Faithful members... they just don't post!

[CultureGlue]

As Runic says, with offtopic forums there really isn't much room for sites that aren't already well established.

Make them moderator

I can't stress how bad an idea this is. Only frequent, level headed and trusted people should be given moderation rights. It should not be an incentive to encourage posting

You make them moderator in their own category.. you call them moderator but you don't give them all 'the power' in once. Or maybe it is not so a good idea.

[wildebeast]

i tried that idea when i had a forum - it did not really work, the slump contnued.

Finding the niche would be the best bet - and that could be gathered by looking at what the members enjoy.

[Uhura!]

We had made one of our more active members a moderator once... soon after her posting went down to almost nothing. She said she felt like it was too much of a responsibility and took the fun out of it. I don't suggest it either.

I would consider us established, in the sense we've been around for over 10 years. The problem I'm having is that we seem to have "died". A couple year ago a person couldn't keep up with all the new posts (or the drama). I just haven't had to deal with it dying off like this. Just need some fresh ideas to get us going again.

Sometimes I wonder if Facebook & MySpace hasn't killed forums.

Yes...I log into FB and see people playing cafe world & other games posting what they are making for dinner & what color their bras are.

FB is taking action away from forums. People need somewhere to express themselves & work out boredom...FB is REALLY good @ doing that. You can even log in on your phone. Many people are becoming FB addicts. FB is a great advertising opportunity but it is definitiely taking action away from online discussion forums.

BTW - I wouldn't recommend giving someone a title / responsibility to entice them to post. If they aren't suited for the job you'll create another problem for yourself.

I am doing "everything" I can too...I have all kinds of content + I even have a FB page for the forum. People join the FB page ...it's hell trying to get them to join & talk on the forum. It seems like they'd rather do their talking on FB.

[Cassiel]

Heh, this is my third reply to you Uhura.

My suggestion is that if you're not already post the link to your forum in every message you send out. The easier it is for the users to access your site the better. But the main idea is to trap the Facebook group members into signing up for your forum. Any event you hold that you send Facebook messages to your other members about, make it so in order to participate they have to sign up. The group is fine for answering questions, but you should really stress that they'd get a better experience if they sign up. Like with subscriptions to some MMOs. Some offer content so that you can play the game and try it out, but you can't access everything you wanted. To do that you need to pay a subscription fee for the game. The idea is kind of like that but without having to pay.

Otherwise, best of luck with your forum!

[Uhura!]

Heh, this is my third reply to you Uhura.

My suggestion is that if you're not already post the link to your forum in every message you send out. The easier it is for the users to access your site the better. But the main idea is to trap the Facebook group members into signing up for your forum. Any event you hold that you send Facebook messages to your other members about, make it so in order to participate they have to sign up. The group is fine for answering questions, but you should really stress that they'd get a better experience if they sign up. Like with subscriptions to some MMOs. Some offer content so that you can play the game and try it out, but you can't access everything you wanted. To do that you need to pay a subscription fee for the game. The idea is kind of like that but without having to pay.

Otherwise, best of luck with your forum!

This has already occured to me and we're already doing this.

The issue is not getting people to sign up to forums, it is getting them to post on the forum when Facebook has a way for them to post online while they are already logged into Facebook, playing games etc. The fact is that most Facebook users tend not to leave Facebook to post in online discussion forums. They'll leave Facebook to shop & do other things - but FB is in direct competition with online forums. Some of the "Pages" and "Groups" are serving as online discussion forums with Discussion Tabs & Wall post discussions.

With Twitter, many users there Tweet, read other people's tweets, advertise blogs or businesses, and that is all. Twitter users tend not to leave twitter to post in online discussion forums either. The person who started this thread noted a slow down and many of his  / her members are using twitter. Coincidence? Nope.

MySpace users are almost just as bad, but not quite. There's no real discussion capability on MySpace so if a person wants that kinds of outlet they may join an online discussion forum. I have had a little luck with messaging MySpace users with invites. Another successful thing: Individual invites from Craigslist. I look for moms who say they want friends & invite them. Got a few members that way too.

Anyway, I am not the only forum owner who has noted this. In fact - LOL many forums are slowing down...That's what this thread ois about. And if you haven't noticed your forum slowing already - you will soon unless your forum is SEX related.