How "Forums" are born?

[SocialEyez]

Always wondered, how big forums started out.

I Mean how do you start when there are 0 threads and 1 user, which is you.

Do you make up all the first users and threads?

I am not planning on opening a forum any time soon, its just that, this was always in the back of my head.

 

[Elvlin]

I think it's the same as fb group etc. You try to pull some traffic than engage them in the site, with qulity content, or some benefit

 

[classic12]

yes i thought about that too

 

[MrDarkFlame]

A successful forum should be with a narrow topic.

Groups of 2-3 people write interesting content, discuss, give advice. Then other interesting people find this interesting content ..

I think it works like that.

 

[Gogol]

From what I have seen, the initial threads are almost always done by the admin. It may or may not have any visitors, but still; there must be some content before people start noticing the forum.

 

[Deleted member 15724]

I knew a few that started from Skype groups and AIM. Usually the mod had a great rep and a large network, so it wasn't much trouble to get initial members rolling then. From there it was either invite only, or good SEO.

I know one that's still pretty active that started when another large IM forum died a slow painful death. A few top members with rep moved there and slowly the userbase followed.

Here's a short but interesting read on how reddit got started: https://geekclub.blog/2018/08/08/how-reddit-was-created/

 

[Willyfish]

It is a trend that is dying, except very strong forums like this one, most forums are in the decline, it's sad because I always liked the style that forums have but social media, messengers etc killed it slowly, of course BHW has the legacy that can me me say for sure that it is far from dying, but it is very rare today.

 

[Dunga]

Usually a large forum grows by it's admin and few dedicated members who post useful things regularly.

 

[SocialEyez]

Thanks for you answers guys!

BTW, i wouldn't compare that to FB groups and subreddits, because the entry level there is much lower, they are already on reddit, and being a sub there give you SOME sort of credibility in the user eyes, same with FB.

Its in a way like selling products with no social proof or reviews, that would be a better example. but reviews are easy to fake, and most likely are fake.

Forum needs real content, its not something you can bypass, or fake, thats why the curiosity.

 

[tubeboost]

You should have something like centre of community (paid of fake doesn't matter) who create new treads, replies etc. Then SEO and links can bring new users.
Reddit used tons of fake accounts to grow up https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z4444w/how-reddit-got-huge-tons-of-fake-accounts--2
Fake it till make it still works.

 

[Leader777]

Yes i guess u start by writing good content that help people till u build a big community. I did my research and found out that's what @Diamond Damien was doing , he was providing good content by himself.

 

[Priince1337]

Here you will find how this forum looked in the first month after launch:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060503191730/http://www.blackhatworld.com/

As you can see there are just a few categories and only a couple of users.
Your forum just grows with the time. The more people join, the more threads, topics and subforums are opened.

 

[soldierseyes]

From whats posted so far, it seems there are two theories, organic led by a reputable founder who moves an existing community over and fake it till you make it where the founder duplicates existing content. In reality, its likely to be a mix of both plus good SEO when forum threads ranked well.

Fwiw, its a shame forums are a dying trend

 

[Gogol]

Yes i guess u start by writing good content that help people till u build a big community. I did my research and found out that's what @Diamond Damien was doing , he was providing good content by himself.

Afaik he bought the forum later.
It was run by Harro I guess. I could be wrong though.

 

[Leader777]

Afaik he bought the forum later.
It was run by Harro I guess. I could be wrong though.

Woord?? diden't know that.. i guess u know a lot of stuff more then me since u joined in 2010

 

[BrandingCat]

Very interesting topic. I guess you need a small team, maybe a budget to advertise in order have a big push at the beginning in order to begin engaging.

I plan also to build a forum in a specific sector, but, I still want to build a site with traffic and couple of hundreds of subscribers,then I try to push via Facebook ads and related.

I wonder what other people think.

 

[Gogol]

Woord?? diden't know that.. i guess u know a lot of stuff more then me since u joined in 2010

I am sure about Mr. Damien buying the forum, but not 100% sure about who was the admin back then. Long time lol.

 

[MrWhite2018]

Always wondered, how big forums started out.

I Mean how do you start when there are 0 threads and 1 user, which is you.

Do you make up all the first users and threads?

I am not planning on opening a forum any time soon, its just that, this was always in the back of my head.

Of course they do. The owners of Reddit publically admitted to creating posts (in the thousands).

 

[BrandingCat]

Of course they do. The owners of Reddit publically admitted to creating posts (in the thousands).

I wonder if is any way to do on forums as on quora.

To earn answer and ask and both parts will benefits.

 

[mikey29]

It was diamond Dave.

Harro if I remember was the admin. He wrote good content

Reddit start put with fake persons