Filling In Zeros & Supplying Fresh Topics

[HoudiniDerek]

Sept 18, 2009 21:36:18 GMT -8 Cuethelaugh said:

I've read what everyone had said in response to this thread, and I apologize in advance if this is a very stupid question (I'm known to let one slip once in a while) but what would you recommend for roleplay boards where it is very unlikely that an admin can keep up with so many threads? How would you guys suggest filling these boards without seeming too needy and getting yourself too far in and over your head?

EDIT: Crap my computer glitched and I guess someone already asked that.. Even so any other tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

On the forum I admin, I only had three or four main areas. Since there were three of us starting off (not all staff), each person took an area to start an RP in. Then, as our membership expanded, we added a couple of boards so people could RP in more places. Start small; end big. ;D

[ToriJ]

Sept 19, 2009 10:38:15 GMT -8 HoudiniDerek said:

Sept 18, 2009 21:36:18 GMT -8 Cuethelaugh said:

I've read what everyone had said in response to this thread, and I apologize in advance if this is a very stupid question (I'm known to let one slip once in a while) but what would you recommend for roleplay boards where it is very unlikely that an admin can keep up with so many threads? How would you guys suggest filling these boards without seeming too needy and getting yourself too far in and over your head?

EDIT: Crap my computer glitched and I guess someone already asked that.. Even so any other tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

On the forum I admin, I only had three or four main areas. Since there were three of us starting off (not all staff), each person took an area to start an RP in. Then, as our membership expanded, we added a couple of boards so people could RP in more places. Start small; end big. ;D

This is something I have been doing and saying for a number of years now. It is very important to start off small and then have a plan to grow and get bigger. I usually don't have more than at least four or two main boards for RPing purposes and then fill it up with a bunch of sub-boards to provide variety. Lately I been doing this with just two boards as the boards on the information can end up being four at max and in the general setting four or three so I have a grand total of eight or nine boards on the main page. When the demand for more boards come along I meet it and add more boards and fill them up ASAP. If you don't have a plan on how to grow the forum you could find yourself in trouble, especially if say the forum grows faster than you originally thought it would.

[Cuethelaugh]

What would you recommend that has already been existant for a while but would like to give itself another jolt? I'm sorry if this is semi-off topic >.<

[HoudiniDerek]

Sept 20, 2009 12:50:57 GMT -8 Cuethelaugh said:

What would you recommend that has already been existant for a while but would like to give itself another jolt? I'm sorry if this is semi-off topic >.<

Without knowing the exact nature of the RP forum you run, it's hard to say. One thing we did on a forum where I'm a member, there was a place outside the realm of the forum where members could go...once they attained a certain rank. For example, we were in a fantasy world, but if you reached a rank of a certain level, you could have your character go to other worlds or realities. It wasn't much, but it was something. It worked overall because of the nature of the forum. Again, it's hard to say without knowing the particulars.

[grieves and squick]

Smaller is better for a new board. Much easier to make the board look full when you only have a few boards! You can plan how it'll spread out if it grows later!

I see a lot of new admins starting their sites {esp RPGs since I'm most often surfing around on those} with as many boards as ours or other larger longer-standing games right at the beginning. My board is big now, but it didn't start that way, and new boards have gotten added bit by bit as the situation required. While making sure the others remain active! If they don't, we either remove them or rejuvenate them.

Yeah that's another thing. If you have 30 inactive boards on your forum don't go adding new ones until you do something about them!

[:~:Sarapha:~:]

Sometimes, like in RP boards where there are class boards, there will be some empty boards because there has yet to be a teacher to fill the position.

Has anyone figured out how to detour attention to the blankness of those boards? I tried to hide them, then bring them back into view as the positions were filled, but that made the board look strange and missing lots of vitals.

[grieves and squick]

I would put them as sub boards into a larger frontboard. The fewer frontboards you have the less zeros you have to fill on the outside. There's still the issue of filling the ones on the inside but somehow that's not as bad, since by the time they're exploring the inside of the boards they're probably more interested already. I say as long as you have topics started in at least a couple of the boards on the inside you're okay. Just as long as you don't have oodles and oodles of empty ones. People will understand if you have a few if you're a new site, well I think so.

[andy1005]

Either I'm a good actor or just used to being by myself but when I made a forum, I put 100% effort into making sure that it was an attractive place for newcomers in terms of posts and members.

I created 9 accounts, each with hidden e-mails and of course; no-one can see IP addresses and then simply spoke to myself over and over again in the forums using a unique type of character and typing ability for each of the accounts. People saw that it was fairly active and started posting themselves, including new topics as I already had about 50 topics filled with my own chatter and as the members came in, I simply lowered the number of characters I used until eventually I only needed myself as the admin.

Problem solved. Recommended for those that can make it look credible and are used to being semi-insane.

[valderra99]

Oct 10, 2009 15:33:26 GMT -8 :~:Sarapha:~: said:

Has anyone figured out how to detour attention to the blankness of those boards? I tried to hide them, then bring them back into view as the positions were filled, but that made the board look strange and missing lots of vitals.

