Site Management What's your forum's growth strategy: Garden, Farm, or Forest?

[Bilita]

When you’re building an online community, it’s important to think about what kind of environment you want to create. Is your forum more like a garden, a farm, or a forest?

If you’re building a garden, your community might be small, personal, and carefully cultivated. You’re likely focusing on a few key members, nurturing their contributions, and creating an intimate, curated space. Gardens require careful attention and are built to be appreciated for their beauty and uniqueness.

If your forum feels more like a farm, you might be focusing on a structured, organized approach. Farms are built for efficiency and harvest. This type of community could be about scaling up quickly, having clear systems, and focusing on measurable outcomes, like engagement rates or member growth.

Or maybe your community is a forest—complex, messy, and full of diverse voices. A forest thrives on diversity and grows for its own sake, sometimes in unpredictable ways. It’s not about control; it’s about letting the community evolve naturally, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Inspired by this tweet by David Spinks:

 

[Ravenfreak]

I'd like to say my communities are all gardens, which is fine by me! It's great to have active members other than yourself IMO, even if it's just a handful. You get to know your members a bit better that way!

 

[Nomad]

I voted for farm, I want my forums to be bigger than gardens. I do want my forums to become forest because when they are forest I will be able to make money but I do not have the capacity and resources to build my forums into a forest.