[DarkWarriorXII]

Hey. If you don't know already, my site, Talk Camp is pretty new. I opened it a couple days ago. I have about 14 members (including me and my test account). Well a couple of them (probably about two or three) posted intro threads. That's it. None of them have even visited since they registered. I have the "members who have visited today" hack installed so that's how I can tell.

Anyway, I realize that the forum is very new and has very few posts, but why would they join in the first place if they weren't going to post to start things off? They could see that it's new and there's no posts so why not start a new thread of your own? Can anyone try to explain as to why they'd visit once and never come back? I think 14 members all posting actively could easily make the forum active. How can I get them back and post? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Hector]

It's all comes down to who they are and if there used to this sort of thing.

If you start a forum with people over the internet, people who know how the forum life goes, than you will have an active enviroment.

People who are not a-customed to this sort of thing, will find new forums boring and not worth hanging out at.

What you need to do is get people you know from the internet, forum wise, to help you make plenty of beginner topics to help boost the activity of your forum.

EDIT: Click this link. It will lead you to a topic with some helpful hints for beginning topics.

http://www.staff-lounge.com/setting-...forum-389.html

[//Aneurysm\\]

*looks at my forum*

My members never make threads either. I do all the thread making.....Then again, I do have about 40% of all of our posts

[Hector]

It really comes down to your forum giving off that feeling. If your forum seems like a fun place to chill at, more members will create topics and post more often.

This forum has that feeling. Just think about it.

[Edward]

I see very few Topics there. Create many topics your self, some in every board so people have something to talk about. Once some start responding, some others might start to reply aswell and create more threads.

[SnaKKer]

Get some people you know to just come once and post a bunch of topics to spark some discussion. Get people on the site more often by assuring them that there will be something new and interesting every time they come.

[Hector]

^ Yeah, that's basically the right answer. ^

[Photog]

when i started my forum... i posted a ton fo threads just the initiate members into discussing various things... it worked.

you really cant let it 'go on its own' especially when in the start up phase... it takes a ton of work on the admin side in order to get people to contribute.

[Jennifer]

Make interesting threads, advertise, chat with the members, have contests.

[TorturedSoul]

I have the same problems with my friends who dont do the message board thing, they see a bunch of blank forums, and they don't wanna stick their necks out, so they just become idle members. They're all right, you gotta make threads yourself, promote promote promote, get people interested in what you're doing. It takes a lot of your time, but that's what it takes to have a successful board.

[Cole]

There are a couple things that will get me registering and posting on a forum.

One of which, is the style. If I find a site that is easy on the eyes and attractive, for lack of a better word, I will usually register, because the style shows that the administrator has put alot into the forum, and it's not one of those five minute kind of things. I see clip art in your header, and that is just not the kind of look you want, I would suggest getting something custom done.

Contests. Because of the kind of topic you have, you will have a smaller part of the internet community wanting to join first off. To get people interested, the key word is stuff. A gift card to amazon.com, maybe something off of cafepress, or even a premium membership on the forum. It's a great way to get people to post, and if you have the resources, is just extremely successful.

Cole.

[DarkWarriorXII]

I agree with the clip art. I never did like that. But I can't think of what else would fit in there. I attached the logo without the clip art. If you have any suggestions please tell me because I can't think of anything.

[DarkWarriorXII]

Okay we've been going good for a while. There's only a small number of active members, but they're staying active. So that's good. Earlier today I sent out an e-mail to people who haven't had activity since the new year asking them to come back and post. A few people did come back, but they didn't post. I saw them viewing threads and browsing, but they never posted! Why wouldn't they post? I think I enough activity to make them feel comfortable posting, but for some reason they didn't post. Has anyone else had this problem? What did you do to get these inactive members to post?

[hostaddicts]

Maybe you should try giving them an incentive to post. Also, you may want to try mass emailing members with any news you have about your forum, just in case they've forgotten about it.

[DarkWarriorXII]

Originally Posted By: hostaddicts Maybe you should try giving them an incentive to post. Also, you may want to try mass emailing members with any news you have about your forum, just in case they've forgotten about it.

Well I do send out a monthly newsletter that gives updates on site changes, announcements, etc. As for incentives, what are some ideas that I could use for that?