How many boards have you started - with the intention of it/them being successful, but ended up failing? They aren't complete failures - they are more of a learning experience. Nobody is born knowing how to successfully run a forum community.
Quite a few, actually - around five or so. When I first started creating and developing online communities, I had absolutely no idea as to how much work would be involved in the process overall - I had an idea, but my estimate was not even close to the actual amount. Between the countless hours of activity and the various member scenarios, it's necessary to direct mass amounts of effort and participation into such projects (this is particularly true in the "beginning" stages). It's a learning experience. Don't expect to become successful immediately - time and dedication is crucial.
<.< Want me to be honest??? >.> Setsou and Pisoga are my first boards... Pisogaforum was my first, but I didn't completely make it... but Piosgaforum was quite successful... <.<
Er, um, probably a couple more than Chris. But I don't look at them as failures, I think they just haven't succeeded yet.
I have started several forums that were failures. Most of the time, I think its because of a poor domain name, and lack of targeted advertising that causes the failure of a site. Like the forum that my son and I opened - fortress training. When I told people about it, most of the time they said something like "I dont need any training." The site was judged before they even saw the content. So I bought elgms.com, moved the entire site to the new domain name and put a 301 redirect in the htaacess file of fortresstraining. The next step is to give elgms 1 year and lets see what happens. One of my first sites was mywildplace - which was a hunting, camping site. It never did get any traffic so I just let the domain name expire.
None of my forums were failures, not to me anyway. Each one had it's unique qualities, and the only reason they closed would be because I was too busy to manage them any longer.
Umpire-Empire is my first try and I do find running a forum addicting. I have an idea for another I am thinking of trying, but have not because of the amount of time I spend with Umpire-Empire and I don't want to take away from that or stretch myself too thin. If/when I do start a new one I think I will just try something completely different just for the sake of doing it different. Different CMS, different forum SW.
I have been working on forums for quite a while. The first one I started of my own was a regional forum. Unfortunately, the region I live in is way behind the times and I couldn't see spending any more time trying to get support from local businesses and organizations. They all felt their newspaper associations were doing them well enough. Now the newspapers are all closing shop. My second forum was one for flooring professionals. It was how I learned that being anonymous as a forum administrator in that industry was important. The forum was busy with installers, but other segments of the industry wanted no part and I closed it about a year after opening it. My third forum was for computer system modders. It was my hobby and I was one of the first featured in a major computer magazine ( Computer Power User Article - Mad Reader Mod ). The forum was doing quite well and we had a number of contest sponsors and some really big names in the business participating. Then I got sick. Had a heart attack and found out I had lung disease. I closed the site and lived in a virtual cave for a long time after that. When I finally crawled out of that cave, I started The Floor Pro Community. I would crawl in and out of the cave - prob'ly still do - but the forum seems to be succeeding in spite of me. I spent 35 years building a flooring business, made a ton of mistakes and did a few things right. I see the potential, so this is going to be my legacy. I know a normal person doesn't think like that, but I know my time has been limited and want to leave something important behind. Jim
I've started 5 forums, and had 1 failure (ok learning experience) - a regional forum. I sold 1 of my forums, and merged another into my designs site. Themes by Design is my designs/business site and very successful. Rush Hour Madness is a new forum, and slowly growing.
I am only on my first forum, I have been on other forums that have crashed and burned but I was not in charge of them... I have learned from the mistakes of being involved with the other forums and am currently trying not to make the same mistakes with my site - I am six months into a 12 month promise to my family to see where/how the site is going after 12 months before we decide if i invest more time and/or money into it.
Peggy, I'm planning to start a regional forum in the near future; I would appreciate your tips on what to do/what not to do!
Personally started? None. Been a part of the staff? Two. Both admins kinda disappeared, not a lot you can do with that. One that I started merged with another forum.
several actually. I had one be pretty popular but it died because of an admin I had hired to help me. He instead sabotaged me.
I started two boards. One is succesfull and growing each day. The other was failing slowly, but I managed to sell it
