How many forums is too many to have?

[Athene?]

I admin two proboard sites. Each of them are quite different from the other and I also was a co-admin on another board and now I create skins and avatars for that board. IMHO I think it depends on the individual too and how much time they themselves can spend on the forums. For some one is enough or just right and others can handle more than one. I also agree that members are very important and are active and contribute to the board.

[Fireb/Firespark/Editing Legend]

I think it depends on the persons efforts...
LIke are they strong and confodent to have this many Fourms

[LadyChaomii]

Five hundred and forty three trillion, five hundred and thirty six billion, two hundred and fifty eight million, nine hundred and seventeen thousand, four hundred and fifty eight is WAY to many boards, anything under that and I don't see a problem.

[NetMaster]

Just to throw all of the variables together I've come up with a more coherent formula.

Variables include:

The amount of time a person can spend on online
The persons level of interest in the topic
The probability of the person staying interested in the topic
The level of involvement

So for say if you're able to spend 10 hours a day online, you're really into Harry Potter and you have been for several years. I would say admin 1-2 boards, be a mod of 3 others and just a member of 2 more.

If however you're like me and have only 4-5 hours a day online, and a constantly shifting RP interest (based on which anime is currently being watched) I would say 1 board.

(Although in my case I admin 2 boards, which I have yet to start recruiting for, and do lots of coding help for 5 others...lol)

So typically if you use that kind of formula you can come out with a decent number for yourself.

[the infection____]

I am an admin of a board that is currently still getting off the ground, and a mod on a site that almost every member logs in every day on. I think it depends on how many members you have, your interest, levels, and the time you can spend online. You can't ever have too many forums until you can't post and be active on them all.

[PFC Keller]

It would be easier on you and your staffers if you administrate only 1 or 2 boards - if you administrate anymore you may have trouble keeping up-to-date and in the loop on your other boards and won't be able to spend enough time keeping them running.

If you are a moderator, I would suggest only moderating a maximum of 4 boards. That's still pushing it because in reality you should only be moderation 2 or 3 especially if you also administrate 1 or 2 other boards. You need a lot of time in the day to complete your job and fulfill your tasks as a moderator and/or administrator.

Being a member of forums, I would say that you can be a part of as many as you wish - but only if you believe you will have the time in your day and life to partake in their events. Don't join boards that you doubt or think you may not be as active in because it only ruins it for that community.

I would rather have no member than an inactive one.

[Kay]

Each site is different, even if they are about the same thing. I think it depends per person. Taking into consideration the community, activity level and time spent on the forum.

[Crystal]

While I find security in an Admin that can handle their forums well, and I like to see Admins who can create successful and well-off sites, I am immediately put off by multiple "baby" forums. What gets me the most happens to be on the occasions of when I see a member with two or three obviously owned sites, underneath their ruling - with none of them having a high volume of activity whilst ensnared in their grasps. If you can't keep one alive - close it, or better yet work on it, instead of hopping on board another train of thought.

I also dislike to see one Admin who abandons or closes a dying site - or even one who abruptly deletes a site without prior warning, and at least an Emailed warning for the members. Wait, you mean The Night's Glow is closed? But I had a good plot - and lots of poems, images, friends, and other stuff I had yet to save! And not even that, I didn't even get to at least see it one last time or anything? It makes me distrust you as an Administrator directly, unless I know you extremely well, even if you open up new sites later on in life - as long as I can connect you to the abruptly closed site long ago in any way as the one who closed it, then I had a different view of things and how you manage your forums.

I don't find a set number - perhaps 6 successful sites being an absolute maximum? But I do think that no one should administrate more than one new, or unsuccessful site at a time. You need to focus all of your time on that one site - it helps it live so much better, as opposed to you trying to focus on this site, that site, and this site over here, all the while you're trying to keep them all floating and alive. I also think that any reasonable Admin knows when to hand over the reigns, if their site is dying or if they can't keep up with it, and they've done all that they perceivably can, if there is another member on the site that could possibly direct it - and traffic on it - better. C:

[Matt]

I personally think that a person should focus on one forum. If a person focuses on more than one forum then they can't devote their time to each forum. to make a forum succeed the admin should put all their effort into a single site and work to make that site the best it can be. I run only one forum but I try to make it the best it can be. The reason its best to have only one site is because the admin can work as hard as possible to make that one site a great site.

[Skidjit]

Apr 21, 2009 12:07:05 GMT -8 Patrick [ASE] said:

When one looks at the internet, you can see thousands of different forums on thousands of subjects. However, you see several forums that are very close or the same in nature, be it an RP forum, a general chat forum, coding forums, etc. You also can hear a lot of people talking about how many forums they own and how many they have had at any given time.

On this forum, there is an advertising section and it is common to see a member bumping several forums that they own trying to spur membership there.

But how many forums is too many? Is there a magic number of forums per admin? Do you think the maximum any admin should have is one per subject area, like one RP, one General, etc.? What criteria do you use to determine if a forum admin is overworked with too many forums?

Submitted by HoudiniDerek

Wow. I can't believe I've never seen this thread before.

For me, I have 4 sites. I never intended on having more than two. Three are open and one is closed.

ONE is my main site where I hang out with my friends. It's the whole reason I started doing any of this in the first place.

Two are for testing purposes only. One is my CRAZY TEST site. If anything I test out goes wonky, deleting it won't be an issue. I probably will try out v6 on this one first. My second test site I have notes for themes/codes/plugins and what I'm learning (CSS) etc. I want to save those notes, so even though it started as a test site, I hope nothing goes wrong with it. Then I have more I use for my personal use only.

I have no desire to admin/mod any other sites. If I ever did gain another friend group, I think I'd drag them over to my already established main site and just add more categories/boards there. All of my friends seem to be adults who know how to get along. I have an RP area for anyone who wants to do that. No need to make a separate site for that.  

[comics]

If someone wants to have many forums, and feel enthusiasm around building forums, then let them. For many, it is a hobby and something they enjoy doing.

[Sylvie Brett]

I'm currently creating my own forum and that's definitely going to be the only one I own. I'm a member of another forum, so I'll be posting at two forums, but only actually owning one of them. Personally I think 3 would be a good limit, I mean if someone really has all that free time and wanted to do more than 3 it's entirely up to them. But then would they really be able to keep up with more. But hey, who am I to say how many people can cope with. I can't imagine anyone or many people would be able to keep up with more than 3 boards.

The board I'm creating is about a subject I'm really interested in, so I know I'm not going to get bored, and I hope I can make a success of it. I can't see myself making any more boards, any more then I don't think I'd be able to keep up with them.

15-20 boards, I can't imagine anyone being able to cope with that many. But hey, maybe I'm wrong about that.

[Former Member]

Personally, I prefer to have only 1 forum, so I can give it 100% of my attention, instead of dividing my attention between 2 or 3 forums.
It's hard work to try and make a forum work - finding out what (future) members want, what to add, and what not - which takes up enough time with just the one forum.

And the same goes for joining other forums. I am a member of just 1 other forum - again, because I like to give it my full attention, this time as a member.

[Trab]

If it was me, I'd only admin two forums, the one that I own on Proboards, and the one that I have commitment to the most, and then Mod 2, for the ones that I don't commit all the time, but most, then for the others, I'd stay as an normal member

[Pebble]

1 is too many if you dont have the patience or the thick skin one needs.