Brand new forum: Creating A LOT of threads

What are your opinions on creating many new threads under the same (forum admin/owner (the account you will use for the life of the forum)) account before you really show anyone the forum? This would mean there would be 100+ fresh threads waiting to be replied to. Do you think this is welcoming or something that would interest new visitors to actually join and post or unprofessional looking and it's expected for your forum to be miraculously active looking when you're advertising for the first time?

 

I do think it's necessary, even if you'd convinced your friends and family to help you get started. It's just a whole lot of work.

 

I don't mind the work, I just don't want it to look weird.

 

Look weird? Don't think so.


Putting up content to read is a good thing and shows people an example of the type of things you would like to see on the site. I would start on reference material for instance.

Probably would not be good to talk to yourself though.

 

funny you should mention that. I've done it. Yep, register 3 or 4 accounts, start some threads, log in on another account and reply, then another one and reply, and so on.

Hey it works. :p

 

That is one approach. I'm referring to the same user name asking a question then answering the question :lol:

 

uhhhh I've done that too, believe it or not.
Hey why not? I talk to myself offline too...

 

I could see that happening if there was some time between posts, but if I saw a lot of threads like that I'd think "boy, that site owner is desperate for content".

 

LOL @ talking to yourself.

I do agree though that creating content (a lot of it) before launching is a good idea. So many people will pass your forum up (despite its potential) if they find it to be dead or inactive in any way.

 

Yeah, I was only asking about making a large handful of threads and leaving them to be replied to for when you actually open the forum. That way, when people start to join, they immediately have a bunch of stuff to reply to without having to think much.

 

Yep, exactly. I don't know of too many people though that would create threads on their own even if they didn't have to think too much. 'Gotta do the thinking for them in the beginning.

 

Heh, I was wondering if you and the other admins had saved up a whole bunch of topic starters before the launch

 

We actually were "forced" to launch, because all-of-a-sudden, members started appearing and we said we needed to launch while people were here... so we did. And the content so far has been made up as we go along. Nothing was planned, really.

 

what my friend did when she started our forum, was us two admin start a few threads and reply to eachother, and then we sent the link to a small group of friends, to post and reply to threads. once we had a few threads in each section, we went out to promote the forum.

this time im planning on doing the same thing as it seemed to work

 

I think it always helps to have something of interest there before advertising, it would be a waste of money advertising and time if those visitors would leave because there is absolutely no content, I think at the very least one thread in each forum would help.

 

1. people don't join empty forums
2. people don't create new threads, it's easier for them to reply
3. you need to do the work

I do try to pace myself though. For the 'launch', it's good to have 50-60 new threads people can reply too (I had around this number and was actually creating new ones while promoting) and then keep on adding new ones DAILY. Don't post 1000 threads and then nothing, cause you're 'stalling' your forums. Get a constant influx of new threads and you'll be fine.

 

I think it looks more attractive when you spread your content out in time intervals instead of posting it all up before you open.

Spreading it out makes your forum look more active even if it's only you posting to start with. You don't want to post a bunch of content and then sit and wait and do nothing else.

Just my humble opinion...

 

I'm a firm believer that all staff (Admins & Mods) should contribute fresh content on a regular basis regardless if you are a new start-up or have been around 15+ years. Just doing 3 to 5 thought provoking new threads per day can assist in keeping your community alive with engagable topics (Not to meantion more content for search engines to love). Don't forget to reply to at least 5 to 10 threads others start per day as well. Keep the content flowing! imo

 

Not a good idea really.