Me and forum problems. :(

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Ok, so I just wanted to get this out in the open rather than bottle it up.
I have been a member of proboards for a while now, I own 2 forums the second one I am thinking of closing. I always seem to have a problem with forums...the forum I own now has a pretty nice layout has lots of topics and even iv'e posted in some of them, But for some reason people will join my forum and just not post at all iv'e never said anything nasty to any of the members on my forum and no I am not paranoid! This has happened on 2 of my forums. I have tried advertising getting someone to own it with me or even getting some mods but still the same happens and people just aren't interested.
I'm a kind person and I like my computer stuff in fact i'm just a forum freak really lol!

What do you think I should do to help my forum? or improve it?
thanks!

my forum is: http://kizzez.proboards70.com/index.cgi

*really sorry if iv'e put this in the wrong section*

What is your forum supposed to be about, exactly?

Seems a bit small, no offence.

If you want to improve it, have some features there that people will want.

People don't just join any website without some sort of attracting features there.

The color is too intense for me. Iprefer a neutral one.
As most aspies I am oversensitive to many things.

in any forum there is always a lot of lurkers, people that read and never post. Also a lot of people will drift through, sign up and lose interest to never be seen again. Its normal. Just ignore the people that dont post and try and keep a friendly attitude.

People will never bother with forum - owned by anyone - unless it speaks to them on a personal level and they will never post unless they are looking to either get something (ideas, comfort, advice, information) or to share the same. And they will do neither if their heart simply isn't in it. So there it is.

That said - what does your avatar say there in the small print. It says big WORST. But the rest is hard to read.

There are so many forums out there now,can not just put anything on the internet and expect a load of users anymore as there is a lot of competition,it's got to have an appeal,neutral colours[especially if trying to attract auties/aspies,others who need specific colours to see well or not be overloaded].

Also,proboards is outdated,a lot now go for invisionfree [as it uses invision,but is free with minimal ads] it's also modern,has a lot more features and has a lot of pre made template codes available [although can learn to skin own],advertising is also another thing that needs doing,without it,it won't get any members.

Getting a forum started can be tricky - to have a community, you need members, and if there is not much of an active community, people don't take time to post or read.

How disappointed I am, thought this would be a post thread about getting banned and picked on and stuff.

g'LUCK WITH YOUR FORUMS.

Is the forum for a certain group of people, styles, or a place for your friends to hang out? A brief mention about what it is for might help a little.

I own a forum as well. The most obvious question I have to ask (which as a computer person, you've prolly already though of this but thought I'd ask anways) is, could these inactive members just be bots? Depending on whatever mods you've made, what type of forum format, you may have some inactive bots. (I hope you don't, they're a pain in the ass.)

Second, if it's an autism-focused board, then you may have members who simply like to read and don't post. I have some of those as well. The lurkers.

Third, like others have mentioned, the forum kinda needs a gimmick, a focus, and an attraction. Maybe you might try approaching some friends who've made here on WP to help you and to become mods/admins. They might have some ideas, and at the very least can help make up a consistent group of posters. (But I advise to choose your team well; don't just say "Hey, I like you, you can be a mod". I tend to choose people on their reliability, their friendliness, and their diplomacy.)

Fourth, it can take a lot of word of mouth advertising to get people to come to the forum and to CONTINUE to come to the forum. I'm always promoting my forum with people I talk to online. Anybody new I meet, I often give them the address.

Like you, my forum has had a lot of members who've started strong, and then get bored and leave-- or life gets hectic and they leave. But it takes awhile to build a core membership, those who want to come online and post every day. These people keep it going. And sometimes it just takes awhile and a lot of effort in advertising to find your "core".

Just because I opened a forum, doesn't mean that people will flock like fly.

It doesn't work that easy.

Most people joined certain forum because they searched it on the search engine. If you study Search Engine Optimization you should know how search engine work which by the way service that offered it is nothing but HYPE.

I have open and designed my own forum. This what it look like. Compliment me if you will.

http://cognigen.proboards85.com/index.cgi

My avatar says "The worst is over and you can have the best of me!" my forum is about pixel art and graphics. Here are some of the websites which inspired me: http://candytownmb.org/index.php http://www.teahousemb.org/mb/

Your feedback on these sites would be appreciated

Thanks for all your comments and tips so far!