Promoting Community Participation

[Enchant]

When one thinks of a community, they think of a group of people interacting with each other. It's where the members know each other and enjoy each others company. The problem is, people can only post so much before they get bored and loose interest, even with the best of topics. Sometimes, its the job of the staff to come up with ideas, that will have them act as a community and participate as a group.

Now, we all know, that just about every forum out there has a post to post game board, where the members can have fun with word games. They are pretty much all the same. The idea of this thread, is to work on having your forums members have fun participating together in more challenging and interesting ways.

I would suggest performing some contest. This is a good tactic to having your members interact with each other. Not only does it pull the members closer together, but it can break up the monotony of a forum. You might be asking, "well what kind of contest should I have?" Well that is up to you and what is relevant to your forum.

I noticed alot of forums out there have been successful with writing contest. This is a good way for those members who write to get their work seen and reviewed. It is also a way to attract potential members who have a love for writing. This can cover anything from Original stories, fanfics, poetry, and even songs.

I also have seen graphic contest to be taken in good response. There are alot of people who are out there with a artistic nature and enjoy working with image programs and free hand, perhaps a contest on the best avatar, sig, or even banner. They can be held for best texture , style, theme etc used....the possibilities are limitless. Also, it can be a free hand original....or perhaps even photography.

What about having a scavenger hunt contest. These have worked well on my own forum in the past. You could even separate your members into teams. I know the Harry Potter forums have houses, which would be the same done the same way.

There are so many things out there that could help promote community participation. What type of programs have you found to be successful either as a admin or member?

[Anselm]

I find that having several contests of different types to attract many types of people can be really helpful. I often put these in my signature or as a banner at the top of the forum.

This always attracts different types of people. But contests should be related to the forum content. If someone signs up for a coding competition for example and there are no coding boards, you won't get anyone joining.

Basically, if you start with contests that are related to your forum content, then go on to other contests later, they are more likely to succeed. These contests need to be well judged though, by someone who knows what they're talking about.

[Enchant]

transfermktforum said:

I find that having several contests of different types to attract many types of people can be really helpful. I often put these in my signature or as a banner at the top of the forum.

This always attracts different types of people. But contests should be related to the forum content. If someone signs up for a coding competition for example and there are no coding boards, you won't get anyone joining.

Basically, if you start with contests that are related to your forum content, then go on to other contests later, they are more likely to succeed. These contests need to be well judged though, by someone who knows what they're talking about.

You bring up a good point in regards to judges. There are several ways to do this . I myself have had admins adn members form affilaite forums judge for writing contest. This has worked well as there was no bias. Anouther way , and seems to be more effective to community particpation, is having the community judge which one they would want to win.

[HoudiniDerek]

On my forum, we don't have contests per se. We have adapted games around the character we are there to see...most of them taking place in the password protected area.

One game we have is called the interactive game thread. One person writes a move, then cannot move again until another person makes a move. It can be based on page length or on a date end basis. This helps people who are interested in fanfiction get involved slowly and see how other people write. Usually, the result is a collaborative fanfiction that we then lock and post around for other people...even visitors to the site to see.

We also do something like caption contests, using screencaps from the show. We have a general one for anything about the character and the show she was in. We also have one for those more suggestive captions that we keep in the password protected area. This allows people to take the same picture and try to caption it the best. The judge is usually someone who does not participate...or it is an overall vote. The one with the most votes win.

One new thing we are attempting is story challenges for individual fanfictions. We have four ideas that HAVE to be included in a story. Three different members each suggest one...and then the person who is challenged adds one. There can be a page limit or a time deadline. Then, it is reviewed and posted.

These are just some new ideas as we have not been around that long, but they seem to be working.

[mrsyukisohma]

Members usually get board of message boards that have been reincarnated or that have the same theme. I have tried to avoid this by adding more than one theme.

I have noticed that many of the games are practically the same on message boards. I get tired of seeing "Word Association", "ABC's", etc. Because of that reason, I don't play them often. I've searched and asked around for new games ideas. It helps when you talk to friends or your staff members and come up with creative ideas.

