ForumSpark Support

Paid to post forums used to be very common and one of the easiest ways people used to make money online from. Old Postloop is one of the biggest paid to post website I've used. I made a lot of money from it site. Bizdustry was also one of my favourites too.

Did you earn from using paid to post forums?

The truth is that it's not all forum owners that want to make money from managing their communities. Some just do it for fun managing people. Those who make money do so through selling of ads space and using monetization tools like Google Adsense.

Are you earning money from your forum?

When it comes to forum management, no matter what you do, there will always be that member(s) who doesn't care about breaking the forum rules and damning the consequences. They are simply troublesome and can't be controlled but banned.

Who was the last member you banned in your forum? Why did you ban the member?

To the best of my knowledge, the reason why most freelancers are scammed online after working for their clients is because they accept jobs, complete and deliver them without getting any payment upfront.

Do you prefer to be paid in advance for your online gigs?

I was scrolling through an old forum and the place just felt empty. The last real discussion was almost one month ago. Back then, the threads used to be very busy with replies. Now everybody is on Telegram, Facebook and Discord. Sometimes, community energy is not something you force. Sometimes one strong conversation can wake everyone up again.

:D

I opened a Discord server and they where discussing online forums. If you wants to start a community today, which one would you go for? Is it the traditional forum, Discord or Slack? In my opinion, forum threads make sense to me. But people have a very low attention span these days. People don't have the patience to reply to long threads again. The internet culture has really changed

When I create a forum the first users are always my friends from real life and also a few family members. They don't remain active for a long time but they help seed content initially. Do you also invite your friends and family to post on your forums, do they become a regular user?

This morning I was browsing one forum and i noticed something. New members was just coming in but nobody is really guiding them on how to use the forum. It made me remember when I first joined one community, I was so confused. Nobody to guide me , no direction, they don't even welcome me. I had to figure out things myself.

Between managing posts, tweaking the layout, dealing with spam, and trying to grow the community, it can really add up. How much time do you put in each week?

I was just checking my forum stats and I discovered that member count does not tell the full story. You could have 5k members but only 20 are actually posting. I started looking at active users per day, replies per thread, even the time people spend reading. I think tracking real engagement is the best honestly:D

Sometines I would wake up already tired of even moderating my forum. 😩 People think that the mods are enjoying but the burnout is so serious. You would settle arguments, delete spam, reply messages. Some are even doing it for free sometimes. I had to start taking breaks or else I would lose interest completely.

:D

I was testing one “auto-mod bot” last month, but unfortunately, spam messages start entering my email like it's a promo season 😒. Some of these tools would collect your data quietly, before you know, they will use it for other activities. This is exactly why I prefer simple manual control sometimes.

This month I just focused on replying every new post very quickly, just to make people feel seen. Suddenly, the engagement pick up a little. The members don't need too much, just attention and a little consistency. Once they see that the forum is active, they will stay.

I was checking my stats last night and remembered when my forum had like 7 members in total lol. Those early days were tough. The tactic that worked for me was simple. I joined existing communities and contribute to real discussions there first. Then I add my forum link after providing value. People notice authenticity before promotion. That was how I was able to gain some active members.

I have never created my own forum, but I would certainly like to run my own forum someday. I have been an active member of various different kinds of forums. I know that many people have been running forums for a long time. So, for how long have you been running your forum?

Spamming is one of the biggest problem most forum owners have to deal with all the time. If they are not battling bot spamming, it's going to human spamming.

How much spamming are you getting in your forum daily? How many of them are human spams?

I have been running forums for almost 9 years. Based on my personal experience, the hardest part of running a forum is getting regular posters. If you do promotion, you can easily get users but it is really difficult to get them to post regularly on your forum. It is also very difficult to get quality posters.
What is the hardest part of running a forum for you?

We’ve all made a few missteps - I know I have! Bad modifications, rushed launches, awkward rebrands, or even full-on resets. Looking back, is there anything you would’ve done differently?

Can you recall the very first forum you ever joined? Is that forum still online or is it offline? The first forum I ever joined was Glitch City Labs, a forum/website that was dedicated to documenting the various glitches in the Generation 1 Pokemon games but eventually grew to include glitches in other generations. Sadly the forum shut down in 2020, and all the conversations moved to a Discord server...

Currently, I have two forums on Xenforo, I bought the license from another forum owners. I bought from another user because I wanted to save money. When you start a forum, do you buy license from another person (used license) to save money or do you buy from the official site?

Currently, I don't own any forum on open source platforms but in the past I have used multiple platforms including SMF, phpBB, and MyBB. I never used any premium themes and addons on my forums on open source platforms. I used free themes and addons. Have you ever used premium themes and add ons with your open source platforms? Did you like them?

Frankly speaking, I have never used any free hosted forums as an owner, however, I have tried a few free hosted forums as a user. I have used Proboard, Jcink, and this one Forum Spark. I did not like Jcink, Proboard is ok and Forum Spark seems nice. If you have tried multiple free hosted forums, what is your favorite free forum hosting platform?