Do you post a thread on your forum asking for volunteers? What qualifications do you look for in an admin or mod?
When did you start your forum? And, has your forum been online constantly since opening or did you ever shut it down briefly?
Which mods or plug ins work best to prevent forum spam and keep spammers out?
Do you update your forum software every time and update is recommended?
On a daily basis, how many posts do you get?
Have you checked your registration list lately for inactive or never active members? These inactives are possibly backlink builders who spam their profile pages with illegal links. A quick check of their profile page w...
With my last forum, I advertised my banner on other sites. And, that helped get new members. How do you get new forum members?
I've used SMF forum software for well over a year. Initially, that was the only choice I had, so I used it for my forum. But over time, the SMF forum software has grown on me, so that now, it's the only free forum sof...
For my general chat forum, most active subforum is 'Idle Chatter' which is about general chat. What's your most active subforum?
I've used Postloop a few times with very limited success. The thing that bothers me most about Postloop is how unqualified the posters are. Most of the posts I get are sub-literate, barely worth leaving up. They don'...
Forum trolls can wreck the happy atmosphere of a forum and cause loyal members to become discouraged and leave. Whenever possible, I try to discourage forum trolling. How do you deal with forum trolls?
Once I worked hard on a forum for well over a year and had to shut it down when I got a job and ran out of time to run the forum. I thought about selling the forum but by then, the forum traffic and membership had dwin...
As forum owner, do you start the most discussions? Or, do you leave it to your loyal members to start the discussions?
I've run a forum before and it's so much harder work than maintaining a blog where all you do is put up a post a day. The forum has so many members to manage, where as the blog only has one. For me, a blog is easier...
Are chat boxes good or bad for a forum? Do they help bring forum members back and make it an exciting place to hang out? Are there any downsides to having a chat box on a forum?
On some forums that I browse as a guest, the links are hidden. Is there a good reason you would hide links from your forum guests?
Donations help support a forum, allowing the forum owner to concentrate less on the financial aspect of the forum and more on marketing and content creation. Do you ask for donations from members? In what ways do you p...
Do you ever have days when you feel discouraged over being a forum owner; such as when posts or traffic are down? Or, maybe you hoped the revenue from the forum would be better? How do you deal with discouragement over...
When I was a forum owner, I found it to be very stressful; not at all fun. I'd prefer blogging or some other creative challenge.
Before opening your current forum, how much previous experience did you have as a forum owner? Was it easier opening the second (or third) forum than the first time around?
When my forum first opened, we had a very thriving forum game section. Unfortunately, the other sections of the forum suffered to the point where we got no new posts in them daily. So I shut down the forum games sectio...
Sometimes, we get an accidental double post on the forum and that's easily dealt with by deleting the copy. Other times, I see where a new member will copy a very old discussion and repost as new. I'd prefer they take ...
My forum was about three months old before I put up any kind of advertising, mostly because I wanted to build content first. And, even now, ads are only viewable to guests. If we had 1000 members logging in daily, I'm ...
Wish I'd known before starting a general chat forum how hard it was going to be to get new members. There are just so many successful (as in huge) general chat forums already up. And, mine is just a tiny fish in a very...
Is your forum stand alone? Or, does it support a blog or website? When I first started my forum, i was tempted to put a blog on the top level of the domain (such as mysite.com) with the forum being on a subfolder (mysi...
What would be the biggest expense you've paid so far as a forum owner that would be considered a waste? For instance, did you try out some software that didn't work out? Or, maybe you invested into an ad campaign that ...
If a forum goes inactive with no posts daily, is it ever possible to recover the forum and make it look active again? I'd really be interested in hearing your thoughts on how to make an inactive forum look alive again.
Which forum software is less likely to be hacked? And, what type of security measures does it use?
If you were going to hire a forum moderator, what traits would you look for?
I love visiting a forum where Youtube videos are allowed to be posted. It's always fun to share Youtube music and tutorials. But some forums don't allow this. Does your forum allow Youtube videos to be shared?
What's the best kind of forum contest that you can run? Also, how can you ensure the forum contest is fair so there are no cheaters?
What are the attributes of a quality forum post? For instance, do you consider length of the forum post or just content when judging the forum post quality?
Some forum members rush around posting one or two word responses to boost their post count so they can earn signature line privileges. Do you you tolerate this type of activity on your forum? How do you deal with low q...
Do you put the advertising on the home page, above the menu links? Or, do you place ads in the footer? Where do ads go on your forum? And, which place works best for ad placement?
Do you let forum members link to sites using their affiliate link?
Is it worthwhile to buy a forum that has many thousands of posts already up? Or, do you prefer to start a forum and build your own community? Which is easier or more worthwhile, from a financial point of view?
Can you earn a decent income from a forum just using Adsense? Or, are there other clever and creative ways to earn money off a forum?
What should you do about a staff member who is perpetually disrespectful to forum management/ownership or rude to forum members?
Do you ever find that new members use fake signatures on your forum? If so, how do you deal with this? Do you ban the member?
Does your staff get a special avatar on your forum?