is it time for me to call it a wrap?

[Jynx]

am i being too naive or is time for me to just end it? I had forum online for some time now, about 5 1/2 months, at first, i did pin point some place where i have messed up and improved it and did more advertising even with adwords. but it hasnt done any good, even though i did get a few registrations, and i do mean few, who hardly post, its still very small of a community. im kinda on the fence with this because on one side i do feel like i am doing something right for even a few people to join if i can capitalize on whatever that is i can be better but then something else is telling me that its been like this too long so time to end it. so im just looking for advice its kinda hard to make a decision

[Frequent]

In my experience forums can take a while to build up usage unless you have a built in user base (support forum for software you offer for example). Things can be dead for many months and then snowball out of control very suddenly and chew through your bandwidth.

Since you already had some registrations I think this is a good sign. Contact those users and offer them something to help you get things rolling. Also create a few aliases for yourself (if you haven't already done so) and "seed" the forum.

Hopefully your forum is search engine friendly and the spiders will get the seeded topics in the SERPS.

Freq---

[Eterion]

heehee. i can related to frequent... about the "seeding" the forums... I actually created 5 diff names to make it look more populated lol... just a jumpstart

[FourDegreez]

How I got my community going back in '98 was to invite a group of online friends over that I had met in other forums. Once you have a certain amount of inertia from a core group, you'll achieve perpetual motion.

[rogerd]

Consider allowing posting without registration in the early stages - that can break down some barriers and get readers to become posters.

[Eterion]

Yes, exactly what rogerd suggested. I changed the configuration for my message board to allow registration without having to have to wait and then submit that "email activation" link...