Increasing forum activity - the risky way?

[ldcdc]

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about ways to increase activity around here. Since I'm not a marketing expert, I've thought more about ways of achieving more with what we're already got.

So I thought, what about all those people who visit the forum, feel like adding something to a discussion, but simply won't bother to take the time to register (or they don't want to share their email address with yet another site/forum) so they end up never posting, never registering. I'm talking about the called "guests", who currently can only read what we post (unless they decide to register of course).

Letting them go with their initial impulse and post, could eventually result in them becoming registered forum members, and, probably more importantly than that, with each new (decent) post, the board would grow a bit more. Activity is the lifeblood of any forum.

What's the risk? Well, we could end up with lots of spam, from spam bots or "spam people" . Luckily so far we haven't had much of that around here. I can deal with certain amounts of it, but you never know, we might be opening Pandora's box, and find ourselves overwhelmed by it. Until we try, we can't really know.

Another thing is that if we allow guests to do everything that regulars can, there would be no incentive for them to register. Guests might also not be posting spam, but they might be posting lots of useless, inaccurate or misleading posts, which can be just as harmful or even more so than qualified spam.

Many spammers wil try to start new threads/topics. If we don't let guests do that, we might be able to cut the spam curb a bit.

I'm starting to think guests should be allowed to post in the Feedback section. You never know, but they might be unable to register for some reason, and not be knowledgeable enough to find a moderator and contact him via his personal/business website to ask for help.

These are some of my thoughts on this. Please post your thoughts and vote in the poll. Your feedback is highly valued! 

Cheers!

[ldcdc]

In the mean while, guests can post in the "General chat" forum.

[crislem]

My opinion (and I expressed that through vote too) is that guests should be allowed to make posts, but not create threads/etc. That way, a person (or bot) that is not registered can't create a spam thread, and in the same time an advatage to actually be registered still remains.

I think this idea of your is actually quite good. In the worst case scenario, a bit of extra work will have to be done to keep the forum clean or the forum will have to go back to what we are currently having.

I hope the best decision is going to be reached.

[ldcdc]

Thank you for the feedback.

I hope the best decision is going to be reached.

I hope so too.

[Webkore]

Your site is viewed quite frequently by those who visit WHT.

Maybe a more prominent link to the forum might help. The way I see it, bots will take advantage of the fact that the forum uses SMF, which is free and widely in use, so you can be sure there's bots around to post a lot of spam.

I say, try the bigger link or image before allowing guests to post.

[ldcdc]

Your advice is sound Anthony. The only thing is I'm a moderator there, and I don't feel comfortable about putting too much emphasis on advertising a forum that is, ultimately, a competitor of WHT.

[Webkore]

I wasn't clear..sorry about that.

What you could do is, coupled with your signature at WHT, which promotes your site, to have a much bigger emphasis on the forums link. Right now, the forum is just a standard link in your navigation menu. Make it more prominent, such as "Discuss Webhosting in the forums" or an image. Perhaps make your site forum based.

In any case, these are just ideas off the top of my head

[Coupons]

Hello Dan,

Besides all the good info we have at http://www.forumuniversity.com/
what can I add?

Well, to tell you the truth I always disable guest posting, but I make the forum readable for everyone, especially for search engines

To promote it, you've done the best thing you could do: putting it in your signature at WHT. It was there I found the forum. Advertise it in your other sites and you are set.

If you have a newsletter, or know where to advertise in one, it works very good.

Now the problem... making real people to keep posting after a while. You know that spammers will keep coming and doing it, but real honest people is more difficult.

Without any promotion I managed to get almost 3000 members to a forum that doesn't require registration to read all posts, but to make them write was much more difficult...

As to incentives, in some forums those points per post work. Or maybe offer a domain registration after x good posts?

[ldcdc]

Well, to tell you the truth I always disable guest posting, but I make the forum readable for everyone, especially for search engines

Yes, that's the standard approach, and I do think it works great, as it balances things quite right. I just want to experiment with other ideas/options. So far, since the enabling of guests posting, 2 of them have posted some spam. No positive contributions as of yet.

As to incentives, in some forums those points per post work. Or maybe offer a domain registration after x good posts?

I should probably think seriously about some incentives. Too bad paypal doesn't work where I live. It would have broadened my options regarding that, quite a bit.

[Montypaks]

What you could do to increase member numbers is have some open forums such as general chat. But the main subject of the forum which is webhosting should be looked away from guests although still viewable by them. So any lurker wanting to know more about hosting and/or some reviews would have to sign up to read those reviews.
If that makes any sense

[ldcdc]

What you could do to increase member numbers is have some open forums such as general chat.

As I said, the general chat has been open to guests for a few weeks now. It didn't have the expected impact. Barely any spam either. It looks like what the forum needs primarily is raw traffic, and only secondly ease of use.

[Webkore]

I still say my idea is best   The link to the forums is a "normal" link on Dan's main webpage. Most people skim it to view the hosts listed, and completely skip over the forums.

Also, I made a small post in the suggestions forum

[Montypaks]

Don't worry, Traffic would increase It's already growing through WHT's influence. You could also go to other Hosting Review sites and the forums of some major hosts and post there. Seeing that you're already into hosting, it shouldn't be too difficult integrating yourself into their community

[ldcdc]

The link to the forums is a "normal" link on Dan's main webpage.

It's bold now, so it's no longer normal.

[Webkore]

Just my opinion here, but it still blends in too much with the overall theme. You do have a grey background.

I think you just need an overall redesign