21 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
21 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

What is the future of forums? Paid vs. Free

by Tony6597
18 replies
Where are forums heading in the future?
Some forums now limited times in which you can join or some have gone to you have to pay to join.

I have this forum that I started recently and notice that I get a lot of Spam bots that just post links and some are not even in English. It is a free forum software that I'm using and looking to up grade to a paid forum software to help limit the Spam bots, but I wondering if I might be wasting my time with a forum if my niche is not big enough or can't find a way to make money with it.

How are forums making money now with all the Spam that is out there and so many people becoming banner blind, does this mean defaulting to a paid niche forum?

Paid VS Free what is the best path?

Any suggestions or advise of running a forum would be greatly appreciated.


Tony
#forums #free #future #paid
  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    You should not even consider a paid forum unless it is packed full of laser targeted threads that are informative and helpful in its particular niche. And when I say niche, I mean that it should not be a broad niche, but a laser targeted sub niche.

    If your forum meets that criteria, then you may be successful in charging a premium for access.

    EDIT: Clearly, I just glanced through your question before jumping on my soap box. I'll leave the original post there, because it is good advice (even if it has nothing to do with the question)
    Signature

    Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278253].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Tony6597
      I don't think it is a "laser targeted sub niche" Brian, but over time I might narrow it down to that.

      As for the forum making money, I was thinking as it grows, sell ad space to some of the members for a fixed price.

      I don't think Adwords would work too well with my forum and I've heard that it does not pay a lot like it used too. But I did see this one big forum that had "Ads by Google" but they were everywhere, almost like those news articles, where you have to read around the ad to see the whole story.

      Are there any metrics of data out there that shows what works for making money on forums in 2011 once you have your forum big enough?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278346].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Merle Hans
      Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

      You should not even consider a paid forum unless it is packed full of laser targeted threads that are informative and helpful in its particular niche. And when I say niche, I mean that it should not be a broad niche, but a laser targeted sub niche.

      If your forum meets that criteria, then you may be successful in charging a premium for access.

      EDIT: Clearly, I just glanced through your question before jumping on my soap box. I'll leave the original post there, because it is good advice (even if it has nothing to do with the question)
      I agree to what brain has said....however, there might be more potential on free forum sites.....so i think the forums, in the future, will still be free but the filtering system might be more strict when it comes to filtering responses and such things....
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3281285].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Tony6597
        My particular forum niche is not a simple paid or not paid one, won't know until I'm in it for some time, there are no clear comparisons that I can find right now.

        For example if a forum was on Stocks or Marketing you could charge, provided it was quality content.

        But to try and charge for hobby stuff like Legos or Hot Wheels might be tough to do.

        I might work out a special feature were a person could post a large sig in their profile if they have a website or such. There has to be interest in the forum first before I can make it free or paid, if I get just a few people to join and it's free then I might be wasting my time. The point is to try it out in the real world and see what happens, the worst thing to do is guess what people will do and not try it.

        I should have a clearer picture in about one or two months from now.

        Thank you for the input, Tony.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3284301].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author extremeweightloss13
    Banned
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278694].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Kev_K
      I think the internet as a whole will start gravitating towards premium over free. As people get more and more familiar with the information online, and exposure to junk content increases, people will be more willing to pay for something they can trust.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278724].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
        Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

        In my opinion Invision is the best forum software available.

        I'm not sure if vBulletin has the same feature or not, but seeing as though it is #2 in my books I can't see why it wouldn't.
        .
        Currently I am working with free smf, invision and vb out of all of them vb is copping a hiding with the sapm, smf is little to none but that is a new forum and invision has only had the 1 spam poster but it never got past the gate keeper and went live as it needed approval, i would have to at this stage support invision as very good at ridding the spam but it may be because it's cousin vb is so large that it naturally attracts more attention.

