I would love to hear any and all of your constructive criticism on my forum: http://www.bull-session.net It was made to incorporate most of the topics that people talk about when they spend a good portion of their lives "on the web". Thanks for your time!
Try to increase the contrast of the gray/white to make everything pop out a little more if you want your main url to be your forum, focus on that so people don't get distracted and click elsewhere It wouldn't hurt to focus in on your market just a tad more than you are. What do you want your site to be about? A Bull market is a strong market with strong investor confidence, perhaps work this into your site as the main niche?
With a forum like this, I don't think the question is why people aren't joining. It is set up nicely, looks good and clearly functions. Instead, the big issue is coming up with a plan for building the community that works. What have you been doing to promote it? Can you leverage any existing blogs or other web properties? Are you trying to get hits via SEO? Social media?
Thanks for the feedback guys. Bull Session can also mean an informal group discussion. That is why I used it as the name for my forum. It is about things on the Internet.
Yea, the gray/white contrast was taken down a bit because people were complaining that it hurt their eyes. It used to have much more contrast.
The forum looks nice to me but the color has to change. Advertise on places where what your domain/forum is about.