What draws you to a forum?

[ashycat!]

Well, what gets me to join a website, is simply good content.
Skins, eh not to much kills my eyes, if it's like BRIGHT orange, red, green or pink, that kinda kills, but nothing to much can hurt my eyes.
Quite frankly, I hate joining new sites, especially if I don't know anyone. Most of the time, my sister and I, we join forums together, it makes life easier really if you have someone your comfortable with. If we find a forum we're comfortable with, we'll link each other and ask if the other wants to join. I'm not saying EVERY site I'm on I have my little sister with me, but it's just easier to work on a site if there is someone you know.
I don't like to many rules, that bind me, I'm alittle frivolous, and like to have some arm room to do what I like to do.
Not to many, images that are animated, because they get annoying no matter how interesting they are. Sure I can’t stop avatars in other peoples profiles, but images all over the forum, tend to get annoying.
NO ridiculous group names, and poor spelling errors, I mean sure some words are just plain hard to spell, and you miss one every once in awhile. But a lot of them, is just plain stupid.

[kelendria]

Isn't the point of forums is to get to know people?
I'm not knocking what you're saying at all, but for example me & my sister have completely different tastes, I can't imagine wanting to join forums that she's on.
I can see what you mean about being comfortable though, but I'd rather have good topics, graphics & friendliness to join a board that interests me

[Enchant]

Feb 26, 2008 13:30:11 GMT -8 @kelendria said:

Isn't the point of forums is to get to know people?
I'm not knocking what you're saying at all, but for example me & my sister have completely different tastes, I can't imagine wanting to join forums that she's on.
I can see what you mean about being comfortable though, but I'd rather have good topics, graphics & friendliness to join a board that interests me

I agree that the idea of making a community is getting to know people and to share some common interest. That being said, without members you do not have much of a community. People need to be compelled to join a forum. Somewhere where they will feel comfortable, like they have some common interest, a place that is soothing to them visually as well. A place that they feel like that can get away form thier every day lives for awhile.

[kelendria]

Yes I do know that.
Of course you have to be interested in what the forum's about, I wouldn't join a Harry Potter forum for example because I totally dislike HP.
It's a mixture of things that draw you to a forum, the point I was trying to make is, that it's also about making friends when you finally find what interests you.

[Skybird14]

The main thing that draws me to a forum is the content, if it's something I'm interested in then I'll want to stay and have a look around. Because I like to do that I'd like a few of the main content boards kept open for guest viewing. I've visited forums in the past where you have to login to read every single board there, needless to say I didn't hang around long.
Being able to see the kind of discussions that take place helps me establish the kind of behaviour that goes on in the forums. If there's a lot of shouting people down just for posting an opinon or a lot of spammy posts then it's not really a community that will be worth staying on for long.

The layout doesn't really bother me that much, as long as the colour scheme doesn't hurt my eyes and the graphics don't mess up the pages widths then I'm quite happy.

Inactivity is another thing that would concern me on certain types of sites. For example, I run a forum dedicated to an actor and if he's not doing much then we've not got as much to talk about but if I was posting on a graphics community where I wanted feedback on graphics then I may get a bit impatient.

[Weezze]

Like most of you its the content that first brings me to a site and I will hardly look at a site if it is not on a topic I am interested in. Then if you have to log in to view the site then I wont bother. It's only really role play sites that I join and there was a time that I would only join advanced.

I'm not to bothered about the skin and graphics but if it looks apsolutly horrible then it would put me of joining.

Activity doesn't really bother me either as I know that sites all have their dead periods and that when you are just starting up it can be hard to get your site active. But if no one replies to a post I make within two months then I will leave.

[© Copyright 2009 Bob]

I like a forum that is at least half as active as I am. Or at least the people should come back because they want to, not because they feel obligated.

