Do forums fail?

A few days ago a friend of mine ask me this question "do forums fail?" I instinctively answered him "No". My friend was surprise but before i gave him a chance to react I added "Forums don't fail it is just their owners has given up".

Now, i'm going to pass the same question to you..... do forums fail?

 

Constantly. Even successful ones can fail. I've experienced it. Only takes a series of mistakes and the forum can be ruined.

Then of course there are the many ill-conceived forums that simply go nowhere. I've experienced this too.

 

I personally believe that out of every 10 forums that are started, only one will be still operational in a year and showing signs of growth and activity.

Forum owners seems to look at it as being a way to make money, rather than being something that you do for a passion and then it evolves into a way of making money.

 

alot of times forums fail because the webmasters have no idea on how to drive traffic to the site & get members. Other forums that succeed usually start off with a handful of members and after several weeks/months other people join in kindof like a snowball effect. Other times, a forum can have a handful of members posting like in the above example and still fail. Me, I use my forum for now for my own hobby and I know that not alot of people are going to register & post and there's going to be alot of bounces & whatnot but that's the kind of site it is.

 

A forum is all about a community and a sense of belonging to a group that's about a passion for a given topic. Whatever that topic may be. If an administrator only starts a forum for the money, it will likely not do very well because it will show to visitors that the place has no soul. It's just got that cold, empty feeling that tells them this isn't a place run by someone who LOVES this topic.

If you run an already successful website and then open a new forum as part of that website you'll have a much easier time since it will serve as assistance to that site, especially if you sell stuff on that site or it is a popular hobby resource. Then you have a ready made communty there. But again, the heart is there because you put that time into the website.

 

Of Course they fail. The failure is because people jump into it thinking that every tom, dick and harry is going to post on their forum. They don't they usually are either elsewhere busy or they are part of an existing community.

It takes time to build a solid base, literally it can take several years to really develop a solid, loyal group of users

If it was easy the net would be filled with packed forums, but there are more ghost forums than full ones.

 

people have some idea if they put up a forum, then it will mean instant traffic/money.

it is not, getting a forum off the ground can be like getting a business off the ground. it
can take a very long time, and it can also take loads of money also. If you put $0 into
your forum, then you should not expect it to get off the ground anytime soon..or it
can take much longer then it should have. It can take a forum years to get going.
it is rare that you put up a forum, and it becomes an overnight success.

I do not think forum owners realize how much it really takes what they will really
have to put into their forum for success, at first, they are excited, as the weeks/months
go by with little to no activity, then they start getting bored and losing forum interest.

I also think that a lot of forum owners have this notion they they will set up a forum,
sit back, and think their forum will fill up, beyond popular belief, this is false. If you do not
help your forum along, promote, advertise, get out the word, whatever, then your forum
will automaticly fail...your forum is not going get members by-itself....and doing all
this still can take years for success, but if you do nothing, then you have already failed.

I have no proof, but I bet you that 99% of new forums today will fail....

 

I don't know how accurate the guess is but it's a high number. A forum is probably the worst website niche since you need a lot of traffic before anyone will consider signing up.

 

majority of times forum fails. or should says their owner fails. it need lot of passion to make a sucessful forum

 

Well....at least we have got the negativity out of the way

So many forums do actually suceed? Then lets invstigate what, how and why, as this is certainly more helpful. Being the owner of a new and pretty inactive forum, i reckon hearing some positive news will help me way more than repeat negative news.

Can someone provide some news to give me a gimmer of hope? (LOL)

 

forums fail like anything else can fail a good forum needs a reason to succeed

 

Fail in what manor?

Fail to make money? Fail to stay active?

 

yes, can be if you are not doing the required work. According to my experience running a forum is way too difficult than a website or a blog.

 

Most fail because people QUIT!

Forums take a lot of time and effort. You need to pick a unique niche. After you pick the niche, You need to focus on gaining quality members and keeping them active! Most niche's are already taken, Like i said - it takes HARD WORK!

The hardest thing is probably keeping members active and coming back!

 

most forums fail because members tend to get bored, busy, ect. and leave.

 

Forums can fail, you just need to put the effort in to prevent yours from failing.

 

To tell you the truth, forums do not fail. You must be consistent on your forum and must devote your time into your forum to make it a success.

 

it certainly will fail if you kept thinking it will. i rarely post in my forum myself but i get to post something that useful is a way.
making it look like its a busy forum will always make it work.

 

Most forums fail, but not all. If you are the first forum on the subject and there is a desire for one on that subject, it will succeed if you do everything else right.

 

I agree i think most forums fail because most owners think its going to be a easy money and they will get 10k users over night. Its a long term never ending process on seo. But i admit i love the challenge. Hey all we have is time lol