What do you look for in a forum?

[Cedric]

First impression is important when browsing a forum or website. What do you look for ?

I would definitely say content is one of the most important factors, because that's where the meat of the forums are. But appearance is a really big thing; if it's navigable and the theme/skin isn't too eye-bleeding that I can stand to look at it for an hour or so. I would rather join a new forum (i.e. something that doesn't have much to offer) with a good-looking theme than an old forum with an established community with a cluttered theme.

 

[Dan The Man]

Primarily design/theme, a logical and seamless layout and organization of categories, forums, and sub-forums, and of course activity. For activity, quality is more important to me than quantity, but active communities are a must. Lastly, an administration and staff that truly cares about its community members is crucial.

 

[ZandraJoi]

I look at the activity. How active the Staff is. Although I don't want it to be too busy. Board moderated well; no spam posts & when there are, they are taken care of quickly. No members berating one another. Has to have a good vibe & feel. Being welcomed by not just Staff but by other members.
I don't mind some boards being hidden; I have that on mine for privacy issues but I don't want the whole forum to be closed to the general public.

 

[Phabbyfundz]

The design and theme, I don't like color riot the unprofessional misuse of primary and secondary colors in one forum.

If it is dark it should be dark and if you want to make it colorful and bright try to do it moderately so that a visitor can comfortably stay on your forum for a few minutes without hurting their eyes or having the urge to leave immediately.

 

[ladyquack]

Definitely the theme. I hate when themes are too dark or too light, or have a dark text color on a dark background. Then I look for content and see if it's something I could enjoy.

 

[Daniel-cash]

What I look for in a forum is content, and that's the most important thing. The theme and appearance are good, but without contents they are useless. There's a particular local forum that I can't miss day not visiting it. This forum is rich in contents from making money online to agriculture, sport and many more.

 

[ClicketyKat]

If I'm going to a new forum, one of the main reasons I go there is to get information on something. Like health forums or what have you. If they don't have a lot of info on that topic, then I probably don't sign up. If they do, I look to see how recent some of the activity is because if it's 5 years old, it isn't going to be very helpful if things have changed since then.

Now, if I'm looking for a fun type of forum to sign up on, I look for unique types of threads. I see the same old same olds on many forums but the unique ones catch my eyes.

 

[Shortie]

The first thing I look for when I go to a forum is the activity and also how presentable the activity is. If there is a lot of spam around the forums this would be an instant put off for me and I wouldn't bother going back. Somewhere that seems to flow well and seems like a friendly community is an instant win for me. Secondly, I would look at the layout and the kind of style they use for their forums. I love to see a dark mode style when it comes to forums, so I need to have that choice then it's the theme looking neat and presentable and not too cluttered.

 

[Cory]

The theme design and organization have to be pleasant enough for the forum to be accessible, the forum needs to have a decent amount of content and activity, and the forum needs to have civilized staff members. I think that's what I primarily look for when first accessing a forum.

 

[Heatman]

I tend to be on my smartphone more than I do with my laptop, so a community must be mobile friendly if I'm going to stay on it. If not, the moment I see it's not mobile friendly, I'm gone.

The next is content. Content is key for forums. If a forum lacks contents, there's nothing left to do on it.