InMyOpinion

Hi there! I won a golden posting package (25 forum posts and 5 threads) through Deal or No Deal and I would like to go ahead and use prize please. Thank you =) P.S. Under forum posts there is no 25 so I just clicked 20

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[mention=2]Al[/mention] which forum/website would you like to get reviewed? The Real-time Strategy Community or Horror Game Community?

Thank you so much for this fun game =) I'm excited that I won one of the top prizes!!!

I'm going to decline the offer and open the briefcase please :D

I completely agree with you [mention=5]Cpvr[/mention], it's a great tool for when you are just starting out and you want your forum to get more threads and posts that aren't made from the staff themselves. I don't think you should always be relying on the posting packages but when you're starting or even sometimes when the forum is slow it is a good idea.

I'm co-founder of the forum I'm on and the niche was already established and chosen but I don't think it was a bad choice because so many people use ChatGPT or other AI technologies.

It can be difficult to find the perfect name but I think a good name doesn't always come to you right away. It is good to keep in mind what the forum is about and what niche it is going to be so you can an appropriate name for it. I've struggled in the past with names but that's also because I'm not as creative as I'd like to be.

Currently not too difficult because almost everyone uses ChatGPT or AI technology however if I had more of a niche forum than yes I would find it difficult to build a target audience. But seeing as though there are so many ChatGPT users I'm not scared that we won't have a big target audience.

I think discord can be a good idea however, I do believe it can also hinder your forum because people will be more motivated to be messaging on Discord than to be posting on the forum. I personally wouldn't want to have a Discord for my community though I do have a chatbox on the forum.

I think you touched on everything I would have advised to do to help keep your community engaged during slow periods. Sometimes slow periods are inevitable and happens but there are some ways you can try to help your forum be more active during those slow times. I think one great way to help is to quote and tag members in replies and threads that you make. That way they will get notified and be more likely to log on. Another way is to create an event and challenges like you've mentioned. It will help keep members engaged and wanting to be a part of it. I really enjoyed this thread though so thanks [mention=1]Cedric[/mention] for this great thread

I think the forum owner should know about the subject matter but they don't necessarily need to be an expert or a professional. However, if you're going to offer services than I believe you should be an expert, it would be such a horrible thing to offer a service that you know nothing about. So being an administrator, you should have some knowledge but you can learn more as you go. BUT if you're going to be offering services you definitely should be an expert/professional or hire one to complete the services.

We definitely do =) There are a lot of people who love ChatGPT and other AI technology so we have a huge audience to begin with which is a huge reason why we decided to start the forum.

I think you should keep your discussions to the forum because if not people are going to be messaging on Discord instead of posting on the forum. You can maybe add a chatbox to your forum but I think having a Discord will distract the users from the forum.

Not on the forum that I am currently co-founder on but the forum I was administrator on years and years ago I would have taken more time to create a better platform with more engaging threads for members to reply to. I would have also created more themes for the members to choose from. I honestly rushed getting my forum up and running and I wish I would have taken more time prepping and getting it ready.

It is definitely not ethical to take over an old members account and post. I've been on MANY forums that I went dormant on for years and years and I randomly just signed back on. If I ever tried to sign in on one of my accounts and found out that not only can I access my account but my username has been posting on the forum I would be LIVID. I would also make another account and out them, let ALL the members know that I was the original user of said username and that the member that has been posting under my username is not me and that the admins are not honest. I would never have the audacity to take over any member account on the forum. It isn't honest and it isn't the way to go. If you want that user to come back you can PM them and possibly even e-mail them to let them know that you miss them and you'd like them to come back to the forum, maybe even link a few threads you think that user would be interested in. Other than that, let the user decide whether or not they are going to come back. Don't make that decision for them.

Hi Philip! Welcome to Agora! Congratulations on beating cancer, that is an amazing accomplishment especially since you did it twice! We are excited to have you a part of our community. Welcome again and please let us know if there is anything we can help with. Cheers!

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I mean that could work but again you'd have to have 2-4 different reviewers and if you're having trouble finding members that are motivated enough to perform a review that may be an issue as well.

