Owning a forum as a full time business

MossyUK

MossyUK

MossyUK

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Joined
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Preston, Lancs
Do you reckon that a forum the size of OcUK could itself be a viable business for one man or woman?

Lets say Overclockers UK was an independant board with no business attached. You are a regular guy with no real idea or perhaps even desire to grow a hardware business on the side.

How would this forum be monetised in your opinion?
 
I had a forum with about 300 active members that brought in about £200 a month advertizing at it's peak from google ads. Somewhere like this could get much better deals with companies and make a mint.
 
I've known some busy forums and I doubt u can make enough income off them, especially with the need to hire staff etc. On the other hand, you could consider social networks to be somewhat a forum and they have proved to be a massive success.
 
PardonTheWait said:
There are not many forums of this sort of size or bigger, relatively speaking.
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Looking on bigboards for example shows that there are enough boards as big and bigger (or just slightly smaller) that it's not completely out of the question that you could rival their active members numbers, given the right subject matter and dedication.
 
Bit of extra cash maybe, full time business, doubtful, only way you would get anything decent out of it for a full time business is if you offered something that people are willing to pay for
 
MossyUK said:
Looking on bigboards for example shows that there are enough boards as big and bigger (or just slightly smaller) that it's not completely out of the question that you could rival their active members numbers, given the right subject matter and dedication.
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When you look at how many there are that are big enough to turn a real profit though, it's not many. When you consider how many forums there are around, then consider how many actually grow large enough to make money, the odds aren't good.

What I'm saying is, starting a forum with the intention of making money is not a good idea. Some forums become big enough to turn a profit but there's so many factors and so much luck involved that deciding to create a forum to make money is not an easy thing to do, at all.

I'm not saying there aren't forums around that make a packet, there are. They're just rare.
 
tr1cky said:
I've known some busy forums and I doubt u can make enough income off them, especially with the need to hire staff etc. On the other hand, you could consider social networks to be somewhat a forum and they have proved to be a massive success.
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The strange part about social networks is they almost completely killed off clubbing forums as I knew them. One or two of the biggest dance music boards fell from massive member numbers to dropped domain in less than three years. Many of there users shunned myspace but went immediately and irrecoverably to facebook for ever.

The thing with forums in this form is they throw a wide variety of people together that have never met, but share a common interest.

The reverse is true of facebook, where a relatively small number of friends already know a lot about each other but have no way of meeting new people without become some sort of random 'friend' adding crazyman.

And how many people do you consider to be good friends that random added you on facebook?

Whereas you may well have many RL friends that you met solely because of a message board and a shared passion.
 
Tough to make a living from a forum without something clever... friend of mine runs a fairly busy forum (around 200 active users) and makes ~£60 a month from advertising, which mostly goes back towards paying the hosting bill.
 
MossyUK said:
The strange part about social networks is they almost completely killed off clubbing forums as I knew them. One or two of the biggest dance music boards fell from massive member numbers to dropped domain in less than three years. Many of there users shunned myspace but went immediately and irrecoverably to facebook for ever.

The thing with forums in this form is they throw a wide variety of people together that have never met, but share a common interest.

The reverse is true of facebook, where a relatively small number of friends already know a lot about each other but have no way of meeting new people without become some sort of random 'friend' adding crazyman.

And how many people do you consider to be good friends that random added you on facebook?

Whereas you may well have many RL friends that you met solely because of a message board and a shared passion.
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Yeah you got a good point there, personally on my facebook it's actually people I have met, wouldnt consider all of them as actual friends but you know how it is...

On the other side.. facebook is full of groups, with discussion boards built in etc where you can for example, discuss the premiership and what not. Similar to a forum, but obviously only to a certain extent.
 
But isn't it on facebook where everybody on your friends list can see what you posted and where?

I hate it when my fb screen is filled with random crap (Not that I feel to justify myself for having FB from the people whot hink anything with the word social in it is horrific, but it's a great way to stay in touch with friends and organise crap)
 
Yeah also on a facebook group, its you, actual RL you with your picture there and everything. People from work know its you and can read what you post. People from your immediate family even.

Half the fun of a forum is the anonymity. It allows you to speak way more freely and also do other fun stuff like troll, act nerdy without shame, speak of your love of hot babes whilst including attached full length nudey snaps and all round pub-style sexism.
 
Something Awful is the best example of a forum as a full time business. It generates revenue as a business, plus the owner (who goes by the pseudonym Lowtax) earns his living off it. The main website itself is more of a satire/comedy hub in general, but the forums provide the meat and bones.
 
It is very difficult to do. The SA forums are the only successful ones I can think of, but then it is the best forum on the internet. Even 4chan can't turn a profit.
 
It is quite scary how much you can earn on the net. Heard people earning 1000's from youtube videos.. hell Machinima must earn loads
 
hurfdurf said:
It is very difficult to do. The SA forums are the only successful ones I can think of, but then it is the best forum on the internet. Even 4chan can't turn a profit.
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Yup - I've seen a few forums try it over the years... going from 1000s of members to 10s within a couple of months when they start charging.
 
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