How do you get people to join your forums?

BloodKnight · Post by **BloodKnight** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:06 am

Simple question that doesn't seem to have a simple answer to me.

Comic has been up for about a month and getting lots of nice feedback via email and tagboards. Only problem is...we only have 12 people on the forums, 2 including Elshad and I.

Anyone know how to nab people into the forum?

K-Dawg · Post by **K-Dawg** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:43 am

There's no real answer to this question. Some comics end up with a very vocal fanbase yet they aren't that popular, while some very popular comics have virtually nobody in their forums.

All I can really say is be patient, and remind people of the forum I guess.

AndrewTaylor · Post by **AndrewTaylor** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 8:26 am

My forum seemed more popular when I allowed guests to post - I think the ease of posting acts as a hook and once they're "part" of the community they might want to register.

Then some Lithuanian jerk turned up and I had to put a stop to that.

Justinpie · Post by **Justinpie** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 9:15 am

The Tagboard can often be the death knell of the forum. If they can leave you feedback on the main page, what's the incentive to click further?

Underbelly · Post by **Underbelly** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:16 am

I had a forum for a little while, but not enough people joined, so I killed it. It was merely a product of my demented ego and hubris. So then I put a Tagboard up. It's easier to sustain. Now some people are asking for a forum. Go figure.

KathleenJ · Post by **KathleenJ** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:26 am

justinpie wrote:The Tagboard can often be the death knell of the forum. If they can leave you feedback on the main page, what's the incentive to click further?

Ah, yes, that happened to me. It kind of sucked to lose the forum, but the tagboard brought all kinds of people out of the woodwork who'd NEVER posted on the forum. I just wanted feedback, and the forum had started really stagnating in off-topic country.
One day I'll bring that forum back. Maybe with a contest or something.

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:44 am

See my post here about fostering a sense of community around your comic.

AndrewTaylor · Post by **AndrewTaylor** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 12:23 pm

Personally, I hate tagboards. I don't know why, I suppose I don't like the idea that my posting is actually destroying someone else's, or that the archives will only ever go back a week or two. Whatever the reason, I try to avoid using them. I much prefer a proper forum if one's available.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 8:55 pm

<<

>>

*ahem*

A long time ago, I had put a poll on my site asking "Would you like a Tag-board or forum?". The most responses was for both. I added a Tag-board, and have gotten a few comments on it. I've always wanted a forum (and the nice sense of community it fosters), though, so I added one a couple weeks ago. Still no posts besides mine. I know it's early, but I'm patient.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 5:38 am

I don't know, in my school of thought, you should have a daily visit of triple digits before you can honestly think about having a community of readers. who will post on your forums. cause I don't see anything less that 20% of the readers doing anything in the realms of feedback, and if its one hundred readers or so thats only about two vocal readers.. course count comes from my own comic and diffrent comics are diffrent.

but I don't know, if you don't get any fan mail or very little I'd not worry about a forum until you get enough e-mail where you could tell there could be somthing of a community.

heck as vocal as I am, I don't really chat on very many webcomic forums myself. really the only ones I post on are for the ones with people I know who post on em too. *l*

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 5:44 am

I've always thought that it's counter-productive to start a forum too early and may even sabotage you getting it nicely populated at all.

Consider.

What if you organised a dinner party at your house and said "turn up any time this month". People would, and then they'd find there's no one around and leave again. And no one would stick around long enough for anyone else to turn up, either, coz it's boring. No, to pull it off, you need a lot more people, so there's always someone around - like a nightclub.

Not a perfect analogy, mind, and I'm not sure how tru the point it illustrates actually is, but it makes sense to me. Should I ever have a worthwhile comic, I will wait for a lot of readers before I start a forum.

Oh, and don't forget that Nightclubs also provide incentives for people to show when they first open!

- Joel Fagin

BloodKnight · Post by **BloodKnight** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 5:52 am

you should have a daily visit of triple digits before you can honestly think about having a community of readers.

On update days, I get around 250 to 300.

K-Dawg · Post by **K-Dawg** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 5:54 am

Heh for some reason I really like that analogy.

But yeah I agree having a forum too early can be very detrimental if nobody posts in it. As well it is a nice shot to the ego if nobody posts because then you start thinking nobody likes your comic.

Van Douchebag · Post by **Van Douchebag** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 9:29 am

Note to Bloodknight: Show your comic to Erik Larsen