Hey, I'm working on forum that I want to be very professional. I am setting it for over 18s only (It's not adult related) and I want it to be very mature and professional. What do you think makes a forum professional? The design? The content? The moderation of the forum? Let me know your thoughts!
It took you less than 12 hours to get all of these replies. Thats what you want instead of a dead board where after 12 hours this thread would be dead with no reply. Heck, it only took nine minutes to get the first reply!!!
Must be as more is possible specific theme targeted. That make forum "pro". I don`t mind how much I will wait page to load, or does it nice or not, if I expect to read something very usefull and helpfull.
But that doesn't really distinguish a "professional" forum from an "amateur" one. Quality of answers would probably be preferred over speed, I would think. These are probably people who don't have time to check the site 18 times a day. They're probably looking for the best answer as opposed to the fastest answer. I think the design would help a lot - something more conservative probably, although that depends on the topic. High quality and professionally designed, of course (again, that depends on the topic - accountants probably wouldn't care much about what it looks like!). I think having the right people at the start and setting the tone in your own posts would be really important. Using professional language, with good grammar and spelling. The type of language and attitudes that would be expected in professional circles. And, of course, real professional members who know what they're talking about!