Hey,
I operate a philosophy & religion forum: http://philosophy-forums.com.

A review would be appreciated.

(Also quick question, how many posts does a forum need before your willing to join? Personally, I rarely join a forum with less than 10,000 posts.)

I think it's interesting. Philosophy is one of my favorite subjects. When I used to teach, I taught some Philosophy too, along with a few other subjects.

The amount of posts in a forum doesn't matter. It's the "quality" of the content that matters. Size is NEVER important.

If you have an interesting membership with good quality information to be absorbed, your forums will grow. If the information is second-rate or the quality less than useful, the forums will not grow despite the strength of the membership.

To attract new members you might want to add a nice template to make the forum more aesthetically pleasing Vs the standard stab my eyes VB template.

In your niche area, you could post some adverts (usually free) in church related newsletters and even a few college/university newsletters because of the Philosophy subjects.

I wish you well with it. Nice to find a new forum that isn't "SEO-related" and exists purely for educational reasons. Good luck.

Thanks alot. Is there a template you could recommend? I would really like to use a better looking template I just can't find one/don't know how to install.

Can you quickly check one or two posts and tell me if the quality of content is any good, or should I raise the posting standards?

Perhaps you could run a contest here on WMT in the Graphic Design Contests forum to have a custom design created for your forum and then you could hire someone from here to code it for you. You will certainly get your moneys worth here.

There are some VERY interesting questions being asked on your forum. I may well join later on, when I have more time. ( Could be a matter of hours or days. )

I like how you've separated religion from philosophy. That's not always the easiest thing to do, and I expected a much lower quality of discussion, in the case of one unquestionable subject dominating the other. Somehow, you've managed not to let that happen.

There are some VERY interesting questions being asked on your forum. I may well join later on, when I have more time. ( Could be a matter of hours or days. )

I like how you've separated religion from philosophy. That's not always the easiest thing to do, and I expected a much lower quality of discussion, in the case of one unquestionable subject dominating the other. Somehow, you've managed not to let that happen.

Thanks, I hope you join, and we can have some excellent, deep discussions.

Originally Posted by Republikin

Perhaps you could run a contest here on WMT in the Graphic Design Contests forum to have a custom design created for your forum and then you could hire someone from here to code it for you. You will certainly get your moneys worth here.

I am concerned at the expense. How much do you expect such a custom theme would cost?

You wouldn't need a custom theme. You can pick up free VB skins at quite a few places. Do a Google query for it.

Then later on when your forum is earning you some money and you feel like sprucing things up a bit, you can pop for some new skins then. Until then I really wouldn't worry about it.

You already have the most important part taken care of, and that's the content. I had a look around too, and the quality is there. Your forums should do pretty well.

I will probably join also. I love philosophy, theology, physics, and psychology.
I taught English, Art, Science, History, Geography, Philosophy, and Physics. The only fav subjects of mine I have never taught were Psychology and Theology.

We'll have to have some discussions there about I-Ching.
One of my favorite topics, ever.

Originally Posted by WebSavvy

You wouldn't need a custom theme. You can pick up free VB skins at quite a few places. Do a Google query for it.

Then later on when your forum is earning you some money and you feel like sprucing things up a bit, you can pop for some new skins then. Until then I really wouldn't worry about it.

You already have the most important part taken care of, and that's the content. I had a look around too, and the quality is there. Your forums should do pretty well.

I will probably join also. I love philosophy, theology, physics, and psychology.
I taught English, Art, Science, History, Geography, Philosophy, and Physics. The only fav subjects of mine I have never taught were Psychology and Theology.

We'll have to have some discussions there about I-Ching.
One of my favorite topics, ever.

Haha, bring it on, I can discuss the I-Ching till the sun goes down.

There's nothing like impermanence.

Haha, bring it on, I can discuss the I-Ching till the sun goes down.

Challenge accepted.

Originally Posted by WebSavvy

You wouldn't need a custom theme. You can pick up free VB skins at quite a few places. Do a Google query for it.

Your absolutely right. I just operate under the notion that most (if not all) free themes may make things look different from the default theme but they still send nearly the same message.

Nonetheless, Ephemeral (Ben?), you have a great forum and I'm enjoying our conversations there thus far.

Interesting forum you have started there. One of the first I have seen about the topic. The forum template and atmosphere is overall great. The color scheme somewhat goes with the "pyschology" theme. Overall the forum is great, but more traffic would be nice.

Originally Posted by ostudioo

Interesting forum you have started there. One of the first I have seen about the topic. The forum template and atmosphere is overall great. The color scheme somewhat goes with the "pyschology" theme. Overall the forum is great, but more traffic would be nice.

Yeah, I'm working on the traffic thing.

It's hard; almost no one is interested in philosophy.

Big fan of philosophy here. Generally any forum with three digits in posts looks interesting to me.