        Originally Posted by Kev_K View Post

        I think the internet as a whole will start gravitating toward premium over free. As people get more and more familiar with the information online, and exposure to junk content increases, people will be more willing to pay for something they can trust.
        i think there is some merit in that comment as you see some forums are just now over run with with rubbish, that said i very much doubt a forum free or paid is a guarantee of quality as that would come back to admin / moderation of the site and as such there would be a balance of free and paid at a quality level.

        i see a balance between the free levels and paid levels, with good admin / mods as probably the best options.
        Signature
        | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3279845].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author mygold
        Originally Posted by Kev_K View Post

        I think the internet as a whole will start gravitating towards premium over free. As people get more and more familiar with the information online, and exposure to junk content increases, people will be more willing to pay for something they can trust.
        Thats the thing i wanna say.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3281266].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    vBulletin is the best for forums!
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278721].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    Forums should be free, of course.

    But then there are forums like this one that are huge and have certain features that are paid, and that's fine and dandy as long as the setup can support it and it doesn't turn people off, which it hasn't. But if most forums charged you for certain features I dont' think it would fly.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278748].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JesseDominguez
    There are ways to fight against this without paying. I have owned several forums over the years throughout many formats. These security measures are present in most current free message board formats.
    1. First of all don't allow guests to post. This is the easiest and most effective way.
    2. Enable e-mail activation for new accounts. Have them click a link in their e-mail to complete their registration before their allowed to post.
    If you're absolutely positive you've done those two measures; and your still having bots come in go further.
    3. Enable have the admin review registrations before their completed. So even after they have signed up and confirmed their e-mail; you still have to review their account information (username, e-mail) before they can post. Signs of bot registrations include unusual e-mail hosts and unusual names (i.e BeXyrZ28). You can then deny the account and the registration will not be complete and the user will continue to not be able to post.

    Now at this point; if you've done all three measures (which I'm sure you can) and your still getting spam posts then here's a strenuous one; but one that permanently disallows the possibility of spam coming through to public view; however let me warn it does take some effort from you and your moderators (if you have any)

    4. Enable it so that members X days old who have gone through all the validation and registration steps and can now post; have to have a moderator or administrator view the post before it can be allowed in the public forum. So that means a user who is less than 2 days old and makes a post; has to have a moderator or administrator view their post before it can be posted.

    At this point; automated spam is impossible. In very rare cases; it could come through so far that the you or a moderator will have to reject the automated spam; but that almost never happens. Again though; human spammers can truly not be stopped. You just have to ban them immediately.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3278793].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Tony6597
      Originally Posted by JesseDominguez View Post

      There are ways to fight against this without paying. I have owned several forums over the years throughout many formats. These security measures are present in most current free message board formats.
      1. First of all don't allow guests to post. This is the easiest and most effective way.
      2. Enable e-mail activation for new accounts. Have them click a link in their e-mail to complete their registration before their allowed to post.
      If you're absolutely positive you've done those two measures; and your still having bots come in go further.
      3. Enable have the admin review registrations before their completed. So even after they have signed up and confirmed their e-mail; you still have to review their account information (username, e-mail) before they can post. Signs of bot registrations include unusual e-mail hosts and unusual names (i.e BeXyrZ28). You can then deny the account and the registration will not be complete and the user will continue to not be able to post.

      Now at this point; if you've done all three measures (which I'm sure you can) and your still getting spam posts then here's a strenuous one; but one that permanently disallows the possibility of spam coming through to public view; however let me warn it does take some effort from you and your moderators (if you have any)

      4. Enable it so that members X days old who have gone through all the validation and registration steps and can now post; have to have a moderator or administrator view the post before it can be allowed in the public forum. So that means a user who is less than 2 days old and makes a post; has to have a moderator or administrator view their post before it can be posted.

      At this point; automated spam is impossible. In very rare cases; it could come through so far that the you or a moderator will have to reject the automated spam; but that almost never happens. Again though; human spammers can truly not be stopped. You just have to ban them immediately.
      Thanks for the info Jesse on running a forum, this is my first and I'm learning as I go. The first two tips I will put into action right away.
      Great advise and thank you very much!