Here's a little trick I tried back in October 2006: In order to keep them coming back, you have to do something interesting, so why not start a game? Because the forum is relatively small (4 active members, a few lurkers, and several simply receiving the newsletter), a game which involves taking turns works very well-- especially if it has a fun twist to it, where you don't have to wait more than one post to go again. The three-word story game has kept my forum alive now for over a year, and our story (still the same one), narrated by the four of us, contains over 1,000 posts (that's nearly three per day!) and more than 3,000 words.

For those who care, here are the simple, easy-to-follow rules:

---

We are always looking for new people to join in!
Here are the rules:

1) Join! Please don't ask to join!

2) Go to the last page of the thread before posting. Hopefully, within one of the last two or three pages of the thread, someone has posted an update. Sometimes we get carried away and forget to do an update.

3) You may post three words at a time. Make them funny when possible, but try to keep them in line with the story, or at least with the current tangent. Also, no "Then he died." or "Then she died." Be more creative.

4) Some words may be able to count as either one or two words. Hyphenated words may be counted as either one or two words, whichever you prefer. Sound effects, such as MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, count as one word each, no matter how many syllables they have.

5) After you post, make sure that no one posted while you were posting. If your post doesn't make sense because someone beat you to it, delete it, and post again. You'll know when this happens because the story will stop for a day and we'll all act like we don't know what happened.

6) Don't post twice in a row. You must wait for at least one person to post before you post again.

7) Try to do an 'update' any time you start a new page. This involves going back and collecting the last updated text and all the new posts, combining them into a new update. And if you know how, use the bold tags to bold the last three words (your addition to the text).

8) Have fun!

[toondude]

I like forums that

- Have a nice color scheme.
- There's rules set in and everyone isn't just swearing and such.
- The signature size is normal and doesn't stretch an entire page.
- If it has something I'm interested in like cartoons, kids shows, teens shows, sci-fi and action stuff.
- Don't wait a week to say I can post.
- Don't have rules about being active. I know that's important to some people but I have things to do outside of the internet.
- Is excited by new members instead of just watching them post aimlessly.
- I could possibly grow into a mod on. (haven't found one of these yet)

[Enchant]

Feb 27, 2008 9:54:55 GMT -8 © Copyright 2009 Bob said:

I like a forum that is at least half as active as I am. Or at least the people should come back because they want to, not because they feel obligated.

Here's a little trick I tried back in October 2006: In order to keep them coming back, you have to do something interesting, so why not start a game? Because the forum is relatively small (4 active members, a few lurkers, and several simply receiving the newsletter), a game which involves taking turns works very well-- especially if it has a fun twist to it, where you don't have to wait more than one post to go again. The three-word story game has kept my forum alive now for over a year, and our story (still the same one), narrated by the four of us, contains over 1,000 posts (that's nearly three per day!) and more than 3,000 words.

For those who care, here are the simple, easy-to-follow rules:

---

We are always looking for new people to join in!
Here are the rules:

1) Join! Please don't ask to join!

2) Go to the last page of the thread before posting. Hopefully, within one of the last two or three pages of the thread, someone has posted an update. Sometimes we get carried away and forget to do an update.

3) You may post three words at a time. Make them funny when possible, but try to keep them in line with the story, or at least with the current tangent. Also, no "Then he died." or "Then she died." Be more creative.

4) Some words may be able to count as either one or two words. Hyphenated words may be counted as either one or two words, whichever you prefer. Sound effects, such as MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, count as one word each, no matter how many syllables they have.

5) After you post, make sure that no one posted while you were posting. If your post doesn't make sense because someone beat you to it, delete it, and post again. You'll know when this happens because the story will stop for a day and we'll all act like we don't know what happened.

6) Don't post twice in a row. You must wait for at least one person to post before you post again.

7) Try to do an 'update' any time you start a new page. This involves going back and collecting the last updated text and all the new posts, combining them into a new update. And if you know how, use the bold tags to bold the last three words (your addition to the text).

8) Have fun!

