Forums Are Dead

I am kind of amazed that TWF is as active as it is, the only forums I have ever seen work really well are one that are sub areas of large sites where there are things on the site to discuss, or where the forum goes towards making that site more interesting. Starting a forum from scratch is hard because most people either already have a forum they frequent, or they get their information from a non-forum.

TWF is one of the only one of its kind that is successful. There are plenty of others as dead as mine. Forums are sort of like the Immortal "there can be only one".

It really seems that way, in every topic I have seen there is one that does well. The rest ----------.

You need a thousand commited friends, be Arnold Swartzits, and he might even be a bust. Or pay people, and I really doubt that would work. Or just sign up with 1000 troll names, and talk to yourself ---- BORING!!!.

Have you try to offer something to the memebers, like free downloads, or some cool videos, audios, etc....things like that..

Well signing up with 1000 troll names, and talking to yourself, or requesting your committed friends to join and post does sound boring but it helps to some extent. It atleast gets your forum started and from there on you have to capitalize on that start by starting some contests, reward stores and referral programs.

I think the biggest problem is there are so many topics, so many forums, so many 'groups' of people.
I belong to about 5 forums (other than web related) but this is only one i visited every day, the others maybe once a month, reasons ranging from they are to big, dont like the way they are run, lack of time (biggest one), among other reasons.
A lot of people live on forums (personal, hobby, work related, weird stuff ...) so I guess it all comes down to how much time you have to read/post/reply .. to these forums.
If a forum comes across as trying to hard (like giving stuff away), it's a real turn off.

For those interested in forums, check out The Admin Zone

Really, everyone has this problem. It's especially hard when you're just getting off the ground. I think the key is to have something unique and good quality. Especially in a competitive area like web design or photography. There are lots of other forums out there - what makes yours unique? Why should people join your site? What's in it for them? What can they learn by joining you? You should know this. Write it down and look at your site and think about how you can communicate that to visitors.

I just found this site on a quick google search. Big, popular forum. Why should anyone join your forum and not that one?

I think a easy way to get ppl on your forum is to start with a few categories, Like Busy was saying a lot of ppl are getting bored when they see a lot of categories and no post. Just start with 3-4 and then try to make a bit of advertising and invite your friends and in this way you forum can grow, of course is a lot of work but it is worth it. I want to start my forum soon but at the moment is not the time. Any way I will invite you guys when my forum is online

I'll go along with you on that one Megan. But it all goes back on part of what I said. Forums that started "back when" have the advantage, time alone has made them popular. Also its pretty apparent that forum, and its web-site has a rather large staff to keep up with all the editorial content. A luxury all of us don't have.

As for competition, probably no type of forum you could imagine wouldn't have large competition.

I once in a moment of frustration thought about starting a B--ching forum. I did a web search would you believe, I found at least two dozen forums like that. Several with the exact sentiment for their title.

Like I said for the little fish in the pond, forums might as well be dead. Probably the only chance one would have, is to go to MSN communities and start one. But I have been there, done that, graduated from it long ago.

There is a thread right now on the forum where some poor slob is asking how to increase his forums success. I wont answer it, I don't want to be responsible for suicides committed in fits of depression.

I tried it, and found about 5 designer jeans forums, and a couple of blogs. Fitness forums - well there must be at least a thousand now.

There are two about fitness videos specifically (plus a few others others dedicated to specific instructors that do quite well too). That's what I'm talking about. And neither of them are actually that well done. They do well because they get very specific about the topic and are "the" place to go for people who want to talk about it. And five is actually a pretty low number as far as competition goes. I wasn't able to find any others on a quick search but I'd assume that some of those aren't done very well. So if there's only a few other forums you've got a good opportunity to improve on the competition.

ETA: I can also think of some gymnastics forums I've been a part of in the past that were really badly done but did very well because they were the only forums of their kind. Although the secret there was to get the cool people to join one site, then all the others would flock to it.

You hit the nail on the head. Getting the cool, or notably famous/well known people on a forum is the key. Or having sponsorship from a rather large well known entity.

My forum is slightly different from a lot of others, in that it is more of a photo sharing forum, and not solely technical. But evidently the difference is not enough, to make a difference. It has been up a year now, so its not like some that have an age of a month! people complain about. There is about a 1.5% activity level among the 17 members. Yep I said 17, in a year!.

I think it is about time to give up, and deep six the thing.

Steve, leave some pamphets at camera store (ask managers first) and other places one might buy film, memory cards, accessories etc, even photo magazines. If you have an unquie idea it may take off, just have to get the folks there.

one thing which i have noticed is this, forums from other countries are more popular, for example, im turkish, and my cousin in turkey has a forum, he has 800 members and gets a couple more everyday, i think that it depends on where people are and there origin, for example a developing country would have many oportunities in the web business, unlike websites written in english.

It comes down to what kind of forums you're trying to start. If you're starting up something that there are already 40 of, then chances are you're going to have a hard time finding those VERY important first 1/2 dozen to 12 loyal users. If you find a niche of people that have no other way to communicate with each other, forums can fly very nicely.