BIG Forums Not Enjoyable?

Big, active forums aren't always welcoming to new comers, hence why I created my own site. I'll take smaller sites like this one and Forum Promotion anyday over something big like Digital Point or the Admin Zone. At least here, my forum, and FP you aren't swamped with posts to the point where you feel like throwing in the towel because you can't keep up with what's going on!

 

Forum Promotion has more posts than TAZ does, just saying (TAZ is dead compared to its heyday).

There's a lot to hate about Big Boards. One thing I do hate is the inconsistency in moderation. Digital Point used to be a really bad example, but I haven't dealt with their moderation in a while.

 

Yea I agree, its pretty dead now for a forum of it's size. And DigitalPoint's staff hasnt been doing a very good job from what I have seen but I dont blame them.

 

Forum Promotion may be big, but even that site beats The Admin Zone and Digital Point by a long shot. Although I think that's only because I'm used to FP by now, having been there since 08, when the forum was just a year old, but still!

 

Actually FP is much smaller than both of those sites, thats why its much more enjoyable for me.

 

Agreed. It does seem much smaller than TAZ and DP. I don't think I've ever been on Sitepoint though, but if it's as bad as DP and TAZ, that doesn't sound like my kind of forum.

 

A big forum is ok if you have been a part of it from the start as you slowly get used to it, to join a forum that is so active it is hard to get into the speed of the site, for a big site I feel there is a distinct lack of community and togetherness.

 

Yea I see what you are saying. If I just now joined FP, I wouldnt have enjoyed it seeing as how active it is. But being apart of it for 2 and half years its no problem for me.

 

So are big forums enjoyable for you, or like me you can't enjoy them and feel that community spirit?

 

That's a good point. If I were to have joined up with FP in 2007, when it first opened, then yeah I probably would've gradually still gotten used to the community while it was still small. Actually, when I joined in September of 2008, it was still a fairly small community, yet growing fast, so I think I got used to it even then as well, despite the fact the forum was already a year old when I joined up.

 

I don't like big communities as much as I do small, as on a small forum I feel like I am a bigger part of a forum, rather than having my posts go missing and not cared about.

 

Exactly, thats why I prefer the medium sized forums.

 

I am a member of a forum that has just reached 10,000,000 posts!
It has no sense of community and is only good if you want to sell something fast.
It also has 967,000 threads
To popular and Admins need to control it.

 

Kinda like DigitalPoint eh?

 

I guess having a small community is more welcoming in a way, if you're new there you don't want loads of people and if you mess up slightly then you don't want loads of people who are known there moaning and it can be a bad thing. If there's many people who have high posts and reputation on a forum you might think that you won't get noticed for things that you do, I would rather be on a forum which is active but not a massive forum.

I'm a member of the forum you're talking about I think, that's somewhat reasonable to me but I have been there for quite long and feel welcomed there as I'm not a new member but I guess as a new member it wouldn't be nice having all the members.

 

Mind sharing what niche the forum is in being talked about here?

 

The forum is supposed to be for hacking, but it's just got one section on hacking and there's other generals on discussions, market etc. Most people thinking that the whole forum is for hacking will come there thinking that you can join, get all the tools for hacking and do what you've always wanted to do with hacking, which normally consists of things MSN related or something like that, which I thought when I first joined so they'll join and make a LQ thread asking for a tool for hacking which will cause a lot of people to have a go at them which won't be the best welcoming message on a forum.

 

Oh I see now, I am a member of it too, my Interview with the owner: http://admin-talk.com/threads/interview-with-jesse-labrocca-omniscient.845/ I am just active in their webmaster section only. Its really not enjoyable to be honest.

 

Yes, I agree completely with you as do many, I'm sure. One main reason for me other than what you have described is that you are never able to really get to know the members of the forum and thus are never able to feel real "comfortable." This in turn also makes your experience more unpredictable. And yes, it annoys me when you put time into a thread and it just gets hidden behind in no time.

 

Indeed, makes you feel unwelcome and you just end up not going back.