When I give suggestions at the GOAYB section, and I see lots of empty boards, I always recommend to add a thread to as many boards as possible so that new members have something to start off with. And that just an intro thread should do the trick.

Even if you have as yet nothing to say, just make an intro thread, something that explains a little about the board that is as yet vacant of other threads. But don't lock it - someone might have a question and want to post in that thread - just sticky it.

Nov 30, 2009 13:33:33 GMT -8 @andy1005 said:

Either I'm a good actor or just used to being by myself but when I made a forum, I put 100% effort into making sure that it was an attractive place for newcomers in terms of posts and members.

I created 9 accounts, each with hidden e-mails and of course; no-one can see IP addresses and then simply spoke to myself over and over again in the forums using a unique type of character and typing ability for each of the accounts. People saw that it was fairly active and started posting themselves, including new topics as I already had about 50 topics filled with my own chatter and as the members came in, I simply lowered the number of characters I used until eventually I only needed myself as the admin.

Problem solved. Recommended for those that can make it look credible and are used to being semi-insane.

Hmmm.... yes... I know that some people like to do that to fool non-members, and for that same reason I don't keep inactive accounts open.

I once had a forum that could have had over 200 or more members if I had let 'dead' accounts stay open.
But firstly, I don't like to deceive non-members in thinking that we have over 200 'active' members, when in fact perhaps only 20 of those members are active. And secondly, I don't like deceiving myself either.

[grieves and squick]

Proboards has that marvelous "Members active in the past 24 hours" feature that reveals just how active and currently populated a board is, anyhow. We don't shut down accounts for any reason other than a TOS breach, unless the member just deleted their own accounts. I almost never even look at the total number of accounts, but instead, at that "24 hours" indicator. I think others are also becoming more savvy to this.

[amaranthine]

ONE:I finish the boards to start wtih.
TWO: I made another acocunt or two or three and RP/ talk with myself in various random threads to make it seem active.
THREE: Poeple see activity, and like it or something along the lines of that. Then they join.

---

First, I make sure that all boards have atleast one post. Preferably two at least. Every single one, including subboards. Even if it's just a rules/description thread. It's better then nothing at all, and it explains that section. Then, I generally try to have a couple new threads a day, with active posts in most places. I use my extra secret accounts to help with that (roleplaying in different places, communicating in ooc) and try and persuade potential members (who I affectionatly call 'guestyfishes') to join. These guestyfishes will hopefully join, and become a member, who I'm yet to come up with an affectionate name for.

[Snakeair]

On the forum i am a super mod on, i create threads with valuable information that people will benefit from. This get's them replying to the thread and keeps the forum active with fresh threads and maybe newly registered members to reply to those threads. Yes the old threads are still good, but you need to provide fresh content to your forum each day to try and get those lurkers to join the forum and contribute to the threads.

It's the admins job and other staff members job to keep the forum alive with active content. Sometimes one thread get's so long or so off topic, you really do need a fresh thread for people to post in. Also fresh content makes the search engine bot's happy and they will start to come by your forum to index the content a little more. Just make sure guests are able to view the categories and threads. If not, search engine bot's can not index that thread or post.

I hate seeing forums with zero content in there boards. Why create that board if you can not supply content in there? Just a waste of space. Even if you create a thread asking a stupid question, you will still get a few members replying to it.

[Cyber Necrovalley]

I create numerous threads wherever I can so my forum doesn't look too empty, but I don't know...it is nice when you're new to see threads and posts already, but it's also sort of pathetic when you realize that they're all posted by the same person. Still, I try to make new topics frequently in case someone decides to join. It just looks better.

[ily 'TIL THE end]

May 31, 2006 15:47:50 GMT -8 @myke said:

Does any one have any ideas on what type of content admins can add to keep their members coming back?

Well first you, as the administrator, need to have a zeal for your current members and/or any potential members you have yet to get. Show them that you are doing everything you can to create conversation. Instead of posting a bunch of topics, put a few polls into those topics. Don't post a poll about what is better: Green or Blue or something pointless. Give every thread and poll you post mean something. Even post something you don't find much interest in. Because some times, someone that is a member of your forum or someone that just joined or is looking to join will see that and be someone that actually was interested in what you posted. Post something funny, post something thought-provoking, post something that will get things stirring. Most people think, "I don't know what to post." Well, look at other forums, like this one or other forums to get your ideas on what you could post. Now, it's not stealing because you posted a thread on your forum that someone else posted. There is no copyright on having the same word game as 145 other forums. It's not like social networks don't study each other and find out what is popular and decide on what would be a cool feature for their own social network.

[Owlstar]

I start threads in the non-RPing boards so there are not as many empty spaces in those boards. I'll start one or two RPing threads, but I wait till I have some members so I can RP with them. I mean, I'm not going to start a thread in every single board just for people to not join. And I'll run out of ideas anyhow. Yes, I do try to create threads, but I do let some members create them so I'm not trying to keep the forum alive. Yes, the admin should do the most work to keep their forum alive, but the members should at least help by posting some as well. It's been stated already and I'm seconding it: An admin can't exactly keep up with all the RP threads at once.