Starting a forum with only one subforum?

Discussion in 'Managing Your Online Community' started by Akela, Jul 11, 2012.

  1. Akela

    Akela Regular Member

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    I have a slight tendency to over-organize and thus end up with too many forums in the beginning. :)

    So, with Hockey D, I went with the radical idea of only one forum. To avoid the depressing look of an almost empty index page, I redirected it to the subforum itself.

    Good idea? Bad? Have you ever thought of starting a forum with only one subforum?
     
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  2. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

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    There is nothing wrong with that, I would remove the links in to the forum and home if that's how you want to run it for a while. :)
    If the forum serve a purpose, I don't see any reason why one subforum wouldn't work. You can always add more forums later if you wish.
     
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  3. Akela

    Akela Regular Member

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    Nah, not for a while. I only manage to get this radical during the start up stage. :p

    Hopefully, the need will be there sooner rather than later.
     
  4. carntheroos4eva

    carntheroos4eva Regular Member

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    Just as long as the two areas for it doesn't get clogged up with other topics that doesn't involve your hockey.
    I would at least make two sub forums. One for international hockey and the other for local hockey.
    Good luck with it.
     
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  5. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    I don't think its a bad idea though. I usually start off with a forum or two, and then branch out more as the users flocked in, and the board gets flooded with many topics. The less forums you have, the better you are in the beginning.
     
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  6. carntheroos4eva

    carntheroos4eva Regular Member

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    You might want to try putting your forum as Hockey and Ice Hockey board so that you can get everyone's attention. You might even want to put some local team boards up just so that you know that you have heaps of fans.
    What sort of forum software are you considering @Akela ?
     
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  7. Akela

    Akela Regular Member

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    That's part of the future plan.

    http://HockeyD.com/ is running on XF. No plans to change it :)
     
  8. Iconic

    Iconic The Original

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    I wouldn't personally just start with just one subforum, I am going to join a community more so if there are a few more boards (variety basically) rather than just one forum. I know a few forums just with 4 sub forums and that is it, and they have a few million posts. I just guess whatever you niche it can help. But that is just me.
     
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  9. Akela

    Akela Regular Member

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    What forum(s) is that, out of curiosity?
     
  10. Iconic

    Iconic The Original

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    I can't remember it off by name, I have been looking for it since I posted last night. It was a 3.8 vBulletin forum.
     
  11. Akela

    Akela Regular Member

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    Is this it?: http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/

    Just to follow up, the idea seems to be working out. Some of our members have already suggested splitting up the forum, while others argued against the idea because they like seeing all the new content as soon as they login.
     

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