Balancing activity

If one area of your forum is receiving a lot of attention and posts, how do you try to balance this interest out across the forum? It becomes disappointing when 70% of the posts-per-day are being made in a single section.

Do you let it balance itself naturally, or do you try to post new threads in the other sections to intrigue visitors?

 

post new threads in the sections that arent being used

 

Two sub-sections dominate in post count: The Debating Table and Miscellaneous Discussion. The domination in post count of the latter forum is understandable, especially for a general discussion forum like mine. However, the popularity of the debate sub-section is primarily a result of my tendency to hang out and seek members at forums where debate of political and philosophical issues are popular. Before I go any further, here are the stats for those two sub-sections:

The Debating Table
Topics: 323
Posts: 12,101

Miscellaneous Discussion
Topics: 506
Posts: 10,535

That said, there are a few more things worth noting. First, I have a total of 11 sub-sections, including the announcements and feedback sub-section called "Requisite Reading," and "The Infinity Encyclopedia," which exists only to document some interesting members, events, topics, and other aspects of the community, and so is not considered one of the sub-sections for regular participation by the members (in fact, only the "feedback" sticky in said sub-section permits posts by non-staff). This information is important because it reveals part of my way of handling discrepancies in activity between the sub-sections: I am very conservative when it comes to creating sub-sections. In fact, "The Infinity Encyclopedia" is the only sub-section that has been created in years.

Also worth noting is that the balance I feel compelled to maintain for discrepancies in the topic/post count of the sub-sections has always weighed heavily on my mind, and has resulted in the removal of some sub-sections (such as "The Locker Room," a sub-section for sports that wasn't getting enough posting), the addition of others (such as "Headlines," a self-explanatory sub-section), and the merging of others (such as "Requisite Reading" and "Help Desk") over the years.

Now, I may proceed with my main method for balancing discrepancies in the sub-sections' topics/posts count. By nature of how inclusive they are, The Debating Table and Miscellaneous Discussion more easily attain topics, which makes for more interesting topics that encourage lengthy and involved discussion. So in order to keep the more specialized/less generalized sub-sections active, I have to generate new content on a regular basis, and more often than The Debating Table and Miscellaneous Discussion.

Cybernetec's modification, "Advanced Forum Statistics," has revealed to me that I am, by far, the leading starter of topics. In a forum of almost 49000 posts in 3100 topics, I have created just over 800, while the second leading topic starter has created just over 200. This is important because, coupled with the fact that most of my topics are started in sub-sections other than The Debating Table and Miscellaneous Discussion, it shows how involved I've been in keeping those other sections alive.

Once in a while, a good idea comes to mind and I post it on the forum. Much of the time, though, I am inspired by members of the other forums I visit. Another thing you can do is browse the topics lists of favorite, related forums. If you find a topic of interest, you can try submitting a related one at your forum, giving credit for the idea where it is due, and of course providing your own thoughts to the opening post.

Finally, I have no issue bringing back old topics as long as they are still relevant, and I (or someone else doing the reviving) has something to add. In fact, a member private messaged me just yesterday asking for my policy on this, and after giving her a similar answer, she revived several topics in several forums, and provided interesting, thoughtful replies. Additionally, I have been bringing back old topics numerous times, including, most recently, "Reading speed and comprehension" in The Library, and "The story behind your avatar" in Miscellaneous Discussion.

All this is a bigger deal for stand-alone, word-of-mouth forums where founder participation is critical. When your forum gets beyond this point, you can stop worrying as much, as people are more prone to submit their own content. Also, at the former type of forum, most people are there because of your word-of-mouth, and you need to keep them entertained at your place. At the latter forum, though, there tends to be a bigger site that attracted them there, and they already have things to talk about; keeping them entertained is not as big a deal because they're already storming into your forum on their own, generating their own content.

To end, here are the stats for my other sub-sections (not including "The Infinity Encyclopedia," which, again, "is not considered one of the sub-sections for regular participation by the members"):

Requisite Reading
Topics: 25
Posts: 900

The Library
Topics: 172
Posts: 2,949

Headlines
Topics: 413
Posts: 4,391

Room For Right-Brainers
Topics: 350
Posts: 2,667

The Screening Room
Topics: 425
Posts: 5,591

Electronic Verve
Topics: 390
Posts: 3,962

Audiophiles
Topics: 189
Posts: 2,264

The Immigration Center
Topics: 240
Posts: 2,962