How do I get my new forum going?

[Shram Vandreen]

For the first time in many years I created a forum. But I honestly have very little hope for it. I bought a domain name so that I can have a SSL certificate. But the time of forums seems to be over. The forum I created was a forum about general topics. We have a forum like that here in the Netherlands but I can see why people want to move on from that forum to a different forum. The forum I created can be an alternative for people seeking a forum where they can talk about anything they want, not necessarily a forum focused on only one topic.

This was my incentive to create "Algemene Fora". We have a forum here which is a large community that is dying and is constantly in the upper echelons of search engines here in my country. I want to give people an alternative for that forum because it is full of toxic people and that problem is getting even worse. The moderators don't even care. The forum contains toxic people, swearing and some obscene content. People mocking each other, constantly complaining. And moderators banning people for small things, yet in the past they accepted much bad behavior. I can definitely see people move on from that, but they will just go to the Reddit for the Netherlands instead.

How can I make my forum succesful in the current era? It just seems like it's going to be almost impossible to succeed at this. I bought the domain just for the SSL certificate and I am thinking I just wasted my money.

[Doug Heffernan]

How can I make my forum succesful in the current era?

Create interesting content for your forum that differentiates it from existing platforms and hopefully you will attract users with a shared interest and increase engagement.

Another thing is to try and promote your forum through social media and other channels and hope for the best.

[Shram Vandreen]

How can I make my forum succesful in the current era?

Create interesting content for your forum that differentiates it from existing platforms and hopefully you will attract users with a shared interest and increase engagement.

Another thing is to try and promote your forum through social media and other channels and hope for the best.

I remember having had 2 forums that had like 50 - 200 members. But nowadays it seems too hard to achieve that. I would have to promote my forums on RuneScape, social media, etc, etc. I think I promoted my forum on a few other forums and RuneScape, stuff like that. Not sure how I achieved 30 - 200 members back then. I am googling for solutions as well.

Problem with social media is that I don't have a lot of friends on Facebook and I don't use Twitter anymore.

Any other suggestions other than social media? How can I get my site higher in search engines?





The name already matters a lot. Is "Algemene Fora" even an usable name for a forum that is in both English and Dutch? In English it would have been "General forums" and that just doesn't sound good. Most things sound better in English than Dutch, but not this time. "General" can also refer to a high rank or something like that. I just could not come up with a good English name for my forum and was undecided between English and Dutch. There are many English forums already for example. I ended up just making Algemene Fora. I might end up regretting the name, but it is what it is. I would also like it if people could give me some feedback on what to improve. I know that the logo could be better, I know that my forum should have a Dutch language option as well. But I am just wondering what you think of my forum. And maybe I will build a succesful community some time in the future. Maybe I will not succeed now, but failure is also a part of success.

And if you were wondering, my forum can be just about any subject. I wanted to make a forum like that. My country does not have many forums like that, there are 2 and they have their limitations like I mentioned before. I simply made a forum where you can discuss a wide range of things, it is not fixed on 1 topic.

[shawnb61]

For better or worse, most folks want quick answers/input, and get them via reddit or facebook. 

My take is that forums are still better at providing depth, I think especially where folks are sharing approaches, diagrams, plans, photos, etc., and work on refining those over time with input.

One thing that is working for our forum is that a couple of our forum members are answering questions on FB, but steer those who want a deeper discussion to the site, e.g., "For a more detailed explanation, check out...". 

There are a LOT of younguns out there that don't even know what forums are...  Their online information-gathering experience is 90% reddit/discord/youtube/tiktok.  But I still think forums are better for deeper back & forth.

[Shram Vandreen]

For better or worse, most folks want quick answers/input, and get them via reddit or facebook. 

My take is that forums are still better at providing depth, I think especially where folks are sharing approaches, diagrams, plans, photos, etc., and work on refining those over time with input.

One thing that is working for our forum is that a couple of our forum members are answering questions on FB, but steer those who want a deeper discussion to the site, e.g., "For a more detailed explanation, check out...". 

There are a LOT of younguns out there that don't even know what forums are...  Their online information-gathering experience is 90% reddit/discord/youtube/tiktok.  But I still think forums are better for deeper back & forth.

I can expect most people that use forums to be at least around my age and probably a lot older yes. I understand that Reddit and Facebook, Discord, etc, etc are a lot more used nowadays instead of forums. But forums definitely have their use. I use forums extensively for things like discussing computers and career, studies, etc. Also for many other things. I honestly couldn't imagine a world without forums.

[Shram Vandreen]

I tried promoting my forum via Facebook, but no success was had. It seems almost impossible to grow a forum nowadays. Many years ago, I had at least some methods to grow a forum just a little. I had some connections with people who had an interest in that. If you start with 1 member and no other admins/mods, it becomes a struggle to grow it. I have to rely solely on Facebook advertising to get my forum going and that is just a struggle.

But I was wondering about my forum name "Algemene Fora". Is that a decent name for a forum that is undecided between English or Dutch? There are many English forums, but also way more English speakers. Maybe I should have gone with the name "General Forums" instead.

[@rjen]

Quite Frankly I doubt if such a general drum will succeed. You need something special to draw visitors

[Shram Vandreen]

Quite Frankly I doubt if such a general drum will succeed. You need something special to draw visitors

Any suggestions? Maybe we can start a forum together. I actually wanted to make an alternative for the big forums that abuse their power, but it's hard to grow a community.

[@rjen]

I really do not plan to open new forums. I wish you many participants...