Forums = A Lot of Work?

[jk3210]

In this thread [webmasterworld.com], rogerd said "On the downside, forums are a lot of work."

Can anyone give me an idea of what that work might be? Is it things like weeding out spammers, etc. that takes so much time?

[rogerd]

In my experience, every stage of a forum involves work, although the nature of the work changes. In the startup phase, you need to post a lot, compose creative discussion starters, encourage new members, and promote the forum externally. As things start to get busy, you'll be doing a bit less posting and topic starting, but more moderating and steering; you'll also be thinking about recruiting mod help.

If your forum gets really busy, the admin load will increase - dealing with member problems, managing topics and pruning/archiving, managing mods, etc.

Dealing with trolls, obnoxious members, and spammers will take more time as the forum gains popularity, though eventually your mods can carry a good part of that burden.

A forum is a lot like a garden - it needs a lot of loving care, although the kind of care needed changes with time. People can tell when they are at a good, well-managed forum and are more likely to stick around.