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Promoting Community Participation

Joshua Farrell

Well-known member
Bits
349
When one thinks of a community, they think of a group of people interacting with each other. It's where the members know each other and enjoy each others company. The problem is, people can only post so much before they get bored and loose interest, even with the best of topics. Sometimes, its the job of the staff to come up with ideas, that will have them act as a community and participate as a group.

Now, we all know, that just about every forum out there has a post to post game board, where the members can have fun with word games. They are pretty much all the same. The idea of this thread, is to work on having your forums members have fun participating together in more challenging and interesting ways.

I would suggest performing some contest. This is a good tactic to having your members interact with each other. Not only does it pull the members closer together, but it can break up the monotony of a forum. You might be asking, "well what kind of contest should I have?" Well that is up to you and what is relevant to your forum.

I noticed a number of forums out there have been successful with writing contests. This is a good way for those members who write to get their work seen and reviewed. It is also a way to attract potential members who have a love for writing. This can cover anything from Original stories, fanfics, poetry, and even songs.

I also have seen graphic contest to be taken in good response. There are alot of people who are out there with a artistic nature and enjoy working with image programs and free hand, perhaps a contest on the best avatar, sig, or even banner. They can be held for best texture , style, theme etc used., the possibilities are limitless. Also, it can be a free hand original, or perhaps even photography.

What about having a scavenger hunt contest? These have worked well on various forums in the past. You could even separate your members into teams. I know the Harry Potter forums have houses, which would be the same done the same way.

There are so many things out there that could help promote community participation. What type of programs have you found to be successful either as a admin or member?
 

Nous

Visionary
Administrator
Bits
412
Having contests on forums is a great idea, it increases participation and also increases the statistics of the forum. And yes, finding the right contest is up to you as the board owner. You would know what would work for your community.

I really like the idea about writing competitions, heck might even get some competitions up at AF too.
 

Lammchen

Member
Bits
28
On Christianity Haven contests haven't gone over too well. I think the best participation was when I ran some Bingo games and no prizes were given but awards for their profiles! It's crazy what you think will be a hit and something simple and old fashioned works better.
 

Nous

Visionary
Administrator
Bits
412
Yes! I kept thinking the same thing, I had thought of doing giveaways and contest with real prizes to promote community participation, only to find out that people don't really follow these kinds of things anymore. I agree with you @Lammchen sometimes simple and old fashion things just work. Have you thought about running another similar contest on Christianity Haven?
 

Lammchen

Member
Bits
28
Yes! I kept thinking the same thing, I had thought of doing giveaways and contest with real prizes to promote community participation, only to find out that people don't really follow these kinds of things anymore. I agree with you @Lammchen sometimes simple and old fashion things just work. Have you thought about running another similar contest on Christianity Haven?

I've done other types of contests and no one wants to do them except the same couple of people. I did a mystery contest once and really hoped the members would get into it and only one did. All that work I spent writing things up and doing dialog and making characters...too much time for only one person to read.
 

Jay

Well-known member
Bits
118
Im looking at doing some sort of posting contest to win a fully loaded XenForo license, we will see how that goes.
 

Nous

Visionary
Administrator
Bits
412
Im looking at doing some sort of posting contest to win a fully loaded XenForo license, we will see how that goes.
Woah that sounds like a pretty good contest, you definitely will attract a lot of forums operators and admins who will try their best to grab the XenForo license, :) Good luck! You should let us know how it goes and share your experience here on AdminForum for other admins to know what obstacles you faced and how you over came them.
 

Jay

Well-known member
Bits
118
Not 100% sure if I'm doing this yet as I want to make sure it's fair for the posters, if and when I do I will report back.
 

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