What Nobody Will Tell You About a Forum

There are several things about creating a forum that nobody in general will tell you and you have to learn the hard way.

Firstly you need to decide on what forum software you want to use, there are free to use open source ones, as well as paid options e.g. you buy the software to run your forum.

The open source forum software is great as it is free to download and install, however in the event of any problem there is nobody to phone up for help, although posting on one of the user run support forums should help you get most problems sorted out. In addition you can get someone to install it for you very cheaply if you are not up to the task of installing it your self.

Or you could buy forum software, and at the same time you can pay to have it installed, although this is rather expensive when buying it from the supplier directly and you would save a lot of money by buying a forum installation service from a third party.

If you choose to buy your forum software rather than using free open source forum software, then you can also take out a telephone support contract. This is probably advisable if it is your first installation.

Also when building a forum you need to think about moderating it. Whilst you may have been on forums and seen relatively little spam, that is because someone will be working in the background to combat it - If you own a forum it will be down to you to do this task so do not underestimate how much work it takes.

Also you need to think about how you are going to pre-populate your forum, as you can have the best niche in the World, and the best looking forum in the World but without any posts, no one will join or begin posting. So you need to think about how you will go about doing this.

One option is to ask people you know off of other forums to help out and do a few posts, the other option is to get your friends to help you out with posting. However both of these methods offer no guarantee of the number of posts that people will do. So your other option would be forum boosting, whereby you employ a team of professionals to help create posts and threads in order to jump start you forum into life.

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What Is Godwin's Law?

Shrill, hysterical, hyperbolic and vitriolic are all adjectives that can be used to describe certain Internet debates. When the debates go on for long enough, Godwin's Law sometimes kicks in, and it describes the usual next step in a spirited debate that just won't die.

There's probably no group of people more synonymous with hatred, bigotry and violence than Hitler and the Nazi party. Godwin's Law states that, after a certain point, it's almost inevitable that any Internet conversation is going to devolve to the point where somebody gets called a Nazi or where their beliefs get compared to those of a Nazi. Specifically, the law is: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." This is the quote as reported by Wired magazine.

The Unskilled Debater

Because this comparison is so overused and usually inappropriate, there is an unspoken rule that whoever makes the Hitler or the Nazi comparison first automatically loses the debate. If somebody makes such a comparison on a USENET thread, it's not uncommon for the thread to be abandoned altogether and for the conversation to shift somewhere else. Be aware, however, that nobody is likely to consider you the winner of the debate if you make a ridiculous comparison between somebody's beliefs and the ideology of the Third Reich.

There is a variation on this law called Godwin's Law by Proxy. This is an instance where a debater who has nothing intelligent left to say makes hyperbolic comparison to a hated historical figure other than Hitler. Essentially, they are just replacing Hitler and the Nazis with somebody else: Stalin, Mussolini, fascists and so forth are common proxies for Hitler and the Third Reich in Internet debates.

Stifling Intelligent Debate

There are cases where a comparison to Hitler or the policies of the Third Reich are completely appropriate. You might see such comparisons made in political science forums when different forms of government are being discussed or in economic forums where different economic policies are being discussed. When these comparisons are made in ways that aren't hyperbolic, they are usually defined by addressing the substance and the subject of what is being debated, rather than being outright attacks on the personality or the ethics of the other individual involved in the debate. Unfortunately, Godwin's Law or, more appropriately, the activity that it describes, oftentimes makes it impossible for people to have rational debates about political ideas on the Internet and on the USENET system.

Don't Fall For It

USENET debates have a way of becoming very passionate. No matter how involved you get in a debate in no matter how much somebody's opinions offend you, don't fall into the trap of comparing them to a reviled historical figure simply to disparage them personally. Nobody's buying it and, unfortunately, you end up making yourself look like a fool rather than making them look like a fascist. There are better ways to win a debate, especially on USENET where logic, intelligence and respect tend to go a long way.

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How to Grow Your Online Shopping Cart Sales Via Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is a great way for you to start to build your business. While there are a number of different approaches people take, it will be important that you keep in mind that there are going to be some important items you need to note to be effective with this type of Internet marketing.

1. Actively participate on any forum you are using for your niche or industry marketing. Check the first few posts attached to the top of main forum areas first though, known as 'stickies' for the rules and regulations. For instance, you may not be allowed to have more than a few lines in your signature, plus any links there must be your own, no affiliate links.

2. Have your forum marketing stay with websites that hold a similar interest in your product and services. It makes little sense to try and market your product to people who will not be interested in it, so try to think about areas that have people interacting who might enjoy what you are offering.

3. Avoid spamming the forum you are working on. While you might have new specials daily, you will need to keep it down to an occasional post about what you have to offer, and then only in areas where this type post is allowed. If you see a person who could benefit from your services, then you will certainly want to discuss the possibility with them, too, via a private message (PM) if possible.

4. Ensure you always deliver on your promise. The second you mess up and don't follow through with a promise on the forum, you will find that any future advertisements you place aren't effective. Keep that in mind when you are looking to build up a connection with people.

5. Offer forum only exclusives. You will find that most people are willing to give you a shot if they are getting an exclusive deal. Try to come up with some effective ideas to help you get the most out of your forum marketing experience.

Be sure you take a careful approach to this form of marketing. You don't want to flood or spam any message board and then be banned from it. So think carefully about what you want to say and then proceed at a very minimalistic pace.

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Would Forums Exist If Not for Opportunity Seekers and Freeloaders?