      The only way to get people to join my forum right now is to keep it free, but as time goes on and if I can provide enough value I might do some sort of both combination.

      I also think that forums should be free too, I'm just using free forum software right now to getting use to using it. Will check out the vBulletin for future use, thanks for the heads up.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3279092].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author darkwizgemz
    It should be free. It would be hard for some that even forums would cost.
    Signature
    5 Day Free Marketing Challenge - Build Your website now and generate your leads online!
    Best Head Lice Solution - Treat your lice now
    Ultimate Rose Book - Organic Rose Book
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3279798].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
      (Disclaimer... I have a paid forum, so i am probably a bit biased)

      Paid forums are often much better learning environments, you get the personal approach and people are willing to help. You also get a lot more accurate and useful information posted.

      People are generally much happier to share what's works for them in a closed environment.

      The problem is how do you make it valuable to start with?

      I invited all my subscribers in for free and gave them free lifetime accounts when i started.

      I then posted valuable content and videos until I had about 2000 quality posts and something I was happy to release to the public. It's now up to 60,000 posts.

      You need to look after a forum constantly and guide it from the front , if you are rude or aggressive people will think that's acceptable, however if you give helpful advice even to the silliest of questions people will respond and follow your lead. In 3 years I've only ever had to ban 1 person.

      You also need to make it accessible to everyone, you may think it's worth $97 a month and it may well be but you need new blood to drive every forum forward so keep the costs at a level everyone can afford. I'd much rather have 2000 members paying $1 a month than 30 paying $100

      Also give people ways to earn back their subscriptions, I give 50% commission to members so it is esy for them to earn back what they pay, i also give them opportunities to earn money by offering services and getting services at a better rate than is normally available.
      Signature


      If you are serious about online marketing come and Join our free community The Foundation
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3279834].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by redicelander View Post

      Forums should be free, of course.
      Originally Posted by darkwizgemz View Post

      It should be free.
      Why?

      How many forums come and go because the owner couldn't afford to keep it running or just couldn't justify the time involvement? Maybe if they were making something off of it, they'd stick around. And, if people were enjoying the forum, they may be willing to pay to be able to continue enjoying it.

      I've seen forums saved because the owner/operator said that he/she couldn't afford to do it any longer, and people will stand up and chip in money so the forum can continue. So, people are willing to pay. It's just that people have been spoiled by "free," but when they realize something isn't really free, they will often be willing to pony up some money.

      So, it's just a matter of convincing people of that value upfront. As others have suggested, you can get things going by offering your early members free memberships. After that, you can get word of mouth going and start charging.
      Signature

      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3280971].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hilaryaustin
    it doesn't matter if its free or not as long as the community is great then definitely that forum is worth saving more. Forums are another community you can hang out and connect with other people but it is created on the internet place.

    Some people also lend and contribute on the forum since they want to keep it alive. And also there is no free thing that will last long that's why sooner or later you have to avail something from it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3281224].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
    Originally Posted by Tony6597 View Post

    Paid VS Free what is the best path?

    Any suggestions or advise of running a forum would be greatly appreciated
    I think the people advocating free forums have never been a member of a good paid forum. There are several advantages to having a paid forum:

    * The signal to noise ratio is MUCH higher, thus it has a much higher value
    * Paid acts as a filter to get rid of trolls and other problem users ... mostly
    * The resulting behavior is generally much more pleasant
    * Spam posts are either very much reduced or eliminated
    * Moderation is much easier

    I had a free forum with self registration ... spammers made it necessary to make it a moderated registration. Moderated registration resulted in many daily spam applications to get access to the forum ... now it is closed registration .

    Marvin
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3284475].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
      It's quite funny that if you look at most of the posts here the ones advocating a paid model are well reasoned constructive posts, the type you generally get in a paid forum.

      The short statement , "get the post count up" type of comments are all pro free forums.
      Signature


      If you are serious about online marketing come and Join our free community The Foundation
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3285325].message }}

Trending Topics