What turns you off on a forum?

[Arantor]

i can't think of any, other than XF,... unless maybe they all look alike??

I don't think the question was getting at which forum *software* (of which there are many: phpBB, SMF, MyBB, XenForo, Invision Community, Woltlab, FUDForum, Thredded, AsmBB, ElkArte, Vesta, StoryBB, YAF, YABB if it's still around, Flarum, NodeBB, Discourse, and that's just a selection of the ones you can install on your own server, and before we talk about options like ProBoards, Jcink, Forumotion/Forumactif, CreateAForum, SMF4Free or any of the big boys who will host it for you)

But more... if you go to any given forum, of which there are many, what is a make or break (in particular break) feature.

For me, hitting a forum and being expected to register to see anything is an instant no. Worse, the forums that expect you to reply to a post to see the post - to artificially inflate the post count and make the creator feel good, except it doesn't actually achieve either.

I'll put up with a bad looking forum if it has things that interest me there.

 

[Jason]

A hateful environment is a turn-off. I mean, you're either welcome or you're not. Of course, I'm speaking about hate directed toward yourself. Of course, a place can become hateful over time. Who's to say if it's the forum's fault or the user.

Anyway, advertisements are another turn-off. The ones I've encountered are very pushy. Anyway, unless I was running an employment site, out of a few rare choices, I wouldn't put ads on my site.

 

[Reverie]

- An unorganized layout where I feel uncertain of where I'm supposed to be posting. This creates confusion, and sometimes confusion does lead me to just saying nevermind, or I'll try again later... Then it's possible I won't return
- The default theme the forum has set - it makes my first impression - big time. If I feel like it clashes due to the colors or if I can not see well due to it - I immediately won't bother, unless I discover they have better themes then I might reconsider.
- Endless advertisements on their forum - if I legit look at an advertisement every quarter inch of their page - I won't have much interest.
- Favoritism - seeing a community not respond to all members and only specific members will bother me because I would hope people would be inclusive. I do understand not every post will get a response, but where it appears someone is getting ignored would bother me.
- Spam being the constant and no conversations

 

[Ravenfreak]

If I see any harmful or hateful content on a forum, I will close out of the tab and never think to look back at the community. I understand that we all have our own beliefs and opinions on things, but if you're starting to call others names for having different beliefs and sharing harmful content then I don't want to be part of that community. If the community has advertisements that pop up everywhere and between posts I will not bother with the community. Advertisements work better when they're either on the header or footer of the community, pop up ads are very annoying. Also if the community is unorganized, I become overwhelmed and will look at other communities to join.

 

[Ken]

What turns me off on a forum? Anything and everything like being bossed around and telling you how to do your job.

 

[MassageMan]

The only thing that pushes me away for a while is too much Jibber Jabber or Meaningless Chatting. (This comment is close)

Yes, too much "meaningless chatting", just to be chatting for the sake of chatting without any real purpose or nothing to offer. Sometimes this community annoys me with all the meaningless questions. It's like playing twenty questions. Then ads and the word forum or board, I prefer community. This is 2023. These youngsters have no idea what a board or forum is.

 

[Arantor]

These youngsters have no idea what a board or forum is.

Well, I'm nearly 40. Guess that makes me a young'un.

I think what this is a case for is installing the plugin that lets people ignore boards - then you could ignore the forum games board (though, I'll note, has been a staple for forums for decades; I was posting on similar topics back in the late 1990s, but maybe I am still too young to know what a forum is?)