Background: Where to begin. In mid 2005 I started off a small forum that was based on HYIPs. Believe me, it wasn't a good idea (as I'm sure you'll all tell me), but I was young and didn't know any better. As time went by, I learnt to code, got more into real web projects, and started reading webmaster forums like this one. The forum was put aside as I concentrated on other things. A few months ago, I decided to re-make it, and take it beyond just a forum, to more of a networking site - although the focus is still clearly the forum. However, as everyone knows, priorities come into play, and I decided not to take things forward at the point, instead focusing on other projects, and my blog. But the forum was always in the back of my mind, and I think the time is right to start looking in earnest for a partner(s) to bring in some fresh ideas, re-focus the direction, and get things going again. The Forum: The forum in question is my namesake, the OIOplus Network. It is a vBulletin forum (lifetime licence) with what I would call a professional (if a little dull) looking design. I'm not going to sugar-coat this, right now it is dead, plain and simple, as I have (a) not done any promotion for over a year and (b) the old crowd were largely uninterested in the new direction I wanted to take. When you see it, you'll notice it goes beyond a normal forum in several respects - there is a lot more to it, and will be very slick once everything is fully integrated. The Direction: This isn't set in stone, because the one thing I'm looking for in a partner is some fresh ideas. However, my own concept is a forum / network aimed at helping users become a little more web savvy (so yes, that means webmaster), but also to let users come together to discuss / rate project ideas, and then take the best ones forward as a community. The deadwood (old threads) will all be archived, the forums will be re-arranged to best reflect the new direction, and the various scripts used will be integrated a little more tightly. In case you're wondering, it is a vBulletin core, with pligg, wordpress and v3chat integration, as well as a few modifications to include groups / contact profiling. What I'm looking for: First off, I'm not looking for investment. I'm looking to get a small group of enthusaistic people together to work on producing a worthwhile forum for both webmasters and new users to visit. In terms of revenue, I don't like too many ads, although adsense is already there (and will be shared equally amongst all partners) and later it will also feature my own signature monetisation concept. Again, revenue will be shared amongst partners equally. There is also the possibiliy of providing premium services on subscription, but that's beside the point at this stage. If you're enthusiastic, looking for an interesting side project to work on, and have some marketing or web development skills, this could be of interest to you.
I am interested. I am not much of a programmer but I can do some marketing, web development and content creation items. Pls provide me with some more info and it would be wonderful if you can PM me with a proposal. Thanks!
Thanks, I'll shoot you a PM tomorrow with some more information, and of course to get some more info about you. I'm still looking for others who may be interested - the main things I'm looking for are fresh ideas and enthusiasm for the project. You don't have to be an expert coder or an uber-successful marketer. I'm not.
Going one more round here, still looking for those interested in creating a vibrant community for webmasters, and motivated young (or older!) people online. Also just wanted to throw in an idea i'm mulling over in my head at the moment. I've got a couple of sites (relating to blog / forum advertising) that are in their early stages, but I've created them to use an internal credit system. I'll be looking, later down the line, to create an internal transfer system, between any sites in the network, and the main hub (well, it will be) OIOplus. Instead of having first site -> earnings -> paypal -> second site, it would simply be first site -> second site. Cuts down the transfer times, the costs, and increases the flexibility for everyone. Another potential source of revenue for partners also, since transfers in and out of OIOplus would come with a small fee (I do mean small), but it all adds up over time, and with a large community.
Ok, I'm going to give you a freebee tip right here as I ran EEQ which became a powerful forum, then sold, then went to junk. I do run bigshot forums. Nothing is going to be worth your time if you don't take care of it. I'm not sure how long your forum has been around but when I saw it instantly I knew that you don't got it together. A forum is like a fish tank. If you don't feed it everything inside will die. Take for example THe chatterbox forum. It has 3 topics in it. Heck I could do that in 5 minutes. If you want success with a forum you'll have to make it look active. This includes posting. You arn't going anywhere without effort. JUst FYI
I'm not sure whether you really read the first post. If you did, you will see that I set it aside a while back to focus on other things. This whole thread was an enquiry of sorts, to see if anyone wanted to help re-develop it (not in terms of programming). Nothing is in many of the forums because it all went into archives, since it was no longer relevant. At this very point in time, it's not supposed to be active, it's a re-development project for an old piece (relatively speaking) of real estate. As I said in the first post, sometimes you have to prioritise, and at the time this particular forum was not something I wanted to push forward. It's initial purpose (far different from the one I am looking at in the future) was done with, both for me, and the initial user-base. However, I think you have a good point about seeing a few threads here or there in the forums. I'm actually going to clear them all out, just to emphasise the fact that it's a clean start. EDIT: everything now cleared out, now, it's definitely a fresh start.