Shawn Gossman

Forums have definitely been on the decline even before AI. I totally agree with that. But AI-generated content is really going to hit it hard. Someone who is obsessed with forums like me is even starting to burn out because of it. I'd like to see a plugin that scans UGC for AI and then applies label based on those scans. Something like "This content is potentially made with AI." just to rat people out when they do it. They're starting to do that with social media and I'm glad to see it. AI is a good thing, and we should all embrace it and learn it, but it can be used poorly especially to replace human communication.

AAF is doing good! 1500+ topics 6,000+ posts We're at 80 something members but I'd love to see 100 by the end of the month. If you're into forums and blogging, come on by and join us. :) https://anotheradminforum.com/

I wonder about using QR codes, too. That trend had become very popular. For my hiking brand, it could really be useful. I could make stickers and put them on trailhead signs that say scan the code to open the website and view it later when you have signal as most natural areas don't have signal. Then after they're done with their hike, they can find my websites full of more local hiking stuff. With QR codes, I can easily get page specific, too. A new form of offline spamming -- LOL.

Of course, you can still adapt social proof for other things as I mentioned in a previous post. A credit system for example. I am planning to test having a credit system on AAF where highly engaged members can earn credits to be used for posting services by me. Now what makes me different than anyone else offering posting services? Social proof makes me different. You can see that my posts are unique on other forums. I'm not using the same topic titles as everyone else it and if I do, I add something to it that makes it unique. I'm also not using AI and it's obvious because my voice is the same as it was back when I was posting on forums in 2002. I do try to use better spelling and grammar these days, though. :) I've created enough high-quality posts to give myself a reputation of being a valuable content creator. That's social proof in action. So, monetization or if you want to perform an action where social proof is appropriate.

I think celebrating smaller wins will actually benefit you. Don't think of it as celebrating big wins for your forum. Think about it as celebrating small wins that your community has helped you accomplish that continue to compete for your bigger goals. Announce that you hit 10K posts and thank your members for being so active. Being thankful builds trust and loyalty. Those small wins will give you an opportunity to give your members a pat on the back and that's important if you truly want to build a community of loyal supporters. Celebrate the small wins, too. Give it a try.

Yes, I think blogging is still popular and can remain profitable even in the age of AI search enhancements. You need to do 2 things: (1) Adapt by learning and master AI in terms of search engine optimization. Those who don't adapt will be left behind. We've seen this countless times in the past with other tech like responsive mobile websites and the use of apps. Don't get left behind. (2) Don't reply completely on SEO. You need to have and master multiple marketing and promotion strategies for your blog. First and foremost, you need to build a community where AI can't infiltrate. Build a forum or some form of online community. Create a newsletter and build your mailing list. A community and a newsletter are two sources of audience building that give you a DIRECT line to your audience without algorithms or AI being able to stand in the middle. Focus on not just building a community but building a community that is loyal to your blog content. Loyalty and trust is what you need to accomplish. There are other techniques out there besides search engines and those techniques are still working great for bloggers.

AI is potentially killing forums. Not AI itself but users who use AI to create content because they're too lazy to be creative. I've always considered myself a quality forum poster. I'm thinking of the words I'm posting right now and not using ChatGPT to come up with them. I've always done this because I like writing and showing good grammar and organization with my words. You can read my past posts and see a similarity in my voice, style, and words I use. You can see that with others, as well. There are many people on forums today, including this one, who post AI-generated content as their own content. It's obvious to. It's obvious because their voice, tone, style, and commonly used words have dramatically changed around the time when ChatGPT had become popular for using to create content. Because of that -- it feels fake to engage with these people. I feel like no matter what I say, I'll get an AI-generated response and not really something from the pits of their emotion and soul. AI takes away their soul, IMO. Those people are killing forums. There are many forums I go to and when I see so much of that, I started to get bored with those forums. I have ChatGPT premium. If I want to talk to AI, I'll talk to it since I pay for it. I know what I'm getting because I know I'm talking to a "not a human" but when I chat with a forum member who is using AI, I know I'm not getting a real human-to-human experience. That's depressing and totally kills my motivation to keep participating on a lot of forums. I bet I'm not the only one who feels this way, either. AI-generated content by lazy people not willing to be creative is what's killing forums in 2025 and beyond.

