Can anyone give me advice on the best way to get a forum up and running? What is the critical mass number for a forum in order to get it up and running so that it becomes self building? http://www.article-gems.com/forum
The critical mass is different per niche. Also, even an active community can go foul and just disappear overnight. Forums take maintenance and care, preferably with active, passionate about their subject and polite owners.
I know what your saying about niche. I've visited a gardening forum and although it has a small number of members they are very passionate about what they do so of course it is still a very active forum
A forum should look unique and be active. So for the beginning I will recommend you to find a unique template, and hire some posters to make it look more active.
My suggestions are: 1. Get a new template. 2. Start off with 3 or 4 categories instead of the 21 you have. 3. Do post exchanges. 4. Hire forum posters. 5. Advertise your forum on similar sites.
Work on making a site with lots of good info. It will draw people into the forum. Get posters through any means possible.
You guys have to start checking threads before you start posting with questions. There are 3 real recent (today) threads now in this forum section that are basically asking the same question. You can refer to my 2ND POST in this thread for some ideas about getting a forum up and running. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=278594 Jim
The number may not be relative to the quality of posts. If you have a few people doing good posts, it will attract a lof of viewers and constant traffic.
I have to agree with CraiglistGuy. Quality matters more than quantity. You may have n number of posters, but unless they post usefull stuff, the forum will likely not acquire "critical mass".