Why I am writing this article.

I was participating on a fairly well known forum today and another member started berating one person for being an opportunity seeker then started in on freeloaders. This made me a little angry at first but did make me think about it quite a bit more. I then realized that this particular forum would not exist if it were not for opportunity seekers and freeloaders. After i started making a list of reasons why this forum would not exist if it were not for opportunity seekers or freeloaders I came to the conclusion that I did not know of any forums that this did not apply to. Therefore I decided that this would be an ezine article instead of a reply in the forum.

Opportunity seekers:

People Looking for the opportunity to sell.

1) Every person that is a member of a forum with a signature link is an opportunity seeker. They are hoping that someone will notice their signature and click on their link giving them the opportunity to make a sale. This is especially true for those that have the largest, longest, most colorful signature links available on the forum i was on at the time since they sell the right to make linkable signatures.

2) There are opportunity seekers that post on forums looking for the opportunity to drop a link to their website in a post.

People Looking for an Opportunity to Buy a Product.

1) This particular forum has a sub forum for people to sell their internet marketing information, programs, widgets, ebooks, plugins and whatever else they can think of to sell. Most forums I have been on have a classifieds section and sell advertising on the forum making the forum itself an opportunity seeker. This attracts people looking for the opportunity to buy something.

People looking for an opportunity to share knowledge.

1) Those that give out free knowledge are the smallest percent of the people who visit forums. Take a look at the posting rate on any forum. In my experience the number of visitors, lurkers and question askers dwarf the number of people actually handing out advice and information. With that being said on some forums the only reason some of these members have such high post rates giving the illusion that they are giving knowledge freely is because every time they make a post to answer a question they have the opportunity to make a sale.

2) The people who are on a forum seeking the opportunity to learn. Isn't that the reason that most people go to a forum in the first place? They have a question and what better place to find a free answer than a forum on that topic? If not for these people looking for an opportunity to get their question answered most forums would have no reason to exist leaving the other types of opportunity seekers out in the cold.

Freeloaders

What would a freeloader on a forum be? Someone looking for something for nothing would be the obvious answer. One would think these would be guests and lurking members that never make a post or people who freely take information without giving any back. My answer is since the majority of most forums i have seen are made up of these types of people then the stats for most forums would not be high enough to gain advertising revenues therefore the forum would die a slow death. Very few forums are run as a labor of love.

My Conclusion is that no forums would exist if it were not for opportunity seekers and freeloaders of one sort or another. What do you think?

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Increasing Web Traffic From Forum Discussion - Do It The Right Way!

To get an increasing web traffic via forum, you need to know the right way of doing it.

First of all, visit a few forums on the internet. See what people are talking about nowadays that are related to your product or services. You will get an idea of what kind of information people are looking for and how their thought process is like. That will help you to help them eventually.

Then, choose the forum which you think you can serve best.

Once you have identified the forum, sign up. Remember, the worst thing you can do when trying to generate traffic from a forum is to sign up, and immediately post a message asking the community to buy from you. That is a so wrong approach and must be avoided altogether.

Instead, you need to spend time at the forum with the community. Build the relationship and rapport. Contribute and give value to the community. Participate in discussion. Provide helps and support to the members when possible. This is important to your long term plan to get an increasing web traffic from the forum.

Once you have built your name and credibility and viewed as part of the community, people will start to trust you. Then, the community may want to know you and your website or product. Of course, you have to remain active and continue to contribute to the community to maintain your status in the community.

A more straight forward and simpler way to get an increasing web traffic from forum is to put a signature file at the end of your post that includes your URL or website. When you are already a trusted figure in your community, people will take notice.

While website traffic that one can get from forums is very much targeted, the traffic that you may get could be very little at times. Further, you need to spend time to contribute and build the relationship before you should ask your community member to buy from you. You also have to remain active in the discussion to maintain this stream of targeted traffic.

So, getting an increasing web traffic by using forum discussion may not be right for some of you who prefer a simpler, faster and autopilot traffic.

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What Is Forum Boosting?

You may have heard of forum boosting or you may not have. Well if you have not and you have just started off building a forum, you may have put a lot of effort into building your forum, uploading a nice theme and logo. You also believe you have the latest hot topic that will have people flocking to your new forum, signing up, and you will be looking at getting a massive amount of traffic. But wait? Suddenly you get nobody signing up and no traffic - Well if that is the case then you need to find out about forum boosting.

To get your forum rocking you need lots of new threads and posts, and to do this you need new members. Well it is a catch 22 situation, the more posts your it has the more members you will get joining, but with out new members you will not get new posts or threads.

Well the solution is to use a forum boosting services. These are online companies that will help you in the early stages of building your forum. You can buy various packages from these companies, and they will literally get a team of people to sign up as new members on your forum and begin posting and putting new threads on to your new forum.

These services do vary in price, but in all instances what you want is a service that guarantees quality posts for your site. You may not consider buying in these services initially but the vast majority of people now realise that using one of them is the fastest way to get your site off the ground and attracting real traffic volumes.

Always look for one that offers at least fifteen words per thread or more. You do not just want a load of comments like "Nice idea". You want things like "Whilst it is a nice idea have you considered looking at the following alternatives which may be far cheaper". See the difference? One is junk the other is meaningful. People will not sign up just to look at a load of junk.

Your content must be informative otherwise people will just visit the once and never come back. Also Google loves fresh content. The more of it you have the more it comes back and spiders your site. So if you are struggling to get your nice new forum up and running then consider forum boosting.

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