Anyone start a forum?

I want to build an interactive enthusiast website, attract enthusiasts and keep them interested. I should clarify this has nothing to do with cars , motorsporting or anything GRM whatsoever. And in the age of social media is there even room for new internet forums? I prefer them as a way to visit with like minded people like you all, and although GRM does not, it is an easier platform to keep an inventory of files and how to's than Facebook or Instagram. There are two forums already, one of which is quite commercial and one of which is no longer supported by its owner. I have asked him to allow me to resurrect it but I have had no interest from him at all.  I think there is room for another one because this last site is viewed constantly, but gets very few posts. It really needs a spark. 

Any thoughts? 

I'm hoping that eventually enthooosiasts will rediscover forums, as they are far better sources of long-term information than socials. There is no information on a FB group that is older than about three days, so you see them making the same mistakes over and over on things we learned a quarter century ago.

I've started a few forums and it was easier than expected, considering how tech savvy I'm not. One Never really took off so I folded it, too early as it worked out, as somebody else started the same one a few years later and it went crazy. The one that really did work out went strong until a member started a similar FB group and killed it. 
A lot of FB groups have stickies, and the search function usually works fairly well, though I'm not really a fan

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

I need someone to bring Zilvia back 

I was on the ground level for the ultimate RV forum.  I have lived in one for nearly 1/3 of my life, so I had some valuable things to offer to the listserv/digest.  This was, of course, 1996.  Forums were kinda new.  We didn't have the access to marketing.  The internet was a free-for-all and you had to kind of rely on "going viral."

We didn't go viral.  The forums still exist, but they're not really a thing.  

I've been toying with doing a forum also. There is a car model that used to have a forum but the disagreeable owner decided to close it and no one has replaced it. There are a half-dozen FB groups that cater to it, but like many of you I find the social media platform to be pretty awful for searches and tech info.

I imagine one needs a domain name, some software and someplace to host it. The latter part is what I know zero about.

Ive started two

Both were fairly successful (NC based, one car and one motorcycle) and I had a lot of fun doing it

It's not hard to set up, but I wouldnt mess with it these days as too many just go to facebook...it sucks. I hate it, actually. I prefer forums which hold/save information and you can search etc

New ones do start and are/can be successful, but that's usually based on a few things like the group that gets it off the ground - like having a couple dozen people to help get some traffic going in those early days etc

yupididit said:

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

I need someone to bring Zilvia back 

They can't even get the owner to respond, plenty of people offering to buy it

No, but I have strong opinions about how well other people are running their forums...

chandler said:

yupididit said:

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

I need someone to bring Zilvia back 

They can't even get the owner to respond, plenty of people offering to buy it

I know. West just doesn't give a berkeley anymore. 

I started an electronics tinkering forum back in the day, running phpbb or the like on a shared hosting server I already paid for, and got a few people posting and following projects. But it started to get hit by spammers and I just didn't have the time to deal with it so pulled the plug. I often wonder if it would have gone somewhere if I'd stuck with it!

How many people are you talking?  What is the end goal?  $$ or just keeping the community alive?  Does the forum need to pay for itself?

The logistics of hosting seem pretty simple, especially if you are willing to pay.  You can buy specific vbulletin hosting packages fairly easily.  

Getting people to use the forum?  That seems to be another story as many just want to use FB or instagram.  I agree with Keith sentiments on Forums vs. other forms of Social Media.

It seems anyone under the age of about 30-32 doesn't use forums and don't want to have to search for information.

See if all the time on the BRZ Facebook pages for instant.

"What oil to use?"
"What wheels and tires fit?"
"What does this exhaust sound like?"

And on and on, when there is a forum that literally has the answer to basically every single question that has to be asked that has ever been asked. 

Surch Noob!!!

dculberson said:

I started an electronics tinkering forum back in the day, running phpbb or the like on a shared hosting server I already paid for, and got a few people posting and following projects. But it started to get hit by spammers and I just didn't have the time to deal with it so pulled the plug. I often wonder if it would have gone somewhere if I'd stuck with it!

I forgot that I started a forum for a while - it was intended to support the Miata-based Westfields we were selling. And the spammers, oh man. Forums are not a set and forget thing, you have to tend to them constantly.

The idea is just an alternative to the commercial forum already in existence. I object to going there and seeing new enthusiasts constantly directed to the money making heart of the forum, and when this happens the forum loses its purpose.   I would just pay to host it and it would be ad and revenue free. I just thought it might be fun to have my own coffee shop so to speak. I do worry about spam and constant garbage clean up, but I note that some forums do not seem to have that problem at all. Hopefully I could choose a platform that does the heavy lifting for me in that regard. 

Still mulling it over. But I think I may proceed. 

I think the forums you see without spam and constant cleanup are that way because of a lot of work behind the scenes :)

Keith Tanner said:

I think the forums you see without spam and constant cleanup are that way because of a lot of work behind the scenes :)

1000%. I was a mod on a small sport bike forum YEARS ago. It's a bunch of work.