AdminSphere

Are you interested in creating a forum? Do you want thousands of people to join and post and talk about the subjects that matter to you? So you’re excited and begin to think of all the things you need to do to make your forum. It’s going to be on the Internet so it needs a website host. It needs some forum software. It needs a name. But wait. Hold on. Be careful. Maybe you want to make a good forum, but in your zeal, you might actually be making a bad forum. We’ll go over how you can create a bad forum so that perhaps when making your forum, you will do the opposite of these steps. Let’s take a humorous look at how to create a bad forum.

1. Use a Hosted Forum

Using a free forum from a hosted site is the first step in creating a bad forum. Today, buying a domain name and finding and using a shared host should not cost more than $10 a month for a small forum. But if one is determined to create a bad forum, just pick out a random hosted forum such as ezBoard and sign up. Not only will the domain name look terrible, such as myforum.someforumhost.com, but the forum owner will likely not be able to gain access to the users’ and posts without paying the host should the forum owner decide to move to another host. Plus, most hosted forums will not allow modifications to the forum to be installed. Using a hosted forum cripples the board in many ways and is a great start to a bad forum.

2. Start the Forum Without a Purpose

Many people are excited by the opportunity to start a forum when first hearing about it. “You mean there’s free or cheap software out there to start a forum and the hosting costs are low? And you could make lots of money when people posts? Sign me up.” But the reality is, a forum that exists just to exist or to make money for the one who started it will likely die before it can take off. Working on a forum takes hours of dedication and if the forum owner doesn’t have a purpose, users will be confused by what the forum is about and won’t sign up. So starting a forum without a purpose is a great way to make a bad forum.

3. Use Bad Forum Software and Keep the Default Style

There are many forum packages out in the Internet, including a number of free ones. Some are very primitive, not having added features for years. If the forum owner wants to create a bad forum, he or she can just randomly pick a software package. Not only could the package be outdated, but the developers may have jumped ship, which is a double bonus for starting a bad forum. In addition, the forum owner can keep the default style and even the default logo of the forum package so that users will be confused as to what forum he or she is viewing. But not to worry. The outdated software package will likely attract hackers and the forum will be taken down.

4. Make a ton of Categories Without any Posts

Many new forum owners are really excited by all the different things that can be discussed on the Internet and will start to make tons of categories so that users need to scroll down, down, down to see the bottom of the page. Maybe it’s a way of hiding the copyright info of the forum. In any case, category classification is an actually an area that the new forum owner probably thought much about and telling the forum owner to delete the categories may seem like an insult because it means that all of the hard work of the forum owner come up with the different categories must be undone. But if the board keeps a ton of empty categories, it’s a sure way to start off making a bad forum. If the forum owner wants to avoid making a bad forum and still keep the categories, he or she will need to fill it with topics since users are not likely to be the first to post to a new category. But we’re talking about making a bad forum, so don’t do that.

5. Don’t Post or Do Anything to Make Content

So with everything in place for a bad forum, using a hosted forum, using bad software and keeping the default style, and creating a lot of empty categories, the best thing a forum owner can to do ensure that the message board is terrible is to rely on others to post and start topics. Surely people will see the forum with the logo of the software and a bunch of confusing categories and be compelled to post something deep and meaningful, right? And the forum owner can just sit back and wait for all the posts to come in while doing nothing. Unless the forum owner is a celebrity, that probably won’t happen.

6. Don’t Advertise

Perhaps the forum owner thinks that by just getting the forum on the Internet, people will somehow find it. Google will somehow put it at the top of the list of keywords relevant to the forum. That’s likely not to happen and if the forum owner doesn’t advertise the forum in different places such as social bookmarks, directories, and other places that allow linking, the only people visiting the forum will the forum owner and the spam bots. Maybe the spam bots will even stay away since no one else is visiting.

There are many more ways to make a bad forum and many ways to turn even a good forum into a bad forum, such as alienating users or not having any rules so that there is mass confusion, or just giving up and abandoning the board, but if forum owners follow the above advise, the forum is almost guaranteed to not get many visitors or members. On the other hand, even if the forum owner does the opposite of the advice above, it’s also not a guarantee that the forum will receive many visitors and members. Because of the ease of starting a forum today, there are many message boards on just about any topic of interest to people. Forums are competitive so a new forum needs to offer things that aren’t currently available to be successful. That’s easier said than done, but creating a bad forum is almost easier done than said, so maybe that’s the route to take.