![]() And while this is rarely that big a hurdle, it's a mental adjustment you have to make each time you go to another forum. You need to learn the quirks of each individual forum. They each have different options, a different way of using them, and different functionality. There's a lot of different software running forums, bulletin boards, and the like. Forums demand a greater investment in each participant's time. There's lots of reasons the very people you want to participate in your community might shy away from an online forum. Enough "regular" participants to keep the conversation going.A strong moderator to keep out the spam (because with a lower barrier to entry, spam is an ever-present problem).A sufficient number of experts/mentors/senior folks available who actively participate and can fulfill the main purpose for it being there.For support groups, community associations, and other groups with people volunteering their time and resources, online forums can be very effective.įor a successful online community centered around a forum, there are some important conditions for success: You can see all the new posts, you can easily answer questions, and you can do it on your schedule. You can ask a question without actually subscribing to a mailing list-the barrier to entry is much lower.Ĭonversely, if you're really invested in the topic, you probably also like having a forum. If you're a newcomer, you can see all the past activity, and perhaps find your question already answered. The same questions get asked over and overįorums are better for two groups of people: newcomers to a community, and communities where participants invest a lot of time on a daily basis.Harder to find answers, archives are generally organized by date not topic.More stuff to manage - it all ends up in your inbox if you don't set up smart rules for dealing with it. ![]() In contrast, mailing lists seem archaic, with lots of downsides:
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