Is your off-topic section your most active section?

Does your off-topic forum have the most threads/posts on your forum? If so, do you think this is a bad thing and/or something you want to try to change? In not, what is your most active forum?

 

Interestingly enough, I've never really had a problem when it comes to the off-topic forum(s) being the most active - or taking away from the actual "topic" of the forum. Don't get me wrong - it has always been one of the most active categories/sections of my boards, but a complete distraction? Nope.

 

Well, only because our "Miscellaneous" section consists of seven off-topic sub-forums, yes it is the most popular section, but it only has 2,000 more posts than the most common content-relevant section of my board.

7 off-topic sub-forums beats 1 content-relevant section by only 2k, so I'm not worried at all.

 

On some days the off-topic section seems to be the most popular, but I find I often have to move on-topic posts from it into the other sections. (Sometimes the members will put things that don't quite fit in any one category into the Off topic section.)

 

Half the posts on my site are in our Lounge. But, that is where you go to just post about whatever is on your mind. The other forums are very specific and off-topic conversation is not encouraged in there at all.

 

Not really on Pisoga, but yes on Setsou.

 

My main on topic section gets the most traffic, by a long shot. The traffic to my main section gets more traffic then the home page.

I think the off topic section is 2nd or 3rd place.

 

The bulk of the post are in my General and Political sections. But honestly, as long as people are posting, I'm good.

 

As Nei said, Setsou's most popular forum is Off-Topic, however, at Bird is the Word, the actual on-topic forums seem to be the most used.

 

Yes it is.
Even worse.. social groups are in their way to being the most active place in the community.

 

Many administrators seem to hate the Off-Topic discussion forums--but I find them especially helpful and worthwhile, especially in a niche forum. Your forum is going to attract users based on the common interest of the overarching topic, so it could be assumed that many of the users clash well together. The off-topic forum is just an area for people with a common bond (your forum's topic) to get to know each other better. And that is a good thing, a very good thing.

 

Yes. However, if you took out the "Count to 10,000" thread (which has over 1,500 posts and is really the only constantly active thread in the off topic forum), it wouldn't be the most active.

 

same here with me. my off topic section in a past few months seems to be more active than the other section in it...

dunno why, but its still under tolerance for myself

 

I love O-T ... it keeps people attached and visiting regularly, often daily. The on-topic isn't needed on a daily or weekly basis by most members.

Almost 6 years of forum, cumulative ...

Off-Topic forums (6, including cussin and no cussin) = 325,000+ posts

Everything else (40+ forums) combined = the rest of 1.1 million posts, per the tally at the bottom of the forum


The General Off Topic is the majority of the OT number. The others are also continuously busy ... silly games (very active,) pets (very active,) creative writing, photos, etc.

 

Sometimes I've wondered if all the traffic in off-topic forums means there is room for another forum on those topics, one or all. But what I realize from knowing the members is that it just means they don't want to visit another forum. They want to unload all their thoughts and be entertained in one forum, and probably would not visit another forum. That's why they carry on about the election and swine flu and their pets in the model horse hobby forum - they don't want to visit another forum to discuss those things, they want to discuss them with the people they already know in the forum they know.

 

Yeah I find my Fun and Games off topic stuff is the most active - just need to get the other sections off of the ground with the right members - still early days for me!

 

On almost every forum I've owned or managed, the off-topic section has always been the most popular. Probably because people can talk about whatever is on their mind, post off-topic stuff about what made them smile today, or their dog peed on the carpet and licked it up, or whatever.

Yeah it's pretty popular.