How much is too much? A guide to creating your forum's board

[Shole]

Alright so going through a variety of forums here on SMF I noticed an all too familiar trend that plagues first-time form administrators: the creation of way too many boards.

But how much is too much? When do you decide that the boards you have are enough to satisfy your target demographic?

Nothing is worse than clicking a link and looking at a forum with 30+ boards and maybe 150 posts. Like I said in my previous guide, no new member is going to want to raise your forum from the dead for you.

The key to board creation is to keep quality over quantity. For example, 150 posts in five boards can make a potential new member think "hey, this forum looks kinda of active, I might join!" Likewise, if you have 5,000 posts in five boards, a potential new member might think that your forum is too cluttered and that the set-up is unwelcoming.

One thing a new forum should avoid at any cost is creating too many boards. Under no circumstance should you have more than 20 boards on a new forum. Some may argue that certain categories of forums require a lot more boards, and that's true, but let's look at the scenario from the proper perspective.

A new forum opens with 10 very well thought-out boards. Those 10 boards should encompass everything you want people to talk about on your site. For example, on my forum, we started out by having a board for media, video-games and debates. People eventually began requesting a sports and video board, so I had to split up the media board into three boards.

Now I have three very active boards, and all three are what people wanted. There is nothing superfluous. However, had I had those three (and potentially more) boards before getting a strong member base, I might have had people join that weren't interested in that subject and the boards would die.

What I'm saying is, forums are nothing more than a less complex version of "supply + demand." When the demand for a new board is high enough, you make it. Otherwise, no matter how much YOU may want it there, don't even bother

[Nick]

Nice guide If people do want alot of boards i suggest waiting for the forum to grow before slipping one more in Just don't slip to many in .

[Shole]

Yep dont make the miss take i made

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

I failed at this, not making to many bored, i have to many

[Shole]

Dont worry you can fix it if the boards are new try to fusion 2-3 boards into one board.

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

Dont worry you can fix it if the boards are new try to fusion 2-3 boards into one board.

i am trying its that i just don't know what to and what not to move or remove

[The FIFA 11 forums]

Cool Guide. I've sort of made that mistake too. Im going to merge my boards too !

[Shole]

Dont worry you can fix it if the boards are new try to fusion 2-3 boards into one board.

Look  *Gasp* Anything you want is appearing in every board and its usless add it to general
Film's board/category make out of it 1 and add it to the general board of your site
Music also
You can put YouTube as an child board even better fusion all the tree boards to media
Media can have as a subcategory Youtube and Music Add in the description or post something that indicates that this board is for Youtube Music and Films
Member introduction add to generel
For game news use RSS feeder poster
 V.I.P Member Bored
No New Posts    V.I.P Bored
I can see it its no VIP if i can see it.

No New Posts       Screenshot's and Video's if you are on pro hosting use an modification called SMF gallery

You can delete World Wide category

I hope i helped you a bit

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

[Shole]

looking better

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

[Shole]

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

[Shole]

IT looks great but put general first then Games and then Media

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

IT looks great but put general first then Games and then Media

ok thanks lot, i will use this when i re do my forums, thanks for the help

[Shole]

glad that i could help you

[rebelion]

 I agree with your guide that people can have too much boards but at the same time if the forum is very active and it's a forum about anything than there should be more boards (in my opinion).

[Shole]

well thats exactly the point of my tutorial you see if you put like 20 boards and you have in each 2 topics max who would register?
IF you make like 10 boards in each are like 10 topics members get interested and if there needs to be added a new board the users will start bugging you about it (yeah thats how matt feels all the time)

[Bolt3D08[UGP]]

[Crestion]

Nice Work dude!