I have created the third otherkin network, as the first two failed terribly because of spam. Proboards seems to work best for me, so that is what I used.


This forum includes topics such as:


Otherkin, even including the controversial topic of machinekin, as well as starseeds. Topics for most religions, and a debate area, as well as the standard introduction, and general chat boards.

I haven't yet gotten to the rules or the layout, but I hope some of you will join, and help me with these!


The link is as follows:


http://otherkinnetwork.proboards.com/index.cgi





Enjoy!



-FireSpark

I hope you don't mind but I moved this topic from the Study and into the Hand of Friendship section FireSpark.
This forum section was created especially to advertise other forums to our members. I did leave a link from the Study aswell so it should be easily found by everyone.

If you would like to include a link to your forum in your signature so it is seen by everyone who reads your posts then please do, its alright as long as you don't make it too big. It's OK to have it big enough to notice, but not so big that it attacks you as soon as you open the thread page.

I hope that this forum is more successful than the last ones, and if there is anything I can do to help please ask and I'll do everything I can.
I hope that the forum members here who have the time will support your forum, and though I cannot promise to post everyday I would be very pleased to become one of your members, if you'll have me.
Good luck with this.

Lady C.

One of the key elements I have seen from forum building in the past, is both a focus and a following.

Starting a forum is an uphill battle most of the time, and there are questions of security and rules where you want safety, but you do not want to run a tyranny.

While some forums that have been well established are general Otherkin boards, newer forums often times need a focus to get going. What do you intend to focus on?

Additionally, rarely do people come onto a forum just to spew their information out, it is a give and take philosophy. Most want active forums with a wide member base in order to have plenty of information and discussions to get involved with and learn from. Then as a trade-off they put in their own information and opinions. I would recommend starting up a faq section, or even writing articles or getting people who are considered "credible" to write articles for the site. You might even look to other forums' articles section and contact the authors for permission to re-post their articles on your forum.

Terro's advice is good, but as you will know if this is your third attempt, running and being responsible for a forum is a very hard thing to do.
If you do focus your forum try not to make it too narrow a focus. If you specialise too much you could grow old waiting for enough people who would be interested enough to join to even find your forum.
If you start an FAQ try to make sure that the information you give is correct to the best of your knowledge. Nothing closes a forum faster than potential members believing that you are a waste of their time.
The last thing I will say is the longest but is, I think, the most important. I found that finding the right balance between giving members the right to free speech, and not allowing some, more belligerent and vocal members to intimidate other members so that they don't post is one of the hardest things to accomplish.
As Terro said 'you don't want to run a tyranny', if you are too strict then some people will not join and your forum may die a natural death, but on the other hand, if you are not strict enough then you risk allowing some members to become so forceful and unruly that they intimidate and so subdue the other members.
The trick is to get to know your members, watch their behaviour and read their posts. Keep encouraging the more shy and quieter ones, and use a firm hand with the over-forceful ones, in order to keep your forum a happy and welcoming place.
It is unfortunate but inevitable that the forceful members will resent the fact that they are not allowed to say all the things they wish to say, and may accuse you of being dictatorial. They will try and shame you into letting them get away with being rude and pushy by saying that you are denying them their right to the free speech you promised them when they joined. However it is important to stick to your guns with these people. Their right to free speech does not give them the right to bully others, nor does it give them the right to make your forum appear mean, argumentative, bigoted, unwelcoming, or intimidating. A forum that allows this kind of behaviour does not encourage new membership, and ultimately dies.
My suggestion would be that you offer your membership free speech up to the point where they overstep the boundaries of politeness, consideration and well mannered behaviour towards others that you have set. Remember that even though you run your forum for the members it is your forum, and you cannot allow one or two members to potentially spoil it for all the rest.
I really don't mean to offend you by appearing to suggest that you cannot handle yourself, but I wanted to warn you about this possibility. I have had this kind of trouble, but I allowed it to get out of hand. In the end it wasn't worth the hassle.
Perhaps I could have tried harder, but I had other things going on in my life at the time, and they had to take priority.
I hate to bring my past into my present, especially to put it out in a discouraging way, it just felt like an important lesson to pass on to anyone who is thinking of opening a forum in the future.

I wish you a lot of luck with your forum. I hope, like the saying goes, the third time is lucky for you.

I could have done with this advice about four months ago, but better late than never, and even if it is a lesson learned for me, I hope it helps someone else.