What are the reasons people don’t want to join?
There are a lot of reasons people don't want to join. Some of these reasons you may be able to fix, some of them are completely outside of your control.
However I think you're asking the wrong question; your focus shouldn't be why don't people want to join since the responses are so varied, but rather ask
yourself:
- What am I doing to communicate the purpose of my forum?
- What am I doing to facilitate discussion of my chosen topic?
- How does my forum come across to someone who has never heard of this topic?
- Why should someone care about this topic?
You've updated the theme, which is pretty and will likely grab people's attention initially. However, that isn't going to guarantee people will join, and it certainly won't guarantee that those who join will stay.
The "guest friendly" information you've provided is limited and presented as category titles, interrupted by breaks containing boards. From a guest perspective, this is a really poor user experience (aka UX) because it breaks your concentration on a topic you don't know about. Statistics show that the average user spends about 5-30 seconds (depending on the study) on a website before deciding whether or not they will leave or explore further.
Because of this, any information you want to convey needs to be presented as impactfully as possible to make the most of that time frame; by breaking up the explanation of what your topic is — which is already a relatively niche topic— and taking the user out of the "moment" of reading, you are increasing the chance they will not finish and move on.
Instead of displaying the information like this, a simple HTML div at the top of your forum would suffice. If you don't know how to make one, you can always ask for help in the coding board.
Next, the navigation is difficult. If I want to learn about the Ouija Method more in depth, where do I start? Currently, I would have to click into every single board to hunt for the information myself, which is more negative UX. While it would be nice for guests to take that initiative, we're back to that 5-30 second timeframe again. If they can't find where the information they want is quickly, they will leave. Adding "Quick Links" to your HTML div would also go a long way to alleviating this struggle.
Finally, the actual content of your forum is at odds to your stated forum purpose. You say the forum is about the Ouija Method, but the first board I see that isn't community-related is about
entertainment. Following that, we have a few general discussion areas, some off-topic spirituality/occult discussions, and music. Again, this is poor UX for a guest who either wants to learn more about, or connect with others about the Ouija Method. You haven't given a dedicated place for the topic you say your forum is about, so if a guest were intrigued by your premise, they're unable to find a place to explore it.
Think of it this way: I have made a forum about Apple Pie. I've created boards that talk about music and art and writing, as well as boards that talk about Fruit, and Other Cooking. Yet, I keep telling people it's about Apple Pie. If you were a guest who wanted to talk about Apple Pie, or learn how to make it, or share pictures of Apple Pie you've made in the past, would you really feel like my forum is about Apple Pie when I don't have a dedicated area for it?
Based on my observations of your questions here on PB support, you seem very concerned about people not understanding the purpose of your forum (and I could be wrong on this part, but I seem to remember you've already given up once previously). You're focusing a lot on the idea that if you just talked more about your idea, that people will come to understand and will join up.
Unfortunately, while that would be a much easier way of running a forum, that's not really what drives forum membership for forums that are primarily focused on a specific topic. People are looking for a community to talk about their shared interests in that specific topic, so the first thing they're going to look for is whether or not a forum provides that for them.
At the end of the day, while your sales pitch says you're a forum about an art style of intuitive writing, your content is so scattered that what you're actually selling is a general chat forum.
Now I can't guarantee that people will join your forum regardless of any advice you're given or any changes you might make; that’s not a guarantee anyone can even remotely make — this is especially true since your topic of choice is fairly niche.
However, your chances at success increase if you remember to keep your topic your primary focus.
[Additionally, seek out members from other parts of the internet. Tumblr and Twitter have thriving witch and goth communities, and some good social media campaigning can help drive a boost in traffic, which may turn into membership if you make sure your forum primarily focuses on what it says it's about.]