I have always enabled domain privacy since it has first been offered. At one time, domain privacy was considered to be a potential bad ranking factor for SEO. There were mixed messages from Google reps on hikinf your information on domain name registries. But Google cleared it up in recent times and it's perfectly fine to do it. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ranking-factors/whois-information/ I once disabled it for a company website I registered because I wanted to keep it really professional. Then the phone calls, emails, and letters to my PO Box started flowing in from domain renewal services. It got annoying and I enabled domain privacy to get them stopped but many still come because now they know my address and such. I suggest you use it if it's offered to you. Also, it should be free because most registrars are offering it as a free service.

Use credits to gamify your community. But the trick is choosing a gamification strategy that's appropriate for your target audience or community members based on their biggest needs, challenges, and pain points. I've considered a credit system on my AAF community. Basically, those with high engagement would earn enough credits to get free generous posting services by me on their forums. Now, I have to make sure when I create new content, it's high quality and engaging on every forum I visit. I want to make sure I have a reputation of being a quality forum poster. That will make a member of forum who owns a forum want me to post on their forum, otherwise why should they be active to get some posts that might be good or might be bad? This strategy would work on AAF because it's full of forum owners seeking great content on their communities. Whatever your niche is or your main forum topic, consider how a credit system or gamification feature can be applied to something that your members really want to have and then go from there. But like I said, they're going to need that social proof to trust the credit system. My social proof is my ability to post great content on other forums and my own forums. I show them what they'll get.

So, if they post an image that is copyright protected and the owner comes after you and demand payment, should you be the one who pays? Effectively, you're responsible because as you said, the content is owned by the forum after it's posted. How does your terms or rules define this? I think you're right about it and wrong at the same time. I don't think members should have the right to create a topic that abuses another member and then delete it to try to hide their abuse. Giving the ability to permanently delete content is asking for abuse and spam. However, I think a soft delete or if the content is deleted but instead moved to a private staff-only section - could be the answer to this. That way the previous content can be vetted to see if abuse or spam had occurred and if the OP needs action taken against them for the deleted content. I just think we need to be careful about saying the content belongs to the forum.

I feel like social proof is important if you have a monetized brand. If you're trying to make money online, then yes, social proof is essential for aiding that. But for a forum or a blog that's not really monetized? Nah. It's likely a waste of time. I'm not looking for reviews before I join a forum. I'm looking for genuine discussions about the topics that I want to talk about. I look for activity and if the forum has the same posts as everyone else. That's what I think.

Would you run a _____ niche forum? I replaced religion with _____ because you can essentially insert any topic in there. Whether it's religion or fishing, it's a niche. You shouldn't run a niche forum unless it's something you're passionate about. That's the main thing. In most cases, you should be passionate about your religion unless you're just in it to be the very basic bottom feeder. You go to church, pray, and tithe for example - you're just a generic church goer at that point. If you lead prayer groups, do sermons, teach youth group, and sing at the band stage, then you're more than just a generic member - you're passionate about it. I think it takes a passionate church goer to run an online community dedicated to religion. Because you know how to engage with your passions which is something you'll need to be good at on your community. Insert any niche here - same response. :)

I think success is when you login and see activity on the content you have created. If you login to your forum and there aren't any replies, but you have real members, then your tactics are not working. If you login and some of the topics have replies, then focus on the topics that are getting replies and create more like those, instead of ones that get no response. Success is when you have a community. A forum isn't a community, it's a platform. A community is what is created within a forum when likeminded members keep coming back to discussion topics with their friends.

83*F here and mostly cloudy. Rain and thunderstorms forecast for later tonight. It might get severe with some very heavy rainfall. I recorded about an inch this morning (in 24 hours) on my gauge.

I mainly just announce it on the forum updates board and then go along with my business, haha.