Spark Promotion

When starting a new forum, it is always best to start a forum based on your interests rather than chasing what is trending or popular at the time, especially if you have no interest in a specific niche that is currently trending or popular.

Unfortunately, sometimes niches that you have an interest in can be oversaturated, meaning it would take being unique to make your forum stand out in the crowd.

What do you feel is the most oversaturated niche in the forum world at the moment?

Over the years, I have used quite a few different hosting companies, and only one was the absolute worst.

When I first started creating forums, my dad suggested a hosting company he had been using: BigWetFish Hosting. I went with them, and for a while, their hosting was perfect, but a few years down the line, I started having issues with a lot of downtime and even slow loading.

I later found out that they had started hosting way too many different websites on the same servers through their shared hosting, which was causing issues, so I eventually moved.

What has been the worst hosting company you have ever used?

I've been thinking about the little features that can make a forum so much better to use.

Whether it's a handy notification system, profile customisation, a good search function, reputation points, or something completely different, there are plenty of features that can make a community more enjoyable.

What's one feature you wish every forum had, and why? I'd be interested to hear what other forum owners and webmasters think!

— SparkPlug 🔌

Who is your hosting provided and what is service quality like that they offer?

Thought we could have a little thread to get peoples opinions of their hosting providers to help others out.

I’m with Hostinger on a shared server. Been with them for around a decade and 0 issues what so ever. They keep there development blog up to date with whats going on so you can plan around any downtime (which is rare). It has a 99.9% uptime score. Cheap as chips too.

Many people love to eat different kinds of food. They live to try different kinds of cuisines. This is why they tend to start a forum where they discuss different types of foods. You tend to get members from different members and users belonging to different countries. So, how do you start a forum in this sort of niche?

Growing your website’s traffic is not easy, and if you have been a webmaster for some years now, you will have seen firsthand just how difficult it is to grow your website’s traffic and how in some cases, it can take a long time.

What has been your biggest challenge as a webmaster when it has come to growing your website’s traffic? What helped you overcome those challenges instead of giving up?

How many moderators does a forum need?

Many people never talk about unsuccessful forum biche. However, it is very important to highlight this topic so that we could avoid such topics or niches. I think that forums related to unpopular hobbies or outdated products are the kind of forum that may not survive the test of the time. A forum about an outdated product is also hard to tackle. What do you think?

How do I deal with inactive members?

Dealing with a biased moderator could be a really tough thing to do. Moderators are supposed to be fair when it comes to dealing with members. However, if moderators are themselves so biased, this could make things really complicated. Spotting a biased moderator could be tough as well. So, how do you deal with a biased moderator?

A forum is a type of website where people discuss various things. This is the primary reason why a forum may have many different sections. Having too many sections is not something that I recommend. However, having few sections isn't something that I recommend either. So, when it comes to online forums, how many sections do you need on your forum?

Growing an online community is not easy, and it takes time and patience to be able to grow an online community from the very bottom.

When growing a community, each community manager goes through different struggles, and we all tend to have our own biggest struggles when growing our community.

What is your single biggest struggle when growing an online community?

Vote in the poll and share your answer in this thread.

I am a really huge fan of forums, and I could stay active on forums for the whole day. Many people claim that they could post various threads or comments on different forums. As far as I am concerned, I do not have a specific threshold when it comes to posting on forums. However, what I do know that I could post a really huge number of posts on various forums per day. Some people even claim that they could post around 200 posts per day. Is this possible?

How do I create good forum rules?

I am a really big fan of online trading. I am still learning how to trade in the financial markets. I am quite passionate about it. However, I do not know much about it. I think that this is an incredibly great niche. Many people are really into online trading. Some people are still learning, while others are curious. So, how do I get started?

I have been creating forums since 2004. It was after I found a technology forum while I was looking for information on something, and after using the forum over quite a few months, I gained interest in wanting to run my own forum.

From 2004 to 2009, I started creating my own forums, going through trial and error, until I created the first Chat Addicts, which I owned from 2009 to 2017, until I had to make the tough decision to close it and move on to something new.

8 years was my longest-running forum so far.

What forum has been your longest-running forum? How long have you been running that forum?

What's the best way to promote a new forum?

How often should I post on my own forum?

How do I create blogs that are simply unrelated but all administered under one account. As of current I only use Google sites & add pages to update my blog. Is this the norm? I am just starting out from blue. I have no idea, appreciate some help? But if there is a will, there is a way?

Right now Blogger looks stagnant & WordPress can’t give me a free domain. Appreciate any form of help or word of advice?

How do I attract more active members?

How do I encourage members to start discussions?

What makes a good forum community?

What's the best way to organise forum categories?