How did Internet marketing forums like Digital Point first started out?

These are some of the biggest whitehat Internet marketing forums in the world. You may even have an account in a few of these forums: Warrior Forum, Digital Point, Affilorama, Wicked Fire.

My main question is, how did such forums first started out? How did these market themselves and gain so many users? How do they even spur users to utilize their forums?

I've tried googling this topic for a long time, but there were no relevant results regarding the stories behind these forums. In fact, I strongly believe that they don't rely much on backlinking or traditional SEO strategies. I've done some research and I noticed their backlink anchor texts are mostly based on their brand name, not keywords like "Internet marketing".

No offense, but please don't tell me things like "have a positive mindset", "never give up", and "failure is part of the process". I'd like to know the more specific strategies behind them. So anybody willing to share the secrets to their success?

 

there are certain products on the market that teach people how to start your own forum

 

It's simply a new business idea started innovatively to help others businesses effectively

 

Ok, no b.s. they problably worked their butts off marketing on the internet, just like the rest of us. But forums tend to just naturally spread thorugh word of mouth, because the content is so good