Do You Like Doing Post Exchanges?

On your forums, do you guys enjoy doing post exchanges, or are they something of a court of last resort?

I only do post exchanges as a last resort. I really don't care for these any longer because if you request an exchange with someone, they can be seriously impatient with you in a hurry and will try to get you to do your end of the exchange "right now!" Some people don't realize that their fellow forum owners/administrators are real people with real lives outside the PC or laptop, so they might not always have time to come on and even make a post at times.

By the way, I'm not pointing fingers or blaming anyone here or on any other forum. It's just that I've had some bad experiences with post exchanges in the past and I was only wondering if you guys have had the same issues.

 

I barely do them now because my forum is active, its something you should do to get your forum off the ground onto it's feet. I will probably still do it once in a while but if someone on a another site wants to do one with me, then I have no problem. I do agree its annoying when the person you are doing it with are real impatient. I like to take my time and do things in a nice way, just because Im not starting immediately dosent mean im not going to do it, just that I maybe busy with other things at the same time.

 

I will do it every once in a while, not often though.

 

Yeah, our stats are looking good at the moment, so I am actually trying to lay off of these a little bit. I only do this like if our posts are more than a week or a month old and we're desperate for activity. It helps when you have it so that members can bump up old topics with something relevant to say, that's a plus side! And that's my thing too: Just because I agree to do a post exchange does NOT mean I will start straightaway when I reply to your topic or if you reply to mine. My own forum comes first and there are sometimes things that will need to be done there. Also, I have health problems so there may be days when I'm not in a fit state to come on at all.

 

post exchange? I'm guessing you mean you go on your friends forum and post then they do the same for you?

 

That's pretty much the idea of post exchanges. Basically all you do is, most forum promotion and Webmaster forums have a special section where you can pick up on deals from your fellow forum administrators, or keep an eye out for freebies or whatever. Or if you wanted to, you can make your own post exchange thread. You can do this with your RL friends if they're running a forum, but mostly this is with fellow forum administrator. Some people like to do five out of five, ten out of ten, or in some cases, active for active (both of you remain active during the whole time your site and the other person's site is in business.) I will only do an active/active exchange if it's a forum I really like and I wouldn't mind being active on for the duration of the time it's online.

 

ahh yeah I figured that was it, never really done that always made sure i had some staff that would be active to kick things off

 

I have done a few when my forum was just open
what i found hard was finding people who would post on my forum
because not many people are in to writing poems

 

Hardly ever do post exchanges, namely because I don't always have time to constantly do them, or because someone's decided to do it without me giving it the go ahead

 

The second reason is the biggest reason why I've given up on post exchanges. People will register and start to post on my forum before I'm ready to return the favor. And I even have this in the guidelines when I create a thread that I must take a look at a forum before I give you the okay. When I do request an exchange, I always like to look around a person's site if it's a one I have yet to join. If I feel that your site is too hard to navigate, or whatever have you, or if I can't even so much as find the registeration or login button, I'll probably refuse right off the bat. As that's one of my rules is that I have to see how your forum is laid out before I begin. It's gotta be easy to navigate. But otherwise, the second reason you stated is why I've given up on post exchanges in recent months. Now if I'm up for an exchange, I'll just see what other deals are out there rather than create my own thread. Much easier and not so much to keep track of.

 

I did them before, but I stopped after they started taking too much time.

 

I agree about them taking too much time. In fact there was a while there when I felt like I spent more time posting at other peoples' forums rather than my own! That wasn't good.

 

I've got this thing called Postloop that basically solves all of the problems you just pointed out

Post exchanges can indeed be time consuming...but the way you've got to look at it is like this: you can only post so much on your own forums before you're just talking to yourself. When you get to that point, if you have extra time on your hands to post somewhere, you either just stare at your forums and wait for somebody to post or you go out and exchange posts. If done correctly, every post that you exchange/make on another forum is ultimately a post that is made in your forums. It's not a complete waste of time...but you've also got to know how to take advantage of post exchanges. Don't let it be the only thing that's driving your forums. You've got to have natural/organic posts in there as well, because yes, post exchanges will only last as long as you participate in them. As soon as you stop, they stop. Organic posts, on the other hand, do not.

 

I am trying that method out as we speak. Thus far I have not yet had an issue with anyone. I am trying to get my two forums off of the ground, especially Childhood Cancer Forums.

 

I do post exchanges, especially because it helps your community.
Not only can it provide members, threads, and posts, you can also; meet new forum owners that are willing to do this a lot.

 

I remember when I use to get tons of replies of post exchanges. It's too much to handle sometimes. But I learned my lesson that you do need them as Kasier said to get your feet on the ground. Young Forums don't last long without them.

 

I understand that new forums do need them, and I did do a few of them when my forum was first starting out and we were practically desperate for activity. But now, being almost 7 months old, and fairly active at this point, we are at that stage where we no longer need to rely on post exchanges half that much, which is probably perfect timing right there, as I have long since lost interest in requesting exchanges because of too many impatient wanna-be posters who want to do posts but want them done NOW and not a few minutes from now.

 

True, I still need them. But I understand that it is bit annoying to do exchanges. Especially since most of the posts are short and don't really help you as much.

 

I agree on the second part, sadly. I've had people come on and do exchanges, and while short-worded posts aren't exactly a bad thing for a general chat forum like I have, it doesn't exactly make worth-while reading either. I've had people post one-word stuff like "right" and "yeah". I think if I ever do a post exchange again, I may have to clamp hard on how some people make their posts at my site. Just because we're a general chat forum, doesn't mean you shouldn't make your posts so that they aren't worth reading. The only exception I can see to this are posts that only require a yes or no answer, but you wouldn't need an explanation for them unless you wished to provide one.

 

The only sort of post exchange I'd ever really consider doing these days is an ongoing one.

Sadly, those rarely work out well.