I know that it doesn't really matter much here at ProBoards, and I'm pretty sure it's not breaking the TOS, but I hate it when another forum takes one of my ideas. Especially when I try hard to make my board original. If you're going to take content such as a game, it's a good idea to change the concept a little. Make it your own. If not, ask the admin of the board if it's okay.

The problem with the Internet is the ideas you come up with aren't exactly original. I know some are, but it's very few. It's possible to come up with something original. Instead of taking the same games from every forum, I try to come up with or use ones that are rare.

Appearantly writing contests on forums aren't as original as I thought. I saw them on Live Journal and thought it would make my forum unique if I had my own writing contests. I don't know if anyone has, but if you look at the contests held on Live Journal - they can be pretty unique.

I'm also going to be having graphic contests on my board, even though it's not a "graphic board". I have random banners. Some of the contests taking place are banners, avatars, and drawings for the board itself. Whoever can make the best or gets the most votes will be recognized among the forum.

[HoudiniDerek]

Another thing I have seen is a version of the old MEMORY game. One of our members take pictures from the show and makes two copies and puts them in a timed format online. It is a lot of fun...and I have not seen it elsewhere. She is very gifted and I think that helps attract people to the forum. The game is not finished yet, but I have seen some of her others and she is hopefully finishing one for my forum.

[Enchant]

flamesparker said:

Well, if ya want to go to my proboard, it's LINK REMOVED i'm not so sure how to get more members to my proboard. I might need some help.

Please make sure you read the rules and guidelines for the boards before posting. There are several threads in the boards that should be able to help you. These are for discussions only.

[babybear]

I've tried contests and games, and they seem to work sometimes, but I'd love to hear some other suggestions on what might be done. I've got alot of members but none of them really post, aside from 4 or 5. I may try thr writing contest thing.

[🎶Sossity🎶]

Link Removed

I need ideas, too! I think that whatever I come up with should exclude my co-admin and mods' (if they win a contest, someone is bound to scream 'fix')

Next problem..what do I offer as a prize?

[myke]

nhs5 said:

Link Removed

I need ideas, too! I think that whatever I come up with should exclude my co-admin and mods' (if they win a contest, someone is bound to scream 'fix')

Next problem..what do I offer as a prize?

Hi, please read Enchants post, 1 post above yours. Thanks.

[kaylee2000]

I like making an all out Brawl on my RPG forum. I guess this idea may only work for RPGs or graphics forum.


But set an unlimited amount of entrees and set a due date if needed and a all out brawl will occur. And pick 1-3 winners depending on how many entrees.

[SiriuslyLupin]

Something that has been very popular on my board is a "Secret Santa" type exchange of gifts. One of my mods puts the name of everyone who wants to participate into a hat, and everyone is randomly paired up with someone they have to make a gift for. You don't know who you're getting a gift from until the designated day for the gift exchange. We did it for the past two holiday seasons, and we're doing it again now in honor of the board turning two years old.

Mostly everyone on my board is a writer, so stories are the most common gift, but we also have some who are strictly graphic artists, and they make wallpapers and banners, etc. Everyone who wants to participate has to submit a list of interests, and it really gets people to know one another, especially if they're assigned to make a gift for someone they don't know all that well.

And as opposed to contests where there's only one winner, everyone who participates gets a present

[Jeanway]

nhs5 said:

Link Removed

I need ideas, too! I think that whatever I come up with should exclude my co-admin and mods' (if they win a contest, someone is bound to scream 'fix')

Next problem..what do I offer as a prize?

For over a year I had a Star Trek Weekly Trivia Session in our ParaChat room. I did send out a MassE to remind people the day OF the session and I had a regular Trivia thread every week. I did send out both a cash prize to the winner and a Boobie prize to the lowest score. You do have to have a REAL address to send them their prizes. I bought 3 or 4 different little joke prizes in bulk from different Novelty gag gift sites, I still have some left too. The cash prize was a brand new American 2 dollar bill, which everyone seemed to like. I send out prizes at the end of the month. Once in a while we'd have a Special Session where the top score won $10.

But since our MassE has been on the Fritz it's difficult now to get people in.

[🎶Sossity🎶]

Thanks for the ideas guys!

[myke]

nhs5 said:

Thanks for the ideas guys!

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