I don't know what I've done wrong. There hasn't been a new post in roughly a month.

I thought I started off well, but but my regulars don't come by anymore, and new people interested rarely even make any appearances at all. It's like they don't care anymore. And my marketing efforts haven't gotten me anywhere.

Recently this year however, I've had a ton of spammers register and spam the boards, but me and my mod team neutralize it as quick as we can, anyways that just means that I have to moderate and approve users for now.But that's all the activity I've had, just spam, it's not very fun.

I fear I may have no choice but to just end up selling my forums, or worse yet, shutting them down completely.

afraid I'm one.....

My forum participation tends to come and go in waves. Just depends on what I'm up to at the time.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

I don't know what I've done wrong. There hasn't been a new post in roughly a month.

I thought I started off well, but but my regulars don't come by anymore, and new people interested rarely even make any appearances at all. It's like they don't care anymore. And my marketing efforts haven't gotten me anywhere.

A month isn't that bad. Things can turn around for the better. Why don't you try posting new content to spark up some conversations. And ask some friends to join and start posting too. At least until the regulars come by.

Give people incentive to post. What's in it for them? What can the benefit from? Whatever it is, make it happen. And you might even try to update the forum a bit and then send out an email informing people of the updates. They might get excited about it and login just to check it out.

Hey James.
I have to admit I don't come by much anymore. Not because of you, but because I'm extremely busy.

Maybe a small restructuring of the categories might help. Get rid of the ones that don't see much action. Consolidate ones that are similar topics.

As Brett said above, maybe post some special "controversial" topics to spark up some conversation.

Just my 2 cents.

Post, post, POST! Contests, post wars, games. I know a lot of forums discourage unnecessary posting (not sure your forums genre?) but having that on my forum is what's kept us alive during slower times. We're less than two years old, with almost 1000 members and close to 350,000 posts total. We're growing everyday by members and database size lol

Really, you've got to keep content fresh, and members talking.

Is that your forum, the conspiracy one? Looks great, maybe I'll stop by and help your post count out a bit! That's a topic that really interests me!

Good luck, forums are HARD work!

Also- just registered at your forums. Took me three tries to register completely. Went to post an intro thread, and it says I don't have permission to do so (yes, I validated my account).

Not sure if I'm the only one having those issues, but if not, that's a potential turn-off for new members and regular posting.

I understand that many people are busy and don't have the time to engage in conversations, because I tend to be one of them, with school, my internship, etc.

All the forums HAD decent activity, so I don't think forum numbers are an issue, and I think they all have good potential to become active.

Also, @ Jenni = Yep, that's my board. One of the things I had to do was turn on new user moderation, where I as the admin, manually approve everyone. The spam was getting completely out of control, with over roughly 20 new spammer registrations a day, jsut look at the number of "Registered members" That number more than doubled the post count. I installed captchas, manually answering a basic question, etc. and nothing worked, so I had no other choice.

Not sure why it took you three tries to register though, but welcome aboard! (If you have any ideas on what the problem was, feel free to share, so others don't have a similar experience. )

To answer your question, I think its because of a lack of growth. You MUST have more members coming in then leaving. Members come and go - that is just the way it is. If you only have 10 active members, one leaves every month, and you only get 1 real member every 2 months - its just a matter of time before the community dies.

A lot of it goes back to your promotion techniques, google ranking, how your community appeals to new members,,,,,

The key factor to keeping your community growing, is to have more new members sign up those that stop visiting. Focus on getting your old members back and getting new members to sign up.

======= EDIT ======

Is that "The Psychology of Conspiracies" forum the one we are talking about?

Hey James!

I really do like the idea of your forum, but one reason I think that you are losing members is due to the layout. Like the post you have in your signature where you debate the issue why people think conspirators are lunatics you touch my reason for not liking your page.

The problem with conspiracy theories are often that they are presented in a stupid way. That you can argue the content due to the setting they are presented in. A perfect example of this are all the movies and photos of engines and generators that say they produce "free energy".