I am not sure what the relevance of the rules are in regards to this thread and also why you increased the font size. :-\

[© Copyright 2009 Bob]

Feb 27, 2008 10:30:42 GMT -8 Enchant said:

I am not sure what the relevance of the rules are in regards to this thread and also why you increased the font size. :-\

The reason for posting the rules was to explain the game to anyone who might be interested in adopting the idea for their forum. This is a page about what attracts you to a forum, and I use this game as a way to keep people coming back.

The reason for increasing the font size is actually a reason for not reducing it. I copied/pasted the rules, so the sizes came with it. I was in a hurry, too, so I didn't have time to remove the size tags.

[Kami]

Aug 4, 2007 20:32:37 GMT -8 Martyn Dale said:

What draws you to a forum?

Aside from a well developed community, with many members, what is it that draws you to a forum? Which of those things are the most important to you?

Is it purely the colors? Perhaps the use of simple gradients? Or is it more than that.

Is it possible to draw someone in with just the use of simple colors, and basic gradients, or does it have to be something really flashy.

In addition, is there anything about the ProBoards "default" look (not colors) which could help improve the first impressions?

Again, please dont discuss member counts, or subjects, as those are obvious. This is with regards to the look, with the subject aside.

For the proboards default, I really think that the first thing is to resize the default width. I know that this is something you can code to do, but really, it's just an extra code in your h/f's that I'm sure can be written into the software. It's really annoying whenever I register for a new board that it takes up my screen. True, easily fixed, but I do wish that I didn't have to go get the code.

(Just an idea, and I don't know how possible this is, but maybe forum size could be a drop-down option in general settings?)

Gradients are nice, and I will look again if there are, but they're not enough to get me to really browse the forum.


Colors do draw me to the forum -- or, conversely, make me x out immediately, depending on how well the colors flow. That said, the banner is really what does it for me - if the banner colors match the forum colors, and if the banner itself matches the subject matter.

I tend to stay away from the 'flashy' sites, with animated this and animated that. I tend to get migranes, and these really do me in. Also, it's just not necessary - flashy doesn't always mean better, and it makes the forum look really busy aesthetically.

[[Kassie]]

-Not overflowing w/ members yet. Maybe like 30-40 so you can get acquainted.
-Lots of options in the board. It's no fun if your student character can only hang out in the courtyard.
-Interesting people. Fun, nice, etc.
-Well put together. A clean, easy to get around site.

[Andrew Workman]

If I could be very vain, one of the main deciding factors of my joining a forum is the overall design. I believe the design of a forum is one of the most important selling points of said forum. You could take ten forums with the same topic and put a different design on each, and I'm pretty certain that the forum with the best design will attract the most people.

Once I've decided whether or not I like the layout, I'll look around the forum, see how it's ran and how members interact with each other. If I find the forum to have a friendly atmosphere with staff that I could find myself respecting, I'll probably join the forum.

Those are just some things I find important for a forum. If it looks good (it doesn't need to be loaded with graphics - a person can design an AMAZING forum without using any graphics aside from simple gradients) and has a friendly atmosphere, it should gain the attention of many people.

[» traffic jam ,,]

What attracts me to a forum. Hm, hm, hm. Well, right off the bat, a decent skin's need. xD; I don't like things too fancy or too plain. As long as there's a lot of meshing color combos in the skin I don't mind if it has all the default graphics and codes. I really hate it when the forum has a big width, so I guess forums with widths around 750 make me more eager to join. ;D

A biggy for me is that I can do whatever I want on the forum. Generic, up-tight forums are a no-no. D: It sucks when you can't caps_garlock the place up and/or have a Spam Thread. That requires it be almost nub free too, but having a few people to pick on is always fun. They don't realize how hard people are pwning them. xD;
ogawd that makes me sound like a bad person. I am one, buuut.. ahaha.

[Angelica]

For me, it's:
RPs: Jamie Lynn Spears must be open, good plot and something I like.
Others: Nice skin, friendly staff and members.