Comments on: Why are active forum members like gold dust?

By: Mathew Davies

Mathew Davies — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:36:43 +0000

I’ve started a forum for roller-coaster design and what’s helped me is being close friends with a lot of my members before I started the website. I also find if you have a person who’s renowned in the same topic, that helps a great deal. Ex : My website is there to cater for roller-coaster design, so if a professional designer joined my forum, it’d spark discussion from other members.

You should also try and build relationships with other websites which are part of the same genre. I found that introducing myself over on a competitors message board and getting involved helped activity on my website too. This might not work for everyone, but it’s worth a shot.

-Mathew

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:10:53 +0000

I think a lot of people come on forums to get links for their site. Often their site has nothing to do with the forum topic. The ability to get real “on topic” posters is quite difficult. Usually the forum leader has to post his own material to make it successful. After awhile if enough posts are up then perhaps others would be encouraged to post stuff.

A big problem with posting is time. Many people probably don’t have time to post so they don’t.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:25:38 +0000

John – What an absolutely fantastic video; thanks for sharing it. I wonder how we can incorporate a less attractive option into a forum to encourage activity?

By: John

John — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:45:01 +0000

Here is good video:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html

It deals with human actions- It can be applied to how you can maybe apply it to the actions your forum members take.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:56:34 +0000

Paul – The member should be the only one that decides whether they want to receive notification emails. Offer it as an option, but it shouldn’t be compulsory.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:19:59 +0000

Any thoughts on whether the user account should be set automatically to subscribe to comments? I believe its a way of bring others back, to contribute about there subject?

By: Cihan

Cihan — Sat, 02 May 2009 08:44:48 +0000

I agree that invlovment of members is more important than sheer numbers of members, which taken in isolation can be irrelevant. Active members means involvment, which in turn means participation and interaction which is what the aim is.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:53:10 +0000

Totally agree with you mate, currently I’m the owner of a forum that doesn’t have a lot of members.. but the members that I have are active and involved. And that’s truely worth something

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:18:37 +0000

I think Eva’s points way up at the top of the comments are really good – it’s about finding the right balance in the attention you give all members.

I’ve found the “Welcome” section is the biggest contributor to creating repeat users, as opposed to people who just sign up and leave. On forums where there is a genuinely friendly “Welcome” area, so many conversations spiral out of that and become other threads too.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:45:59 +0000

goundoulf – The information is displayed by default, most don’t even think of editing or removing it. Besides, is that a good idea? Regardless of how valuable you think the information is, many people look at those stats and use them as a determinant of whether they will join that community.