All of these movies are disputed due to the lack of skill of the cameraman. It simply looks fake, it feels fake and thus it probobly is fake.

I would love to hang out on a conspiracy forum that don't try to get a "cool" design or try to look like some underground thing. (ie. the zeitgeist movement).

If you clean up your layout, make it look kinda like WT and remove some of the ads you should do much better. Also try and figure out another way around the spam issue, to use member administration is Ok if you are able to approve user on the go, but it seems like new members are quick at verifying their e-mail than you are at approving them, which isn't reallyt that strange.

Best of luck to you and I will drop by your board as often as I can to check on discussions and updates. More conspiracy forums are needed!

Originally Posted by ~kev~

To answer your question, I think its because of a lack of growth. You MUST have more members coming in then leaving. Members come and go - that is just the way it is. If you only have 10 active members, one leaves every month, and you only get 1 real member every 2 months - its just a matter of time before the community dies.

I think every forum owner would like that, it's just that new membership is basically out of the owner's control. Communities expand because the people enjoy discussing there, and I'm just one person, I can only do so much.

Originally Posted by ~kev~

Is that "The Psychology of Conspiracies" forum the one we are talking about?

Yes, that's the one, although that's actually just a thread from my forum, Steve (Vangogh here) recommended the marketing technique to appeal to a more specific userbase.





Hey thanks Martin ,

One of the attractions of my forums is that they aren't necessarily just a place for "lunatics to rant" or homemade videos to be showcased.

I try to make the forum appeal to everyone, and not just contain a "fringe base of nuts" (or whatever you want to call them). I think it's a very friendly place to hang out at.

Originally Posted by GhettoFish

Like the post you have in your signature where you debate the issue why people think conspirators are lunatics you touch my reason for not liking your page.

So are you saying here that's a "bad thread"? It's not exactly a "conspiracy theory" or a "radical concept", just the general reactions people have when they appear. I know some of the threads have video links that discuss specific conspiracies, but that wasn't exactly intended to be one of them.

Originally Posted by GhettoFish

If you clean up your layout, make it look kinda like WT and remove some of the ads you should do much better. Also try and figure out another way around the spam issue, to use member administration is Ok if you are able to approve user on the go, but it seems like new members are quick at verifying their e-mail than you are at approving them, which isn't reallyt that strange.

Not quite sure what you mean by the layout, WT actually heavily inspired the way it's setup (latest blog posts, reputation system, ads that go away a few general forums for non-conspiracy topics and site updates, etc.) The only thing that's really different is the color scheme, which complements the forum's theme.

Also what do you mean by the ads? I placed some in the threads so that people would register to make them go away (another marketing tactic). You think it's better to just eliminate them completely? (Although a couple of places on the homepage were made for adspace, so it'd be kinda silly to remove them from there, don't know what else would go there.)

With the spam there's really nothing else I can do (I've already taken anti-spam measueres and the spam bots are still geting through), I don't really have any other choice in the matter but to premoderate (for every new member that registers, I get about 100 spammer members, it was, and still kinda is, that bad).



And thanks for the input everyone (it helps me find what some forum issues are), I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

Hey thanks Martin ,

One of the attractions of my forums is that they aren't necessarily just a place for "lunatics to rant" or homemade videos to be showcased.

I try to make the forum appeal to everyone, and not just contain a "fringe base of nuts" (or whatever you want to call them). I think it's a very friendly place to hang out at.


So are you saying here that's a "bad thread"? It's not exactly a "conspiracy theory" or a "radical concept", just the general reactions people have when they appear. I know some of the threads have video links that discuss specific conspiracies, but that wasn't exactly intended to be one of them.

Hehe well, that wasn't what i ment. When i re-read my post it came of quite bashing, didn't mean to disprove of your forum in any way since I can only talk from my own experience. I will clarify what i ment.

