How do you keep off topic's post low

[Jordan]

A big thing about forums that have off topic sections is that they usually get filled faster with post then their main sections.

Taking a look at webgurubb, at the time of posting this, you have about 7 thousand post in your General Zone. That's over 25% of your forum that is off topic.

Question is, how would you go about trying to get your forum to post more your main sections rather then off topic?


For me this is some steps I took:
- Off Topic post do not count towards post count
- You do not get cash for posting in Off Topic sections
- Trying to post more threads in main sections rather then off topic.

I do want to allow members to have an off topic section though. So taking it away is not an option. What are some more steps that can be done to encourage users to post in the main sections rather then off topic?

 

[JLogan]

Well, considering the niche of your forum you could always disable signatures in the offtopic section. The main reason most people post on Webmaster forums is to advertise their site. So, by disabling signatures in offtopic sections, you're kind of forcing them to post in other sections if they want maximum exposure.

At the same time, offtopic sections are always going to be huge because those type of topics are easiest to reply to.

 

[Jordan]

Well, considering the niche of your forum you could always disable signatures in the offtopic section. The main reason most people post on Webmaster forums is to advertise their site. So, by disabling signatures in offtopic sections, you're kind of forcing them to post in other sections if they want maximum exposure.

At the same time, offtopic sections are always going to be huge because those type of topics are easiest to reply to.

That's actually a brilliant idea! Now the only question is, how would you even go about doing that in certain sections :O

 

[JLogan]

That's actually a brilliant idea! Now the only question is, how would you even go about doing that in certain sections :O

Dunno, can't find an addon or anything that would help :S

 

[Sam1]

I don't think you should completely discourage users from posting in the Off Topic section as they are still contributing to forum activity. Maybe a reduced forum cash rate or something might work.

At one stage the Off Topic Chat area and the General Webmaster area had around the same number of posts on here.

 

[psychadelicbird]

I think you've got the general key things to encourage people not to post too often there down. Maybe you can also impose a minimum word count on off-topic sections although I do know a few ways that could go wrong.

But the reason why people like to post in off-topic places is because it's easier to write content for that. I've seen posts like count to 100,000 or just very generalized stuff that is easier. For the non-off topic section of this forum, even I am having a slight difficulty in finding new things to talk about.

 

[ford1001]

I've always found it hard to keep members out of the 'Off Topic' section of my forums. I guess in the end though it comes down to whether or not the members of your site are actually there for your forum niche or are just advertising their own site in the signature. If they are posting 9/10 posts in the off topic section, I simply remove their signature link.