Hey everyone. I just opened up a general forum, for discussions, and just chit-chat about a week ago. I'd like some reviews on the design, and atmosphere of it. It is http://unrealtalk.com Thanks for looking!
Well, having the activity stream as the index page is confusing. Also I a bit doubt that you'll manage to get people to such widely orientated forum.
Do you happen to know how I would change the index page to the regular forum page? I don't recall setting it up as the activity page. Actually, I figured it out. As for not being able to find people, I am not sure if that is true or not. People go on the internet, basically to communicate. I am sure there is a very large audience of people that would prefer the layout of forums, over facebook. I just need to find a way to get in touch with that audience.
Similar forums like this one exist many years and have a lot of members already. Ask yourself - why would anyone want to join your site? (Especially if there is no content, you should still work on that). The only way to have a slight chance to succes with a forum is to find a very specific niche - possibly with no competition (which is nearly impossible on the english speaking part of the internet).
See, but I am not looking to make money, or to monetize the site at all, or get very impressive stats. If after 1 year I have 100 active members, I would be happy. Small communities click, and have a lot of fun.
Well, that doesn't really change anything (in this case, you just will be less frustrated if you lose your enthusiasm for the forum). As I mentioned before, probably very few people will join your site (if any at all). Who has time to talk about everything? People usually tend to join more specific forums where they can get answers they need from people (experts) who understand them (these experts will get joy in answering because their knowledge actually helps someone). This effect cannot be achieved on general talk forums. Unless there is already an existing community behind it, for example a skeptics club with people who can talk about anything. Random people on the internet don't usually become active members unless they can know that they can gain something from the discussion (which is why you have to build some content first, nobody will join an empty forum). I have some experience with building forums and I have to say that it is extremely hard work even with niche-specific forums to get there active members (with limited or no advertising budget - of course, if you have enough money, nothing is impossible).
I don't like the template color. It looks dull. I think you should change the color and background to give fun impression to your first time visitors. You have a good range (not too few and not too much) of topics as a general social forum. You obviously need to work on the content before working on your marketing.
The theme is fairly good. I don't mind what your preference though but i like sky blue or probably green like Dp since it don't hurt the eyes of readers. Its not a busy forum for now, you might want to hire posters to make it look busy.