The thread you wrote made a lot of sense and is mostly true. People have a habit of saying a lot of what conspiracy theorists say are madness. Personally I really like the idea of people finding out what is true and not and not taking authority as truth just cus it's simple.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

Not quite sure what you mean by the layout, WT actually heavily inspired the way it's setup (latest blog posts, reputation system, ads that go away a few general forums for non-conspiracy topics and site updates, etc.) The only thing that's really different is the color scheme, which complements the forum's theme.

What i ment by the layout was the lack of contrast, for me it is a turn off when you have blue background with blue text. It feels like you tried to make it look cool and flashy, which in my opinion it shouldn't be.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

Also what do you mean by the ads? I placed some in the threads so that people would register to make them go away (another marketing tactic). You think it's better to just eliminate them completely? (Although a couple of places on the homepage were made for adspace, so it'd be kinda silly to remove them from there, don't know what else would go there.)

The ads are also a very personal issue. I just hate ads, like so many others. I will always try to keep ads to a minimum and when I use them on forums I really like the idea of Ad-Bots (A bot that posts "FIRST!" in each new thread and making that as an ad post.) and not use the regular banners on the site like you have now, and WT does it that way as well.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

With the spam there's really nothing else I can do (I've already taken anti-spam measueres and the spam bots are still geting through), I don't really have any other choice in the matter but to premoderate (for every new member that registers, I get about 100 spammer members, it was, and still kinda is, that bad).

yikes, that really do suck. But it feels like someone must know of some way to get around these. Not that many forums need to manually approve of all new members, and I guess you aren't the only one with severe bot problems.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

And thanks for the input everyone (it helps me find what some forum issues are), I appreciate it.

You most welcome and I do hope you get the activity back to your boards!

It because of fewer members who join the forums. You need to post interesting topics so as to attract online traffic.

it's just that new membership is basically out of the owner's control.

I disagree. You have a lot of control over how many people join your forums. What re you doing to encourage your existing members to bring in new members? What kind of marketing are you doing to bring in new members? Hat kind of networking are you doing to bring in new members? All of those things are in your control.

As far as people coming and going that's always going to happen. How much do you post? When the community isn't posting as much are you posting more to keep things active?

I started a small business forum a few months back. I was lucky to start with an existing community of active posters, but even then we were still only about 50 strong. I spent as much time as I could creating threads and posts to generate as many discussions as I could. About a month in I personally had written over 50% of all the posts on the forum. I don't have to do that now, but anytime I notice one of the forums not seeing new discussions I go in and create a few of my own.

How much time are you putting into growing your forum?

Interesting topics will surely be the n thing to have in a forum. Every forum needs active members. The more active members you got, the more chances that the community will grow. Also try to offer different contests, games, or any fun stuff that your members won't get easily bored with. Every forum started with only just a few members. It will grow in time if you market or promote it totally,,

You can also try to promote it on different social networking sites like twitter, facebook, etc.

Originally Posted by GhettoFish

What i ment by the layout was the lack of contrast, for me it is a turn off when you have blue background with blue text. It feels like you tried to make it look cool and flashy, which in my opinion it shouldn't be.

What I took from what you said was that it has an "underground" look to it, design and color-wise...and you are suggesting to make it look more "accessible" so anyone can join and be part of the discussion -- not just the people who are already into the subject. Is that kind of what you meant? Like having a more "generic" look to make it seem more of an "ordinary" (rather than stigmatized) place to talk?

I've often wondered this myself.

Personally, my activity in forums comes and goes. For a few months I will actively participate and then suddenly I have no desire to even login. I guess the novelty wears off. I also have encountered a lot of "cliques" and jerks on forums, and that's a turn off as well. We have to deal with jerks off the computer - dealing with them on the computer just seems ridiculous to me.

Try to make contact with some of your lost members and ask them yourself. Might get some surprising answers!

Originally Posted by vangogh

You have a lot of control over how many people join your forums.

