What draws you to a forum?

[Roryroxlikepoprox]

1. Active and friendly members who treat new members as comfortably as regular members. I hate it when the regular members ignore the new members' posts, it's just really uncomfortable and make the new members feel bad.

2. The graphic design/colors. Creative, neat, not flashy but not boring, pleasant to look at.

3. Organized content and forums but not TOO organized. Sorry, but I don't want to fill out a dozen applications just to be able to make a post.

4. A forum that's friendly to new people, I've seen many forums that have all these things to it and they never explain to new people how they work. Like, certain applications, they never tell you what they're for or how to make a good one. This rule is similar to number 1.

5. A forum that adds new things every once in a while. I don't like it when admins never add anything new to their board, I mean, I'm not saying the whole layout every day, but add something new every 3 weeks or so, just to keep it interesting.

That's all I look for in boards. ;D

[Negative]

What draws me to a forum is content. A site could have the best skin ever, along with a lot of active members, and other stuff like that, and I would not be very interested in it cause it might not be what I like. Don't take me wrong, I really like good skins and active members and other stuff like that. It's just that content is my biggy.

[Yoon]

Like many have said here, what draws me to a forum is content and the community. If there is content that is worth while discussing and an interesting community is present to drive that content, I will stick around those forums. A forum may have the best-looking skin in the world, but if the content and community isn't there, so is my interest.

I am mostly a forum lurker, but if there's a thread discussion that is compelling enough, I will register and post. The types of forums that I am usually drawn to are computer software/hardware (particularly 3D graphics discussion) and gaming forums.

[Kurosaki]

I enjoy a forum where the Admins arn't completley heartless and don't care about their members. I turn away from fourms that use the default skin or the default skin with diffrent colors. I also look at the content and community. I do NOT go to sites with 500+ members for the fear of being over shadowed too easily.

[kelendria]

Jun 16, 2008 15:17:03 GMT -8 Kurosaki said:

I enjoy a forum where the Admins arn't completley heartless and don't care about their members. I turn away from fourms that use the default skin or the default skin with diffrent colors. I also look at the content and community. I do NOT go to sites with 500+ members for the fear of being over shadowed too easily.

Somebody else said that, and I can see where you're coming from.
Having said that we have over 700 members & only a handful of us are actually active.
I think it can depend on activity, but I've been on forums where I've been overshadowed & ignored so I know what you mean.
But then if everyone had that point of view, we certainly wouldn't get anyone on ours!
I hope I'm not sounding defensive!

[Macy]

Usually, there are two things that draw me to a board.

1) Small Amount of Members/New Site
2)Skin & Banner

I admit that though one shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, we do it all the time. Skins and the layout of the forum are extremely important in drawing new members-- and that's what makes me want to join. Also, yes the amount of members is always something that can be both a blessing and a curse. Some members believe active forums are those with a large amount of members, while others don't like the number of members because well, they will get overshadowed. So, really it depends on the person-- but usually, less members means more new members...ones that are active too.

[LLlover]

Colors of the skins make a big difference in my decision to join a board. If they're blinding colors or just don't go good together at all I will usually just say forget about it and leave. I consider myself somewhat artistic and like for things to look decent. They don't have to look perfect, but I want them to at least look somewhat visually pleasing.

There's a lot more to the main appearance of a forum than just the forum colors too that helps me come to a conclusion about a forum such as lay out, general organization, and page loading time. If any of these doesn't please me I just leave. The most annoying thing that turns me off the easiest since I have dial-up are pages that seem to take forever to load. You can have a lot of features and a great layout, but if it takes forever to load does anyone really get a chance to see that?

[Gylfie107]

I realy pay attention to color scheams. If it looks good, I'll try it out. If it dosn't, even if its a great site, I tend to not join. I allso like the defult look of proboards. I find the idea of people making layouts strange, no offense.

But otherwise, subject and activity are the other main things on my mind. I don't mind spam, and I don't mind if people a bit rude (As long as it isn't over the top) Just those three things.

[SKiTTLEZ]

What draws me to a forum is well, theres a few things..
1) The pre-made skin. If I like it, I'll think about joining it.
2) The plot. If the plot is something like HP or Twilight, I'm not joining.
3) The members. How many there are and how nice they are.
4) How many threads/boards there are. I like them medium sizes, not too big but not too small.
5) The forum age. I don't like ones that are brand new. I also don't like one that is older then 3 years(accept PB Support)

[kelendria]

So what do you do, wait a while til it gets a little bit older then join, then leave when it reaches its third year?!!
Sorry I am intrigued with your forum age statement!
I don't do RPGs either, very often they're too strict & to be honest I don't really understand them.
I also go for how nice the members are, how people get along & how up to date it's kept.
With the changes in web popularity & trends, I find it a blessing to keep a forum going & still have activity after 3 years!
And everybody has to start somewhere ;D

[emsypops]

basically I like active forums, as long as the forum is active with friendly members then im happy to participate and join them.
I get a bit creeped out when I'm in very large forums that have been running for a while as all the members seem to know each other and all get on but providing everyone is friendly then I stick around

[palebird]

What draws me to a forum, well that really depends on the subject of the forum. Will I like it? Does it interest me enough? Also Graphics are a good eye opener for me, if the forum has excellent graphics/skins etc and gives you a good selection of skins thats always a plus.

Another facter that draws me to a forum is the staff. Are they polite enough towards their members? Do they care for their members? etc.

[brokenxxlilly]

I own 3 boards and help co admin 1 board

breakingdawn01.proboards82.com
fadedfate.proboards82.com
blackblood01.proboards47.com
blackraven01.proboards85.com
I have recently changed the skins to get more members, I have deleted inactive members and cleaned out my board for all the members to get a “fresh” start on and I have allowed celeb characters now on my board and I allow 2 to 3 threads per character …. Any suggestion on what I should to get members and to keep them ?

[kelendria]

You need to ask in the Advertise Your Board forum, this isn't the place

[nutz4]

Well I had to reply to this one because there are many things that draw me to a forum. The members/staff/admin are one reason that I do look at a forum and decided to join. The content of what the forum is about is another item of interest for me. I don't like it when I join a forum and I feel left out of things, meaning too many members and a lot of inside jokes going on. I don't want to feel left out.

The forum also has to look good, whether it be with the graphics, plus like some one mentioned earlier having the look match the idea of the forum.

I have joined many forums and gone back to see how things are and they are dead, because the admins don't make the commitment to keep it going. That is a huge turn off.

Those are just a few of the things that attract me to forums. I know I could add many more yet I can't think of them right now.