Discussion: Are multiple themes a smart move?

[HoudiniDerek]

punkyfish said:

I always find that if you create a forum, its always best to give the fans/members a multuple choice. Your main focus could still be the artists/actor/actress/musicion etc however, even the biggest of fans will proberply find talking about them, would put them off.

Providing off topic discussions helps balance the forum, and it also helps the members keep interest in the forum.

I agree that there should be an OT place for general community building discussions. I am all for that.

I am against having several and vastly different themes as all part of one forum to start with unless it is a GT forum and there is a method to the madness. For the most part it seems there is no method at all and people just throw varied ideas together to create a forum.

[BlueGhost]

Actually it depends on why you are making the forum. Some people, such as me. Make the forum to use as a intercommunications place with fellow gamers and game designers. However we don't talk about games all the time. Sometimes we make up stories and post them for entertainment of the readers.

Alas however. I'm justa simple 16 year old with not much Proboards experience and a total n00b to this place.

[charlie]

blueghost said:

Alas however. I'm justa simple 16 year old with not much Proboards experience and a total n00b to this place.

Hey, if that idea works for you and you're happy with your forum, then who's to say it's bad eh?


In my opinion, two or more themes can be both a good and/or bad idea to experiment with.

One the one hand, two themes may encourage the admin to make an excessive amount of boards and spreading activity thin over the forum.
It may also intimidate guests and new members somewhat. I also think that people can often fall into the trap of combining two ideas that (although may be good individually) don't combine well with the other.
Also, one of the two themes may be overly popular with the forum members than the other.

However, on the other side of the coin, two ideas obviously offers a wider range of topics for members, particularly if they compliment each other very well. It can help to keep things fresh and interesting.

So... I think the idea of a combination of forum themes and the success of them depends entirely on the relationship of those ideas and the way they are put into effect by the forum admin and other staff. If I were to do it, I would find a way of intwining the two ideas together as much as possible.

Chaz

[BlueGhost]

Good point, but I'm just saying it really doesn't matter what you put down as a category.

[cherryrabbit]

I've never really seen a forum with multiple main themes, but I like forums with a big main, central theme which the majority of the boards are for, and then maybe one or two categories for "off-topic" discussion. It gives a bit of variety to the forum - if I want to join a forum for discussion about, say, music, the majority of the forum will be about music, which is good, it's what I was looking for. But then there's a tiny sections to talk about misc. stuff when I want to talk about something else. But two big central ideas to a forum, it doesn't seem right to me. Unless, of course, they're connected in some way.

[BlueGhost]

That's what the General Board is for.

[Gamoc]

General board is something that you would use when you are not talking about main topics in my opinion. I think that a general board would not make a forum multi-themed because every successful forum needs a General Board. A multi-themed forum does needs the devotion outside of a general board to two different subjects to be a multi-themed forum.

Remember, this is just my opinion, so other people might think differently, which is perfectly alright.

[HoudiniDerek]

pikablu said:

General board is something that you would use when you are not talking about main topics in my opinion. I think that a general board would not make a forum multi-themed because every successful forum needs a General Board. A multi-themed forum does needs the devotion outside of a general board to two different subjects to be a multi-themed forum.

Remember, this is just my opinion, so other people might think differently, which is perfectly alright.

I agree. To me a general topic area makes sense because it allows the forum to develop more as a community around each other rather than around the theme of the forum. I consider these necessity on any forum myself.

[Gamoc]

houdiniderek said:

pikablu said:

General board is something that you would use when you are not talking about main topics in my opinion. I think that a general board would not make a forum multi-themed because every successful forum needs a General Board. A multi-themed forum does needs the devotion outside of a general board to two different subjects to be a multi-themed forum.

Remember, this is just my opinion, so other people might think differently, which is perfectly alright.

I agree. To me a general topic area makes sense because it allows the forum to develop more as a community around each other rather than around the theme of the forum. I consider these necessity on any forum myself.

Yep. And all this talk of necessities reminds me of something.

A necessity to a forum is different than a theme towards a forum. A necessity is something that the forum needs to abound in members and thrive in prosperity. A theme is something that makes the forum different than just your average General Talk forum. The necessities of a forum are things like a General Board, a nice skin, interesting topics, good staff, understandable rules, etc...

A theme is important to a forum, but not necessarily a necessity to the forum. Having more than one theme (if they make sense together) can make the forum more fun than just a Harry Potter RPG that doesn't have any other theme to it. What...oomph...is there in just a Harry Potter RPG, what other things are there to talk about that the other 10,000,000 Harry Potter RPGs don't have.

See, there are major and minor differences between a necessity and a theme. I hope this has cleared things up for people.

[HoudiniDerek]

Good call, Pikablu.

To me, necessities in a forum are things like a rule base for members to follow; an outlet for suggestions/concerns; and a general talk section. Those should be basic for all forums to my way of thinking.

