Imagine this: A member suggests adding a new forum or sub-forum to your already extensive list of sections. You’ve got enough discussions and threads that could fit into this new category, but you’re not sure if it’s worth it. The thought of adding it, only for it to sit empty and unused, makes you cringe. Sure, you can always remove it later, but you’d rather get it right the first time.

 

So, how do you make that decision? What kind of considerations do you weigh before adding a new section? Do you have set criteria or requirements, like a minimum number of existing threads or a clear demand from your community? Or do you take a leap of faith and see how it plays out?

 

Have you ever added one that turned out to be a huge success - or a total flop?

I definitely overthink this kind of decision because an empty sub-forum just looks bad. If I’m considering adding one, I usually ask myself:

 

• Are there already enough threads on this topic to justify it?
  
• Have members actually requested it, or is it just one person’s idea?
  
• Would it help organize the forum better, or just add clutter?
  

If I’m on the fence, I might test it out by pinning a megathread first. If that thread gets steady engagement, then I know there’s real interest and it makes sense to expand. But if it flops, I just let it fade instead of having an empty sub-forum sitting there awkwardly.

 

I’ve definitely had both wins and flops! Sometimes, I thought a section would take off and it just... didn’t. Other times, something I hesitated on ended up being one of the most active parts of the forum.

There's got to be some regular activity that's filling up another section, or is generic enough topic to need it's own section as demand/activity increases for me to consider adding a new section/forum. Primarily because, as [mention=98]InMyOpinion[/mention] mentioned, I hate to see an empty sub-forum and just think it detracts from the look of a site, especially to members who might judge activity based on "latest post" times etc.

 

I personally like to have as few individual forums/sections as possible... sub-forums are slightly different, and I'm a bit more liberal with those when creating the branch/structure of a forum, but for the above reason mainly I stick to as few sections/forums as possible.

I expand whenever we reach milestones in our community, sometimes that means adding my forums or changing a few. I often tweak my site to try and improve it for the better.

I'll let the community vote and see if there is enough interest in that section before I'll add it. If there's not enough interest in it then that's your clue that you probably won't need it.