accounts on my forum and begin talking to myself (fuck!). I'd hire some people to do it but it'll only be shit they post and they'll prob drop their links in the profile while they're at it.

 

[BackBanana]

Admin Zone Forums - Discussion Forums & Resources for Online Community Administrators

hth

 

[poisonsembrace]

Admin Zone Forums - Discussion Forums & Resources for Online Community Administrators

hth

Much <3

 

[BackBanana]

I'm experimenting right now. Best advice I can give so far is:

create a bunch of fake accounts and make fake activity.

annoy all of your friends to convince them to participate.

Annoy people to drop links and mention your site at various places.

any tips on the fake activity? Beyond starting threads with "Hi I'm from {area} and I love {things}.

 

[poisonsembrace]

any tips on the fake activity? Beyond starting threads with "Hi I'm from {area} and I love {things}.

I would guess that isn't enough to get people to sign up or begin posting. I'm going to develop some good content (articles & video) that gives people a reason to sign up and reply.

Signing up and confirming is too much hassle for most people to bother doing it so I'm using Facebook Connect as well on my forum.

 

[dchuk]

any tips on the fake activity? Beyond starting threads with "Hi I'm from {area} and I love {things}.

hopefully you're an expert in whatever topic your forum is on, so just create accounts and talk to yourself about shit you already know. People will contribute if others are; if nothing is happening no one will break the ice.