As for themes, I believe a forum should have one and the members should know what it is. I still believe one thems is best over several, but it is a necessity as well so members and potential members know what they are getting into.

[Gamoc]

houdiniderek said:

Good call, Pikablu.

To me, necessities in a forum are things like a rule base for members to follow; an outlet for suggestions/concerns; and a general talk section. Those should be basic for all forums to my way of thinking.

As for themes, I believe a forum should have one and the members should know what it is. I still believe one thems is best over several, but it is a necessity as well so members and potential members know what they are getting into.

Well, a theme is not always a necessity. A General Talk forum is not considered a theme in my opinion, but many of them are very successful. They don't have a theme, but they have all of the necessities, which are truly important.

Although I may think one way, others consider a General Talk forum altogether to be of many themes because it covers many topics. There are things like Gaming, Movies/TV shows, Music, etc... boards that make people think of theme as multi-themed.

So in this case, Houdini, it is completely opinionated on a persons thoughts with the whole theme mess.

[HoudiniDerek]

pikablu said:

houdiniderek said:

Good call, Pikablu.

To me, necessities in a forum are things like a rule base for members to follow; an outlet for suggestions/concerns; and a general talk section. Those should be basic for all forums to my way of thinking.

As for themes, I believe a forum should have one and the members should know what it is. I still believe one thems is best over several, but it is a necessity as well so members and potential members know what they are getting into.

Well, a theme is not always a necessity. A General Talk forum is not considered a theme in my opinion, but many of them are very successful. They don't have a theme, but they have all of the necessities, which are truly important.

Although I may think one way, others consider a General Talk forum altogether to be of many themes because it covers many topics. There are things like Gaming, Movies/TV shows, Music, etc... boards that make people think of theme as multi-themed.

So in this case, Houdini, it is completely opinionated on a persons thoughts with the whole theme mess.

That is why I said "To me" before going on about what I thought.

And a GT forum is still a theme, but its theme is much broader than others.

[Gamoc]

houdiniderek said:

pikablu said:

Well, a theme is not always a necessity. A General Talk forum is not considered a theme in my opinion, but many of them are very successful. They don't have a theme, but they have all of the necessities, which are truly important.

Although I may think one way, others consider a General Talk forum altogether to be of many themes because it covers many topics. There are things like Gaming, Movies/TV shows, Music, etc... boards that make people think of theme as multi-themed.

So in this case, Houdini, it is completely opinionated on a persons thoughts with the whole theme mess.

That is why I said "To me" before going on about what I thought.

And a GT forum is still a theme, but its theme is much broader than others.

I didn't quite mean to put your name in it.

Like I said though, that is still opinionated, and not quite a set in stone thing. It can still be GT and be considered non-themed, or multi-themed. It really depends on who you are talking to exactly. In most cases, yes it would be, but in my case, I would consider it not.

[📚 Dianne 📚]

I must not be quit grasping what you all are talking about.

In my opinion, ALL boards have a theme. Even a GT board is itself a themed board.

But I think the best boards start with a specific community in mind,and a specific theme. A smart forum owner looks for a niche that hasn't yet been over-filled, something in their (the owners) sphere of interest and finds a way to fill that need. It may start out like mine did, with one idea, but I was smart and did my homework and research and found what others were successful at (such as having a General Topic section and then branching out somewhat from there) BUT, I've never let the board stray too far from the original intent.


Yes my board is small with less than 100 people - but the activity within the community is wonderful. You really get to know your posters this way and sticking with the basic theme is a good way to insure it stays that way.

Would you prefer to have 1000 members that never show up or participate, or 50 members who don't want to to anywhere else?

And why do I feel that I've just gone off topic with a bit of a rant...*meekly slinks away chanting "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"*

[HoudiniDerek]

cats57 said:

I must not be quit grasping what you all are talking about.

In my opinion, ALL boards have a theme. Even a GT board is itself a themed board.

But I think the best boards start with a specific community in mind,and a specific theme. A smart forum owner looks for a niche that hasn't yet been over-filled, something in their (the owners) sphere of interest and finds a way to fill that need. It may start out like mine did, with one idea, but I was smart and did my homework and research and found what others were successful at (such as having a General Topic section and then branching out somewhat from there) BUT, I've never let the board stray too far from the original intent.


Yes my board is small with less than 100 people - but the activity within the community is wonderful. You really get to know your posters this way and sticking with the basic theme is a good way to insure it stays that way.

Would you prefer to have 1000 members that never show up or participate, or 50 members who don't want to to anywhere else?

And why do I feel that I've just gone off topic with a bit of a rant...*meekly slinks away chanting "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"*

I agree. As I have been saying, I think all forums inherently HAVE a theme and that I feel they should start with one small one and expand or start with a general talk idea that can be narrowed down depending on the membership.