One of my members just posted this. He has been a member for 12 years. This particular site is nearly 20 years old, has 40,000 members and more than 3 million posts.
I don't post this to brag or to pat myself on the back. I post this just to give you all a little insight as to what members think and what they value. If you want your site to be a success, you would do well to listen to your members.
A few takeaways (in my opinion) --
I don't post this to brag or to pat myself on the back. I post this just to give you all a little insight as to what members think and what they value. If you want your site to be a success, you would do well to listen to your members.
I have noticed over the years that THIS forum seems to gain members almost every day while many other forums lose traffic as members quit coming around.
There is surely several reasons for this.
ONE that I know of is the following:
Now, don't take this as a brown nosing of anyone, just a statement of what I have noticed....
In some small way, a forum can succeed because of a mindset similar to a successful society. If the people don't feel oppressed and spied upon, they will produce and everyone benefits from it. When you feel like your every move is under a microscope, you don't feel free.
- Moderation. Yes, I wrote that. The Moderators here are not heavy handed, egotistical assclowns like I have seen on other forums.
THIS forum isn't like that.
- Two forums that I used to be a member of had KGB level moderators that played favorites, meddled far too much, banned good members without warning and showed no appreciation for the members that were helpful and added value to the forum.
I'm no angel. I've been spanked for stepping outside the lines but members are rarely permanently banned here.
Why is that? (Go ahead and take a guess)
- You can post questions here and get help rather quickly.
- Parts get listed for sale frequently and the cost to post an ad is NOTHING.
- For $50 a year, you get access to other site features including some funny/risque stuff and nekkid wimmin! Of course you also get other perks...Look into becoming a GOLD member for all the details.
- The picture posting program works well here and is easy to do.
- There are very few rude or mean members here.
- I have made friends with numerous people here whereas I rarely met or had any outside contact with guys from the other forums that I've been on.
One site I was on USED to be the 800 lb gorilla of the Mopar sites. They dominated the internet having been around in one form or another since the 90s. THings have turned bad for that site though. They continue to lose traffic and the site has been limping along for years. You can scroll through the days new posts within an hour or less. Some sub forums there go weeks between postings.
They have a couple entrenched Moderators (That don't even own classic cars anymore) that have banned people for the smallest of issues that are often not even listed in the rules. Doing so does not inspire camaraderie among the members or a happy environment when they think that THEY are next on the list. I get thoughts of Russian KGB where everyone is paranoid and only looking out for themselves.
That isn't the case here.
I welcome the new members that have jumped on board. You will like it here.
A few takeaways (in my opinion) --
- Don't over moderate. Treat members how you would like to be treated.
- The software you use is important. It's the reason I chose VBulletin initially and when it was time to change I went to XF. Features and ease of use is what I based my decisions on.
- Do your best to make your forum friendly to the members.
- Listen to member feedback -- that doesn't mean obey everything they say or suggest -but consider their feedback thoughtfully and logically.