Is the forum world dying?

[forwardone]

What's a spammer? Haven't seen one since 2004. Not on my PhPBB forum anyway.
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You`ll have to share the secret with us.

 

[xjessie007]

Many people (granted people who didn't like me) said I was a terrible staffer and I'm sure many thought my forum would shrivel up and die. But my forum. though small is doing well. Yes I would love more members. But I feel for someone who was told he was a failure I'm doing damn well.

Just currious, what is your address?

 

[Blind Bandit]

Just currious, what is your address?

What dose that have to do with anything?

 

[Caliope]

What dose that have to do with anything?

Love is in the air, everywhere you look around.....

 

[RipJaws]

If people are still making money off forums, then the world is not dying.

 

[christicehurst]

Forums will keep on doing well. There's nothing to worry about

 

[Star08]

I doubt there dying out

With people creating a forum everytime there is a new show out or a thought pops into there head

Star

 

[/dev/urandon]

The magic is gone for the most part, but dead? Nah...forums will be around for as long as people primarily use their keyboards to interface with a computer.

 

[Baldilocks]

I think the quality of forums has declined though. Seems to be 1000 new forums popping up every day. (This would seem to suggest that the forum world isn't dying--it's just getting watered down.)

 

[IFC]

I believe there may be a slowdown right now due to the economic environment. If the forum is about something that costs money (and what doesn't) there is a chance that it will slow while the ugly economic situation runs its course.

More competition doesn't help. Social networking isn't usually competitive except for your member's time.

 

[WaffleStomp]

I think the quality of forums has declined though. Seems to be 1000 new forums popping up every day. (This would seem to suggest that the forum world isn't dying--it's just getting watered down.)

I agree.

I do see a lot of ridiculous boards popping up everyday.

Either you run a forum and stick with it or you open up a bunch of boards and ask people to run them for you, no one wants to- so it sits there and nothing happens.

 

[gogoblender]

Forums are about people talking. You'll never be able to stop people from talking. Either they do it on your forum or they'll go somewhere else.

Just make sure they do it on yours



gogo

p.s. Kotonoha, that was a great post you wrote. Thanks for the read.

 

[MissMoke]

I personally think what's happening is that lots of people are starting forums just to start forums and failing, or underestimating the amount of work they need to get their forum going.

And as for older forums that die off, that's often because the owners lose interest or can't afford/manage to keep them running.

I agree, in large part, with this. It's not like it's hard work, but it's much harder than anyone thinks it is. Takes a lot of time and dedication and, for it be done right, it takes a long while to get where you want to go. We've been online for going on 4 years and I finally feel like we're getting to where I want us to be, and we're not even fully 'there' yet.

I think people see a few successful, active forums and think 'I can do that' and slap some sh*t on a shingle and hang it up and are surprised when the hosting bill comes and you have to actually PAY that bill and the members don't just come rushing right over and fill it up.

I also think people get off on being in charge, but really, when it comes down to it, they don't want to do the dirty work-- the warning, the banning, the relating to members, the finding staff, the supervising staff and planning activities and such. They don't realize that it's much more than 'if you build it, they will come'-- you have to BE there and provide something for your members be loyal to.

It takes time and money and hard work to do this and do it right. I don't think there is a successful forum out there that is run 'cheaply' and is brand new.

 

[Musical_frog]

I personally think that the forum world is better than ever...

 

[Blind Bandit]

I agree, in large part, with this. It's not like it's hard work, but it's much harder than anyone thinks it is. Takes a lot of time and dedication and, for it be done right, it takes a long while to get where you want to go. We've been online for going on 4 years and I finally feel like we're getting to where I want us to be, and we're not even fully 'there' yet.

I think people see a few successful, active forums and think 'I can do that' and slap some sh*t on a shingle and hang it up and are surprised when the hosting bill comes and you have to actually PAY that bill and the members don't just come rushing right over and fill it up.

I also think people get off on being in charge, but really, when it comes down to it, they don't want to do the dirty work-- the warning, the banning, the relating to members, the finding staff, the supervising staff and planning activities and such. They don't realize that it's much more than 'if you build it, they will come'-- you have to BE there and provide something for your members be loyal to.

It takes time and money and hard work to do this and do it right. I don't think there is a successful forum out there that is run 'cheaply' and is brand new.

I think for me whats the biggest challenge is time and just that you can't no matter how hard you try guarantee success.

You can have the best SEO, the best content, all of it and yet you still can't control the membership.

Thats hardest part is bringing members and keeping them in your area of cyber space.

Further you can't control fully who you attract. You can try to but there is no way to bring in only the people you want.

I do think the best days for forums are past us.

Social networking is the next best thing.

I think forums will always be around just like chat rooms. I think really forums aren't as big as they once where.

 

[MissMoke]

I saw a drop in usership when all of my members joined facebook. They now post all their pictures there and chat with each other via their walls and such. I closed my FB account, and I didn't invite them to my twitter account. If you want to talk to me, I'll be on the board.

MySpace was really popular when we first opened-- now hardly anyone uses their MySpace page. I think it ebbs and flows.

 

[theone759]

I saw a drop in usership when all of my members joined facebook. They now post all their pictures there and chat with each other via their walls and such. I closed my FB account, and I didn't invite them to my twitter account. If you want to talk to me, I'll be on the board.

MySpace was really popular when we first opened-- now hardly anyone uses their MySpace page. I think it ebbs and flows.

Yeah, that will die off eventually like MySpace did (Not completely, I still know some who use it).


I don't think its dieing, but you have the X amount of people creating a forum each day, try a put a million things on there and have it just die because they don't have a point to their forum.

 

[Frank]

I don't think forums die at all. It's where most people get the information they are looking for, but it may not be everyone's preferred method of getting answers.