How many forums is too many to have?

[dandrewporter.]

I think it really just depends on your personal schedule and personality. If you are going to be on your computer and really give every forum the same amount of time then I say GO YOU! But being realistic I would say no more than 3 forums, and 3 is really pushing it in my opinion. If you're co-admining then you might be able to throw in another or if you're just staffing then maybe even two. However, if you are like most roleplayers you are going to want to have multiple characters on your boards. That's something that should be calculated into the decision. As I said in the beginning it all just depends on you.

[``D.uecalione]

I think that two is too many to have. Because if you just have one, and are part of others, and have a life, I think being the admin of two sites, is a little too tough, especially if the activity is high and/or drastically different between the two. If you have one forum, you should keep up with it, treat it like it was your business, because in a way it is. Good posts and good admin put together = happy members, and more members on the way. But if you have two, your life can seem pretty hectic. Like if one is so low on activity, while the other is high, it brings up your stress level, because you want both to be a success. There is more to it, but you get the picture.

[Kyla]

I myself love running sites, especially RPG ones. I've had several at a time, but I deleted them for personal reasons. Right now I own only 1 site, and it's a relatively new one, so I'm looking for new members and staff members.

In my opinion, I really think that it depends on the person who wants to create the forums. I really ask myself these questions: Do I have enough time to make it? Do I have enough time to keep up with them? The most important one is: Will I end up deleting it because I can't get enough members/lose interest?[/i] It's honestly pointless to create more than 1 forum when you can't even keep up with them or if you will end up deleting the other boards because you've lost interest or you don't feel like committing to them. My advice is that you should try to get some help when creating more than one forum, because personal staff is the best.

However, if you have only one forum and it's already a hassle (i.e., not enough members, loose plot [RPG], barely any interesting posts, etc.), I honestly do not recommend trying to make a new forum. Think of your first or main forum as the 'test'/'beta' one. If you find yourself bored with it or you see that you can't figure out stuff with the forum and you don't have enough time to take care of everything, then I suggest you shouldn't make more than one.

Just my word![/color]

[Jez]

It all just depends on what you can handle. Some people could handle five or six sites at once while other struggle with one. It's a personal choice, you have to know how to balance real life and proboards.

So I think there really isn't a set number for each person out there, every admin know how many sites they can handle and it's up to themselves to make sure that they don't over do it and hurt either their lives or the site.

[Pro™]

bused his powers, threatening to use his powers simply because I made a complaint against him.

Anyway, back on-topic, I now have one site I run, the most successful Nazi Zombies Clan EVER, and so far it's going very well and I enjoy it completely and have no intentions of leaving or abandoning it.

So I think there's not a real number of how many sites you should be limited too, I think instead that you should think long and hard before opening a new site, because back when I ran my other site, I thought I'd NEVER leave, and eventually I did.

Basically just go with your instinct, but you never can predict the future.

[$%@Sophh@%$]

It really depends on how much time you have, some people spend hours on the internet every minute of everyday, if you don't have many other hobbies, then I think the maximum should be 3. The maximum I have had is 2 a twilight site and a the host site, I have had my current the host site for about 2 years now and in that time I must have started about 5 other different roleplay sites, I just can't keep them up. Now with all my other hobbies and exams, I can barely keep 1 running, but I have a lot of staff to help. I think that is the key, you can be an admin on a few different sites if you have a good members of staff behind you, to make decisions and help you. That way you can keep things running without actually having to be online constantly!

[Jez]

That's a good point, staff members help you(As long as they are trust worthy). So if each site has good supportive staff then it would be easier to have multiple sites.

[$%@Sophh@%$]

That's a good point, staff members help you(As long as they are trust worthy). So if each site has good supportive staff then it would be easier to have multiple sites.

I agree, Its so much better when you are good friends and know your other staff members very well. Then you can trust them to make decisions without you (the main admin) overseeing EVERYTHING! And that way the stress is so much less!

[Pro™]

Right now, after multiple incidents of spamming and flaming very rude and inappropriate posts, I have 1 Administrator, me, and 2 Global Moderators.

One was simply a Moderator, but I realized a promotion was necessary after a new spamming/flaming incident, because with 3 Staff with the ability to delete and lock topics and posts and ban members, there is a greater chance that one of us will be online when this happens.

Like today, with the latest incident, me and the GMod were not online when the majority of the spamming and flaming occurred, however the Moderator WAS, but in some cases could only sit there and wait for us to log on, as their powers were limited to four boards and the spammer/flamer posted on boards he was not assigned to.

[ADNTech]

I know in my own experiences that too many forums can over stress the members and the staff themselves. I also know that combining a bunch of subjects under one house can lead a forum to disaster.

So, it goes hand and hand, too wide (too many forums) or too tall (too much in one house) can be hard on the admin and on its staff.

Now I do know there are those that can stand those heavy loads, and have the people base to back them up.

However, for me, small is better.

[bedbugshowland]

thanks...for...sharing...

[shistavanenjedi]

I think it would partly depend on the time a person has to maintain one. Coding, layouts, making sure that a board is active and that members follow the rules, etc takes up a lot of time, and that's just for one board.

If for instance, you're wanting to run a Stargate forum, a Lord of the Rings one and a Star Wars one, wouldn't it be better to consider amalgamating them all into one board under a general Sci-Fi/Fantasy forum? The advantage is that it probably won't die a death as eaisly when new things come out, because it's always current and people can go back to their old school stuff and discuss that if they aren't into the new stuff. (It may get a more balenced age structure because of that.) Of course, it wouldn't be able to be everything for everyone, but there's always the option of creating a seperate board if a subject is popular among members. Admins who like creating graphics can also rotate themes, etc.

It just puzzles me sometimes why people would want to run multiple forums when they struggle to get members for the one they have.

[~Don0tto~]

i think 2 is too much. it already difficult managing one at time why waste the time and effort to try 2. i have one forum it has everything people r interested in

[Arcane]

When you are me. That is when you have too many forums. I currently own 5 forums on ProBoards alone. Although I'm trying to get on them all at least once a week, it is hard. I am always teeming with new ideas but I don't want to get rid of the old ones. I've already deleted two of my forums on here, though, as they were useless and I had no where to go with them.

Is there really a magic number? No. If you have enough time and support, you can successfully run as many forums as your heart desires. As with all things in life, administrating forums takes devotion and persistence. If you are devoted to creating and managing forums, go for it. What I recently thought about was creating the basics of a forum (using your e-mail as a useless e-mail for each admin site you plan on abandoning and a basic password such as the actual word 'password') and simply giving your information to another person to manage. Tell them to change the password, e-mail, and screen name and voila, the previous admin has no way to get into the account since the password is changed and the new admin can't abuse the e-mail because it is a worthless e-mail which should have no contact information to the real person behind it. Just a simple idea.

[SEÑOR CACTUS !]

Well, I'm currently on three RP sites, and I'm admin-ing one, and a staff member on another. And all involve Harry Potter role-play >.< but anyway, I think a person has free right to decide on how many forums they are a part of. Admin-ing two, or three sites at the same time, on the other hand, may get to confusing. You have to do your job on both sites, and I tried that before. It was extremely hard. I had to keep up with both of them. One site may die just because the admin isn't paying too much attention to it. But, it also depends on the members. If they are active and contribute a lot to the site, then it will all flow well. (: