How big will thatforumsite.com get?

[1234go]

OK, so i know you guys have been going for about 6 months, just wondered what the aim is for the future and how big do you see yourselves getting?

[Hundred Degrees]

Good question, i think a lot of those users that seem to be registering are spammers so i don't know how many genuine posters are here at the moment but in theory thatforumsite has the potential to get very big! not sure what the marketing plans are to turn it in to a household name though?! The concept behind the site is simple but there's no reason why it shouldn't work that i can see.

[Frugaldom]

What's the "simple concept behind the site" and how long is a piece of string? I don't even know which site these forums are linked to in the first place, can't find any mention of anything other than fish, so I'm assuming it's linked to some sort of aquarium magazine site somewhere along the line?

I got here via Twitter after I followed Big Brother UK.

[sha3k3r5]

What's the "simple concept behind the site" and how long is a piece of string? I don't even know which site these forums are linked to in the first place, can't find any mention of anything other than fish, so I'm assuming it's linked to some sort of aquarium magazine site somewhere along the line?

I got here via Twitter after I followed Big Brother UK.

Just jumping in on this conversation here! I know the owner of this site and it isn't affiliated with any other website, it is simply a forum website. After chatting with said owner I suggested an about us page which I believe is now accessible from the home page and explains that the simple concept is rather than people being members of various forums for various things he has tried to bring everyone to one place to build a mammoth forum community. From what I can tell it really is a mammoth task though and the owner has an interest in fish so has focused in this area initially, and I'm guessing big brother too!

[Frugaldom]

Thanks for that, I thought it was maybe backed by a commercial site of some description and I had simply failed to see the link. On occasions, I can be a little 'less than observant', shall we say.

[djs]

Thanks for that, I thought it was maybe backed by a commercial site of some description and I had simply failed to see the link. On occasions, I can be a little 'less than observant', shall we say.

No commercial site involved in ThatForumSite, it is simply as sha3k3r5 said designed to be a forum to bring all forum communities together and hopefully it will continue to appeal to the masses.....

[Frugaldom]

Thanks for that, I thought it was maybe backed by a commercial site of some description and I had simply failed to see the link. On occasions, I can be a little 'less than observant', shall we say.

No commercial site involved in ThatForumSite, it is simply as sha3k3r5 said designed to be a forum to bring all forum communities together and hopefully it will continue to appeal to the masses.....

So how will it pay? Running forums is very time consuming - I speak from experience - and time is, as they say, money. Is it generating mailing lists, will it eventually be attached to a blog or website selling goods or services, will we all suddenly find ourselves being bombarded by spam mail? (Plenty of spammers jumping on the bandwagon judging by the list of usernames and websites they're listing.) It can't be all things to all people, so show me the aquarium shop - there has to be one somewhere, surely? Cichlidsrus or GouramiTimes or something? No? (I used to keep fish, in case you hadn't guessed.)

[djs]

It is not designed to be a site that will become my career and day job and don't anticipate it will be the next facebook or social networking phenominom however it is designed to bring communities together. The reasoning behind this is due to me myself joining various forums for different things and bumping in to the same people in 2 forums and it got me thinking that it would be a great idea if i only had to be a member of one forum and could share and chat with others in just one place. most people tend to have more than 1 interest and thing that they wish to post/share with others. The reasoning behind the focus on fish and big brother so far on ThatForumSite is simply due to these being things i have an active interest in and figure that one must focus in certain areas in order to pick up the pace of members and posters joining. the concept of lots of people sharing lots of things and "Focussing on nothing, specialising in everything" does mean that focus must be given to specific areas initially.

Coming back to the monetary side of things, there is no intention of spamming anyone. I am now also deleting all those users who join just to spam and limitations have been put in place preventing people posting links in their first post which seems to have stopped most bots from posting. As for the users joining with just a web link in their profile, these are being deleted on a daily basis too. It would be foolish and too time consuming to fully moderate every registration at this early stage and people shouldn't have to jump through hoops to participate. The only form of monetary income from ThatForumSite comes from the google ads at the top and bottom of every page. It will not make me a millionaire but that isn't the intention of ThatForumSite. What are the forum websites that you mention? Are they still live? Are they monitised at all and if so, how?

[Frugaldom]

Hi DJS, thanks for the detailed explanation.

Yes, my forums are still live, but they revolve around one basic theme. I'll bet you can't guess what that is? I'll give you a hint... it starts with frugal. (Why are you not surprised?) And no, they aren't monetised in any way from within the forums, I run them through a free service provider. I'm assuming the provider is financed though the Google Ads programme, too.

I've been quite strict about who joins. Spammers are wiped out as they're spotted and I recently wiped out all the 'lurker' accounts and asked genuine members to resubscribe. I set my forums up originally for a very small group of us doing money saving and money making challenges so we could exchage information and general chit chat.

So, I do understand where you're coming from in trying to keep everything under one roof, but it's almost a fulltime job keeping fresh content, deleting spam and responding to all the posts. What can I say? I'm a bit of a forum addict? I have challenges running all over the web. When I followed Big Brother UK here, I started to have a look about the place. Then spotted the competitions.

If you like tropical or marine fish, might I suggest you set up a webpage about that and invite the readers from there to here? I'm sure there are affiliate links that you could use, plus Google Ads to help earn a few extra pounds towards paying for the site. I now have sites leading into individual sections of my forums (without Google Ads) but like I say, everything within mine revolves around money saving and most of us work from home.

[djs]

When I followed Big Brother UK here, I started to have a look about the place. Then spotted the competitions.

Glad we managed to draw you in somehow Frugaldom!

If you like tropical or marine fish, might I suggest you set up a webpage about that and invite the readers from there to here? I'm sure there are affiliate links that you could use, plus Google Ads to help earn a few extra pounds towards paying for the site. I now have sites leading into individual sections of my forums (without Google Ads) but like I say, everything within mine revolves around money saving and most of us work from home.

Good idea in principal and theory but I simply do not have the time to create a new website. I have given up a few good domains recently just due to time constraints and even have a very strong URL registered at companies house but haven't had the opportunity to put some time and effort in to it. It is a sad state of affairs in that time restricts things but i guess that is just the way the cookie crumbles.

Would you like me to create some sort of money saving forum or area for you to share your wealth of experiences with us?

[Frugaldom]

Would you like me to create some sort of money saving forum or area for you to share your wealth of experiences with us?

Are you trying reeling me in?

If anyone has any questions, my money saving and frugal living stuff is pretty easy to find.

[djs]

Would you like me to create some sort of money saving forum or area for you to share your wealth of experiences with us?

Are you trying reeling me in?

If anyone has any questions, my money saving and frugal living stuff is pretty easy to find.

Hahahaha, slanderous accusations.......... yes, i'll be honest, a wee bit of reeling in was my intention!

[Frugaldom]

Terrible, terrible, as if I'd fall for such 'fowl' play! You'd chicken out at the last minute if I arrived with my flocks, get in a flap and then there'd be feathers flying all roads. You know fine well I'm only here in search of the golden eggs.

[Frugaldom]

Speaking of golden eggs - when's the October competition result being announced? I vote for me.

[Hundred Degrees]

I reckon they will be announced tomorrow, I vote for me too (me though, not you ). Hope they run another competition soon, with only a few people entering it gives us a much better chance. Free money for speaking your mind if you ask me Wonder how they manage to or why they fund it?

[Frugaldom]

Wonder ... why they fund it?

'Cos it's cheaper than standard media advertising and better than paying loads of folk to each register a dozen names and talk to themselves?

Hey! I might just enter this as funniest and most thought provoking post for December!

In it to win it! It's only the 1st of the month and I'm already here mingling while sussing out the competition.

[djs]

Wonder ... why they fund it?

'Cos it's cheaper than standard media advertising and better than paying loads of folk to each register a dozen names and talk to themselves?

Spot on Frugaldom, we want the population to grow and want genuine posters who add more to the conversation rather than "cheap labour" who just copy and paste things which make no sense and are irrelvant anyway. We are funded purely on that banner at the top of every page and links on the bottom of every page and paypal donations (although we are yet to see any of them!). The advertising revenue generated does not come close to covering the cost of running the competitions but hey, we have to start somewhere don't we

[Frugaldom]

I see you still have a few spammers and those who are prepared to post what could be deemed as offensive so-called 'jokes'. Pity about that, especially if the big search engines are spidering all the usernames, threads and individual posts.

Am I permitted to add links in my signature? Seems anyone can add anything there and mine are all legal in the UK.

If not, I'll remove them.

[ThatForumSite]

Your signature is fine Frugaldom, appreciate you asking

[Aledy]

I havent been here for about 6 months and have to say it is much better than when i was last here. Just don't know where to start posting though. If you carry on like this then i can see big things for you in the future. Do you plan on going down the social networking route in the future?

[Frugaldom]

It should be easier to post as the topics base widens - so many subjects mans you can afford to be fussy and ignore anything that doesn't interest you - simple.

[Barbara G.]

Personally, I think this site has great potential. When I heard about the site, I thought it was a neat concept. As the site holds more and more content which are considered "hot topics" to the search engines, the membership should grow.

Personally, adding tags (keywords) to the posts will also be helpful in my opinion. Thanks for making this forum possible!

[sha3k3r5]

Thanks for your input Barbara, the option to add tags to posts was introduced a few months back now but only in the 23 main topic forums, search engines seem to love tagged posts Due to the vast range of topic areas to populate it is a slow process to populate the forum and make it appealing to the masses, only time will tell what the future holds.....

[Hundred Degrees]

I can almost see a snowball effect taking place, it's taken over a year now but more and more genuine posts are starting to appear and less spam posts are apparent. It's such a big project that it is always bound to take some time to get off the ground.

Still think there needs to be more incentive to draw people in though and away from the forums they are already a member of and are part of the community.

[cichlid king]

It's a slow grower, I always come back though because I like the community and option to post on so many different categories. Great idea for a forum, sure it will continue to grow over time.