How many threads do you make daily to keep your community active? I personally think about 5-10 threads a day is a great way to keep your community active. You don't want to be the only one posting but at the same time you want to set the tone as well. Obviously, in a perfect world you'd make and your others members will also make 5 but that is rarely the case. I also find some members tend to enjoy replying to posts more than they do creating threads so making more threads for members to reply to is a great idea. I think the amount of threads you should post on your forum daily also depends on how many sections/forums you have. In my opinion, you should be creating AT LEAST 1 thread per section/forum a day. What strategies do you use to come up with new topics? Sometimes I go on other forums or visit other sites, wiki etc. to get new ideas on what to post about. If I'm lost sometimes I will just learn more about the niche so I can then in turn have more questions/threads. Do you think focusing on quantity or quality has a bigger impact on engagement? I believe that it is more important to focus on quality posts rather than quantity of posts. You can have a forum with 1,000 threads but if they aren't engaging or well written it doesn't matter. Plus, if you only care about quantity that's all your members are going to care about too. By caring about the actual quality of the threads and posts you're going to be in turn getting your members more engaged with better quality threads/posts. How do you balance creating threads without overwhelming your members? That's a great question, you want to create enough posts so that the members have something to reply to on a daily basis but you also don't want to make 2 pages of new threads a day (by yourself or just from staff) because then it's overwhelming and the members will feel like it's too much. You have to come to a good medium where you're creating good quality content on a regular basis but not overdoing it so that the members can't keep up. Would you consider using fake accounts to create threads ? No, to me a fake member is a horrible idea. I want my members to trust me and trust that the stats are real. If I'm creating fake accounts to create threads not only is it not ideal in the long run but it isn't ideal because then the members won't trust you or the forum. Create threads under your own 1 account and it'll be so much more beneficial. I loved this thread so thank you [mention=1]Cedric[/mention] for this ❤️

I think a great way to get your first 10 active members is to quotes their posts and reply to them. No one really wants to continue posting on a forum that is dead or that doesn't really get any replies. Keep your members active by quoting their threads/posts and building a friendship with them. You don't have to PM them all the time but a "Hey thank you for joining" does go a long way.

On our forum we really want to give our members incentives to be active and post high quality content. Some ways that we are going to be doing this is by: Recognition-based incentives such as custom titles, badges & medals. Another way will be through access-based incentives such as early access to new events, features or tools. Exclusive content/private forums/threads. Thirdly we would be giving our members tangible rewards such as points, credits, and giveaways. Fourthly, with gamification through achievement rewards & leveling system. We will also give incentives for posting with allowing members to influence our decisions that we make on the forum. Lastly, we will be hosting fun and engaging activities for members so they will want to post more and be more active. There are so many ways to help incentivize members to want to post, if done correctly it is a great way to keep members active and getting new members to sign up on the forum.

I agree with all the tips above. Members want to feel welcomed and like they are a part of the community from the start so having a nice welcome message whether it be a private message or a thread (or both) I think it's important to welcome the new members. You also want to celebrate achievements and contributions because if new members see that there is recognition in good threads, posts and members they will want to follow that path so that they can also be celebrated and thanked. Making the navigation easy is also a great way to make the environment of a forum welcoming. Building trust with members is a great way to get new members to see that if they stay active and keep posting quality threads and posts they will also build a bond with the owner/founder/administration. There are plenty of ways to create a very warm and welcoming environment on forums and when done correctly it has an amazing impact on the community but also the activity of the forum.

That's exciting! I'm sure you'll get there soon if it hasn't already happened.

For our forum we are just starting out and our grand opening is on December 1st, we plan to host an event/contests as well as I find a key to growing your community when first starting is to create quality content that members will want to reply to and mention. We will also be offering incentives such as gamifications. The last way we are going to try to grow our forum is through word of mouth and promoting our forum. Whether that be through social media, promoting on other forums, through SEO etc. I think it's really important to create a solid forum from the beginning so the members will want to be a part of it and grow with the forum.