Keep That Forum Active!
It's the dreaded "Forum Death" syndrome approaching...Less and less people are logging
onto your beloved message board, but even worse, the few who still do log on aren't even posting that much or at all. Well, forums tend to move in one direction or another. If a forum is actively growing, it's like a magnet...drawing more and more people in, not only from the buzz about it, but the fact that people clicking into your website see an active and energetic community full of {mostly!} interesting posts. Current members come back often daily just to hang out and contribute. It's a feedback loop that can often fuel itself.
They find the opposite when they check out a forum in decline. Oh, that fuels itself too--but in the wrong way. Current members not finding much of anything new when they log on will often not post as much in response--since there's less new material to build on. They post less, and soon your forum is caught in a downward spiral. You'd better catch it quickly, or it will be falling too fast for you to save it. Or, at least you won't save it without a whole lot more work.
Save it while there's still some activity! The first thing any admin should be doing anyway is monitoring forum stats. Be sure to differentiate normal slowdowns from true forum illness. A slow day or even a slow week here and there is normal, especially if your forum's member base centres around something seasonal. For instance, if you run a forum about football, expect more activity during football season and a slump in the interim. The trick is to get to know your forum's patterns over a year or two's time so that when something's out of whack it is readily apparent.
Let's assume your forum is under duress and aside from a lucky day here and there, it isn't bouncing back. 90% of your problem will be solved when you find out the reason why. Is the forum centred around a subject that has become less popular? If this is the case, you should diversify into related subjects. Find out what your members are also into, and offer to place up boards for discussion of those topics. Promote your board on this new premise as you keep on top of trends and learn where your greatest source of potential members may be. That can easily change over time.
If your forum's main genre is as alive and well as ever, it's time to check out a few other possibilities. Is another forum {or three} rising up and eating into your member base? It's time to analyse the competition! Are they ranking in search engines better than you all of a sudden? Whoops, there go your potential newbies. They're all finding your competitors' boards first. Key in your most common keywords into Google and other search engines to see where you're popping up--and if you're not at the top, who's up there above you?
But there you are, ranking right up top of the search. {Or near it.} What is going wrong? Well, it's time to poll those members of yours again. You may not even realise there is discontent on your community until you ask. People are often shy about speaking their minds--even on a forum! If they open up to you and cite some real concerns, listen to them!
A common cause for the sudden decline of a forum is a change of ownership. A transfer can go over smoothly and even benefit a board, but often, the new owner is not in touch with the members. If you take over a forum and change too many things too quickly, especially without listening to your members' preferences and concerns, off they go, watch them drop like flies.
It can be surprisingly easy to forget that they're your members, not your minions. You don't rule them--you serve them. And if you forget that, they're gone off to somewhere that lets them breathe a little better.
Finally, a word on keeping things fresh and putting in your time. If a board's slowing down, go post up a few new topics to generate more conversation. Make up for a slump by posting more and giving an influx of new material, and a slump may wind up just being that--a slump, rather than a slide that spiralls out of control. YOU control your forum's economy, and while they're all prone to the occasional recession, you've a lot more control than you think over whether it bounds back and gets booming again.
Good luck!
My name is Wynn and I run a large
Warrior Cats RPG forum. I learnt most of what I know from running that forum and hope that my articles help you the forum/RPG game owner.
Keep That Forum Active!
By: lonel
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