Sure, I may have control over how many people I let join, but I don't have the control over making them become regular posters, contributors, etc. That's all in the individual member's hands, whether or not they want to stay or leave, and how much they enjoy being there in the first place.

People might as well just not register if they don't have the intention of contributing well or seeking answers to a problem they may have.

Originally Posted by vangogh

What re you doing to encourage your existing members to bring in new members?

What CAN I do? It's not like I can give them anything, or am in a good position (financially) to offer them something for their services besides my gratitude...

Originally Posted by vangogh

What kind of marketing are you doing to bring in new members? Hat kind of networking are you doing to bring in new members?

Like I said in the other thread, I don't know much about forum marketing and I'm not very familiar with what other opportunities I have at my disposal. I've already tried things like commenting on and networking with conspiracy blogs, linking to articles in threads about interesting topics I've found, and contributing to forums (with the URL in my sig or profile). None of these really seemed to offer any substantial results though .

I was thinking about some sort of PPC campaign perhaps, as I don't know what else will work, but even then, I don't know how effective paid advertising will even be when it comes to forums.

Originally Posted by vangogh

How much time are you putting into growing your forum?

As much as I can. I'll respond to new posts and threads 99.9% of the time they're made and always try to make new members feel welcome, it's always been that way though.

But like you've already said, you were lucky enough to already have an existing community, I didn't have that luxury.

Originally Posted by zeruel

You can also try to promote it on different social networking sites like twitter, facebook, etc.

Sorry, those sites are NOT there for me to spam my forums with. And I don't feel comfortable with dropping my link just for the sake of getting forum visitors.

Originally Posted by Generator

Try to make contact with some of your lost members and ask them yourself. Might get some surprising answers!

Actually, I'd say at least half of the regular posters were from here, as somewhat noted by posts #2 and #4 in this thread .

I think you're missing the point about the control you have. You're right you can't force people to post, but you're the one who sets the tone for everything. I can tell you that when I see my forum dipping in conversation I start a lot of new threads. They may not all generate a great discussion, but some will.

I just checked your forum. You've made 389 posts in a little over 15 months. Your profile says you post 0.89 times per day. My forum has been live for 7 months. I've posted over 3000 times for an average of 14.49 times per day. See the difference? If you're not taking an active role why should your members? You have a lot more control than you think. It's not about forcing people to post. It's about leading them in discussions. You know the topic so pick some interesting conversation starters and start new threads.

You can't be there to make them type and submit a post, but you can create the kind of place where they want to post and come back to.

Promoting on social networks doesn't mean spam. I think you've listened to one too many people make the accusation that it has to be spam. I'm not talking about posting links to your forum. I'm talking about finding some social sites that are somehow related to your forum. Join them and create a profile. It's ok to link back to your forum in your profile same as you link to it here in your sig. Then submit content to those sites the way it was intended. Find interesting posts on your topic and submit them. Reach out to other people in the community that are posting interesting content and say hi. It works the same way it works here on the forum. Forums are social media. You don't have to be a spammer to promote and market yourself.

You can try PPC and see what happens. I'm guessing you don't want to spend too much, but you can give yourself a budget and give it a try.

Sorry the blogs and networking hasn't worked. There could be a lot of reasons why, from it not being a good place to having picked the wrong blogs to network with. I can't promise you it will work if you keep at it, but you could still try. Sometimes things don't work at first, but eventually do.

I think the most important thing to do is focus on the forum itself. We talk all the time here about how marketing great content is always easier than marketing poor content. You have to take a more active role in creating that content. Create new threads. Send an email out to members reminding them you exist and let them know about some of the new conversations you've started. I can't promise you people will come back, but you also can't expect your members will do all the content creation for you. In time you may have enough members that if some drop out there's other's to fill the gap. Early on you have to be the one to fill the gap.

Wow!!!
That's some of the most sound advice I've seen in a while.
Hopefully, others will heed that and learn. I surely will.